The members of the Project on Vegas are Stacy M. Jameson, Instructor of Film/Media at the University of Rhode Island; Karen Klugman, photographer and Chair of the Art Department at the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut; Jane Kuenz, Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine; and Susan Willis, Associate Professor of Literature at Duke University.
Las Vegas epitomizes the normalization of surveillance and the privatization of public space. The same data mining and biometric technologies used to monitor gamblers, maximize consumption, and control labor in casinos are integrated into other aspects of daily life, such as online shopping, social networking, and the workplace. Vegas entertainments like csi: The Experience and The Gun Store illustrate how popular culture capitalizes on fear and habituates participants to total visibility in a surveillance society.
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