Creating the beta-infrastructure: Facial recognition terminals and social management during and after COVID-19 in China

Xiyu Cao, Ping Sun
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Abstract

Taking facial recognition access control (FRAC) as an example, this article examines the changing and fluctuant infrastructuralization process of facial recognition technology (FRT) in China. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, observations, and qualitative content analysis, we provide empirical accounts of how local governments, commercial entities, and community residents perceive FRT in different logics and how FRAC terminals become a key site for social negotiations unfolding through combinations of relation, power, and capital. The article outlines a new framework “beta-infrastructure” to capture the semi-material and semi-social characters of technology artifacts in nowadays digital society. The concept emphasizes both the material functionalities of FRT and the role of local citizens in negotiating what it means to be a good smart city.
创建测试版基础设施:中国 COVID-19 期间和之后的人脸识别终端与社会管理
本文以人脸识别门禁系统(FRAC)为例,探讨了人脸识别技术(FRT)在中国不断变化和波动的基础设施化过程。通过人种学访谈、观察和定性内容分析,我们实证描述了地方政府、商业实体和社区居民如何在不同的逻辑中看待人脸识别技术,以及人脸识别终端如何通过关系、权力和资本的组合成为社会谈判的关键场所。文章概述了一个新的框架 "β-基础设施",以捕捉当今数字社会中技术产品的半物质和半社会特征。这一概念既强调了 FRT 的物质功能性,也强调了当地市民在协商成为优秀智慧城市的意义方面所扮演的角色。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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