Technologies of Accident: Forensic Media, Crash Analysis, and the Redefinition of Progress

TECHNOLOGIES OF ACCIDENT: FORENSIC MEDIA, CRASH ANALYSIS, AND THE REDEFINITION OF PROGRESS Greg Siegel A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2005 Approved by Advisor: Professor Lawrence Grossberg Reader: Professor Tyler Curtain Reader: Professor Ken Hillis Reader: Professor Kevin Parker Reader: Professor Della Pollock © 2005 Greg Siegel ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT GREG SIEGEL: Technologies of Accident: Forensic Media, Crash Analysis, and the Redefinition of Progress (Under the direction of Lawrence Grossberg) This study suggests that by the mid-twentieth century, transportation accidents were no longer thought to be something that could be eradicated through the eradication of human error. Neither were they something to be simply accepted. Instead, they were something to be expertly monitored and measured, scrutinized and analyzed, explained and contained. To these ends, transportation accidents were subjected to rigorous investigation and controlled experiment, and new means and methods were designed and implemented to technologically write, scientifically read, and institutionally manage them. Technologies of Accident advances three basic propositions: (1) the transportation accident was made into an object of scientific and institutional analysis, knowledge, and control in the United States during the 1940s and ’50s; (2) the transportation accident, regarded in the nineteenth century as an impediment to technological progress, was reconstituted in the twentieth as a catalyst for technological progress; and (3) accident technologies and forensic media such as the flight-data recorder, the cockpit-voice recorder, and the high-speed motion-picture camera embodied and enabled the twin transformations described in the first two propositions. This study examines the origins and implications of a cultural and institutional project driven by two interrelated imperatives: discover the transportation accident’s “truth” (in the iii name of history or science) and discipline the transportation accident’s signification (in the name of education). Particular attention is paid to how accident technologies and forensic media articulated and were articulated by their cultural and discursive contexts, as well as the ways in which they rearticulated earlier technocultural imaginings and practices. iv To my mom and my dad, for a lifetime’s worth of support, encouragement, and love. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It was my amazing good fortune to have been able to study with some outstanding educators and brilliant scholars during my graduate career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The seminars I took with Tyler Curtain, Arturo Escobar, Larry Grossberg, Joanne Hershfield, Jim Hevia, Ken Hillis, Vicky Johnson, Kevin Parker, Della Pollock, and Barbara Herrnstein Smith (at Duke) have had a profound and lasting influence on my thinking, teaching, and writing. Lucky for me, several of the aforementioned professors agreed to serve on my dissertation committee. Tyler, Ken, Kevin, and Della: thank you, thank you, thank you. Time and again, your insights and observations inspired me intellectually, your guidance and encouragement sustained me academically, and your sincerity and generosity touched me personally. I came to graduate school to study popular music with Larry Grossberg, the best and biggest name in the field. For reasons that still aren’t entirely clear to me, I realized early on that my heart wasn’t into researching and writing about popular music from a scholarly perspective (even though I enjoyed and continue to enjoy teaching courses on the subject). Instead, my interests and inclinations led me to study, of all things, the use of large-screen video displays in sports stadiums. I am glad that I decided to keep working with Larry during my years as a Master’s student, and I am grateful that he allowed me to keep working with him. Yet I am even more glad and grateful to have worked with Larry during my years as a Ph.D. student. Here again, I chose an unusual topic for an aspiring media and cultural studies scholar: the use of “forensic media” to record, represent, or reconstruct transportation accidents. I thank Larry for his open mind and willingness to let me follow my muse into such strange and uncharted territory. I thank him, too, for helping me make sense of and map out that territory. Through oral conversation and written commentary, Larry brought his deep erudition and massive intellect to bear on my ideas and words in ways that were motivating, fascinating, challenging, and heartening. What’s more, in his role as advisor, Larry seemed to know just when to nudge me along and, equally important for someone of my temperament, just when to leave me alone. Finally, I am indebted to Larry for offering sound counsel and moral support during some very difficult times, personal and professional. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor, collaborator, and friend. I want to acknowledge a number of persons who were previously or are presently affiliated with UNC’s Communication Studies department. The idea for this dissertation was partly inspired by my friend and colleague Mark Robinson’s fascinating seminar paper and presentation on cockpit-voice recordings, and I thank him for encouraging me to combine my interest in Paul Virilio’s notion of “the accident” with his interest in the airplane cockpit’s uncanny audio. vi Shout-outs to Niku Arbabi, Hannah Blevins, Lisa Calvente, Annissa Clarke, Steve Collins, Eve Crevoshay, Raphael Ginsberg, Brian Graves, Mark Hayward, Tim Henderson, Shannon O’Neill, David Raskin, Emily Ravenscroft, Jonathan Riehl, Robb Romanowski, Scott Selberg, Josh Smicker, Stace Treat, and Sindhu Zagoren for their comradeship and conviviality during my final few years of graduate school. As for friends and colleagues I have known for a longer spell — namely, Gwen Blue, Rivka Eisner, Nathan Epley, Josh Malitsky, Jules Odendahl, Matt Spangler, and Ted Striphas — I owe each of you a huge debt of gratitude. Your true friendship and generous collegiality have meant the world to me. Simply stated, I don’t think the completion of this dissertation would have been possible without your emotional and intellectual support. (Special thanks to Riv for more than I can say. .) Rich Cante, Denise Currin, Julia Wood, and Bill Balthrop each helped me in various ways during my time at UNC, and I am grateful to them. Last but certainly not least among UNC compatriots, there is Victoria Dowd. Although she recently moved on to much-deserved greener pastures, Victoria served as the department’s Graduate Student Administrator for the whole of my graduate career. Thank heaven for that. Gracious, bighearted, and exceedingly capable and dependable, Victoria kept things functioning and held things together in the department. On more than one occasion, she kept me functioning and held me together, too. While doing research for this dissertation, I contacted and received invaluable assistance from numerous individuals working in academia, industry, or government. I am grateful to each of the following for their time, effort, and cooperation: Martha Adams (Arcwelder Films); August Burgett (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration); Ken Carper; Jack Doughty (AIMS Multimedia); Ellyn Fisher (Ad Council); Sharon Fox (Demonstratives, Inc.); Ken Fraser (Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Australia); Steve Goldner and Gordie Morgan (First Technology Safety Systems); Dennis Grossi (National Transportation Safety Board); Greg Henneman and Lynn Livingston (Holloman Air Force Base); Sarah Lochlann Jain; Pini Kalnite, Brenda O’Donnell, Russell Rader, and David Zuby (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety); Larry Kinsel and Gerald M. Wilson (General Motors); David Morton; Paul Niquette; Gil Pendley (Visual Instrumentation Corp.); Stephanie Palmer; John Durham Peters; Raymond Puffer (Edward Air Force Base); Sharon M. Riley (UNC’s Multimedia Computer Lab); Eric Schatzberg; Norman I. Silber; Ken Smith; Jonathan Sterne; Marvin Tillman (Duke University Libraries); Linda R. Whelan (Volvo); and Patrick Wright. Several staff and faculty at Hollins University lent a helping hand or offered a comforting word when I was in the throes of dissertation distress. Lori Joseph and Chris Richter, my colleagues in the Communication Studies department, have been terrific, as have my more- than-neighborly neighbors, Jen Boyle and Dan Murphy. Division II Secretary Debby Lee and Director of Instructional Technology Ellen Witt have assisted me above and beyond the call. The Hollins Bookstore’s Kalyca Schultz as well as the Wyndham Robertson Library’s vii Amanda Hurst, Ever McKinney, and Kevin Unrath have proved exceptionally amiable, reliable, and resourceful. Many close friends helped me make it through the last several years, including Josh Adams and Libby Grubbs, Steve Baltin, Andrew Dickler, Jeff Fishbein, Michael Golden, Gary Komar, Craig Leva, James O’Brien, and Dale Sherman. Extra thanks and praises to Rick Butler, Ned Jennison, and David Marcus for the reassuring regularity (and refreshing hilarity) of our phone conversations and email exchanges. The warmth, wisdom, and beneficence of my family never ceases to amaze me. Betsy Berman, Sheila Flaherty, Ali Siegel, Nonny Siegel, and Dennis Sinclair have all been tremendously supportive, and their love and

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