SCENE 1
The appearance of the extreme exceptionality amidst the normalized flows of the street.
situation1
A man sits in a cafe, at a large picture window, absorbed in contemplation of the street scene.
He is an observational expert.
He surveys the streetgoers as they pass by.
Their movements are offered up to his specialized eye.
Most of what he sees is absorbed into the normal state of things. The ordinary.
He helps build and maintain this ordinary -- this everyday normality -- by filtering the information available to him.
The man peers through the frosty window of his observation perch.
He looks at the passersby with a wide lens, his observations abstract and generalizing.
Street zone amplified: <image>closer streetview through window
Yet gradually, as the morning fog burns off,
he soon becomes absorbed in details
-- features of
dress,
gait,
figure,
& countenance.
The zones of control room/analysis overlay the cafe, as it overlays the street.
Compositional processes, tones, & atmospheres are dynamically constrained/converged/accumulated in
<image>pov of streetview through window augmented with database formation overlay>>scanning passersby on street outside>>
++surveying, analyzing, searching correspondences++
He compiles these features, inserts them into a logical grid.
He builds a database.
In organizing his database, he relies on PROGRAMS -- conventional categories, procedures, and tools.
These programs condition his seeing.
He tracks & sorts the phenomena of the street in accordance with their rules.
situation2
zone of cafe begins to recede
zones of stage, control room/analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, accumulated, amplified to result in
<ALL>//heightening attention & curiosity, leaning in//
<image>//moving in closer//database overlay recedes; illustrating view of street through glass, zooming in++
Scrutinizing the passersby, his brow to the glass, the man tightens his lens further.
The general character of the crowd begins to alter.
Some features are screened out, while others come into bolder relief.
Suddenly, one distinctive figure comes into the field of view:
zone of cafe is dynamically destabilized, diffused to result in
<sound>halting
The rhythms and sensations of the street zone, with its varied pacings and flows are dynamically constrained, corresponded, converged, accumulated in shopping, commuting, strolling, and this specific gathering:
<old man> //natural//++walking++
and converged in
<narrator>>>converging with surveiller, voice modified to speak 'doubly' through overlay>>
==skillful collaboration between these 'experts'; dwelling together==
A STRANGE OLD MAN.
zones dynamically stabilized and constrained to result in
<image>freezing on old man,
then flickering out as
zone of stage dynamically amplified to result in
<narrator/surveiller> rising abruptly to stand
==skillful collaboration between these 'experts'; dwelling together==
<old man> appearing onstage
situation3
An ALERT is triggered.
The old man arrests and absorbs my whole attention.
He is absolutely idiosyncratic, extremely exceptional.
what is the nature of this fascination? does the old man resemble him/me? Does he correspond or differ?
I am startled. Fascinated. Confounded.
I am overcome with a desire TO KEEP THIS MAN IN VIEW -- to KNOW more of him.
what exactly does the surveiller-narrator-analyzer want? What is the nature of this knowingness (in control room/analysis/storytelling zone)?
cafe zone diminishing, destabilizing, evaporating
<light>recedes from chair and table as they disappear (pulled offstage between situation 3&4)
streetzone amplifies
zones stage, control room, analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, accumulated in
<surveiller/narrator>//poised to go after old man/aroused/vigilant//>>betw 1st & 3rd person>>++describing, pursuing++
==skillful collaboration between these 'experts'; dwelling together==
<street actors>++maneuvering, commuting, socializing++
<image>pov
I rush out into the street --
<surveiller/narrator>//advancing//
==ritualistic, skillful collaborative choreography; slowed down, co-dwelling among surveiller-narrator-analyzer-actor-old man in a dance==
-- and proceed to follow the old man -- carefully, so as not to attract attention.
I do not want, myself, to become event,
zone of stage, street, control room, analysis, dynamically destabilized, dispersed, diminished to result in
<lighting>fading on surveiller
zone of stage, street, control room, analysis, dynamically stabilized to result in
<lighting>holding steady on old man
but to disappear into its normalized surround.
<lighting>now dark on surveiller, only old man lit
situation4
zone of stage, control room, analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, accumulated, amplified, accelerated to result in
<surveiller> <narrator>//determination//
<narrator>//responsible//>>moving to stage periphery, speaking about surveiller in 3rd person++describing++
<surveiller>++pursuing++
<old man>==dance-like, ritualistic movements, in skillful collaboration with surveiller-narrator==
The surveiller, now engaged in a hot pursuit, hardens his resolve.
He resolves to follow the old man wherever he should go.
zones of stage, control room, analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, accumulated, to result in
<narrator>.>>moving between periphery and stage center, trafficking betw position of narrator and surveiller>>==ritualistic, skillful collaborative choreography; dancelike co-dwelling==
<narrator><surveiller><old man>==ritualistic, skillful collaborative choreography; dancelike co-dwelling==
<lighting>converging/diverging with varied positions, flickering, moving and modulating; confusion
This proves to be increasingly difficult.
The old man's movements are erratic, with no apparent logic or aim.
He darts to and fro,
appears & disappears,
meanders in and out of crowds.
He remains ELUSIVE.
zones of stage, control room, analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, accumulated, to result in
<narrator><surveiller>++==skillful collaboration; dwelling together==++ >>betw 1st & 3rd person>>
There is no intention to be read from his movements, his encounters with others, his gestures, his qualities of looking:
he enters shop after shop,
prices nothing,
speaks no word,
and looks at objects with a wild and vacant stare.
situation5
zones of stage, control room, analysis, narration, street are suddenly destabilized, disrupted, decelerated to result in
<narrator><surveiller>//halting//
<sound>halting <lighting>halting and fading out
"The harder a man is to find, the more suspicious he becomes."
And, perhaps, all the more desirous.
what exactly does the narrator-surveiller-analyzer want? What is the nature of this knowingness in these respective domains?
SCENE 2
situation1
zones of control room/analysis dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, amplified to result in stage changes
<narrator><surveiller> appears seated, as if at 'command center' monitor
<sound>ambient control room, advancing and receding
zones of street dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, amplified to result in
<image> streetviews of urban actors through monitor
A man sits in a control room, at a large monitor, absorbed in contemplation of the street scene.
He observational expert, well-skilled in the detection of patterns.
He scans the streetgoers as they pass by.
Their movements are offered up to his specialized eye.
Most of what he sees is absorbed into the normal state of things. Relinquished to the domain of the ordinary.
He helps build and maintain this ordinary -- this everyday normality -- by sorting the information before him.
He assigns names to the moving phenomena of the street.
He stabilizes and constrains them as objects.
He resolves them to categories,
summoning a logical grid on which these categories make sense.
In tracking the street activity, he relies on PROGRAMS -- conventional categories, procedures, and tools.
These programs condition his seeing.
He tracks & sorts the phenomena of the street in accordance with their rules.
Movements become reliable.
Measurable.
Reproducible.
Predictable.
situation2
zones of stage, control room/analysis, narration are dynamically stabilized, accumulated, amplified to result in
<narrator><surveiller>moving between 1st and 3rd person, singular and collective
Most of the information that he tracks will escape his notice.
It will escape his notice because no picture is perfect, and because no technology is foolproof.
It will escape his notice because humans, like all technologies, have limited capacities.
Our attention levels are fickle. They tend to buckle under pressure.
zones of stage, control room/analysis dynamically amplified to result in
<sound> control room sounds increasing
<images> accelerating, increasing abundance of views filling all screens
zones of stage, narration dynamically decelerated, reduced to result in
<light> diminishing from narrator
Who can keep up with an ever-increasing magnitude of data --
as it is received from the networks of
zones of stage, control room/analysis are dynamically stabilized, accumulated, amplified to result in
<sound> control room sounds increasing to overpower and drown out all speech
<images> accelerating, increasing abundance of views, becoming overabundant, drowning out any possibility of coherent audience seeing
cameras and sensors that are multiplying across the expanse of the city?
<lighting>fading from narrator as, drowned out, he stands up and moves to the periphery of the stage
situation3
<sound> and <images> halt
<analysis><narrator>overlaid together in hybrid voice
The observational expert must become more efficient.
The limitations of the human overcome.
narration zone is dynamically destabilized in favor of analysis zone, as it begins to bring into play a temporal/spatial/organizational structure, resulting in
<analysis>>superceding narrator, increasing technologized quality
A realtime perception is demanded
-- a live concert of forces that can narrow the gap between seeing and acting.
But that is not enough.
Vision must reach beyond the very time-bound limitations of the real.
It must move ahead of action.
It must not only become predictive,
It must become proactive.
It must not only see the future,
It must be able to act upon it.
<narrator> speaking alone
What good is it to be a visionary, if you can't do anything about it?
SCENE 3
situation1
zones of control room/analysis dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, amplified to result in stage changes
<narrator><surveiller> appears seated, as if at 'command center' monitors
<sound>ambient control room, advancing and receding
zones of street dynamically stabilized, converged, corresponded, amplified to result in
<image> three analytics streetviews of urban actors through monitors, projections filling up the space
A video analytics system, installed in a control room, is absorbed in contemplation of the street scene.
It scans the streetgoers as they pass by.
Their movements are offered up to its specialized eye.
Its tracking is automated, at least in part:
Its tracking is represented visually for a human observer, who can interpret its results..
The software recognizes -- and identifies -- the objects in each video frame to learn what is normal for this place.
Most of what it sees is absorbed into this normal state of things.
It helps build and maintain this everyday norm by filtering the information available to it,
and resolving it to categories.
It summons a logical grid on which categories are made, and on which they make sense.
What appears in its algorithms and databases must pass through this logical grid.
It must pass through the standardized forms of information that the system, as a whole, admits.
The moving phenomena of the street are stabilized, constrained, and defined in accordance with these database associations
and the PROGRAMS through which they are ordered.
Rules are established, tailored to these objects within the observed scene.
situation2
The system helps build the normal in order to detect the abnormal.
It helps build the ordinary in order to detect the extraordinary.
It aims to detect this unusual activity in advance, before it can gather as an incident -- an EVENT that has suddenly become a matter of concern.
In order to do this, algorithms screen out normal activity.
They screen out non-critical movement in order to foreground the critical.
They do this in order to minimize distraction -- to maximize the attention span of human operators
-- the human operators who are required to interpret, and act on, the potential incidents that they are alerted to.
"Dwell time" analytics alert operators to vehicles and people loitering excessively.
"Counter flow" analytics trigger alerts when vehicles and people move in the wrong direction.
Abandoned object detection analytics trigger alerts when objects are left stationary for too long.
Perimeter protection analytics allow the creation of "virtual fence lines" that are set off when intruders cross over them.
situation2
The deviant activity is often called "suspicious."
Yet the EVENT is not only a matter of concern.
Analytics applications are useful not in gauging danger so much as desire.
In the field of marketing, "dwell time" applications are used to identify whether customers stop at product displays
and how long they remain there,
absorbing the seductive messages they convey.
<shopper> walks onstage R and stops before
<image1> of product as
<image2> tracks him with "dwell time" application
Here the event is not something to be prevented so much as courted.
The object left stationary too long is none other than the spellbound shopper,
dwelling in the ideal world of the product, the advertised adventure.
<image2> tracking generates a "dwell time" alert of shopper
<old man> wanders onstage L as
<image3> tracks him with "counter flow" application, generating an alert
<narrator> standing up, moves to position between the two other men
Brought into play is the very renegade figure that enthralls.
situation3
zones of stage, control room/analysis, narration, street are dynamically stabilized, accumulated, amplified to result in
>>speaking as surveiller, analyzer, narrator, actor>>
These figures, these objects, have arrested and absorbed our whole attention on account of their extreme exceptionality.
They dwell before you as objects of fascination or concern.
Fascinated, the observational expert is roused to action.
-- overcome with a desire TO KEEP THESE FIGURES IN VIEW -- to KNOW more of them.
In the case of the surveiller or the narrator, this is a task that proves difficult, due to the status of their material roles, which are contingent and diffuse. They are gathered with the analytics system, part of its assembled construct of expertise.
In the case of the spellbound shopper, this is a task that proves difficult, due to the man's immobilization at the onset of his desire, which reveals nothing of his internal motivations, as there are no counterparts to this desire, only internal parts of its mechanism, opaque to observation.
In the case of the meandering old man, this is a task that proves difficult, due to the man's erratic movements, which exhibit no logic, no regularities or discernable aims.
Elusive, he remains.
<sound> halts