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Optical imaging through scattering media has long been a challenge. Many approaches have been developed for focusing light or imaging objects through scattering media, but usually, they are either invasive, limited to stationary or slow-moving media, or require high-resolution cameras and complex algorithms to retrieve the images. By utilizing spatial–temporal encoded patterns (STEPs), we introduce a technique for the computation of imaging that overcomes these restrictions. With a single-pixel photodetector, we demonstrate non-invasive imaging through scattering media. This technique is insensitive to the motion of the media. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our image reconstruction algorithm is much more efficient than correlation-based algorithms for single-pixel imaging, which may allow fast imaging for applications with limited computing resources.
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Pixel politics and satellite interpretation in the Syrian war
The pixel is a fundamental element of contemporary visual culture, with pictorial and perceptual properties that affect the interpretation of the digital composition as a whole. Despite its importance, however, the pixel remains a neglected object of analysis in cultural sociology and critical media studies. To advance a framework of pixel studies I present a hermeneutical approach. Empirically, I focus on the pixel’s political and socio-technical dimensions through satellite images of violence in the Syrian conflict zone (2011–2017). Through interviews and observations, I study the satellite programmers, technicians, archeologists, and anthropologists who comprised an interdisciplinary effort to interpret satellite pictures of archeological damage and other forms of cultural violence during the war. Their interpretations, some of which were the basis for consequential decisions by US policymakers, involved isolating as few as two pixels on the screen. To explain what this entailed, I draw on theories from Alberto Romele and Don Ihde to situate the pixel within a hermeneutic circle through which satellite images were ‘read’ at different levels. My findings have implications for broader sociological and media studies critiques of the epistemic status of digital media in light of their deep interrelations of politics, technology, and people.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1754992
- PAR ID:
- 10386482
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Media, Culture & Society
- Volume:
- 45
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0163-4437
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 19-35
- Size(s):
- p. 19-35
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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