Bigshot is a

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's Computer Vision Laboratory for

experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...

. The design was conceived in 2006, went into prototype in 2009, had trials in 2011, and was put into production and worldwide distribution in August 2013.

History

According to several interviews with Nayar, the idea of creating a camera for experiential learning stemmed from the 2004 film ''

Born into Brothels ''Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids'' is a 2004 Indian-American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Ka ...

'', an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning documentary by

Ross Kauffman Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

and

Zana Briski Zana Briski (born 25 October 1966) is a British people, British photographer and filmmaker, best known for ''Born into Brothels'', the 2004 Academy Awards, Oscar winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, which she directed. She f ...

that profiles several children living in the

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. The filmmaker gave each child a camera and taught them

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

so that they could begin to look at their world with a new set of eyes, unveiling hope and uncovering hidden talents from within themselves. As a result, many of them found the strength to break from their circumstances and begin charting out meaningful lives. Nayar launched the Bigshot project in 2006, and the first set of Bigshot cameras were produced for use in pilot workshops in 2009. In August 2013, EduScience, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of toys and kits for learning, began distribution worldwide.

Features

*A build-it-yourself kit that students can use *A transparent back cover with labels for each major component *A companion website with interactive demos that teach the science and engineering concepts behind each component *A

normal lens In photography and cinematography, a normal lens is a lens that reproduces a field of view that appears "natural" to a human observer. In contrast, depth compression and expansion with shorter or longer focal lengths introduces noticeable, and som ...

with a 43° field of view *A panoramic lens with a 72° field of view *A

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

prism to take 3D

anaglyph image Anaglyph 3D is the Stereoscopy, stereoscopic 3D effect achieved by means of encoding each eye's image using filters of different (usually chromatically opposite) colors, typically red and cyan. Anaglyph 3D images contain two differently filte ...

s *A polyoptic lens wheel to allow users to change lenses just by rotating the wheel *A hand crank to power the camera without any batteries *Colors inspired by

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

candies

Reception

, a consumer-level version of Bigshot had not yet been made available for purchase, and thus had not been reviewed by camera and electronics professional reviewers. However, prototypes of the camera have been used for community outreach workshops in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the pr ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, with over 200 children as well as their parents and teachers. Feedback from workshop participants has generally been positive, with several students reporting an increased interest in photography and many teachers praising its ability to promote

STEM education Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mush ...

. Nayar has indicated that the purpose of the workshops was to explore ways that the camera might address the challenges of children in under-served communities with low access to technology.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official websiteShree K. Nayar - HomeColumbia University Computer Vision Laboratory (CAVE)Bigshot video on YouTubeBigshot Camera Community on Google+
Digital cameras Experiential learning