Profile
[KMDiary 2006 Volume 7 Issue #12]
KMDI Graduate Fellow Joseph Ferenbok is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Information Studies (1). Joseph's dissertation investigates the social and cultural dimensions of the face as a knowledge media technology of institutional identification practices. Joseph describes the face as a semiotic domain viewed both as a substrate for specific types of ideological content and as a set of socio-institutional practices to open-up and problematise the identity myth—the connotative linking of facial imagery to constructions of social identity in western visual culture. The identity myth draws on a central tension in Western democracies—between the Enlightenment status of the individual and the dehumanizing individuation of the body through national identity schemes. It constitutes the hegemonic ideology that may be understood as an important facet of the technological frame underlining the development of biometric technologies and as an actor contributing to the momentum of face-based identification practices.
Drawing on a variety of empirical materials such as scientific articles, government documents, cultural texts, and conference proceedings, Joseph’s research aims to unpack the identity myth in order to understand its implications for citizenship and the construction of self. Although there are undoubtedly many complex reasons why Face Recognition Technologies (FRT’s) in particular were chosen and have gained such momentum in the post 9/11 socio-political climate (as compared to other competing and more mature biometric technologies), the cultural status of the face and its ideological connection to identity should not be overlooked.
Joseph’s dissertation discusses the theoretical position of the face as a technology of citizenship, a gateway technology that promises to increasingly serve as the access control apparatus for other forms of information and knowledge media. His study positions the face as a key instrument of citizenship within broader research of institutional identification systems and their implications for identity, citizenship and security. The increased political pressure for adequate access control mechanisms to physical spaces, knowledge network and information suggests that biometrics will become increasingly important aspect of knowledge media design. By extension, the face, as a technology of citizenship, will become an increasingly important concept of knowledge media design.
In addition to his thesis research, Joseph has been a Research Assistant for Dr. Andrew Clement (FIS, KMDI) since August 2004 for a project studying biometrics and social policy. He has also been a Research Assistant for Dr. Elaine Toms (formerly FIS, UofT, now Dalhousie), working on two studies involving digital video and audio navigation (2003-2004). He has taught a course in Visual Culture and the Construction of Identity (Summer 2006), and Edutainment: Frontiers in Knowledge Management Design and Visual Culture (Fall 2006). He has also been a Teaching Assistant for Information and its Social Contexts, and Introduction to Visual Culture.
Joseph has also been active in his service to UofT, KMDI, and FIS. Nominated by KMDI, Joseph has served as the student representative for The Arts Council and the Co-curricular Work Group since March 2006, and he has been one of two student representatives on the KMDI Steering Committee since December 2005. At FIS, Joseph has been the Doctoral Student Representative for the FIS Degree Committee (2004-2006), the Space Allocation and Information Technology committee representative for the Doctoral Students Association (2004-2006), the GSU representative (2003-2004), and the Information Technology committee representative (2003-2006).
(1) http://www.fis.utoronto.ca |
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