If we consider video in its simplest terms, the first CCTV system was installed over seven decades ago by the Germany military to monitor the launch of rockets during World War II. As video cassettes became cheap to produce and accessible to the public, CCTV systems were increasingly deployed by law enforcement and businesses not just to catch crime, but also to deter it. In a Foucauldian sense, the presence of cameras internalized a consciousnesses of surveillance. Being seen under the view of a camera was undesirable.
With the arrival of off-the-shelf consumer webcams, amateurs now had the ability to connect cameras on open networks. Starting with a humble coffee pot at Cambridge University, webcams expanded to allow views into places and landscapes around the world. Individuals installed them in their homes, allowing them to become a fixture of their domesticity. Early adopters like Steve Mann and Jennifer Rigley pioneered what we now today call lifecasting, the concept of continuous and voluntary broadcast of one's life. The variety of applications was endless, but more importantly, people willingly installed these cameras, many of them pointing them in on themselves. With the possibility of attracting an audience, being watched was no longer a fear, but rather a desire.
Today, cameras are a fixture of our everyday lives. From the rectangular boxes that perch above street poles to the devices that we keep in our pockets, someone or something is always recording, either continuously or in short bursts. While webcams fully amateurized the visual medium, technology has allowed for smaller and more integrated cameras in devices like smartphones, laptops, and wearables. More than ever we publicize these views online while still remaining wary of systematic surveillance run by agencies like the NSA. As we move into an increasingly digital space where ideas of presence, identity, and culture are refined, the knowledge and context of networked cameras provides a valuable perspective on surveillance and digital communications that grants understanding into how these devices have transformed industries and radically affected the way we present ourselves and view its subjects. This is a look at some of the ways these cameras have been popularized.
This website by Alex Aplin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All images and videos are property of their original owners.
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