{"id":{"repo_id":"qu-belfast","oai_identifier":"oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/qu-belfast/oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b","repository":{"repo_id":"qu-belfast","name":"Queen's University Belfast","base_url":"https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/oai"},"display":{"title":"Beyond the click: interventions in digital adspace","abstract":"This thesis undertakes an ethnographic study of surveillance capitalism and contemporary marketing techniques as they are found in motion. In particular Google, its AdWords marketing platform, and its extensive network of adspace are explored through empirical research to establish: how surveillance capitalism is formed, implemented, and structured; how it creates value; and how agents are able to act and choose in its space-times. In order to do so, this study diverges from a focus on surveillance capitalism as a universal, cybernetic, and statistical system used to predict and control humans. Instead it looks to the notions of logistics and marketization that enable an approach to capitalism as the ongoing design, implementation, and maintenance of markets by unpredictable, posthuman agents.
Research-creation, interviews with marketing experts, and (auto)ethnographic analysis were used to conduct an interventionist research project into Google's data markets in ways that engaged and probed their different marketing processes, agents, and objects. In this way, capitalism was experienced as a series of generative, fragile and localised performances of multiple human and non-human agents in different space-time arrangements increasingly oriented towards the (re)production of profit. This study therefore finds that it is not enough to look to surveillance capitalism as something cohesive to oppose or resist, but rather as a series of deepening entanglements and interdependencies that must be continually unfolded, reviewed, and (re)negotiated.
In sum, this thesis offers both a more encompassing perception of surveillance capitalism, marketing, and Google's platform technologies–how they work, why they perpetuate, and who upholds them–and also presents an important case study of how other critical engagements with surveillance capitalism (scholarly or otherwise) can continue to be undertaken.","abstract_html":"This thesis undertakes an ethnographic study of surveillance capitalism and contemporary marketing techniques as they are found in motion. In particular Google, its AdWords marketing platform, and its extensive network of adspace are explored through empirical research to establish: how surveillance capitalism is formed, implemented, and structured; how it creates value; and how agents are able to act and choose in its space-times. In order to do so, this study diverges from a focus on surveillance capitalism as a universal, cybernetic, and statistical system used to predict and control humans. Instead it looks to the notions of logistics and marketization that enable an approach to capitalism as the ongoing design, implementation, and maintenance of markets by unpredictable, posthuman agents. <br/><br/>Research-creation, interviews with marketing experts, and (auto)ethnographic analysis were used to conduct an interventionist research project into Google's data markets in ways that engaged and probed their different marketing processes, agents, and objects. In this way, capitalism was experienced as a series of generative, fragile and localised performances of multiple human and non-human agents in different space-time arrangements increasingly oriented towards the (re)production of profit. This study therefore finds that it is not enough to look to surveillance capitalism as something cohesive to oppose or resist, but rather as a series of deepening entanglements and interdependencies that must be continually unfolded, reviewed, and (re)negotiated. <br/><br/>In sum, this thesis offers both a more encompassing perception of surveillance capitalism, marketing, and Google's platform technologies–how they work, why they perpetuate, and who upholds them–and also presents an important case study of how other critical engagements with surveillance capitalism (scholarly or otherwise) can continue to be undertaken.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Webster, Daniel"],"institution":"Queen's University Belfast","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Amir, Merav","Sturm, Tristan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-7","date_published":"2021-7","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:55:51Z","subjects":["Digital geography","posthuman","marketing","Google","adspace","advertising","marketization"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"],"render_values":[{"text":"oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Amir, Merav","Sturm, Tristan"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["Northern Ireland Department for the Economy"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Webster, Daniel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-7"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-7"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Natural and Built Environment"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Queen's University Belfast"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Digital geography","posthuman","marketing","Google","adspace","advertising","marketization"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargodate","label":"Dc Rights Embargodate","values":["2024-07-31"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargoreason","label":"Dc Rights Embargoreason","values":["/dk/atira/pure/core/document/studentthesisembargoreason/publicationissues"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b","https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/files/238070447/WEBSTER_THESIS_BEYOND_THE_CLICK_final.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis undertakes an ethnographic study of surveillance capitalism and contemporary marketing techniques as they are found in motion. In particular Google, its AdWords marketing platform, and its extensive network of adspace are explored through empirical research to establish: how surveillance capitalism is formed, implemented, and structured; how it creates value; and how agents are able to act and choose in its space-times. In order to do so, this study diverges from a focus on surveillance capitalism as a universal, cybernetic, and statistical system used to predict and control humans. Instead it looks to the notions of logistics and marketization that enable an approach to capitalism as the ongoing design, implementation, and maintenance of markets by unpredictable, posthuman agents.
Research-creation, interviews with marketing experts, and (auto)ethnographic analysis were used to conduct an interventionist research project into Google's data markets in ways that engaged and probed their different marketing processes, agents, and objects. In this way, capitalism was experienced as a series of generative, fragile and localised performances of multiple human and non-human agents in different space-time arrangements increasingly oriented towards the (re)production of profit. This study therefore finds that it is not enough to look to surveillance capitalism as something cohesive to oppose or resist, but rather as a series of deepening entanglements and interdependencies that must be continually unfolded, reviewed, and (re)negotiated.
In sum, this thesis offers both a more encompassing perception of surveillance capitalism, marketing, and Google's platform technologies–how they work, why they perpetuate, and who upholds them–and also presents an important case study of how other critical engagements with surveillance capitalism (scholarly or otherwise) can continue to be undertaken."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Beyond the click: interventions in digital adspace"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Amir, Merav","Sturm, Tristan"],"dc:contributor.sponsor":["Northern Ireland Department for the Economy"],"dc:creator":["Webster, Daniel"],"dc:date":["2021-7"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-7"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis undertakes an ethnographic study of surveillance capitalism and contemporary marketing techniques as they are found in motion. In particular Google, its AdWords marketing platform, and its extensive network of adspace are explored through empirical research to establish: how surveillance capitalism is formed, implemented, and structured; how it creates value; and how agents are able to act and choose in its space-times. In order to do so, this study diverges from a focus on surveillance capitalism as a universal, cybernetic, and statistical system used to predict and control humans. Instead it looks to the notions of logistics and marketization that enable an approach to capitalism as the ongoing design, implementation, and maintenance of markets by unpredictable, posthuman agents.
Research-creation, interviews with marketing experts, and (auto)ethnographic analysis were used to conduct an interventionist research project into Google's data markets in ways that engaged and probed their different marketing processes, agents, and objects. In this way, capitalism was experienced as a series of generative, fragile and localised performances of multiple human and non-human agents in different space-time arrangements increasingly oriented towards the (re)production of profit. This study therefore finds that it is not enough to look to surveillance capitalism as something cohesive to oppose or resist, but rather as a series of deepening entanglements and interdependencies that must be continually unfolded, reviewed, and (re)negotiated.
In sum, this thesis offers both a more encompassing perception of surveillance capitalism, marketing, and Google's platform technologies–how they work, why they perpetuate, and who upholds them–and also presents an important case study of how other critical engagements with surveillance capitalism (scholarly or otherwise) can continue to be undertaken."],"dc:identifier":["oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b","https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/files/238070447/WEBSTER_THESIS_BEYOND_THE_CLICK_final.pdf"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Natural and Built Environment"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Queen's University Belfast"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/e0d82198-9606-4fa3-a101-0d3c8b959a8b"],"dc:rights.embargodate":["2024-07-31"],"dc:rights.embargoreason":["/dk/atira/pure/core/document/studentthesisembargoreason/publicationissues"],"dc:subject":["Digital geography","posthuman","marketing","Google","adspace","advertising","marketization"],"dc:title":["Beyond the click: interventions in digital adspace"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:55:51Z"}