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The Panopticon:
The Panopticon
has become associated with many negative issues associated with
a contemporary discourse around privacy and surveillance. However,
the focus on the negative interpretation of the Panopticon does
not do justice to the utilitarian and humanist ambitions of its
creator. After much political wrangling the Panopticon was rejected
in favour of a more traditional English prison where suffering,
disease, abuse and retribution reigned.
The
Panopticon was liberal in comparison, it was a visionary design
by a thinker a couple of centuries ahead of his time. He envisaged
the Panopticon as having far wider humanitarian applications 'to
all establishments whatsoever, in which, within a space not too
large to be covered or commanded by buildings, a number of persons
are meant to be kept under inspection'
(Bentham, 1843), such as hospitals, schools, and possibly,
OnLine learning.
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