A camera that will only take a photo if you are not looking at it.
Try it Out Here: http://humanerr.org/cameraface/
Publications
1. Brucker-Cohen, Jonah,“Human Error: Projects That Emphasize “Misuses”
of Technology” Artist Talk”, International Symposium on Electronic Art, (ISEA 2022) , June 2022, Barcelona, Spain.
2. Brucker-Cohen, Jonah,”Human Error, A Collection of Work that Highlights Our
Misuse of Technology and the Internet”, EVA London 2022 ,
London, United Kingdom.
3. Brucker-Cohen, Jonah,”Human Error How Integrating Common Errors Into User Interfaces Can Challenge Our Perceptions and Change Design Thinking”, chapter in Green Revisited. Encountering Emerging Naturecultures in Art and Research Paperback, RIXC, Riga, Latvia, 2022.
Description
Despite our proclivity to both take photos and be featured in them, we often make the mistake of not looking at the camera directly when being photographed or showing a pleasant expression. Because of these “human errors”, millions of photos taken on camera phones or digital cameras are deleted each year with the effort of the photographer lost to these mistakes. “Human Error – Camera Face” is a software driven camera that will only take a photo of it’s subject when they are “not” looking directly at the camera. This results in a profile or back of the head view of the subject that is typically deleted immediately. Instead of deletion, Camera Face stores these photos in the cloud for future perusal, resulting in an album of photos that no one would like to see. By building in “human error” to cameras and optical devices, perhaps we can understand why photography is so important to our daily lives and why we must always abide by the standardization of a smiling frontal view of our subjects.
Background
In a study conducted by OnePoll and Western Digital, it was found that 41 percent of those interviewed actively avoid deleting photos and videos from their devices. Compounded by the fact that most people’s photos are not stored on their devices themselves, but now in the cloud, the proclivity and need to delete images has diminished because they are no longer taking up valuable storage space. When asked why they are keeping these images, those surveyed explained that they may end up needing the images at some point. Another 35 percent of those interviewed also said that they consider the images “memories” and want to retain them for sentimental purposes.