The watching eyes

Power is crucial to everyday life and it is what influences all the social networks around us. Power is formed through relationships built online and in person (Kuttainen, 2017). There are many forms of power depending on the situation whether it be legitimate power, expert power, or even informational power. These three areas of power are not the only ones but are the focus here. Imagine game network (IGN) forum can be quite a daunting place with a seeming power imbalance.  When first joining IGN it was hard to make a place of your own with many people already having their own space. People in these social networks can be extremely hard to break into because everyone is so familiar with one another.

While the IGN site is an excellent place for creative ideas to flow, and help people out the moderates have the power to delete posts, suspend or erase accounts. Moderaters have a form of legitimate power.  Although a high amount of power is placed into the moderator the awareness of the panopticon lingers in the user’s mind. Foucault’s concepts of the panopticon where having the possibility of somebody watching your every move is to create a sense of being watched (Turkle, 1995). Foucault’s ideology was used to create a self-policing among the citizens.

While in theory the ideology was sound although not many panopticon prisons where built, Foucault argued that the panopticon’s main purpose was to maintain social and power imbalances through a means of passive control (The Conversation, 2016). The fear of being watched on the IGN forums is key to maintaining control of what content is published and how people treat each other. Even though a majority of power is held by the moderates, power is still held in the everyday users. It is possible to post and contribute to helping people around the world. The ideology of the panopticon here is in full effect, it shows that people will generally be polite and courteous while helping each other because of the fear that they are being watched.

The IGN forums expand over many web pages, each page with power dedicated to different moderates but also people that are well traversed in the community. These people are in a position of power and can share their knowledge with everyone who seeks it, this can be known as expert and informational power. It also can be seen that people seeking knowledge are also in a position of power with people determining who are worthy of them giving their time and attention. Power in this area is created by the knowledge seekers, for people who are in a position of knowledge are also people in power.

References

Chappatte. (n.d). Surveillance, Spectacle and the Panoptic state [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.theislamicmonthly.com/surveillance-spectacle-and-the-panoptic-state/  

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 2: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

The Conversation. (2016). The Panopticons are coming! And they’ll know when we think the grass is greener. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/the-panopticons-are-coming-and-theyll-know-when-we-think-the-grass-is-greener-63935

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.