Self Surveillance Project

Part I
24 hour Observation 03/28/10
Nearly any location contained cameras, stores, gas stations, the internet, the ATM machines, traffic surveillance cameras, etc...A particularly interesting example is that even the unitrans buses have cameras mounted on the interior roofs—something that I had previously not noticed. Even cellular phones track the activity—call logs that cannot be removed entirely, the internet is also a huge surveilling machine, as it keeps track of each and every action made while connected to the internet.
48 hour Self Surveillance 03/29/10--03/30/10
I found that there was rarely a time in which I was alone. I share my room with another person, and she leaves earlier than I do, so there was a brief twenty minute period in the morning (around 9:00 AM) in which I was completely alone in my room. I spent most of the day studying at the library, which had numerous individuals at all times. Upon entering the art room in the afternoon (around 2:00 PM) I found that the room remained empty for about ten minutes after my arrival. Upon returning to my apartment, my roommate had returned, and I was no longer in a private area. The next day was more of the same, I spent most of my day studying in my room—I was along from (1:00 PM to 5:00 PM). In conclusion, I was alone when I first woke up, when I went to the bathroom, or showered, and the brief time in the art room. Otherwise, I was always under surveillance.
Part II
A. Surveillance is heavily incorporated into our culture to be under surveillance, particularly in public areas in which there is no privacy—there is a surveillance device every few feet. From this exercise, I have realized that being in public is very much a literal situation; there is absolutely no privacy, whether it is being surveilled by individuals, or by cameras. Even in private, there is not true privacy, as we are always connected to the media via cell phones and the internet—a system that tracks every single move we make online, and logs it.

B. Simply being aware of the possibility of being under surveillance can drastically alter behavior, as I found that I was more contemplative of my actions in the public eye, in comparison to when I was alone. It was rather difficult to find a time in which I was actually alone entirely, as there was almost always either a person nearby, or a camera.

C. Media, is something I feel affects my private self, whether it is through advertisements, the internet, or television. However, there is a large difference between allowing media to affect the private self and allowing one’s private life to be a part of the media. Facebook is a main enabler of allowing the public self to become part of the public media, however, because of the control that the individual has over exactly what they show to the public, this becomes a matter of manipulating exactly what wants to be shown. In this situation, having a public persona would be advantageous, as every aspect of the public persona can be manipulated and controlled.