Post by Cosimo Accoto

“Filosoficamente, un orizzonte che non è solo tecnologico o infrastrutturale, ma – azzarderemo – più ontologicamente fondativo. Automazione, dunque, non solo come spinta ingegneristica a costruire macchine e automi, ma come una più complessiva prospettiva di senso e di produzione del nostro reale in divenire” (Accoto, Il mondo ex machina) “... Camera consciousness is an old concept originating in the early cinema as stage actors had to adapt to addressing cameras rather than audiences. When that caused problems for actors it was seen as condition to be overcome through 'training'. How does the early cinema actor's quest to learn to see themselves through the camera lens as an imagined audience might resemble the 'training' of algorithms, and the training of deep learning AI systems? We see camera consciousness as a conceptual and practical tool for sniffing out the power of smart cameras in the age of AI, automation, visual data analysis. With a bit of effort, camera consciousness can be the basis of an adaptive digital literacy. This is not a book about surveillance - but the surveillance is ever present and an easy critical target when it comes to this topic. It's more about how we might learn about digital vision and visuality 'together with' machines” (McCosker & Wilken).