ABSTRACT
During the 1990s closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras rapidly diffused into a wide range of public settings across the UK. This widespread diffusion includes the introduction of CCTV into community settings including residential areas and community facilities and buildings. CCTV is being introduced into such settings to improve safety, and to reduce crime and the fear of crime. In this respect, CCTV can be seen as the introduction of a form of information and communication technology (ICT) which contributes to the facilitation of community development. These systems have proved to be very successful and are consequently very popular amongst local policy-makers, politicians, residents and community leaders. Typically they are community-driven, the result of local demand, regardless of any potential fears associated with extending the electronic capabilities of ‘big brother’. The objective of this chapter is to explore the diffusion of CCTV in community settings. In doing so it is apparent that the increased surveillance of communities via CCTV implies that CCTV is becoming a key part of the informated community. Moreover, as a community informatics (CI) initiative, CCTV represents the provision of an electronic service to meet local demand thereby signalling a shift to a citizen-centred approach to governance.
