Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Approximately 9:12AM, Walking to the Segundo Dining Commons for breakfast. Returning to dormitory approximately 9:57AM.
48 Hour Self-Surveillance
Update: Well, today (April 28th, 2010) the weather was on and off, so unfortunately I could not be about my typical day and record much of my daily events without risking my camera.
48 Hour Self-Surveillance
Update:
(April 30, 2010) I was finally able to go out and about after attending my morning discussion. I took a stroll through the arboretum and felt even then I was not completely alone despite the quiet paths.
Update:
(April 30, 2010) After my stroll through the arboretum, my mother calls and asks me if I would like to visit for the weekend. I live near Los Angeles.
Part Two: Self-Surveillance
a. Throughout actively seeking and noting surveillance equipment and tracking systems alike, I came to the quick realization that I spend most of my entire day with my head slightly tilted downward to the ground. I had not paid great attention to this particular style of walking and interacting with my surrounding world, but thinking back to Michel Foucault’s self-monitoring idea; I began to see the extent to which I consciously monitored my own movements to be aware of the position of my moving body parts relative to my torso. I realize, the idea of the possibility of always being monitored inhibited lucid movement of my body as I walked because I was conscientious of what different observers would perceive of my mode of walking (that I am assured hardly anyone would care). This was all significant to me during the course of the seventy-two hour self-surveillance because by walking with such a posture, head lowered and a blank stare throughout my day, I did not think of looking up in the Segundo dining commons and observing the little black hub cameras recording nearly all instances of patron behaviors. Nor did I consider looking up in various hallways to spot either conspicuous, or well hidden surveillance equipment to track individual movement. Then I quickly remembered how little the thought of the possibility of being constantly monitored impacted me prior to this experiment; I grew up in a cramped household and did not have an appreciation for privacy. I would greet my parents as they would depart for work in the mornings, and would converse with either one of my parents and describe my day. I slept in the living room because I gave what used to be my room to my four younger sisters.
b. Choosing to actively record and monitor my movements on a consistent basis and uploading my information from my digital camera to my laptop, to the group blog, and waiting for the process in it’s entirety to finish is a grueling waste of time – at least for me. Being public for me really translates into how productive I could be in doing something else that would get my work out of the way that much faster rather than carrying around my camera, taking photos, and moving through the process described earlier – frankly it’s annoying. I had to constantly remember to take photos of instances in which I believed to have felt myself in a private setting; the main issue for me was realizing when I was actually in the private moment and documenting the information. For example, during the experiment, I went home, there were various instances that I was blissfully unaware I was in an opportune time to record the private moments of my trip. It wasn’t until thereafter that I realize I should have documented the situation – I moved along.
c. In my everyday life I often feel despondent in figuring out what the media wants out of me. I consistently wake up a little before seven in the morning and turn on my laptop. While it’s loading up, I normally run through my list of assignments until my laptop is responsive and able to process applications quickly. I open my browser (firefox) and I usually read the front page of The London Times. I do not have class until nine in the morning, so I read up on the news, and I often question what web-embedded advertisements might my browser-add-ons filtered, block, and hidden from my plain sight at examining the news. The paranoia I have developed from previous computer mishaps in my childhood has made me built up an internet shield (a series of programs, anti-malware software, security add-ons, specific coding to block out instances of suspicious text, images, sites, etc.). I have not watched television a consistent basis since my sophomore year in high school, and in a public sense I feel greatly disconnected from my peers and colleagues. I often do not understand references, or jokes involving current popular television shows, what I do notice is the unusual direction advertisements have taken since I last watched television. Instances in my life where a lack of a private persona would be greatly beneficial –at least from what I think, would be during important social gatherings whether familial, or formal. I am usually too oblivious to notice other individuals when I go on about my day normally because in my mind there are thoughts racing through. I do not tune out the world, but I mainly ignore it in place of my own thoughts (in an egotistical sense) to what may be concerning at the moment (chronic self-reflection).
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