Selecting public IP cams to use for my Where-When assignment made me re-examine the ubiquity of cameras and what we expect of them. As cameras become more common, the need to record everything becomes more pressing. We record for surveillance and for the preservation of memories. We always need to have proof of that interesting or funny thing that happened, to the point where we sometimes get our friends to re-perform spontaneous moments in front of the camera in order to save them for posterity. And then, of course, they get posted on YouTube for the sake of entertaining friends and strangers. The constant presence of the camera in our lives will continue to push us toward a life of performance. More and more we are aware of being watched, and are watching others. I became acutely aware of my own voyeuristic tendencies while sifting through the streams of public IP cams; I was most interested in the cameras that focused on people. Traffic cams are boring.
I am not sure how much this will change in the next five years. Presumably, we will just become more comfortable with the presence of the camera in our lives. As more moments of our lives get recorded, we will likely be more forgiving of others’ mishaps and slip-ups. However, it is possible that we will also be more critical, as it is easier to dig up and replay every mistake. This concept is a staple behind The Daily Show, which has in turn influenced the news shows that it mocks to do the same. The big question is, will we become more poised and practiced at being in front of a camera, or will we just forget its presence after a while?