When I had to buy my first mobile phone in 2005 (earlier I always had a company phone), I chose not to buy a camera phone. The argument I had was that camera phone may not be allowed in a company that implements ISMS and BS7799.
But recently when I had to buy a second phone, which is a CDMA phone, I had to buy Nokia 6275 that has a camera phone along with Bluetooth. I also bought a 2GB memory card for the phone.
Having a camera phone with enough memory in sunk cost led to a innovative usage that I want to share with you all in this post. But the idea is not new as I have used it at ISB few times. I used my 6 mp Sony camera to take pictures of documents and store them. Once I used the camera to click few pages that I wanted to read later (as per my knowledge, this is not copyright violation as long as you don't copy more than 10% and not use it for commercial purposes).
After moving to Delhi, I have noticed that whenever you are sending a hard copy document to someone, it becomes necessary to keep a copy with you for filing or as a proof. Generally photocopying is done and in some cases the document is scanned and kept. While scanning is a very good, low (direct)cost, paper-saving option, it takes certain amount of time and effort, making it not-so-preferred all the time. In such cases photocopying is done. I wanted to avoid the photocopying and the wastage of paper in the process and started using my camera phone to click the document and copy it to my laptop. This may appear to be a dangerous thing to do as people may use it to copy sensitive documents but if someone wants to steal there are many other easy and powerful ways. This is one innovative usage.
The next one is outside office. Whenever you are assigning a auto guy to carry luggage without you or a lady is going alone in the auto, a simple safety measure is to click the auto regn number and the driver's photo. This should to a great extent introduce fear in the auto guy and restrain him from doing any non-sense. You can't really do much in extreme cases anyway but in most cases you can reduce the probability of problem by saving the photo and letting the guy know about it.
This can be used for handling domestic help, plumbers, electricians, other repairmen too. I am sure that if women use this, they can be little more secure at home and office.
I noticed another such innovative use yesterday. Maharastra Electricity Distribution company (Mahavitaran) is using photo bills in which the photo of the bill with reading is printed in the bill to avoid any disputes related to billing. Imagine the amount of savings achieved in this manner.
Interesting, I thought and decided to share it with you all. Cheers
Hi Kiran
ReplyDeleteWhile it is an interesting idea to click photographs of important documents and saving them for further usage, i wonder if the Auto-wallas or the electricians, for that matter -whoever - will be so happy to have their photographs clicked by an unknown person.
I have been staying in london for a couple of years, from what i have observed here it certainly is inappropriate to click photographs of people without their consent.And moreover if the lady going in an Auto alone clicks the photo of the driver, she might send wrong signals too as the driver would understand that the lady is carrying a reasonably expensive mobile and the fact that she is alone might instigate him to a theft.
Regards
Pavan Sarva
Hi Pavan,
ReplyDeleteI haven't considered abt situations outside India. While it might be ok to click pictures in India without any major problem, it may be right to do so in other countries, particularly in formal cultures such as England. This surely could be a useful point in cross-cultural differences.
Thanks for highlighting this.