ABSTRACT:
This study explores the evolving relationship between technology and humans within the framework of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), focusing on how the rise of the network society has redefined cultural values through the logic of transparency. As data-driven infrastructures increasingly mediate social life, transparency emerges not only as a technical condition but also as a pervasive cultural discourse. By integrating ANT with Foucauldian discourse analysis, and adopting a critical ethnographic approach, this research aims to uncover how digital technologies function as non-human actors that co-construct meaning within sociotechnical networks. Rather than treating transparency as a neutral value, the study examines it as an ideological force embedded in contemporary design, media, and spatial practices. Through interdisciplinary case analyses, ranging from wearable devices and automotive interfaces to media artworks and cinematic representations, the research reveals how transparency manifests itself in varied forms: as bodily self-objectification, interface abstraction, aesthetic spectacle, and even social isolation. These artifacts are not passive reflections of culture but active mediators that shape perception, behaviour, and power dynamics. The findings demonstrate that in the network society, the ideal of visibility paradoxically leads to alienation, self-surveillance, and semantic impoverishment. ANT provides the analytical lens to frame these artifacts as dynamic actors, while Foucault’s theory of discourse helps trace how power operates invisibly through transparency. Together, these frameworks allow for a nuanced understanding of the cultural implications of technology in contemporary society. Ultimately, the study positions transparency as a performative and ideological construct rather than a mere by-product of technological advancement. It argues that understanding the aesthetic, spatial, and ethical consequences of this logic is essential for rethinking design, architecture, and cultural production in the digital age.
KEY WORDS:
Actor-Network Theory, culture, network society, technology, transparency
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2026.Vol.17.No.1.4