As part of my ongoing research
into Human Digital Memories (HDM), I have
been wearing a sensecam since June 2006.
I am maintaining this page to report on
the activities of wearing the camera,
though I will not publish any photos
containing recognisable faces other than
my own or DCU collegues. In addition to
the sensecam, I have been gathering GPS
data for any movement that I make once I
leave a building. I have endevoured to
maintain as accurate and complete an
archive as I can. It is my firm belief
that to fully understand the power and
usefulness of a HDM, that the researcher
needs to use and apreciate the
technology.
So, what
is a sensecam?
"SenseCam
is a wearable digital camera that is
designed to take photographs passively,
without user intervention, while it is
being worn", from Microsoft
Research's sensecam page. In addition to
passive capture, the sensecam has some
other interesting features:
- Fisheye
lens, to capture a wider field of
view.
- Various
onboard sensors to trigger photo
capture. This is important as it
helps to both avoid blurry photos
and helps to capture photos that
are more important because I have
changed location.
A
sensecam worn for about 17-18 hours per
day, with a resonably fast SD card and a
good battery will capture about 5,500
photos before the battery is exhaused.
This assumes a work/social day in which
the presence of people in the camera's
view triggers more photo capture. In my
experience, this will create about 35
distinct events/experiences in any given
day.
|
HDM Data Gathered
(June 2009)
3,500,000 photos
60,000,000 sensor
readings (triaxial acceleration,
InfraRed person detection, light
level detection)
X million GPS
points
Sensecam photo of when
preparing this webpage, in a hotel lobby
in Tromso, Norway.
|
