Profiling machines mapping the personal information economy

The cultural and media studies perspectives on the technology of electronic consumer profiling.In this book Greg Elmer brings the perspectives of cultural and media studies to the subject of consumer profiling and feedback technology in the digital economy. He examines the multiplicity of processes...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Elmer, Greg
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: MIT Press eBook Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02778nmm a2200325 u 4500
001 EB002069248
003 EBX01000000000000001209338
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 220922 ||| eng
020 |a 026227230X 
020 |a 1423725379 
020 |a 9781423725374 
020 |a 9780262272308 
050 4 |a HF5415.32 
100 1 |a Elmer, Greg 
245 0 0 |a Profiling machines  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b mapping the personal information economy  |c Greg Elmer 
260 |a Cambridge, Mass.  |b MIT Press  |c 2004 
300 |a x, 179 pages 
653 |a CULTURAL STUDIES/Critical Theory 
653 |a Consumer profiling 
653 |a SOCIAL SCIENCES/Media Studies 
653 |a Privacy, Right of 
653 |a INFORMATION SCIENCE/Internet Studies 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b MITArchiv  |a MIT Press eBook Archive 
028 5 0 |a 10.7551/mitpress/5614.001.0001 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5614.001.0001?locatt=mode:legacy  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 658.8/34 
520 |a The cultural and media studies perspectives on the technology of electronic consumer profiling.In this book Greg Elmer brings the perspectives of cultural and media studies to the subject of consumer profiling and feedback technology in the digital economy. He examines the multiplicity of processes that monitor consumers and automatically collect, store, and cross-reference personal information. When we buy a book at Amazon.com or a kayak from L.L. Bean, our transactions are recorded, stored, and deployed to forecast our future behavior--thus we may receive solicitations to buy another book by the same author or the latest in kayaking gear. Elmer charts this process, explaining the technologies that make it possible and examining the social and political implications.Elmer begins by establishing a theoretical framework for his discussion, proposing a "diagrammatic approach" that draws on but questions Foucault's theory of surveillance. In the second part of the book, he presents the historical background of the technology of consumer profiling, including such pre-electronic tools as the census and the warranty card, and describes the software and technology in use today for demographic mapping. In the third part, he looks at two case studies--a marketing event sponsored by Molson that was held in the Canadian Arctic (contrasting the attendees and the indigenous inhabitants) and the use of "cookies" to collect personal information on the World Wide Web, which (along with other similar technologies) automate the process of information collection and cross-referencing. Elmer concludes by considering the politics of profiling, arguing that we must begin to question our everyday electronic routines