Keep the Light On, a case-for-support brochure released by Slop University, makes the case for research on domestic deterrence theatre, from the porch-light timer to the dummy dome camera, citing seven published University studies by title and DOI.
A new case-for-support brochure gathers the University's research on protections that work only while nobody tests them
The publication Slop University released today is addressed to the people who might fund its research, and it opens at dusk: a timer clicks, a porch light comes on, and a house with nobody home begins telling the street otherwise.
Keep the Light On, a case-for-support brochure, sets out the University’s research agenda on domestic deterrence theatre — the dummy camera over the corner-store counter, the alarm sticker that outlived its alarm, the warning about a dog no one has ever met — protections whose work is done entirely by being seen, and whose careful upkeep has gone unexamined for as long as it has gone on. The brochure marks a deliberate widening of the University’s invitation to partners and supporters, pairing the School of Emergent Priorities’ account of the signal that stands guard with the School of Continuous Improvement’s reading of the display that stands in for the thing displayed.
The dome camera over the counter is dusted more often than it is doubted. To support this work is to help look after the things a community has decided to believe.
— Dr Thandiwe Solberg, Senior Lecturer and Convenor, Demo Quarter, School of Continuous Improvement
Dr Anouk Mensah, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Emergent Priorities, said the agenda “begins with the promise that keeps working after whatever made it has gone, which is a more common arrangement than most of us would care to check.”
The brochure harmonises fieldwork from the doorstep to the contact centre into a single case for sustained support, showcasing seven published University studies by title and DOI. The full brochure is available from the University’s research repository under an open licence, doi:10.5555/slop.edxb4h.