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Watching Me, Watching You: (Process surveillance and agency in the workplace)

Applin, Sally A. and Fischer, Michael D. (2013) Watching Me, Watching You: (Process surveillance and agency in the workplace). In: 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS),. IEEE, pp. 268-275. ISBN 978-1-4799-1242-1. (doi:10.1109/ISTAS.2013.6613129) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:41549)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2013.6613129

Abstract

The notion that computers are somehow separate from our lives is misleading and ignores the level of integration that has emerged. Most of the processes that dispense, load, and deliver the supplies that sustain cosmopolitan life are impacted by some form of computer in one way or another. The systems created when networks of computers intersect with networks of people are shaping our current cultural environment and the way that we exist in the world. This phenomena has created multiple types of interactions that are hybrids between humans and machines and at present, the balance of human behavior towards other humans is impacted by processes in business and elsewhere that have an over arching governance based on machines. This limits human agency and impacts understanding, service and privacy rights for humans. Further, these processes increasingly depend on greater and greater quantities of what had previously been considered personal information, often scraped from online processes people do not anticipate, yielding an often revealing portrait of themselves. Also, a poorly configured paradigm has created a culture where, when systems are required for big business, people more often alter their behavior to suit machines and work with them, rather than the other way around, and that this has eroded conceptions of agency. We explore the use of Thing-theory to implement a partial means of implementing mutual surveillance between management and workers to increase human agency while developing more adaptive and efficient business processes.

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.1109/ISTAS.2013.6613129
Uncontrolled keywords: behavioural sciences computing;business process re-engineering;computer networks;cultural aspects;mobile computing;surveillance;business process;computer networks;cosmopolitan life;cultural environment;human behavior;process surveillance;thing theory;Computers;Context;Employment;Organizations;Process control;Surveillance;Tracking;agency;manufacturing;multi-agent simulation;polysocial reality;surveillance
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA 76 Software, computer programming, > QA76.9.H85 Human computer interaction
T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA168 Systems engineering
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Michael Fischer
Date Deposited: 26 Jun 2014 13:07 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:16 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/41549 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Fischer, Michael D..

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