Online Surveillance and Digital Vigilantism
Workshop (in englischer Sprache) Organisiert von den Teilprojekten
B07, B06, A06
des Sonderforschungsbereichs
‚Vigilanzkulturen‘ der LMU

Social networking sites have long been regarded not as mere communication tools. The very social relations are “transformed by virtue of being mediated on platforms like Facebook” (Trottier 2012).  Online social networking has evolved into a sharing practice, in which peer monitoring constitutes a crucial element due to the nature of cyberspace, data handling and growing digitalization of life in general. Contrary to the conventional understanding of surveillance online surveillance is mutual, lateral, collaborative and horizontal (Albrechtslund  2008). This is a current form of vigilance that occurs on an everyday basis.

This workshop aims to better understand the phenomenon of vigilance on social media platforms and beyond and the role of different types of actors involved in it.  Digital vigilantism is defined “as a process where citizens are collectively offended by other citizen activity, and coordinate retaliation on mobile devices and social platforms. The offending acts range from mild breaches of social protocol to terrorist acts and participation in riots“ (Trottier 2017, p. 56).

More information soon here: Online Surveillance and Digital Vigilantism - SFB 1369 Vigilanzkulturen - LMU München (uni-muenchen.de).