How does a cow spend its day? What really matters to her?
How does she see the world we created? What would she make us see? What would that make us think?
Who controls CCTV cameras in metropolitan cities? Can CCTV become an open platform?
These combined questions initiated cow-cam.tv.
Closed Circuit Television cameras that pop-up all over the UK are being used for crime prevention and prevalence in cities and have been gaining more enemies. 'Better community reduces crime, technology does not' can be read on 'http://www.no-cctv.org.uk'.
But what if technology is used differently? What if everyone had access to what cameras 'see'? What if everyone realizes that they can be the person doing the monitoring? And would it make any difference to our daily routine to have instant access to a parallel slow-paced world?
Rural Scotland is the ideal setting to trial this different use of the technology. And a cow is the ideal camera controller, because of its incentives.
Cow-Cam.tv uses a straight forward method to bring video from a cow to any part of the world with internet access and is working towards hosting live streams of rural action.
The footage was acquired with two different devices.
- A back-mounted wireless bullet camera, with a custom made 2-tin-can-housing to provide water-proof and cow-proof qualities. This camera setup does not offer audio at this point.
- A head-mounted video camera, with less protection, and a bit more risk to capture a close-up of what is in front of the cow.
All footage, images and code on this website are under a Creative Commons license.
Cow-Cam.tv is the offspring of the ongoing 'neuromantic' project in distance lab.
The main question 'neuromantic' is seeking to respond to is: How can we use new media technologies in a way more appropriate in the rural areas? How can they be used to strengthen communities and build trust? How can they help social sustainability in these remote and frequently forgotten places?
Grace is a 14 year old Highland cow, that has been bred and taken around shows in Scotland from an early age. She is a gentle nature, more friendly to people than to other cows, with a sense of pride when competing in front of a judging panel.
Ronnie Shepherd has been breeding cattle all his life and has developed an intuitive communication skill with these animals. He nurtures them from a young age and is a descendant of the Scottish cattle drovers.
We would like to thank both for their help and co-operation in order to obtain the video footage and images.
Disclaimer
No animal was hurt or abused during this project.