Here’s Our Idea

Our group’s idea for the final project is to hack a camera. Our goal is to have the camera take a picture through use of Twitter. We would position the camera in a public location (i.e. tourist attraction) and the user would be able to tweet from a cell phone to have their photo taken. For user confirmation, we will have warning lights on the camera that would act as a countdown (3, 2, 1, say cheese!). There would be a printing device attached to the machine that would allow it to print automatically for the users.

With this idea, we are tapping into the idea and meaning of intellectual property. According to Wikipedia:
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized in law.[1] Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
Photography can be considered an artistic work by the photographer, or person taking the picture. By making this device we are letting the user have complete control of the photograph that they take. Imagine a photographer at a tourist attraction such as Disney World. They have complete control of the photo that they take and how they distribute it to the user. By doing this, we eliminate the middleman. It would give the intellectual authority back to the user and allow them to control how the device is used. We are turning a device (the camera) that only professionals use, into a device that can be used by anyone. Our hack would lower the barrier from photographer to photography.

Planned contributions:
Jim – website, help AJ with arduino coding/software
Pam – website, research
AJ – arduino specialist, coding, software
Jason – coding, arduinos
Christa – research
Tiffany – group contact and informant (Professor and to one another), research