The future of CCTV systems was highlighted in a presentation at the George Orwell Festival

One of the highlights of the George Orwell Festival was a well received presentation from CCTV expert Stephen Burley which argued that: "Next-generation CCTV technology is shaping our future for the better," complete with a demonstration of a cutting edge MOBOTIX CCTV system.

The George Orwell Festival hosts a variety of events celebrating the respected and influential author including staged adaptations of Orwell's stories, art exhibitions, comedy evenings and themed talks. The festival runs in early September in the garden city and nearby Wallington, where the author of the iconic political novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm lived.

Stephen Burley, who is a Security Consultant at NCPI, a highly respected MOBOTIX Partner, delivered a candid demonstration and presentation on CCTV and how it has affected our lives. In the Orwell book 1984, CCTV was seen to be a malevolent force casting it in a bad light, but perhaps 2011 is the year CCTV out grows its Big Brother is watching you image and shows it has a positive role to play in society.

The talk looked at whether the positive effects of CCTV get overlooked when the public worry about living in a ‘surveillance state'. The presentations gave examples of how complete scenes can be navigated and forensically examined to help solve crimes. CCTV systems are only as good as the person watching the images captured, MOBOTIX will take the guess work out of detecting negative behaviour and alert the relevant authorities of detected threats, being proactive and not passive in its role.

The audience showed great interest in the high quality images and MOBOTIX's ability to react to its environment

The audience showed great interest in the high quality images and MOBOTIX's ability to react to its environment delivering instant alerts and also the depth of forensic detail that can be obtained from the post incident images. MOBOTIX image quality and technology is helping to keep the public safe in places such as on public transport and in rural locations where traditional cameras were unsuitable. Following the presentation, a lively Q&A session chaired by technology writer and George Orwell Festival co-ordinator James Hayes had to be extended for an extra hour as the highly interactive debate sprang up amongst the audience and the CCTV expert.

"It is interesting that in the recent riots, much of the images that were used to identify rioters actually came from other members of the public from cameras on mobile phones," comments Stephen, "Citizens used video and images to help fight crime. This shows just how much we have grown to accept video as part of our society." There is more in Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four we as a global society has accepted which is far more sinister in its role than Big Brother, but due to its visibility CCTV got the bad press but is now poised to change people's perception that surveillance is not necessarily a bad thing.