smile, you're on camera!

(given as a lightning talk at ACCU 2014 in Bristol, UK)

4-6 million in the UKDepending on which source you choose to believe, there are between 4 and 6 million CCTV cameras in the UK.

for every 10-15 of youWhich means there's one for every 10-15 of you.[Note: talk given to a UK audience]

But that's not what this talk is about.

I want you to take the title of this talk literally; because I'm wearing a camera, right now.It's not like Google Glass. It simply takes a photo every 30 seconds. I don't know when exactly and I don't know exactly what will be in that photo.

#lifelogging

Why would I do this? I'm experimenting with something called "lifelogging".The idea being to simply record everything that happens in your life - because we forget.

Because that's the way our brain works.

Back to the camera: Do you have kids? Do you take photos of your kids?How often have you missed an important moment in the lives of your kids because you didn't have a camera at hand? Suddenly, wearing a camera starts to make sense, doesn't it?

same goes for

vacation

And you can wear it to other occasions as well, like when you're on vacation ...

concerts

... or at a concert ...

... or when attending a conference.(Although "Uncle Bob" Robert Martin has prior art here, for wearing a camera during his keynote at ACCU 2012.)

Now THIS is the typical reaction I get when I tell people that I'm wearing a camera.They see all the negative sides, like issues with privacy and security, or legal implications.

But guess what? We have laws for most of these situations already.

(and common sense)

... and common sense (I would hope).And the rest, we will figure out as we go along.

Okay, so you probably still think I'm a little weird for wearing a camera. But what if I told you that this is actually going mainstream, and it's happening right now!

Remember that meteor in Russia last year? Why do we have so many photos from that event? Because of all the dashboard cameras in Russian cars.

Or take Michael Schumacher's unfortunate skiing accident. Turns out he was filming his own accident with a helmet camera.

This is from a flyer of a local supermarket just a few weeks ago.You know things have reached the mainstream when they're on sale (21% off!) at the supermarket.

So I'm here to tell you about this development. I'm not saying that everybody will be wearing a camera in the near future. But some people will, and you will encounter them.So it's up to you now how you're going to react:

You can either be the Ostrich and pretend it's not happening ...

... or you can be the Meerkat; embrace the idea and maybe even try it out yourself.

Photo CreditsSmile, you're on camera : san francisco (2012) by torbakhopper (Flickr, CC-BY)Security camera by Adam Jakubiak (sxc.hu)On today's episode of Ryan invades your privacy ... by Ryan Lane (Flickr, CC-BY)A CT scan of my brain (Dirk Haun)Kids play skiprope on Morro Strand State Beach by Mike Baird (Flickr, CC-BY)Photos from Paris, a Karl Bartos concert, and FOSDEM 2014 by Dirk HaunExpressions - Surprised by LUGO (iStockphoto file #2296355)The Law by smlp.co.uk (Flickr, CC-BY)Hungry by Pascal (Flickr, CC-BY)Russian Meteor photos taken from various sources, mostly FlickrMichael Schumacher article from www.mirror.co.ukScan of a Marktkauf flyer by Dirk HaunOstrich by Michael Gil (Flickr, CC-BY)Meerkat / At the zoo / Novosibirsk / Siberia / 24.07.2012 by Mikhail Koninin (Flickr, CC-BY)

"Smile, you're on camera", a presentation by Dirk Haun, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Thank you!