Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Mark Wagner's Survielance Media Experiment













Sunday April 25: Note Others Surveying You

With my seminar canceled, I only left the house for an enjoyable bike ride by myself. There were many people outside enjoying the day. The only other source of people seeing me would have been the many traffic cameras in East Davis. At home I spent most of the time on the computer and Xbox, both require me to log in to use their services, like check my email, play online, and look at smartsite.

Monday and Tuesday April 26 & 27: Survey Yourself

Having spent most of my time on campus, I was seen by somebody most of the day. My photos were mainly taken at home when I was alone.

I'd wake up groggy, eat, spend the day in class and working, get home, unwind with a shower, candy, and then sleep. My favorite is probably the blue tongue, a moment where I might have been extremely self conscious if I were in public.


Reflection

By nature of my schedule, I found myself alone the day I chose to note the surveillance of others and in public when I was noting my isolation. This opened my thinking to alternate forms of observation like online participation.

I found self-consciousness come and goes with the crowd. I would have been completely oblivious of my blue tongue if I hadn't taken that picture and would have gotten a bunch of funny looks and snickers by talking to people in public.

The media I am most involved in would be the online video game community. I can't deny that I think of my online presence as the same as myself. However, if I'm home alone on the computer, in "public" with my fellow players, I can recognize that they cannot see me in my home, only the virtual representation of me. In addition, if I had the television on or was listening to music, I didn't feel like I was being observed. I feel that my online presence and viewership it is my two way window to the world; I can see it but it can't see me.

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