Product Description

In this volume 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 product online, our transations are recorded, stored and deployed to forecast our future behaviour - thus we may receive solicitations to buy similar products. Elmer charts this process, explaining the technologies that make it possible and examining the social and political implications. He 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 discusses in detail the historical background of the technology of consumer profiling, including such pre-electronic tools as the census and the warranty card, and follows this with a description of the software and technology in use today for demographic mapping. The third part looks at two case studies - a marketing event sponsored by Molson that was held in the Canadian Artic (contrasting the attendees and the indigenous inhabitants) and the use of "cookies" to collect personal information on the World Wide Web, which (along with 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1088955 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 189 pages

Customer Reviews

Packed With Knowledge!
Greg Elmer pulls the veil off the universal practice of consumer profiling and data-collection, and demonstrates its deep societal influence. Daily, when you swipe a credit card or buy a magazine or go online, your personal habits are monitored - and someone will use that information to make a buck. Both in terms of its topic and its treatment, this book should be too theoretical to hold much interest for the business public. Who cares about communications theory as applied to the continual mapping of personal consumer information? However, you can't push this into a dusty corner, because the subtle cultural effect of the increasingly close monitoring and data mining of consumer behavior is too powerful to overlook. While the book has a slightly dry, academic direction, we still strongly recommend it to those who are curious whether the juggernaut economic machine will steamroll over the privacy rights of those who use and feed it.