#6 Experimental Camera

Design Process

My idea comes from the article China is installing surveillance cameras outside people's front doors ... and sometimes inside their homes
In China, there are constant news reporting that tourists could no longer stand for the cameras put right in front of their door in the hotels. Because currently we don’t have specific national law to regulate the use of surveillance cameras, so the devices are already a regular part of public life. During covid 19, the surveillance became more obvious that even to local residents, cameras were newly put up outside their doors as they went into home quarantine in China’s several large cities, like Beijing and Shenzhen. What’s more, some people posted on social media that cameras have even been placed inside their homes. William Zhou, a public servant, … said a community worker and a police officer came to his apartment and set up a camera pointing at his front door -- from a cabinet wall inside his home. and he was furious, he took action, for example called the mayor's hotline and the local epidemic control command center to complain. But the tables were not turned. He said installing the camera inside his home is a huge invasion of his privacy. The article showed the location of the camera, which is standing on a cabinet inside an apartment. The cameras are used to track whether a person leaves their apartment, whether they’re wearing a mask, whether they have a visitor..

My thoughts

I was thinking if I can make a solution to those people under surveillance at their home quarantine, since the policy and mass survellience was hard to avoid, at least they can have a way to go against it individually and protect their right to life a comfortable private life under this particular stressful time.

Process

Thinking about William Zhou’s concerns, I put privacy as the priority. There’re two scenarios here.

• he first one is when there’s no one in front of the camera. In that case, the camera should not be allowed to take in any images. So I blacken the screen, shut down the camera with a line of text saying that we’re fine at home thank you, don’t peep into our private life.
  
• And when there’s someone going past the camera, which is the second scenario. In the real life, maybe a visitor is coming, or the host, the people who live here wants to go out. In that case, the camera functions, but just able to look at the mosaic version of image, protecting the persons’s belongings.
  
• And if he/she doesn’t wear a mask, the screen will show up a warning message.
  
• If he wears, then was given the superman’s power to go out.
  

Reflection

1. What have you learned throughout the process of designing an unconventional camera?
It's important to think the meaning of the camera and how to convey the meaning correctly.
2. How is the process of “seeing” shaped by the choices you make in code?
The seeing represents surveliience from governors. So here in my camera, I restricted the scope of seeing to the largest extent to protect citizens' privacy.