Urban imaginaries, sociotechnical collectives and civic vigilance: The networked social life and the new spaces of morality

Abstract

This article presents a reflection on the ideas of cyberactivism and civic surveillance on the so-called social networks. From a comparative analysis of the functioning of Facebook and 4chan, the article shows how these technological platforms limit and model interaction between sociotechnical collectives, whose dynamic and performative nature helps to redefine and rebuild various concepts. For this reason, the notions of public and private, personal and political, activism and resistance, truth and post-truth are discussed herein. Various possible action strategies in these new spaces are also discussed, namely anonymity and personalization, which represent different forms of dealing with civic surveillance, opening the debate between freedom of speech and political correctness.