‘Outlines of a World Coming into Existence’: Pervasive Computing and the Ethics of Forgetting

Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin
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Martin Dodge: Geography, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, England
Rob Kitchin: NIRSA and the Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland

Environment and Planning B, 2007, vol. 34, issue 3, 431-445

Abstract: In this paper we examine the potential of pervasive computing to create widespread sousveillance, which will complement surveillance, through the development of life-logs—sociospatial archives that document every action, every event, every conversation, and every material expression of an individual's life. Reflecting on emerging technologies, life-log projects, and artistic critiques of sousveillance, we explore the potential social, political, and ethical implications of machines that never forget. We suggest, given that life-logs have the potential to convert exterior generated oligopticons to an interior panopticon, that an ethics of forgetting needs to be developed and built into the development of life-logging technologies. Rather than seeing forgetting as a weakness or a fallibility, we argue that it is an emancipatory process that will free pervasive computing from burdensome and pernicious disciplinary effects.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirb:v:34:y:2007:i:3:p:431-445

DOI: 10.1068/b32041t

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