Keith Spiller

Carnivalesque collaborations: reflections on ‘doing’ multi-disciplinary research

Many funding bodies emphasize the advantages of using multi-disciplinary approaches; in response, in this article we consider our reflections on doing such a project. We contribute to the multi-disciplinary literature by considering the standardizing effect of collaboration on multifarious research approaches. We argue that greater attention should be paid to ‘doing’ qualitative multi-disciplinary research. We find that elements of ‘letting go’ and ‘coming together’ are important when new perspectives and knowledge are engaged. Therefore, we call for clarity on the multi-disciplinary approaches and discuss how we came to understand the collaborative processes of researching, thinking, and writing. The paper begins with vignettes about our ontological journeys during the research project. In developing our argument, we consider the retrospective and reflexive qualities expressed in our vignettes and examine how our collaborative theorizing shaped the research project.

Experiences of accessing CCTV data: The urban topologies of subject access requests

In this paper, I argue that careful attention needs to be paid to the handling of urban CCTV digital data. Since the early 1990s, CCTV has left an indelible mark on UK cities, and beyond. CCTV is a crime-reduction strategy, and its activation owes much to the laws and regulations that govern its function and the passivity with which it is often viewed. I consider the nature of security when CCTV signs, recorded images and the rights of citizens are interlinked in controlled urban spaces. Despite the regulatory powers of the Data Protection Act, the management of CCTV data is at times poorly operationalised and often obfuscated. The paper discusses my experiences of identifying 17 different CCTV cameras and being recorded, and my attempts to access my images through subject access requests (SARs). In what follows, I draw on different topologies of experience in expanding upon the mutable, unpredictable and intensive relations that guide the management of CCTV data.

Prolonging life: appreciations of a secondhand ‘capital’ machine

In this paper I look at a farm that diversified its business and within this process bought a secondhand sausage vacuum filler. I do this in order to question how this machine came to be understood and valued by the farmers who bought it. The themes discussed include the role of the machine in changing the working practices of the farm, as well as factors unknown when buying secondhand—purchasers can only ever truly know the reliability and levels of performance of the machine retrospectively. While much work has considered the secondhand cultures of goods such as clothes, brick-a-brac, or cars, the departure I make here is to consider goods bought and used in commercial contexts. I consider the calculations made when a secondhand commodity is invested with the risks and tensions of expanding a business. There are critical and additional pressures resting on the machine: for example, if the machine fails to work, it may be detrimental to the business. The paper focuses on the appreciations of two farmers and how the machine they bought was used and appreciated.

Data privacy: Users' thoughts on quantified self personal data

The logging of personal data has been shown to offer many benefits for those wanting to, for example, get fitter, get stronger or get to know themselves better. In this chapter, we concentrate on the privacy values attributed to Quantified-Self (QS) data. Using evidence taken from research interviews, this chapter reviews privacy in relation to personal data and offers an empirical perspective on how QS users view and value the data they collect, and often display publically, as well as their attitudes towards the handling of their data by QS device manufacturers. We question appreciations of privacy in QS data and elaborate on how users value their QS privacy.

‘What does terrorism look like?’: university lecturers’ interpretations of their Prevent duties and tackling extremism in UK universities

ABSTRACT The UK Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) (CTSA) calls for a partnership between the government, individuals, organisations and communities to prevent the radicalisation of individuals and to prevent their participation in terrorist and illegal activities. As part of this strategy, universities have a statutory duty placed upon them to remain vigilant to signs of extremism. Based upon 20 interviews with UK university lecturers, the paper examines reactions of the academic community to this governmental mandate. Key to our understanding is the deputisation of lecturers into a security regime and how they perform the duty of identifying and monitoring extremism. Equally, forms of resistance are evident in how lecturers understand their new roles and for universities themselves a conservative approach to risk may be gaining traction. We argue there is confusion around the CTSA based upon the ambiguous language in which it is presented and the conservative and defensive reactions that have subsequently produced concern amongst lecturers and UK universities.

The role of customer management capabilities in public–private partnerships

Commercial organisations are increasingly asked to perform tasks traditionally associated with governmental bodies, such as law enforcement. The rationale for these public–private partnerships is that there are synergies between traditional business skills and those required to achieve certain societal goals. However, there is a lack of research into whether this is, indeed, the case. This paper addresses this gap by investigating one particular type of public–private partnership: anti-money laundering (AML). The study explores the potential synergies between customer relationship management (CRM) and those required for AML. A quantitative survey-based approach is used to identify the overlaps and connections between these two areas of competence. The findings reveal tensions between financial institutions’ dual roles as both commercial organisations and players in the battle against money laundering. The consequences for these firms are explored, and the wider implications for other organisations supplying non-commercial services to government are considered.

‘Beacons of modernity’: Department stores, modernity and the urban experience in mid‐twentieth century Ireland

Abstract This paper explores the spatiality of several Irish department stores with a view to presenting new insights into questions of modernity and identity in the mid‐twentieth century Irish city. We propose that shops like Cashes, Munster Arcade, Amotts, Brown Thomas, McBirneys, Clerys and Switzers were sites that enrolled consumers into certain kinds of cultural identity, offering opportunities to develop modern tastes and perform modern senses of fashion as sites where notions of ‘the modern’ were represented and articulated, as arenas where Irish people ‘met’ modernity in ordinary and tangible forms. The paper considers the cultural geographies and histories of this widely neglected part of the urban experience in twentieth century Ireland.