Shifting from Surveillance-as-Safety to Safety-through-Noticing: A Photovoice Study with Eastside Detroit Residents

Title of the Paper

Shifting from "Surveillance as Safety" to "Noticing as Safety": A Study of Visual Discourses with Residents of Detroit's East Side

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Areas: Community Safety, Diverse Surveillance, Social Computing, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Keywords: Surveillance Infrastructure, Visual Discourse, Community-Based Participatory Research, Human-Nonhuman Relations, Multispecies Interaction, Social Computing

Research Background and Problem Statement

• Existing Problems or Challenges:

  1. Surveillance technologies are often deployed under the guise of ensuring "safety," yet they frequently overlook their inequitable impacts on historically marginalized communities, such as African American neighborhoods.
  2. Large-scale surveillance projects in Detroit, such as the "Green Light Program" and "ShotSpotter Audio Surveillance," while claiming to enhance safety, have raised concerns about excessive police intervention and racial bias.
  3. These large-scale surveillance systems tend to narrowly define "safety" as protection against "crime," a definition that may exacerbate mistrust and misunderstanding toward certain groups.

• Why It Matters:

  1. Addressing the actual safety needs of communities can challenge the discriminatory narratives and misattributions embedded in mainstream surveillance technologies.
  2. Exploring alternative safety paradigms can offer new perspectives for policymakers, designers, and academia.
  3. Redefining participatory research, particularly through visual discourse, can empower marginalized communities to articulate their own narratives.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  1. Previous studies have questioned the logic of "surveillance as safety," which relies on highly visualized separation and categorization, while neglecting the complex relationships within local community contexts.
  2. This paper draws on Simone Browne's concept of "digital epidermalization," Anna Tsing's "arts of noticing," and new materialist theories on human-nonhuman interdependencies to reimagine the meaning of safety.

Proposed Solution

• Core Methods:

  1. Employ Photovoice as a research method in collaboration with residents of Detroit's East Side to capture their perceptions and practices of community safety through visual documentation.
  2. Methods include photo workshops, community education, photo collection, and interviews, enabling residents to express their understanding of safety and surveillance as active agents.
  3. Use interactive interviews and community photo exhibitions to share data and provide feedback to community members.

• Innovative Contributions:

  1. Introduces the new concept of "safety-through-noticing," replacing the traditional logic of "surveillance as safety."
  2. Highlights the nonlinear and multidimensional meanings of safety, as well as the interwoven relationships between human and nonhuman factors in safety practices.
  3. Emphasizes context-based and localized knowledge in safety practices, critiquing the abstraction and non-localized limitations of large-scale surveillance.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Photo Sampling and Narration: Residents use smartphones or disposable cameras to capture photos related to their safety practices and share the stories behind them.
  2. Community Visits and Fieldwork: The research team immerses themselves in the residents' neighborhoods, conducting unstructured interviews to understand their daily lives.
  3. Group Photo Sharing and Community Exhibitions: Design community-oriented photo displays and participatory discussions, employing "member-checking" to ensure the accuracy of research findings.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  1. Developed the concept of "everyday noticing," which refers to a multisensory, interactive practice involving humans and nonhumans. Through listening and observing, residents actively perceive and address safety issues in their daily lives.
  2. Demonstrated the multifaceted meanings of safety, including bodily autonomy within one's home, avoiding fear in public spaces, and achieving mental and emotional tranquility.

• Advantages (Compared to Existing Surveillance Technologies):

  1. Localization: Unlike surveillance systems, residents rely on their own experiences, local knowledge, and mutual aid among neighbors to discern "normal" or "abnormal" conditions.
  2. Multidimensionality: Focuses not only on physical threats but also on psychological states of calm and peace.
  3. Critical Perspective: Amplifies marginalized groups' critiques of the opacity of surveillance systems.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  1. Through interviews and field notes, the research revealed how residents maintain community safety by perceiving events and supporting each other.
  2. During community photo exhibitions, residents engaged in dialogue with broader stakeholders (e.g., policymakers and academics), further advancing discussions on accountability in surveillance infrastructures.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:
    1. The study involved only 11 participants (mostly older African American women), and the sample diversity may not fully represent the entire Detroit community.
    2. The semantic and visual nature of the Photovoice method has inherent limitations.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Expand the sample size and community scope to capture more diverse safety discourses across different contexts.
    2. Explore how technological design can better support "everyday noticing" practices without further infringing on autonomy and privacy.
    3. Investigate how the concept of "safety-through-noticing" can be practically integrated into urban design, community planning, and policy-making.