I like this idea. Like Dave, I wonder if social cameras might already exist:
Here’s an idea that came to me while waiting for a train to Genova. I was standing on a platform, across a pair of tracks a man was taking a picture of something in my direction. I was in the picture, the camera seemed to be pointed at me. Permalink to this paragraph
I thought to yell my email address across the tracks asking him to send me a copy of the picture. (Assuming he spoke English and I could be heard over the din of the station.)
Then I thought my cell phone or camera could do that for me. It could be beaming my contact info. Then I had a better idea. What if his camera, as it was taking the picture, also broadcast the bits to every other camera in range. My camera, sitting in my napsack would detect a picture being broadcast, and would capture it. (Or my cell phone, or iPod.)
I like this idea. Like Dave, I wonder if social cameras might already exist:
Here’s an idea that came to me while waiting for a train to Genova. I was standing on a platform, across a pair of tracks a man was taking a picture of something in my direction. I was in the picture, the [...]
Comments
@ 12:36
Since Dave comes up with or facilitates the bringing-into-being of one world-changing idea every two to three years, I guess we ought to pay attention to this one.
I have long wanted an address-squirting pen or fob. It would be a tiny device that could shoot a small amount of digital information to someone else’s PDA, fob, or what have you, instead of handing out business cards. The Palm offered something like that at one point (it may still) want infrared was the super-cool wireless technology of the day.
@ 17:25
This is a very bad idea, especially in the United Kingdom:
What will David Winer’s enhanced camera equipment do when I wear my tshirt and broadcast a Copyright message via insecure WiFi or BlueTooth or Near Field Communications etc. like this one ?
What is there to stop “social camera” transmission detectors from being installed for “security” purposes around Government buildings etc. ?
People have already been prosecuted in the UK for taking photos of the exterior of a Police station, under the Terrorism Act 2000 Section 58 Collection of information (up to 7 years in prison).
What sort of authentication mechanism could there possibly be to prevent a fake or modified “social camera” simply being used to track and grab the contact details of those foolish enough to carry them ?
Why would I want to carry a “social camera” which responds to such fake photo contact details requests, by transmitting them to local criminals looking for rich western tourists to rob, or to terrorists (for kidnap or targeted bomb triggering purposes) or to the local secret police ?
@ 00:30
I came up with a similar idea, when I graduated in 2005, during the writing of my thesis on image retrieval. In this case however, camera’s should all feature automated GPS stamping. And of course a general site to search for this (EXIF) data (Oh Google?) ..
Anyway, let’s say I’m at some festival where many people take photos .. We share the event, the moment, the ambiance and their photos are my photos (not licence-wise, of course) .. What if I could happen to find a photo of myself, shooting the other person!
Microsoft’s photosynth could automagically contain so much more information and content! (http://labs.live.com/photosynth/)