Mediating Knowledge: Power in the Digital Era
Keywords:
Power Institutions, Michel Foucault, Digital Era, Epistemology, Don Ihde, Digital Objects, Meaning-Making Structures.Abstract
Contemporary institutions of power increasingly operate through subtle, technology-mediated mechanisms. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s conception of the reciprocal relationship between knowledge and power, this study examines the role of digital objects as epistemic instruments within such power structures. Following Don Ihde’s framework, technologies are understood as non-neutral mediators that shape and sustain “structures of meaning.”
This study addresses two central questions: To what extent do tools and technologies shape human understanding of existence? And how do digital objects, as material mediators, function within mechanisms of power to produce, regulate, and perpetuate meaning?
Employing a phenomenological methodology, this research explores lived experiences, focusing on how digital platforms, smartphones, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and search engines embed users within pervasive networks of influence. Findings indicate that digital technologies simultaneously generate knowledge, structure meaning, and subtly guide voluntary compliance with algorithmic norms. This underscores the continuous interplay between knowledge production and surveillance in the digital era.
References
Bredekamp, H. (2016). The lure of antiquity and the cult of the machine (A. Brown, Intro.). Wiener Publishers.
Brown, H. I. (1985). Galileo on the telescope and the eye. Journal of the History of Ideas, 45, 487–501.
Daly, P. M. (n.d.). Emblem theory: Recent German contribution to the characterization of the emblem genre. Nendeln: KTO Press.
Darius, Jon. (1984). Beyond Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Fisher, E. (2023). Epistemic media: Their history and relations to subjectivity. Knowledge Cultures, 11(3), 7–24.
Fraser, N. (2016). Foucault on modern power: Empirical insights and normative confusions. London: Routledge. (Original work published 1994)
Foucault, M. (2016). The archaeology of knowledge (A. Jahandideh & N. Sarkhosh, Trans.; 3rd ed.). Tehran: Ney Publishing.
Foucault, M. (2021). The order of things: Archaeology of the human sciences (F. Valiani, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Tehran: Mah Publications.
Galilei, G. (1992). Dialogue sur les deux grands systèmes du monde (R. Fréreux & F. de Gandt, Trans.). Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Galloway, A. R. (2014). Laruelle. Against the digital. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Haciguzeller, P., Taylor, J. S., & Perry, S. (2021). On the emerging supremacy of structured digital data in archaeology: A preliminary assessment of information, knowledge and wisdom left behind. Open Archaeology, 7, 1709–1730.
Henfeling, O. (2022). What is art? (A. Ramin, Trans.; 12th ed.). Tehran: Hermes Publishing.
Henning, M. (2014). Museums, media archaeology and the image. Paper presented at Archaeologies of Media and Film Conference, University of Bradford / National Media Museum, September 4.
Henning, M. (2022). Kind of blue, social media photography and emotion. Digital Culture and Society, 7(2), 29–54.
Ihde, D. (2002). Bodies in technology. University of Minnesota Press.
Kittler, F. (1999). Gramophone, film, typewriter (T. Lenior & H. U. Gumbrecht, Eds.). Stanford University Press.
Lindhe, C. (2016). Museums in a digital culture. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Machenzie, A., Rose, J., & Bhatt, I. (Eds.). (2021). The epistemology of deceit in a postdigital era: Dupery by design. Springer.
Moller, D., et al. (2022). Emerging technologies in the era of digital transformation: State of the art in the railway sector. In 19th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics. Lisbon.
Risse, M. (2021). The fourth generation of human rights: Epistemic rights in digital lifeworlds. Moral Philosophy and Politics, 8(2).
Schwarzenegger, C. (2020). Personal epistemologies of the media: Selective criticality, pragmatic trust, and competence–confidence in navigating media repertoires in the digital age. Journal Name, 22(2).
Shiban, K. K. (2016). Scanning the issue. IETE Journal of Research, 62(1), 1–2.
Stace, W. T. (2002). Religion and the new attitude (A. R. Jalili, Trans.). Tehran: Hokmat Publications.
Tavin, K., et al. (2021). Post-digital, post-internet art and education. University of Alberta, Edmonton: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tsichla, M.-E. (2021a). Forms of digital art in Greece: An avant-garde art in dynamic development. International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies, 3(3), 44–50.
Tsichla, M.-E. (2021b). the visual arts in a new era: Digital art. American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 7(1), 1–5.
Turkle, S. (Ed.). (2007). Evocative objects: Things we think with. MIT Press.
Turner, C. (2022). Augmented reality, augmented epistemology, and the real-world web. Philosophy & Technology, 35, Article 19.
Wells, Liz. (Editor). (2012). Photography: A critical introduction (S. Khatailer, Trans.). Tehran: Minuye Kherad Publications. Second edition.
Young, W. G. (2011). Kittler and the media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Zeimaran, M. (2017). Michel Foucault: Knowledge and power (9th ed.). Tehran: Hermes Publishing.
BankMyCell. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bankmycell.com
DataReportal. (n.d.). Digital 2025: Global overview report. Retrieved from https://datareportal.com/reports
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
