For my ‘political landscape’ project after looking at different topics relating to this term, I have decided that I would like to look into the theme of surveillance as I believe this can be approached in many ways, and is also a very political matter.
Topics surrounding surveillance:
-Government mass surveillance projects
-Spying / voyeurism
-CCTV
-Birds perched, looking down (seagulls, pigeons etc.)
-Telephone Recording
-Citizen Paranoia / Trust in the government / Public Relations
-Paranoid Behaviours
-Conspiracy Theories
-Cyber-security (e.g. Facebook, Apple, Google)
-Physical Privacy
-Big Brother Theory
-Sousveillance : the recording of an activity by a participant in the activity, typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies.
-Big-Data : extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.
As part of my research into this topic, I read a 2015 Arcadia University Thesis covering ”Surveillance and Privacy in the Digital Age: A Primer for Public Relations” written by Robert McMahon, this document covers many areas and issues relating to this theme of Privacy and surveillance.
A link to the document…
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=grad_etd
Here are some quotes from the thesis that particularly stood out to me, as they say a lot about public relations in terms of surveillance and privacy…
”nearly eight in 10 young adults say the U.S. government is likely “tracking their communications,” according to the Pew Research Center.”
”Republicans and Democrats were equally likely to say the government is monitoring their phone calls or emails. Men and individuals without a college degree were more likely to suspect government spying.”
”National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked approximately 1.7 million classified documents about surveillance programs in 2013” ”Snowden has continued to warn Americans against surveillance groups targeting their technology”
“It turns out humans are really good at knowing who is
trustworthy and reliable in their community. What’s new is that we’re now able to measure through massive computing power.”
”The notion that “Big Brother Is Watching” has been around for decades, it is an often-used catchphrase to describe surveillance or privacy infringements. The evolution of the Internet, cellular networks and the growth of high speed connections worldwide has allowed an endless supply of devices to connect to this global network and produce an infinite supply of very specific, personal data. Without question these technological advancements have revolutionized industries and enhanced lives. However, the opportunity for “Big Brother” to watch has similarly evolved at a rapid pace. Not only is “Big Brother” watching, but he is also doing things with the information he is seeing. The political and cultural implications of these often-secretive activities have only recently started to become a topic of discussion in the general media.”
After looking into the theme of surveillance I have decided that i would specifically like to focus on CCTV surveillance and the idea of being spied on (”The Big Brother”)
Artists/Photographers that produce work surrounding topics to do with surveillance and security include:
Project plan of approach:
I plan to produce visually unusual and borderline-abstract images in response to surveillance and the ideas surrounding this topic. I want to create images that will make the viewer question the issues and controversies associated with surveillance. I will create 3 focus on 3 specific photographic subjects surrounding this theme, those being: CCTV Cameras, Replicated CCTV Footage and Perched Birds (Seagulls, Pigeons etc.) in Urban Settings. Together once sequenced in the right way I believe that these photographed subjects will harmonise quite effectively and hopefully produce a successful final outcome.