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Catching SleepersINTERESTING NORTH 13th November 2010
T: @olishaw
W olishaw.com
Presenting:
Hi I'm olishaw, I’m talking about a study I’ve been doing over the last 12 months
“The art of noticing and capturing a person sleeping in public”
What is ‘catching sleepers’ ?
So what is catching sleepers?
Put simply its the art of documenBng someone asleep in a public place, I came to think of it a bit like wildlife photography, where you enter into the subjects habitat and document them
Who am I ?
A bit of context... I don't have a PhD and I’m not a trained anthropologist, but I am lucky in that I can pracBce certain aspects of it in my work
Why did I do this study?
A year ago I changed jobs resulBng in me traveling through 5 zones of the London underground and back each day, spending an hour or more twice a day on the tube I quickly ran out of things to keep myself occupied.
I began to noBce a frequent number of people a sleep on the tube, with an interest in cultural research I thought I would document this phenomenon and turn it into a study...
Developing a methodology
I quickly realised that like any study i needed an approach, a methodology
You can’t use an SLR, I quickly discovered that discretion was the key to success.
How to catch a sleeper
What became quickly apparent is that you need to be discreet, you cant go poking a big SLR in peoples faces, even if they are asleep, everyone else in the carriage starts to look at you funny
How to catch a sleeper
An iPhone and ninja cam was invaluable
+
I have no affiliaBon with ninjacam, but I will champion it as a great app for being discreet, basically it can make you iphone look like it’s off while you snap away. It does make you learn how to shoot from the hip
“It’s one of the few times you don't want someone to look at the camera when your taking their picture”
Some times you get spotted
Even with these precauBons, you someBmes can sBll get spoQed, it’s not foolproof
You think he’s asleep
oh, no I’ve been spoQed
spoQed again
This guy was an interesBng one, he noBces the camera
wonders what I’m doing doing, but even when I move seats (to capture a different sleeper)
he came and sat in front of me and went to sleep, clearly not that bothered
Who are the sleepers?
So who are these sleepers?
“The bum on the sidewalk can enjoy the same tasting Coke as the president of the USA”
...all types of people
Andy Warhol (possibly)
Well they come from all walks of life, I like this quote about how a can of coke is the same no maQer who drinks it (theres not premium can).
In the same way sleep is one of those social levellers
So everyone sleeps, older people
younger people
women
men
all types
no maQer who the are
...all time of the day & year
and it happens through out the year
Winter Summer
through all the seasons, hot, cold...
It’s happening all over europe
And its happening all over europe
(well I found sleepers in Berlin and Paris)
Well its world wide, but I was fortunate enough to go to france and germany whilst doing the study an have documented sleepers in Berlin & Paris
They’re not just on the tube
And sleepers are not just on the tube, public sleeping happens all over
On buses
On the overground trains
And even in Starbucks
at lunchBme on saturday (it wasn’t exactly quite)
Some people could quite make it onto the tube before they fell asleep
Some points of interest
So, a few points of interest that came out of the study
Habitual sleepers
There are some sleepers are habitual, getting the tube at the same time (same carriage) every working day.
...They must be factoring it into their daily sleep quota
I was amazed that they would always wake up in Bme fore there stop
Where as...
Where as there are other unplanned sleepers who would sleep though there stop...
...even if it was the end of the line.
This lady was on a busy bustling tube
Even when people got on and of she remain undisturbed in her slumber
Now this guy
Was fast asleep long aZer the train had pulled in an everyone had disembarked the train (I stayed around for a while to see how long before he woke up)
Busy or quite a sleeper will sleep on regardless...
An empty tube, apart form these two seaming unconnected people at one end of the carriage (and myself)
This lady was fast asleep on a busy rush hour tube
An slept on oblivious to it all
On a Eurostar trip at 5pm returning from Paris...
walking the length of the train I discovered a whole train full of sleepers
Some more prepared then others
Some more asleep then others
Behaviours of the sleepers
Personal security: What do with your belongings?
One of the biggest quesBons I asked myself was what about their belongings, and I noBced some techniques employed by the sleepers
The holding tight,
This guy had white knuckles because he was holding the bag so Bght
Or use the bag as a head rest...
Strap it on,
Don't think you have the mind to hold your bag when asleep? Try strapping it to yourself for security
This lady clearly prioriBsed her bag, one (more precious) strapped on and the other sat beside her
The Confident (between you legs),
One strapped, one between the legs
This behaviour was typically a male favourite
This guy looked like he might drop he’s phone he was in such a deep sleep
The Over-Confident (the offering)
Here is my bag...
...please take it from me
Now this was my favourite, almost a zen like prayer
The Berlin technique,
And then there was the Berlin technique
as seen at 3am on Friday evening
Getting Comfortable
Contrary to what you have seen it’s not easy for everyone to find a comfortable sleeping posiBon
This guy was swaying for about 30mins one side then the other
She thought she was comfy, but nope, she slumps over
This guy relaxes into it... aZer a Bme
This lady without any fuss moves seat mid sleep to gain a more comfortable posiBon
This lady moves seats and gets really comfy
Am I comfy? Ah maybe now... oh this is beQer... Ah thats the spot!
Has a yawn and then give into the sleep
The train goes over a bump, and he slumps forward
This guy is denying he's sleepy, he slowly starts to succumb to it
Then the sleep takes hold
What to do with your head ?
You can hold it
The head back technique was quite a popular one
This lady was well insulated and cushioned, a 360 pillow
The head forward slump...
Use what is around you,
Or you could use the structure around you
Make the most of the space around you
I have to bring special aQenBon to this guy, he has got his head balanced on 2 inches of plasBc, its an art form
I’m not really sleeping!
Then there are the people who pretend that they aren’t really asleep
Hiding behind their bags
The readers...
Now I’m not sure if they fall asleep reading, or if they make it look like they are reading then fall asleep
Listening to a lullaby
This guy slumps of a bit later in the journey
Its summer, sunny, you have your sunglasses on...
But then you slump forwards and everyone can see your fast asleep
I’m asleep and I don’t care!
The unashamed sleepers
Hood up and I don't care
No hood, use what you have
This guy looked like he could have almost be posing for me -‐ if it wasn’t for the snoring
Is it infectious, like yawning?
So I began to wonder, is sleeping infecBous like yawning is?
This guy seems to be infecBng the lady next to him
3 strangers sleeping together in public
The most I had in one tube was 5
This guy managed to infect two different people sat next to him
How do you know when its a deep sleep?
Apart from snoring...
Lets take a closer look
it’s the mouth open imminent drooling
Catching sleepers game
So to maintain my enthusiasm for the study throughout the 12 months, i made up a game
The Game of catching sleepers
A Cross between noticin.gs and pub cricket
+
Its a bit like noBcings and the old game of pub cricket
+1The sleeper
So... 1 point for a sleeper
+2The improvised pillow
more effort to make a pillow, an extra point
+3The pillow
it take some preparation to bring a pillow so more points
+2The unique
2 points for a unique pose / position
+2The end of the line* extra points for an empty carriage
+10The yawner* must be caught in action
This is an especially hard one to catch in action
+3The hiding
3 points is you can rumble a hiding sleeper
+3The shameless
3 points for a shameless sleeper, they're more rare to find
+5The open mouth* mega points for documented drool!
You get extra points for documenting some drool!
+1 +1x 2The Multiplier* times by the number in shot
Multiplier points
+1 +1x 3The Multiplier* times by the number in shot
+1 +10x 2The Combo Multiplier
Comboʼs!
+20The offering* such a unique pose
And mega points for my favourite pose
Things I learnt on the way
So a few things I learnt about sleeping on the tube...
Tips for sleeping on the tube
• Don’t have a bag or any belongings your not wearing
• Get an seat at the very front or very back or the tube
• If you think you might miss your stop, don't sleep
Tips for sleeping on the tube
Most importantly:
Don’t fall asleep if you don't want some one to take your photo! :)
Insights from desk research
Once I had completed the study, I thought that I should (retrospecBvely) do some desk based research on sleepers
I found this this venn diagram...I’ll leave that with you
[Sorry cant find a link to the source -‐ FFFFound]
Even superheros sleep on public transport
[Sorry cant find a link to the source -‐ FFFFound]
Censored
And it could be worse...
you could be; Drunk, Naked and Asleep
[Sorry cant find a link to the source -‐ FFFFound]