So You Like Taking Photos Huh

A Study About Resistance Against Digital Data Colonialism Through Meaningful Inefficiencies

Authors

  • Daman Preet Singh University of Calgary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/muj.v2i2.79826

Keywords:

data colonialism, meaningful inefficiency, photography, resistance, auto-ethnography, data harvesting

Abstract

Taking photographs to capture moments is not a novel activity. Taking pictures is an activity we are so accustomed to that it often escapes conscious thought; it has become habitual and ingrained in the human experience. The digital age of photography brings a sense of comfort in photography that has made documenting memories easier, but it also brings a new form of surveillance and data harvesting. Digital photo cataloguing applications like Google Photos and Apple Photos quantify every image they store and capture metadata and location data. These applications process and assign the images to ‘auto-generated’ albums without user authorization. This study aims to understand what data is being captured and to what extent by digital photo cataloguing applications. Withdrawing from digital photographic mediums, this study uses analog film mediums to capture daily life. Throughout this experience, I conducted an auto-ethnographic study on photography practices. Findings introduced and proved the primary concern of data surveillance in digital photo cataloguing applications. While the process of resistance proved to be inefficient on some ends, it provided great insight into how analog media is a strong medium of resistance against digital data colonialism.

References

Andrejevic, M. (2019). Automating surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 17(1/2), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v17i1/2.12930

Barthes, R. (2010). Camera lucida: Reflections on Photography. Hill and Wang.

Bucher, T. (2012). Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook. New Media and Society, 14(7), 1164–1180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812440159

Coleman, G. (2017). From internet farming to weapons of the Geek. Current Anthropology, 58, S91–S102. https://doi.org/10.1086/688697

Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control. October, 59, 3–7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/778828.

Gordon, E. & Walter, S. (2016). Meaningful inefficiencies: Resisting the logic of technological efficiency in the design of civic systems. In E.

Gordon & P. Mihailidis (Eds.). Civic media: Technology, design, practice. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=4573752&ppg=240

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Published

2024-10-25

How to Cite

Singh, D. P. (2024). So You Like Taking Photos Huh: A Study About Resistance Against Digital Data Colonialism Through Meaningful Inefficiencies. The Motley Undergraduate Journal, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/muj.v2i2.79826

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2024): The Motley Undergraduate Journal

Section

Creative Research

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Daman Preet Singh

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