FCJ-187 The Droning of Experience

Abstract

The figure of the drone is invoked as a contemporary avatar for the logics of distributed networking at a distance, automated sense-making and automated response associated with interactive platforms more generally. The case of affective apps is forwarded as an example of the generalised logic of ‘droning’ in the register of control via the modulation of affect. The argument focuses on examples of data mining in the affective frontier: apps that generate data about affective states in order to more effectively categorise and target users. The conclusion argues for a reconfigured approach to questions of alienation as one way of critiquing drone infrastructures and the logics of droning.

Keywords

• drones
• apps
• affect
• networks