Find out more about one of the three GATHERINGS living labs, which combine research organisations with national Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to ensure the project reaches all of its crucial stakeholders through an effective engagement strategy.
In the Austrian Living Lab, VICESSE together with the Austrian Police, will examine practices and effects of surveillance at public gatherings. On the one hand, the living lab will consider how the different stakeholders who are involved in the organisation of public gatherings coordinate their work in order to provide for security and safety at such events, particularly focusing on the different means of surveillance practices and technologies to achieve this. By both taking a broad range of stakeholders and practices into account, the Austrian living lab will be able to provide insights into the different negotiations and evaluations between security, privacy, economic and social costs, and identify challenges and opportunities, as well as best practice examples of security practices. On the other hand, the living labs in Austria have the aim to involve different members of the public into the research – citizens as well as members of different vulnerable communities – as visitors of public gatherings. The aim here is to both gain a better understanding of their needs and requirements in terms of the security of public gatherings, and regarding the surveillance practices and technologies in use.
To this end, a series of activities are carried out in the Austrian Living Lab, at concerts, sport events, fairs and markets, as well as spontaneous public gatherings, mainly in the cities of Vienna and Wels. The main activities in the living labs include:
- A survey has been set up which is being distributed at different public gatherings across Austria. Here, the aim is to gather a diverse input on how visitors of public gatherings perceive security and surveillance measures at that specific event.
- Focus groups and smaller (group) interviews will be conducted with visitors, vulnerable groups, organisers, security providers, surveillance experts and other relevant stakeholders in the organisation and experience of public gatherings.
- Participant observations and visits of public gatherings – where possible together with the Austrian Police – will be done, to get a deeper understanding of the practices, methods and challenges Law Enforcement Agencies are confronted with when providing security at public gatherings.
The core insight we want to gain from the activities of the Austrian living labs is a better understanding of the experiences of the many different people who both attend public gatherings as well as those who organise and provide security measures at these events. The aim is to have everyone involved to develop a set of common standards and best practices for the surveillance of public gatherings in a participatory way, e.g. in dedicated co-learning panels.