Surveillance Studies Centre (SSC)

What does a smart city look like? Will technology rule? Or, should technology be a means to an end in creating a good city where diverse human beings can flourish?

David Lyon: The information revolution, surveillance and the law

moonr — Fri, 03 May 2019 18:17:00 +0000

Internationally renowned as our Chair of Surveillance Studies and the Director of the ��˴�Ƭ Surveillance Studies Centre, Professor Lyon has a cross-appointment from Sociology to the Faculty of Law.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1stc3WbrsFM

David Murakami Wood: Royal Society of Canada

moonr — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 18:09:56 +0000

Dr. David Murakami Wood, a member of the Royal Society of Canada – College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists program discusses key issues of democracy and human rights in relation to security, surveillance, identity and privacy. His work has covered new surveillance technologies, the globalization of surveillance, and comparative studies of surveillance in global cities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6hO4vhFB0A

As Far as Possible, No Salmon

kvd1 — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 21:20:40 +0000

Scott Thompson

This metal tag and list of conditions formed the foundation for the surveillance and management of First Nations fishing practices in 1920s British Columbia. Scott Thompson, a Banting postdoctoral fellow in the Surveillance Studies Centre, is researching how surveillance technologies, like this one, that were designed and implemented by the Canadian government, not only asserted a particular vision of how First Nations peoples ought to behave and enforced this vision, but in doing so, also contributed to the establishment of hurtful “Indian” stereotypes that are still with us today.

Submission Year:

2015-16

Hunter

kvd1 — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:09:04 +0000

Stéfy McKnight

This photograph is an image of a hunting camera used by rural landowners to protect their property from human and non-human trespassers. This photograph proves that citizens are repurposing surveillance technologies for their own security and usage. The research that contextualizes this photograph argues that CCTV cameras and contemporary surveillance practices have inspired citizens to use unique methods of surveillance for their own needs.

Location of photograph:

Markstay, Ontario

Submission Year:

2016-17

Research-Creation is?

kvd1 — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:24:26 +0000

Stéfy McKnight

14 steps to research-creation: 1. Create proposal/draft ideas 2. Read, research, write, and sketch 3. Apply for funding 4. Produce, fail, produce some more, make more mistakes, produce 5. Question your work’s value entirely 6. My creative research is important because… 7. Find confidence in the importance and value of your research and creative practice 8. Produce more 9. Thank your colleagues for their input, support, and for moving heavy objects with you 10. Install and exhibit 11. Write and reflect 12. Share with communities, friends, colleagues, and pets 13. Document/photograph exhibition for future inspiration 14. Create proposal/ draft ideas

Location of photograph:

Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Queen's University

Submission Year:

2017-18

From the Babysitter to Alexa: Surveillance is All Around

stratg — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 18:53:09 +0000

Dr. David Lyon is Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre and Professor of Sociology and Law at Queen’s University. Dr. Lyon is credited with spearheading the field of “surveillance studies,” and he has produced a steady stream of books and articles on the subject. His most recent book, The Culture of Surveillance: Watching as a Way of Life, looks at the imaginaries and practices of everyday surveillance. Dr. Lyon is also the Principal Investigator of the “Big Data Surveillance” project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Coded, I Am

stratg — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:03:50 +0000

Stéfy McKnight

"Coded, I Am" is part of a larger research creation project that looks at preemptive surveillance strategies in North America. It is a self-portrait of an artist immersed in tattoo QR codes. The QR codes – when scanned – direct the viewer to Google Earth images of CSIS and NSA intelligence sites. The photograph not only shows an artist absorbed by her research, but it is a representation of how users rely on third party sites such as Google Earth in their everyday lives, regardless of the risk of data mining and surveillance. The codes shift the surveillance gaze by giving viewers the tools to look at the institutions that are normally doing the ‘surveilling’.

Location of photograph:

Kingston, Ontario

Prize name:

Shortlisted image

Submission Year:

2015-16