Sensor Walk – Sensing Security
For my sensor walk, I explored the various sensors along my commute from home (Fort Green, Brooklyn) to ITP. What I took note of was the various ways sensors are used to give us a feeling of safety.
Video surveillance cameras lined the platform of the Clinton-Washington G train stop. The cameras were arranged at various angles in order to cover different vantage points.
Continuing my walk along the platform, I found a stack of video monitors. They sat one on top of the other inside a pillar facing the tracks hidden from commuters. Balancing on the edge of the platform, I was able to capture my own image as it was being streamed from the surveillance camera in real time. I was also able to see the various movements of other people on the platform, including a police officer making her way towards my location.
Lessons learned: I would be wary about photographing the security devices on the platform. As I was photographing, one of New York’s finest appeared and monitored my actions very closely until I boarded train. I am glad she did not decide to search my bag, because within it I had all sorts of sinister looking parts, such as an assembled microcontroller with multicolored wires plugged into it.
Other notable sensors including:
A motion sensing light that illuminated a No Trespassing sign:
A common sight in the city is also the red blinking hand of death that warns us not to cross the street.
A cellphone-like contraption that you put change into. I think they are called payphones?
