Fahrenheit 451: passive consumption through audience participation
"When the 'Family' (the television with its 'cousin' announcers and actors) presents an interactive play in which Linda believes she has a role, an actor (Donald Pickering) wearing glasses with thick, black rectangular frames, turns to the camera as it zooms in on him and says, 'What do you think, Linda?'"
(Tom Whalen, Gale Student Resources In Context)
Whalen, Tom. "The Consequences of Passivity: Re-evaluating Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451," in Literature-Film Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 3, July, 2007, pp. 181(10).
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Internet Eyes: Public monitor CCTV from home
"Members of the public could earn cash by monitoring commercial CCTV cameras in their own home, in a scheme planned to begin next month.
The Internet Eyes website will offer up to £1,000 if viewers spot shoplifting or other crimes in progress.
The site's owners say they want to combine crime prevention with the incentive of winning money.
But civil liberties campaigners say the idea is 'distasteful' and asks private citizens to spy on each other.
The private company scheme - due to go live in Stratford-upon-Avon in November - aims to stream live footage to subscribers' home computers from CCTV cameras installed in shops and other businesses.
If viewers see a crime in progress, they can press a button to alert store detectives and collect points worth up to £1,000.
Internet Eyes founder James Woodward said: 'This is about crime prevention.
'CCTV isn't watched, it isn't monitored, and not enough cameras are watched at any one time.
'What we're doing is we're putting more eyes onto those cameras so that they are monitored'."
(BBC NEWS, 6 October 2009, UK)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Urbis: capturing visitors through CCTV surveillance
"These themes are reflected in the variety of interactive exhibits on display, the centre piece of which is a room containing cctv cameras where one can see oneself being filmed and where, at a console, one can then produce one’s identity card, with basic information about oneself, including likes and dislikes. These can then be stuck on the outside wall of the room and can be read by other visitors. This appears to be one of the most popular exhibits and an example of an interactive display that works. The reason for this success are that it affords absorption or immersion in an activity in ways that most of the other exhibits do not. It makes no sense here just to look, rather one needs to sit down and get involved in a hands on experience so that one can present a snapshot of oneself to others. There is often a queue to use the computers and after a year the wall outside for sticking the id cards on is filling up. Information on the id cards includes a photo taken by the cctv cameras, first name, place of residence and likes and dislikes, these mostly include foods, football teams, family members, pets and celebrities often in both categories."
(Kevin Hetherington, 2004 p.23)
Hetherington, Kevin. 1997 "The Badlands of Modernity: Heterotopia and Social Ordering", London, UK: Routledge.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
