Kilgour locates this argument in a socio-historical analysis of the design of electronic ankle monitors’ “form factor” - the physical size and shape of computing hardware - over time (from the 1980s to the present). Kilgour’s research strongly suggests that the lack of change in in how ankle monitors look creates the conditions for their wearers to become targets of stigmatization, discrimination, public scrutiny, and socially ostracization due to ankle monitors’ overwhelming associating with the commission of grave criminal offences and the criminal justice system more broadly. Put directly, ankle monitors come to function like a digital, modern-day scarlet letter, akin to being required to wear a criminal record on one’s body.
Kilgour’s broader research agenda critically considers the culture and politics of information and technology, with a specific focus on the roles that information and technology play in producing stigma, social difference, and the continued stratification of society. To carry out her research agenda, she brings information science research into conversation with fields such as sociology, visual sociology/anthropology, visual studies, media studies, surveillance studies, science and technology studies, and history. During the 2019-2020 academic year, Kilgour’s research development was supported through her participation in a doctoral Media Studies Working Group. Kilgour is a recipient of a multi-year doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Previous to beginning doctoral study at Cornell, Kilgour obtained Master of Information and Honours Bachelor of Arts (English Literature) degrees at the University of Toronto.
The full article can be found HERE.
A recent profile of this article by the Cornell Chronicle can be found HERE.
Learn more about Kilgour’s past and present research HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
