Technical discussion

Beyond its particular, substantive content related to the Oatmeal Square, this project is intended as a prototype for a system collecting and producing knowledge concerning domestic or small-scale production processes. In its current form the project embodies certain significant technical decisions that are documented below.

The camera model selected, the Logitech Webcam C200, was chosen for its low cost (approximately $25 retail) and compatibility with a linux system. Although the resolution of the images—640x480 pixels (VGA)—is much lower than that offered by higher-priced webcams or conventional cameras, higher-resolution images are not necessarily more useful in providing information about what is occurring in a scene, and incur much higher data storage costs. The image quality in this sample is compromised by lossy jpeg compression, poor lighting, and a low lens quality; while the first of these factors can be adjusted to achieve a balance between image usability and storage cost—based on a presumed end-use requiring high volumes of images, rather than individual images for study—the lighting and lens quality issues prove more difficult to control, and are both related to the camera itself: increased artificial lighting was used in k1 and k2 to reduce the blurring of motion, but in many field scenarios high-intensity additional lighting is not an available option; and the quality of low-end cameras' plastic lenses cannot be overcome other than through the use considerably more expensive equipment. Ultimately, however, the envisaged recording setup will involve several cameras capturing images at closer range from two or more vantage points simultaneously, connexted to a headless, low-power linux device, thus overcoming some of the limitations imposed by the longer focal distance of a camera mounted in the corner of the room, as well as preventing issues such as the blocking of activity when subjects' backs are turned to the camera, and the "artificial" top-down perspective which can convey unwanted impressions of superiority.