Bringers of order : wearable technologies and the manufacturing of everyday life
(2025)

Nonfiction

Book

Call Numbers:
303.483/GILMORE,J

Availability

Locations Call Number Status
Adult Nonfiction 303.483/GILMORE,J Available

Details

PUBLISHED
Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2025]
©2025
DESCRIPTION

xii, 242 pages ; 23 cm

ISBN/ISSN
9780520410145, 9780520410138, 0520410130, 0520410149, 9780520410145
LANGUAGE
English
NOTES

Introduction : bringing order to life -- Health, or : bringing the hospital to the wrist -- Accessibility, or : personalization and the promotion of hearables -- Sport, or : monitoring physical activity on and off the field -- Labor, or : workplace surveillance down to the millisecond -- Law enforcement, or : the opacity of body-worn cameras in upstate South Carolina -- Infrastructure, or : the datafication of Disney World -- Conclusion : culture, or : order as a way of life

"Wearable technology, including smartwatches, VR headsets, and body cameras, are often touted as helpful tools that record, produce, and analyze data about daily life to improve our individual habits and health or to solve serious public issues. In this book, James N. Gilmore argues that these lofty promises mask forms of surveillance and power. Charting the implementation of wearables in areas of accessibility, health, sports, labor, law enforcement, and infrastructure, Gilmore demonstrates how these devices have been positioned as authoritative means for producing knowledge about human activity. Drawing on news reporting, advertising, film and television, company reports, and legal policies, he shows how this knowledge production reproduces three distinct modes of power: normalcy, surveillance, and solutionism. Bringers of Order empowers readers to examine the complicated ways our devices reshape how we think about our lives and our ethics and why we should resist companies analyzing our personal data"--

Additional Titles