Homework 7: Nonobvious observation

Our filming adventure was, simply put, a disaster. Our plan was to bike from Rudder to the Rattlers convenience store under Sbisa, purchase something small, and bike back. We got through five out of the eight group members, then realized that only the first two had been recorded. Because of the poor feedback (and overall poor design) of the camera, we could not understand what was wrong. Was it the battery? Did the record switch break? Did the whole thing break? We aren't sure. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet all together again before Tuesday. Our experience, however, was very interesting. Our second group member explained why (s)he was wearing a camera, and the next participant encountered the angry manager of the Underground. The manager was insistent that "if we get in trouble for this, it's on you," which led us all to wonder what in the world was happening there. Sadly, this confrontation was not recorded due to the aforementioned technical issues (and we were all intrigued to see how the exchange went down).

It should be fairly simple to tell whose video is whose in most situations. Head movements and others' reactions to speaking could give us a hint; if the person is generally a smiler, people they interact with are more likely to smile (mimicry). Additionally, we can tell how talkative the person is by noticing how much the people they interact with are chatting. It is also obvious how uncomfortable other people are with the person with the camera; some did not want to be filmed and were anxious to look at or be near the user. Self-conscious people are more likely to move quickly, look down, and talk less, while more gregarious or confident people will jabber and make eye contact, almost disregarding the fact that there is a camera strapped to their head. I would expect that men are more likely to talk less, and women are more likely to explain what they are doing and why. Perhaps it's just me, but I was eager to explain that "the camera is for a class project, and I'm not crazy," while some of my group members didn't bother. Any personal appearance out of the ordinary makes me very self-conscious. (interview days and business wear make me feel conspicuous, bad hair days make me feel conspicuous, etc.)

All in all: based on head movements, facial expressions of others, and the apparent amount of talking will give us good clues for guessing which video belongs to which person.