Prison Media: Incarceration and the Infrastructures of Work and Technology

"Voices of Change: Activism, Democracy, and Social Justice" talk series.

Talk by Anne Kaun, professor of Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University in Stockholm.

Prisons are not typically known for cutting-edge media technologies. Yet from photography in the nineteenth century to AI-enhanced tracking cameras today, there is a long history of prisons being used as a testing ground for technologies that are later adopted by the general public. If we recognize the prison as a central site for the development of media technologies, how might that change our understanding of both media systems and carceral systems? Prison Media foregrounds the ways in which the prison is a model space for the control and transmission of information, a place where media is produced, and a medium in its own right.

Examining the relationship between media and prison architecture, as surveillance and communication technologies are literally built into the facilities, this study also considers the ways in which prisoners themselves often do hard labor as media workers—labor that contributes in direct and indirect ways to the latest technologies developed and sold by multinational corporations like Amazon. There is a fine line between ankle monitors and Fitbits, and Prison Media helps us make sense of today's carceral society.

Bio

Anne Kaun is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University in Stockholm. Her research on such topics as mediated temporalities and algorithmic culture has appeared in numerous journals, including Convergence, Information, Communication & Society, and New Media & Society. Prison Media has won the 2024 International Communication Association Best Book Award.

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About the talk series

“Voices of Change: Activism, Democracy, and Social Justice” talk series are co-organized by European Communication Research and Education Association’s Communication and Democracy section and The Activism, Communication, and Social Justice Interest Group of the International Communication Association.

This series aims to provide a platform for scholars across disciplines—including communication, sociology, political science, and law—to engage in thought-provoking conversations and pioneering research in these critical areas. It will foster a space for scholars to connect, learn, and grow within a global network of researchers dedicated to advancing knowledge and dialogue on democracy, activism, and social justice.