Digital Diary:

• Thursday, November 26, 2020
  • • This day was thanksgiving day! I really didn’t go out into a public place where they have cameras all over the place, but I did end up going to my cousin’s house for dinner. Her property is not that big but she does have security cameras around her house. These cameras are activated once a person approaches her house.
• Friday, November 27, 2020
  • • The day after thanksgiving was Black Friday, the craziest time of the year! I work at the Columbiana Center, Hollister to be exact and when you first walk into the mall, there are cameras right above your head. There is also a screen where you can see yourself.
• Sunday, November 29, 2020
  • • It is Sunday morning and my family and I are getting ready for church. The church I go to is located in downtown Columbia, right beside Finlay park. Now my church has cameras inside and out. You can spot the ones inside the church very easily but for some reason I can’t seem to find the ones that are outside. You can then see all the cameras that are being used on the monitor that is right behind the desk. After church I went to work and I walked right passed the same camera from last time.
• Tuesday, December 1, 2020
  • • It’s the beginning of a new month and it’s also the last month of the year! So today I have a shift from 4-9. So I get ready for work and when I arrive, I walk through those same doors like always and pass those same cameras as well. This time I’m taking a closer look at the store and try to locate our security cameras, for some reason I can’t seem to find them but I know they are there.  
• Wednesday, December 2, 2020
  • • Today is another beautiful day. My shift today is from 11:30-4:30. As usual, I arrive at my destination and I walk through the same door again and as i’m walking in I can see myself on the monitor from the camera that’s right about the door when you first walk in.
• Thursday, December 3, 2020
  • • It’s Thursday! It’s almost the end of the week and my last day of work and I will have the weekend to myself with no cameras around. So today my shift is from 1-5. At this point you’re probably getting tired of me explaining how I walk through the same door and passing by the same cameras. This time I paid closer attention to our stock room. In the stock room there is only one camera and it’s right in the middle of the ceiling but it’s monitoring the whole room. 
• Monday, December 7, 2020
  • • It’s Monday and it’s also the last day of my diary entry. My shift today was from 12-5. And yes I walked through the same doors and saw the same cameras. But today I was working in the stockroom doing shipment and I was being watched by that one camera the whole time.

Surveillance Project:

Have you ever been paranoid because you felt like someone was watching you? Well I have, but I never thought we were being watched all the time and without was even knowing. No matter where I go or where I walk into, someone can see every move I make. Have I scared you yet? Don’t worry i’m also scared. Wherever we go we always see some kind of video and closed circuit television (CCTV). Whenever we see any kind of surveillance we might think, “oh they probably can’t see us,” or “who’s watching us?” We may ask these questions to ourselves, but in reality they are watching us. These CCTV’s could be beneficial in some ways and maybe not so beneficial. I will try my best to navigate through my local areas and demonstrate if these CCTV surveillance cameras are beneficial to have or are they just there because.

I would always go shopping or to work without worrying about who might be watching me. I knew there were cameras everywhere but I never knew it would be something I would pay attention to now when I go out somewhere. When you first walk into the Columbiana Center, using any of the entrance doors, there is a black dome camera above the door. When the camera gets activated, you will appear on the monitor. I never understood why they have these cameras on the doors since they really don’t do anything but I would say it would be safe to put them there. The reason would be because if someone tries to do harm to the other people that’s in the mall, we would be able to see where that person came from and what that person could be wearing. In the store Hollister, where I work, our cameras are not visible. The type of cameras we have are also the black dome cameras. Since many people think we don’t have cameras, they think it’s easy for them to steal. It’s beneficial for us to have these because we will know what people are shoplifting but the bad thing is that we personally cannot see them. We would have to call the head manager to pull those videos up. Also we don’t have cameras where our jean walls are because all of our jeans have sensors on them and if someone tries to steal them then the sensor detector can go off. Our fitting rooms are for privacy so we don’t have any installed in there.

In my diary documentation, you can see there are three pictures of the same camera. I would consider these the outside camera. These three cameras are set up around my cousin’s house and my uncle is the one that can see everything that’s being monitored. The purpose of the CCTV selected space  is that one of the cameras detects who is at their door and it will inform my uncle through his phone. One of the other ones is facing in their backyard just in case  someone comes into their property and the one that’s on the light post, that one is facing my cousin’s window. As a joke he said that he installed that one to keep a close eye on her but in reality he installed it just in case someone arrives in his driveway. The main reason he installed them is for the security of his home and to prevent his things from getting stolen.it will make him and his family feel much safer.

The last location I was around on Sundays was my church. My church is located in downtown Columbia and it is also beside Finlay park. I can say out of all the locations I was around, my church has to be the one that has many CCTV cameras around the building. The CCTV cameras they use are also the outdoor cameras and the regular dome cameras inside. On the outside the things that are being monitored is the main entrance, the court year where the fountain is, the playground, the children school and the back of the church. The main reason the whole outside is monitored is for the safety of the adults and the children. Also because in front of the church, there is a homeless shelter and as we know in downtown there are many homeless people walking around and also Finlay park is not like how it used to be where kids can run around and have fun. Now it’s invaded with homeless people. Another reason is because some of the homeless likes to sleep on the church property and they just don’t want to risk anyone who comes on their property to get harm. Plus, since children come to school during the week they want to make sure the kids are always okay. Since the inside of the church also has cameras you can see everything. I’m guessing it has so many cameras because it’s a very strict and organized place. They wouldn’t want the people who’re working to get hurt by someone. 

There are many reasons why some places install cameras around their stores, homes, or their building. Me personally is beneficial because it’s for their security and keeping things from happening. I think all the data they get from these cameras can really show them what’s going on around their surroundings and in case of an emergency they can show that clip whenever it happens. It’s kind of bad how we don’t have cameras around our jean walls in the store because some people can pop the sensors of the clothes and they can also steal things from us like that, and yes it has happened before. One of my colleagues was on a military base and she said that she did the security measures and she saw how different they were. She found that it is more intrusive and less unavoidable than the CCTV in other places.

In conclusion, surveillance is going to keep improving as life goes on. We can’t hide from it nor we can run. Wherever we go we will always be watched no matter how sneaky we think we are. So are you scared to go out or do you find it normal?