The surveillance monitoring service I’m imagining for festivals and even daily living, allows onlookers to look through the same cameras, ODOT style, to see their loved ones and to get a better view of what’s happening. Many eyes make all bugs shallow as they say, meaning it’s a boon to have random onlookers checking the views and occasionally making reports.
An objection is if one lets the public see what you see then those up to no good will be able to evade monitoring. That’s allowed though, as is full burqa, complete concealment in a body suit or other costume, if that’s your gig.
We might have Mickey Mouse people running around, not QR or bar coded, not park or grounds officials, just cosplay types. Public surveillance is of limited utility when it comes to tracking everyone’s identity. That isn’t the premise, nor promise.
On the other hand, a good security camera system is able to keep an eye on those objects some in the crowd, maybe children, will feel tempted to tamper with, as when junior tries to reach through the cage to pet this cute monkey. “This is not a petting zoo” some voice might intone, as a warning to parents or guardians if not to the apparently deaf kid himself.
A lot of banter with the crowd is feasible, with a professional DJ present. The communications will be more two-way in that case. Good morning Walden Four. Welcome to Project Earthala.
In cases where speaker audio would be intrusive, there’s headphone banter, channels devoted to festival organization which include calls for volunteers. Festival goers take official roles on a rotating basis, per qualifications and training, and thereby gain perspective on how the whole show is put together.
Showbiz, one could say, is a nontrivial undertaking once you factor in all the logistics and maintenance. Consider: the care and feeding of the elephants, back when that was an expected practice.
The “tunnels under Disney World” metaphor fits here, a trope in many movies, or think of WestWorld if you prefer.
Building shared skillsets among the populace is critical. You won’t have enough volunteer chefs if know one knows the ropes in a big kitchen.
I’ve had some experience in that regard, including as a dishwasher and cleanup guy, also short order cook (I’m talking Princeton work-study), and later as food prep guy both for the Gathering (a Quaker thing) and for Food Not Bombs, the latter being logistically challenging on several levels, starting with the unpredictability of the fresh produce pipeline. There’d be something, usually, in goodly quantities, but what? You’d have to make up a meal plan almost on the spot.
Professional chefs, like from hotels, might do a stint with us just to experience that particular front line. Yet with all that experience, I’d be hesitant to step forward as the guy in charge, with hundreds of meals under my supervision. I’d need someone more like Paul, my gardener, but an overview supervisor of institutional cafeterias and hotel restaurants back in the day.
Some of our mixed use facilities, including high rises, include serious game pod floors, kind of like legacy offices were all about cubicles. The games may be serious in the sense that they involve monitoring, as discussed above, but not just of crowds at some Burning Man or Country Fair type festival. Railroad lines, cargo ports, truck traffic… people in pods may have a steering or other decision-making role in what goes on. Some may be teachers, communicating with students around the world.
A game pod player might have a sip straw and something like Soylent to stay sated in times when even a trip to the cafeteria would interrupt the flow. To continue paying attention one needs calories and also breaks in the action if at all possible. Air traffic controllers have serious jobs like this. They need sleep and R&R to stay focused. Many in pods are likewise in training.
As a home office geek, I’ll be training as a student in the morning, and teaching or training others at night. The roles of faculty and student may be blurred in the Global U. Life is always about learning new stuff, acquiring skills, even while sharing what you know, and conveying skills to others.
