Gavin J.D. Smith

Gavin J.D. Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Australian National University. He was previously a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Sydney and, before that, a Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at City University London, UK. Educated at the University of Aberdeen, UK, Gavin's main research interests include the mid-range interactivity between systems and subjects of surveillance, with particular focus on the meanings both actors place upon surveillance encounters/exchanges and resultant social dynamics. He is currently working on projects examining the relationship between political economy and surveillance normalisation, the application of surveillance apparatuses into diverse cultral fields (at local and global levels) and the role of the scientific imagination in the creation, design, manufacture and legitimation of surveillance devices. Gavin established and coordinated for two years the world's first MA Surveillance Studies degree programme at City University London and was also responsible for the recent organisation of a gloabl conference on surveillance culture in London funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). He is currently writing a monograph - Opening the Black Box: The Everyday Life of Surveillance (Routledge, 2011) - based on his doctoral research on the cultural practices and subjectivities of surveillance workers, and is co-author (with Martin French) on a general surveillance text, Key Concepts in Surveillance Cultures (Sage, 2012).