A PICTURE’S WORTH A THOUSAND PROBLEMSThe Perks and Perils of Allowing Camera Phones in Schools

by Patrick Allen

WAIT… HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THE USUAL “CELL PHONES IN CLASS” ISSUE?• While the majority of cell phone complaints center around students being distracted,

a camera phone adds privacy issues to the debate.

• Most cell phones have cameras now, but we don’t automatically think of cell phones AS cameras. This makes it much easier for someone to take a picture of someone else without the person being photographed realizing what’s happening.

• At the same time, the fact that most students now carry photographic/video cameras with them presents the possibility for more interactive, creative, and differentiated opportunities at school.

SHOULD STUDENTS BRING THEIR CAMERA PHONES TO SCHOOL?

The Pros• Students who have difficulty taking notes can

take pictures of the information teachers put on the board/screen so they can access it later.

• Students could have a wide variety of options at their fingertips including a video studio and a laboratory

The Cons• Students can endanger teacher jobs with

unsolicited video recording.

• New types of bullying:

• Embarrassing photos

• “Happy Slapping”

MY POSITION: SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE

• Banning cell phones is next to impossible, and most of these phones are going to have cameras on them at this point. Instead, the school should be very careful to set up specific instances where phones would be allowed out of the back-pack. In all other cases, the appearance of the cell phone should be followed by strict consequences (although I will also prove that zero tolerance policies are equally undesirable). Students must be made highly aware of how not to violate other students’ rights.

CAMERA PHONES IN THE CLASSROOM: AUDIO-VISUAL REPORTS

• Pereira et al (2012) explained how, with minimal extra software, a phone capable of video recording becomes a portable studio, and students can craft audio-visual reports. Importantly, they are not even speaking of standard video reports such as skits for English or History, but rather an audio-visual lab report.

• “One of the advantages of this strategy compared to the traditional laboratory is the responsibility assumed by the students. This is because making the video, which will be watched by others, requires the students’ intellectual engagement through research on the subject, comprehension of key concepts and creation of an appropriate experimental situation, which will be tested, modified and checked as many times as necessary” (Pereira et al, 2012, 50).

CAMERA PHONES IN THE CLASSROOM: YOUR OWN SPECTROPHOMETER

• Alexander Scheeline desired to bring analytical chemistry to the masses. “’There’s no doubt that getting the cost of equipment down to the point where more people can afford them in the education system is a boon for everybody’” (Carmody, 2010).

• “’All of a sudden this light bulb went off in my head: a photodetector that everybody already has! Almost everybody has a cellphone, and almost all phones have a camera,’ Scheeline said. ‘I realized, if you can get the picture into the computer, it’s only software that keeps you from building a cheap spectrophotometer’” (Carmody, 2010).

SO WHAT’S THE DANGER, THEN?• Lasén and Gómez-Cruz (2009) report how “[u]ses of digital images play a role in the way

people perform being a stranger and in the way they relate to strangers, online and offline (205).

• In describing a debate over woman often photographed by others without her permission who subsequently expressed anger at the photos, they described, “people who considered that ‘public space’ entailed ‘public exposition of oneself’; this translated to the idea that anyone who is in a public space must expect to be photographed eventually” (Lasén and Gómez-Cruz, 2009, 207).

• In other words, the ease of taking/sharing pictures has made many people more likely to not empathize with the people who end up in those pictures and not wonder how they might feel about having their picture taken.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THOSE CAMERAS?

• In 2003 a pupil captured a recording of an emotionally wrought instructor at Raffles Junior College in Singapore berating another student and tearing up his homework. No one was fired and both teacher and student entered counseling, but many saw this as an invasion of privacy (Parry, 2005, 74).

• In January of 2004, a pornographic image of an Irish student wearing a school uniform (originally taken consensually) was broadcasted to hundreds of phones in Ireland, the United States, and Australia (Parry, 2005, 74-5, and Carvel, 2005).

• In May of 2004, a student at Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas,California was caught trying to send other students a picture of hisexam paper (Parry, 2005, 75).

• “Happy Slapping” – a practice where students gang up on anotherstudent or member of the public, hit, mug, or set fire to them, andrecord the whole thing with their camera phone and upload it to theInternet (Parry, 2005, 76, and Carvel, 2005).

HOW BAD DOES IT GET?

• A 2005 NCH poll of 11- to 19-year-olds revealed that “one in 10 have felt threatened or embarrassed by pictures taken using mobile phones” (Carvel, 2005).• “Of those, 17% said they believed the image had been sent to

someone else” (Carvel, 2005).• “The research found 26% of those bullied by mobile phone did

not know who was doing it” (Carvel, 2005).

ARE OUR STUDENTS PROTECTED?• 18 USC § 1801 - Whoever, in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, has the intent to

capture an image of a private area of an individual without their consent, and knowingly does so under circumstances in which the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

• § VA 18.2-386.1. - It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally videotape, photograph, or film any nonconsenting person or create any videographic or still image record by any means whatsoever of the nonconsenting person if (i) that person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast in a restroom, dressing room, locker room, hotel room, motel room, tanning bed, tanning booth, bedroom or other location; or (ii) the videotape, photograph, film or videographic or still image record is created by placing the lens or image-gathering component of the recording device in a position directly beneath or between a person's legs for the purpose of capturing an image of the person's intimate parts or undergarments covering those intimate parts when the intimate parts or undergarments would not otherwise be visible to the general public; and when the circumstances set forth in clause (i) or (ii) are otherwise such that the person being videotaped, photographed, filmed or otherwise recorded would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

• However, these provisions only apply to “a state of undress,” and not to other embarrassing photos that can be used to bully students.

SO WITH ALL THE DANGERS, OUR POLICIES SHOULD JUST BE “NO NONSENSE,” RIGHT?

• I’ve got a video for you…

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRL WHO TOOK THE PHOTO?

• What do you think should have happened?

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRL WHO TOOK THE PHOTO?

THE FACTS• We would be remiss to ignore the technological and creative possibilities camera phones

offer, as shown by the previous articles.

• However, as shown by the previous articles, we would be equally negligent in not policing the use of camera phones.

• “If, however, the school unilaterally bans camera phones or indeed all mobile phones, it is likely to be open to criticism from both the pupils and the parents who have bought the phones for them for convenience and security reasons” (Parry).

• Zero tolerance policies under the full weight of the law can sometimes do more harm than good.

• Thus preventing any unwanted pictures from being taken will do far more good than any sort of punishment.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• “The policy should consider the circumstances whereby pupils can retain possession of their camera phones during the school day, provided that they are switched off and in lockers or bags, identify camera-free areas, such as classrooms, changing rooms and toilets where phones are forbidden, and consider the penalties for breach of the rules” (Parry, 2005).

RECOMMENDATIONS• Let’s reverse that and have designated Phone Zones in the school. If not in that Zone, your phone

should be turned off and in your bag or locker. This way students who need to see if their parents have called can go to Phone Zones during a break.

• Phone Zones should be clearly marked and phone use outside of phone zones should be strictly regulated. This can help habituate students to the proper places and times to use their phones.

• Phone Zones could include, but not be limited to: Dining commons and other lounge-areas, outside recess areas, labs and certain other classrooms.

• Classes which only occasionally need phones, such as for student accommodations or special projects, can have an “In/Out of the Zone” sign that the teachers can change depending on class needs.

• Phone Zones should have clear rules posted visibly (see next slide).

RECOMMENDATIONS: PHONE ZONE RULES(A TENTATIVE IDEA)

• Phones can only be out in Phone Zones. Use of phones in a Phone-Free Zone will result in a warning for minor offenses (checking texts/missed calls) followed by confiscation or immediate confiscation and further disciplinary actions for grievous offenses such as cheating and taking of inappropriate/bullying photos.

• On that note, entrances to changing rooms should be carefully monitored for phones. If there’s a way to make sure students are leaving their phones in their lockers before heading to PE, it should be done. While immediate confiscation of a phone found in a locker room sounds harsh, it’s a lot better than the trauma of inappropriate photos and a felony charge for an accident.

• Pictures/video can only be taken of willing subjects (unless for a faculty-approved research project, and then “crowd-shots” would be allowed).

• This is a hard rule to enforce, and should be researched in the field. However, if a school has an “anti-bullying policy” (and it should!), rules against embarrassing photos and camera-phone bullying should definitely be included.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

• Bammer958. Hilarious: Happy slap on train on a fat guy!! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2jVUlIEUDo

• Carmody, T. (2010, October 8). In high school chem labs, every cameraphone can be a spectrometer. Wired: Gadget Lab. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com

• Carvel, J. (2005, June 6). Thousands of pupils bullied by camera phone. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com

• Lasén. A., and Gómez-Cruz, E. (2009). Digital photography and picture sharing: Redefining the public/private divide. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 22 (3), 205-15.

• Parry, G. (2005). Camera/video phones in schools: law and practice. Education and the Law, 17 (3), 73-85.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

• Pereira, M. V., Barros, S. de S., Filho, L. A. C. de R., and Fauth, L. H. de A. (2012). Audiovisual physics reports: Students’ video production as a strategy for the didactic laboratory. Physics Education, 47 (1), 44-51.

• Quinn, K. (2012, December 8). Cell phone photo lands 12-year-old Channelview ISD student in serious trouble. abc13. Retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/ktr

• Rogers, B. (2013, September 14). 12-year-old convicted of felony for locker room photo. The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.houstonchronicle.com

• Unlawful filming, videotaping or photographing of another; penalty, Code of Virginia. § 18.2-386.1 (1994 & Supp. 2004, 2005, & 2008).

• Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1801 (2004).