Desktop scanner, with the lid raised. An object has been laid on the glass, ready for scanning.

Scan of the jade rhinoceros seen in the photograph above.

In computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications. Mechanically driven scanners that move the document are typically used for large-format documents, where a flatbed design would be impractical.

Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as the image sensor, whereas older drum scanners use a photomultiplier tube as the image sensor. A rotary scanner, used for high-speed document scanning, is another type of drum scanner, using a CCD array instead of a photomultiplier. Other types of scanners are planetary scanners, which take photographs of books and documents, and 3D scanners, for producing three-dimensional models of objects.

Another category of scanner is digital camera scanners, which are based on the concept of reprographic cameras. Due to increasing resolution and new features such as anti-shake, digital cameras have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While still having disadvantages compared to traditional scanners (such as distortion, reflections, shadows, low contrast), digital cameras offer advantages such as speed, portability and gentle digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine. New scanning technologies are combining 3D scanners with digital cameras to create full-color, photo-realistic 3D models of objects.^{[citation needed]}

In the biomedical research area, detection devices for DNA microarrays are called scanners as well. These scanners are high-resolution systems (up to 1 µm/ pixel), similar to microscopes. The detection is done via CCD or a photomultiplier tube (PMT).

History[link]

Pantelegraph

Caselli's pantelegraph mechanism

Belinograph BEP2V wirephoto machine by Edouard Bélin, 1930

Modern scanners may be considered the successors of early telephotography and fax input devices.

The pantelegraph (Italian: pantelegrafo; French: pantélégraphe) was an early form of facsimile machine transmitting over normal telegraph lines developed by Giovanni Caselli, used commercially in the 1860s, that was the first such device to enter practical service. It used electromagnets to drive and synchronize movement of pendulums at the source and the distant location, to scan and reproduce images. It could transmit handwriting, signatures, or drawings within an area of up to 150 x 100mm.

Édouard Belin's Belinograph of 1913, scanned using a photocell and transmitted over ordinary phone lines, formed the basis for the AT&T Wirephoto service. In Europe, services similar to a wirephoto were called a Belino. It was used by news agencies from the 1920s to the mid-1990s, and consisted of a rotating drum with a single photodetector at a standard speed of 60 or 120 rpm (later models up to 240 rpm). They send a linear analog AM signal through standard telephone voice lines to receptors, which synchronously print the proportional intensity on special paper. Color photos were sent as three separated RGB filtered images consecutively, but only for special events due to transmission costs.

Types[link]

Drum[link]

The first image scanner developed for use with a computer, was a drum scanner. It was built in 1957 at the US National Bureau of Standards by a team led by Russell A. Kirsch. The first image ever scanned on this machine was a 5 cm square photograph of Kirsch's then-three-month-old son, Walden. The black and white image had a resolution of 176 pixels on a side.^[1]

Drum scanners capture image information with photomultiplier tubes (PMT), rather than the charge-coupled device (CCD) arrays found in flatbed scanners and inexpensive film scanners. Reflective and transmissive originals are mounted on an acrylic cylinder, the scanner drum, which rotates at high speed while it passes the object being scanned in front of precision optics that deliver image information to the PMTs. Most modern color drum scanners use three matched PMTs, which read red, blue, and green light, respectively. Light from the original artwork is split into separate red, blue, and green beams in the optical bench of the scanner.

The drum scanner gets its name from the clear acrylic cylinder, the drum, on which the original artwork is mounted for scanning. Depending on size, it is possible to mount originals up to 11"x17", but maximum size varies by manufacturer. One of the unique features of drum scanners is the ability to control sample area and aperture size independently. The sample size is the area that the scanner encoder reads to create an individual pixel. The aperture is the actual opening that allows light into the optical bench of the scanner. The ability to control aperture and sample size separately is particularly useful for smoothing film grain when scanning black-and white and color negative originals.

While drum scanners are capable of scanning both reflective and transmissive artwork, a good-quality flatbed scanner can produce good scans from reflective artwork. As a result, drum scanners are rarely used to scan prints now that high-quality, inexpensive flatbed scanners are readily available. Film, however, is where drum scanners continue to be the tool of choice for high-end applications. Because film can be wet-mounted to the scanner drum and because of the exceptional sensitivity of the PMTs, drum scanners are capable of capturing very subtle details in film originals.

Only a few companies continue to manufacture drum scanners. While prices of both new and used units have come down over the last decade, they still require a considerable monetary investment when compared to CCD flatbed and film scanners. However, drum scanners remain in demand due to their capacity to produce scans that are superior in resolution, color gradation, and value structure. Also, because drum scanners are capable of resolutions up to 24,000 PPI, their use is generally recommended when a scanned image is going to be enlarged.

In most graphic-arts operations, very-high-quality flatbed scanners have replaced drum scanners, being both less expensive and faster. However, drum scanners continue to be used in high-end applications, such as museum-quality archiving of photographs and print production of high-quality books and magazine advertisements. In addition, due to the greater availability of pre-owned units, many fine-art photographers are acquiring drum scanners, which has created a new niche market for the machines.

Flatbed[link]

CCD Scanner[link]

A flatbed scanner is usually composed of a glass pane (or platen), under which there is a bright light (often xenon or cold cathode fluorescent) which illuminates the pane, and a moving optical array in CCD scanning. CCD-type scanners typically contain three rows (arrays) of sensors with red, green, and blue filters.

CIS Scanner[link]

CIS scanning consists of a moving set of red, green and blue LEDs strobed for illumination and a connected monochromatic photodiode array for light collection. Images to be scanned are placed face down on the glass, an opaque cover is lowered over it to exclude ambient light, and the sensor array and light source move across the pane, reading the entire area. An image is therefore visible to the detector only because of the light it reflects. Transparent images do not work in this way, and require special accessories that illuminate them from the upper side. Many scanners offer this as an option.

Film[link]

DSLR camera and slide scanner

"Slide" (positive) or negative film can be scanned in equipment specially manufactured for this purpose. Usually, uncut film strips of up to six frames, or four mounted slides, are inserted in a carrier, which is moved by a stepper motor across a lens and CCD sensor inside the scanner. Some models are mainly used for same-size scans. Film scanners vary a great deal in price and quality. Consumer scanners are relatively inexpensive while the most expensive professional CCD based film scanning system was around 120,000 USD. More expensive solutions are said to produce better results.

Hand[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

GeniScan GS4500 Hand Scanner

Hand scanners come in two forms: document and 3D scanners. Hand held document scanners are manual devices that are dragged across the surface of the image to be scanned. Scanning documents in this manner requires a steady hand, as an uneven scanning rate would produce distorted images - a little light on the scanner would indicate if the motion was too fast. They typically have a "start" button, which is held by the user for the duration of the scan; some switches to set the optical resolution; and a roller, which generates a clock pulse for synchronization with the computer. Most hand scanners were monochrome, and produced light from an array of green LEDs to illuminate the image. A typical hand scanner also had a small window through which the document being scanned could be viewed. They were popular during the early 1990s and usually had a proprietary interface module specific to a particular type of computer, usually an Atari ST or Commodore Amiga.

While popularity for document scanning has waned, use of hand held 3D scanners remains popular for many applications, including industrial design, reverse engineering, inspection & analysis, digital manufacturing and medical applications. To compensate for the uneven motion of the human hand, most 3D scanning systems rely on the placement of reference markers – typically adhesive reflective tabs that the scanner uses to align elements and mark positions in space.

Smartphone scanner apps[link]

Cameras in smartphones have reached a resolution and quality that reasonable quality scans can be achieved by taking a photo with the phone and using a scanning app for post-processing (such as whitening the background of a page, correcting perspective distortion so that a document is output as a correct rectangle, conversion to black-and-white, etc.)

Most smartphone platforms now have a range of scanner apps available. These apps can typically scan multiple page documents through the use of multiple camera exposures, and output them to a PDF document or as separate JPEG images. Some smartphone scanning apps can also save documents directly to online storage locations such as Dropbox, Evernote, send via email or fax documents via email-to-fax gateways.^{[citation needed]}

Quality[link]

Scanners typically read red-green-blue color (RGB) data from the array. This data is then processed with some proprietary algorithm to correct for different exposure conditions, and sent to the computer via the device's input/output interface (usually USB, previous to which was SCSI or bidirectional parallel port in older units).

Color depth varies depending on the scanning array characteristics, but is usually at least 24 bits. High quality models have 36-48 bits of color depth.

Another qualifying parameter for a scanner is its resolution, measured in pixels per inch (ppi), sometimes more accurately referred to as Samples per inch (spi). Instead of using the scanner's true optical resolution, the only meaningful parameter, manufacturers like to refer to the interpolated resolution, which is much higher thanks to software interpolation. As of 2009^[update], a high-end flatbed scanner can scan up to 5400 ppi and drum scanners have an optical resolution of between 3,000 and 24,000 ppi.^[2]

Manufacturers often claim interpolated resolutions as high as 19,200 ppi; but such numbers carry little meaningful value, because the number of possible interpolated pixels is unlimited and doing so does not increase the level of captured detail.

The size of the file created increases with the square of the resolution; doubling the resolution quadruples the file size. A resolution must be chosen that is within the capabilities of the equipment, preserves sufficient detail, and does not produce a file of excessive size. The file size can be reduced for a given resolution by using "lossy" compression methods such as JPEG, at some cost in quality. If the best possible quality is required lossless compression should be used; reduced-quality files of smaller size can be produced from such an image when required (e.g., image designed to be printed on a full page, and a much smaller file to be displayed as part of a fast-loading web page).

Purity can be diminished by scanner noise, optical flare, poor analog to digital conversion, scratches, dust, Newton rings, out of focus sensors, improper scanner operation, and poor software. Drum scanners are said to produce the purest digital representations of the film, followed by high end film scanners that use the larger Kodak Tri-Linear sensors.

The third important parameter for a scanner is its density range or Drange (see Densitometry). A high density range means that the scanner is able to record shadow details and brightness details in one scan. Density of film is measured on a base 10 log scale and varies between 0.0 (transparent) and 4.0, about 13 stops. The maximum density of negative film is up to 3.0d (density), while slide film can reach 4.0d. Slower film can reach higher density than faster film. Consumer level flatbed scanners have a Drange in the 2.5-3.0 range, adequate for negative film. High end flatbed scanners can reach a Drange of 3.7. Drum scanners have a Drange of 3.6-4.5.^[2]

By combining full-color imagery with 3D models, modern hand-held scanners are able to completely reproduce objects electronically. The addition of 3D color printers enables accurate miniaturization of these objects, with applications across many industries and professions.

Computer connection[link]

Scanning the document is only one part of the process. For the scanned image to be useful, it must be transferred from the scanner to an application running on the computer. There are two basic issues: (1) how the scanner is physically connected to the computer and (2) how the application retrieves the information from the scanner.

Direct physical connection to a computer[link]

The amount of data generated by a scanner can be very large: a 600 DPI 23 x 28 cm (9"x11") (slightly larger than A4 paper) uncompressed 24-bit image is about 100 megabytes of data which must be transferred and stored. Recent scanners can generate this volume of data in a matter of seconds, making a fast connection desirable.

Scanners communicate to their host computer using one of the following physical interfaces, listing from slow to fast:

• Parallel port - Connecting through a parallel port is the slowest common transfer method. Early scanners had parallel port connections that could not transfer data faster than 70 kilobytes/second. The primary advantage of the parallel port connection was economic and user skill level: it avoided adding an interface card to the computer.
• GPIB - General Purpose Interface Bus. Certain drumscanners like the Howtek D4000 featured both a SCSI and GPIB interface. The latter conforms to the IEEE-488 standard, introduced in the mid ’70's. The GPIB-interface has only been used by a few scanner manufactures, mostly serving the DOS/Windows environment. For Apple Macintosh systems, National Instruments provided a NuBus GPIB interface card.
• Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), which is supported by most computers only via an additional SCSI interface card. Some SCSI scanners are supplied together with a dedicated SCSI card for a PC, although any SCSI controller can be used. During the evolution of the SCSI standard speeds increased, with backwards compatibility; a SCSI connection can transfer data at the highest speed which both the controller and the device support. SCSI has been largely replaced by USB and Firewire, one or both of which are directly supported by most computers, and which are easier to set up than SCSI.
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) scanners can transfer data quickly, and they are easier to use and cheaper than SCSI devices. The early USB 1.1 standard could transfer data at only 1.5 megabytes per second (slower than SCSI), but the later USB 2.0 standard can theoretically transfer up to 60 megabytes per second (although everyday rates are much lower), resulting in faster operation.
• FireWire is an interface that is much faster than USB 1.1 and comparable to USB 2.0. FireWire speeds are 25, 50, and 100, 400 and 800 megabits per second (but a device may not support all speeds). Also known as: IEEE-1394.
• Proprietary interfaces were used on some early scanners that used a proprietary interface card rather than a standard interface.

Indirect (network) connection to a computer[link]

During the early nineties, professional flatbed scanners were targeted to professional users. Some vendors (like Umax) allowed a single scanner connected to a host computer to function as a scanner accessible by all users within a local computer network. This proved to be very handy to e.g. publishers, print shops, etc. This functionality gradually disappeared after the mid-’90's as flatbed scanners became more affordable each year.

However, as of 2000 and later, all-in-one multi-purpose devices targeted to serve both (small) offices and consumers usually combine a printer, scanner, copier and fax into a single apparatus available to a whole workgroup, providing each individual fax, scan, copy and print functionality.

There are also scanner-sharing software available on the internet.

Applications Programming Interface[link]

A paint application such as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop must communicate with the scanner. There are many different scanners, and many of those scanners use different protocols. In order to simplify applications programming, some Applications Programming Interfaces ("API") were developed. The API presents a uniform interface to the scanner. This means that the application does not need to know the specific details of the scanner in order to access it directly. For example, Adobe Photoshop supports the TWAIN standard; therefore in theory Photoshop can acquire an image from any scanner that has a TWAIN driver.

In practice, there are often problems with an application communicating with a scanner. Either the application or the scanner manufacturer (or both) may have faults in their implementation of the API.

Typically, the API is implemented as a dynamically linked library. Each scanner manufacturer provides software that translates the API procedure calls into primitive commands that are issued to a hardware controller (such as the SCSI, USB, or FireWire controller). The manufacturer's part of the API is commonly called a device driver, but that designation is not strictly accurate: the API does not run in kernel mode and does not directly access the device. Rather the scanner API library translates application requests into hardware requests.

Common scanner software API interfaces:

SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) is a free/open source API for accessing scanners. Originally developed for Unix and Linux operating systems, it has been ported to OS/2, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Unlike TWAIN, SANE does not handle the user interface. This allows batch scans and transparent network access without any special support from the device driver.

TWAIN is used by most scanners. Originally used for low-end and home-use equipment, it is now widely used for large-volume scanning.

ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification) created by Pixel Translations, which still uses SCSI-II for performance reasons, is used by large, departmental-scale, machines. WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) is an API provided by Microsoft.

Bundled applications[link]

Although no software beyond a scanning utility is a feature of any scanner, many scanners come bundled with software. Typically, in addition to the scanning utility, some type of image-editing application (such as Photoshop), and optical character recognition (OCR) software are supplied. OCR software converts graphical images of text into standard text that can be edited using common word-processing and text-editing software; accuracy is rarely perfect.

Output data[link]

The scanned result is a non-compressed RGB image, which can be transferred to a computer's memory. Some scanners compress and clean up the image using embedded firmware. Once on the computer, the image can be processed with a raster graphics program (such as Photoshop or the GIMP) and saved on a storage device (such as a hard disk).

Images are usually stored on a hard disk. Pictures are normally stored in image formats such as uncompressed Bitmap, "non-lossy" (lossless) compressed TIFF and PNG, and "lossy" compressed JPEG. Documents are best stored in TIFF or PDF format; JPEG is particularly unsuitable for text. Optical character recognition (OCR) software allows a scanned image of text to be converted into editable text with reasonable accuracy, so long as the text is cleanly printed and in a typeface and size that can be read by the software. OCR capability may be integrated into the scanning software, or the scanned image file can be processed with a separate OCR program.

Document processing[link]

Document scanner

The scanning or digitization of paper documents for storage makes different requirements of the scanning equipment used than scanning of pictures for reproduction. While documents can be scanned on general-purpose scanners, it is more efficiently performed on dedicated document scanners.

When scanning large quantities of documents, speed and paper-handling is very important, but the resolution of the scan will normally be much lower than for good reproduction of pictures.

Document scanners have document feeders, usually larger than those sometimes found on copiers or all-purpose scanners. Scans are made at high speed, perhaps 20 to 150 pages per minute, often in grayscale, although many scanners support color. Many scanners can scan both sides of double-sided originals (duplex operation). Sophisticated document scanners have firmware or software that cleans up scans of text as they are produced, eliminating accidental marks and sharpening type; this would be unacceptable for photographic work, where marks cannot reliably be distinguished from desired fine detail. Files created are compressed as they are made.

The resolution used is usually from 150 to 300 dpi, although the hardware may be capable of somewhat higher resolution; this produces images of text good enough to read and for optical character recognition (OCR), without the higher demands on storage space required by higher-resolution images.

Document scans are often processed using OCR technology to create editable and searchable files. Most scanners use ISIS or TWAIN device drivers to scan documents into TIFF format so that the scanned pages can be fed into a document management system that will handle the archiving and retrieval of the scanned pages. Lossy JPEG compression, which is very efficient for pictures, is undesirable for text documents, as slanted straight edges take on a jagged appearance, and solid black (or other color) text on a light background compresses well with lossless compression formats.

While paper feeding and scanning can be done automatically and quickly, preparation and indexing are necessary and require much work by humans. Preparation involves manually inspecting the papers to be scanned and making sure that they are in order, unfolded, without staples or anything else that might jam the scanner. Additionally, some industries such as legal and medical may require documents to have Bates Numbering or some other mark giving a document identification number and date/time of the document scan.

Indexing involves associating relevant keywords to files so that they can be retrieved by content. This process can sometimes be automated to some extent, but it often requires manual labour performed by data-entry clerks. One common practice is the use of barcode-recognition technology: during preparation, barcode sheets with folder names or index information are inserted into the document files, folders, and document groups. Using automatic batch scanning, the documents are saved into appropriate folders, and an index is created for integration into document-management systems.

A specialized form of document scanning is book scanning. Technical difficulties arise from the books usually being bound and sometimes fragile and irreplaceable, but some manufacturers have developed specialized machinery to deal with this. Often special robotic mechanisms are used to automate the page turning and scanning process.

Infrared cleaning[link]

Infrared cleaning is a technique used to remove the effects of dust and scratches on images scanned from film; many modern scanners incorporate this feature. It works by scanning the film with infrared light. From this, it is possible to detect dust and scratches that cut off the infrared light; and they can then be automatically removed, by considering their position, size, shape, and surroundings.

Scanner manufacturers usually have their own name attached to this technique. For example, Epson, Nikon, Microtek, and others use Digital ICE, while Canon uses its own system FARE (Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement system).^[3] Some independent software developers are designing their own infrared cleaning tools.

Trivia[link]

Scanner Music[link]

Flatbed scanners are capable of synthesising simple musical scores, due to the variable speed (and tone) of their stepper motors. This property can be applied for hardware diagnostics: for example the HP Scanjet 5 plays Ode to Joy if powered on with the Scan button held down and the SCSI ID set to zero.^[4] Windows- and Linux-based software is available for several brands and types of flatbed scanners to play MIDI files for fun purposes.^[5]

Scanner art[link]

Scanner art is art made by placing objects on a flatbed scanner and scanning them. There has been some debate as to whether scanner art is a form of digital photography.^{[citation needed]} Images made with a scanner differ from those made with a camera, as the scanner has very little depth of field and a constant light all over the surface.

See also[link]

• Barcode reader
• Book scanning
• Cintel telecine equipment
• Display resolution
• Gamma correction
• Telecine

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Imaging scanners

• Scanner at the Open Directory Project
• "Is Drum Scanning Really Alive and Well?" from Digital Output by Jim Rich
• "Can a Fine-Art Large-Format Photographer Find Happiness With a $30,000 Scanner?" by Bill Glickman
• Scanique, a Windows tool for sharing scanner over network. Accessed on 3 December 2011.

Shwayne Booth Jr.,^[1] better known mononymously as S.mouse (later as S.mouse!), is a fictional character from the Australian mockumentary series, Angry Boys. The character is portrayed by Chris Lilley, who wears a curly wig and blackface makeup. He has appeared in Angry Boys since the second episode. He is an African American rapper who lives in Calabasas, California. In the second episode, S.mouse is introduced as the rapper who just released the biggest selling hip-hop single of all time, "Slap My Elbow". Later in the show, S.mouse is put under house arrest at his parent's home for two months, after defecating on a police car in the video for his single "Poo on You". He also gets dropped from his record label after another one of his music videos, Grandmother Fucker, receives many complaints.

S.mouse has received a mixed response from critics. Paul Kalina of The Sydney Morning Herald has written that "S.mouse is arguably the new show's weakest incarnation", while Rowen Dean of ABC Online describes him as "Eminem meets Ali G meets Snoop Dogg".

Storylines[link]

S.mouse is introduced as the rapper who just released the biggest selling hip-hop single of all time, "Slap My Elbow".^[2] S.mouse tries to reinvent himself. He defies his record label contract and releases his self-penned YouTube released "Poo on You", in which the music video sees S.mouse defecating on a police car.^[2] He later makes an online apology to his fans and is put under house arrest at his parent's home for two months.^[2] S.mouse receives a demo from his manager Larry and he expresses great dislike of the track.^[3] He then decides to release a new single called "Grandmother Fucker".^[3] The music video for the song features an appearance by S.mouse's grandmother, which angers his father Shwayne Senior (Richard Lawson).^[3] S.mouse later receives a phone call from his manager that he has been dropped from his record label due to the video receiving so many complaints.^[3]

S.mouse decides to create his own music for his new album, The Real Me.^[4] The album will be released independently and is executively produced by his best friend Danthony (Clyde Boraine).^[4] S.mouse had originally planned to feature Barbadian singer Rihanna on his new song, "Big Black Balls", however it features his girlfriend Lasquisha (Kristin Dione Metoyer) instead.^[4] S.mouse completes his community service by performing his new songs to an unimpressed audience of children at an elementary school.^[5] Lasquisha tells him that they don't know him and he'll already be forgotten once his house arrest is over.^[5] S.mouse goes to the mall, even though he is not allowed to leave the house, to prove that he is still famous.^[5] However, no one cares that he is there and when Lasquisha asks people if they know him, they say no.^[5] When they arrive home, a parole officer tightens the security on S.mouse's ankle monitor.^[5] If he walks out the gate, he will be electrocuted. S.mouse spends the afternoon writing a new song called "Whack My Knee" and Lasquisha comes up with a dance craze for the song.^[5] During a photo shoot for his new album, The Real Me, a paparazzi helicopter secretly takes photos of S.mouse shirtless and puts them online, claiming that he has become fat. S.mouse later finds out that Lasquisha has dumped him, as she does not want to be associated with someone believed to be fat. S.mouse launches his new album at a club in Los Angeles to a crowd who are less than pleased. He writes a new song called "Squashed Nigga", based on Daniel's story about an Aborigine child named Wally who was crushed by a truck. S.mouse decides to sing the song instead of rapping the lyrics. He subsequently re-invents himself under the performing name of: Shwayne Jr.

Development[link]

S.mouse is portrayed by comedian Chris Lilley. In an interview with Ralph magazine, Lilley revealed it was difficult and tricky to play S.mouse due to the hip-hop music, working with American actors and pretending to be a black person in an American family.^[6] Discussing his character in an interview with The Vine, Lilley said,

"The world of S.mouse is not my world – I don't know people like that. I know about the world of hip-hop because I'm interested in that kind of music but I wanted to show that world in a different way, not just present all the usual clichés. I wanted it to be a genuine story about a genuine guy. But being in that make-up, speaking that way and interacting with the black actors who played my family... it was very far-removed from anything I'm used to."^[7]

Reception[link]

The character received mixed reviews from critics. After S.mouse's first appearance on Angry Boys, Larissa Dubecki of The Age expressed the opinion that he contained some of Jonah Takalua's DNA, but also "found him plain annoying although his impending house arrest might pique interest."^[8] Paul Kalina of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that "S.mouse is arguably the new show's weakest incarnation, being someone we've already seen in sketch shows and whose cultural baggage doesn't register as sharply as Lilley's local characters do."^[9] Rowen Dean of ABC Online described the character as "Eminem meets Ali G meets Snoop Dog".^[10] Eleanor Morgan of The Guardian compared S.mouse to the Jamaican woman in David Walliams' series Come Fly with Me, stating he "isn't offensive in the way David Walliams... makes his character's ethnicity the punchline, whereas Lilley has created a ridiculous character who just happens to be black."^[11] Ruth Margolis of TV.com wrote, "... it's not clear whether his accent is intentionally awful or whether he just hasn't mastered it in time for filming. Whatever the case, S.mouse doesn't quite work. He's not layered like Lilley's other creations".^[12]

Commercial performances[link]

Three of S.mouse's songs, "Animal Zoo", "Slap My Elbow" and "Squashed Nigga", have been released as singles, available for digital download on the Australian iTunes Store.^[13][14][15] "Slap My Elbow" entered the ARIA Singles Chart and the ARIA Urban Singles Chart; it peaked at numbers thirty-seven and thirteen, respectively.^[16][17] In the United Kingdom, "Slap My Elbow" debuted at number 139 on the UK Singles Chart on August 13, 2011,^[18] and "Squashed Nigga" debuted at number 151 on August 20, 2011.^[19]

References[link]

Paul Watson
Paul Watson, in front of the "MV Steve Irwin" docked in Hobart. January 2009
Born	(1950-12-02) December 2, 1950 (age 61) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Activist, television personality
Spouse	Starlet Lum Lisa DiStefano Allison Lance
Website
SeaShepherd.org

Paul Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist, who founded and is president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group devoted to marine conservation.^[1]

The Toronto native joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing in 1969. He was an early and influential member of Greenpeace, crewed and skippered for it, and later was a board member. Watson argued for a strategy of direct action that conflicted with the Greenpeace interpretation of nonviolence, was ousted from the board in 1977, and subsequently left the organization. That same year, he formed Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The group is the subject of a reality show, Whale Wars.

He also promotes veganism, voluntary human population control, and a biocentric, rather than anthropocentric, worldview.^[2]

Early and personal life[link]

Paul Watson was born in Toronto to Anthony Joseph Watson and Annamarie Larsen, and grew up in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. After working as a tour guide at Expo 67, the World's Fair that took place in Montreal in 1967, Watson "rode the rails" in boxcars west to Vancouver.^[3]

In 1968 and the early 1970s, he joined the Canadian Coast Guard, where he served aboard weatherships, search and rescue hovercraft, and buoy tenders. He signed up as a merchant seaman in 1969 with the Norwegian Consulate in Vancouver and shipped out on the 35,000 ton bulk carrier Bris as a deck hand. The Bris was registered in Oslo, Norway and manifested for the Indian Ocean and Pacific trade.^[3]

Watson has one child (born 1980) with his first wife, Starlet Lum,^[4] who was a founding director of Greenpeace Quebec, Earthforce!, Project Wolf, and Sea Shepherd. His second wife, Lisa DiStefano, a former model, was Sea Shepherd's Director of Operations during the Makah anti-whaling campaigns in Friday Harbor.^[1] His third wife, Allison Lance, is an animal rights activist and a volunteer crew member of Sea Shepherd.^[5][6][7]

Activism[link]

Early years[link]

In October 1969, Watson joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing at Amchitka Island. The group which formed as a result of that protest was the Don't Make a Wave Committee, which evolved into the group known today as Greenpeace.^[8] Watson sailed as a crewmember aboard the Greenpeace Too! ship in 1971^[9] and skippered the Greenpeace boat Astral in 1972.^[3] Paul Watson continued as a crew member, skipper, and officer aboard several Greenpeace voyages throughout the mid-1970s. According to Watson, in June 1975 during a Greenpeace campaign to confront Soviet whaling, an incident occurred which changed his life.^[10]

Greenpeace states that Watson "...was an influential early member but not, as he sometimes claims, a founder."^[11] According to the New Yorker ( and Paul Watson himself), he was indeed a founding member.^[12][13]

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society[link]

The first Sea Shepherd vessel, the Sea Shepherd, was purchased in December 1978 with assistance from Fund for Animals.^[9][14] Sea Shepherd soon established itself as one of the more controversial environmental groups, known for provocative direct action tactics. These tactics have included throwing objects onto the decks of whaling ships, the use of "prop foulers" in an attempt to sabotage the ships, boarding whaling vessels,^[15] and the scuttling of two ships in an Icelandic harbor.^[16] Watson uses the title "captain", although he has never been licensed as a ship's captain.^[1] The organization and its activities to halt whaling are the focus of a reality TV series, Whale Wars, airing on Animal Planet.

Other environmental activities[link]

Watson was a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife from 1976 to 1980 and a field representative for the Fund for Animals from 1978 to 1981.^[9] Watson also was a co-founder of Friends of the Wolf and Earthforce Environmental Society.^[9]

During the 1980s, Watson declared his support for Earth First! and cultivated friendships with David Foreman and Edward Abbey. He proclaimed Sea Shepherd to be the "navy" of Earth First! According to the New Yorker, Watson revived the 19th century practice of tree spiking.^[1]

Although currently unaffiliated with it, Watson did work with the Green Party of British Columbia in Vancouver in the 1980s and 90s.^[17] He ran for mayor in 1996, placing fourth.^[18]

In April 2003, Watson was elected to the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term.^[19] In 2006, he did not seek re-election. He resigned from the board a month before his term ended, in protest against the organization's sponsorship of a "Why I Hunt" essay contest.^[20]

Watson feels that "no human community should be larger than 20,000 people," human populations need to be reduced radically to "fewer than one billion," and only those who are "completely dedicated to the responsibility" of caring for the biosphere should have children, which is a "very small percentage of humans." He likens humankind to a virus, the biosphere needs to get cured from with a "radical and invasive approach," as from cancer.^[21]

In January 2008 Paul Watson was named by The Guardian as one of its "50 people who could save the planet" for the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.^[22]

Writings on activism[link]

Watson published Earthforce!, a guide to strategy for environmental activists in 1993.^[23] In it, he specifically endorsed the tactics of "monkeywrenching" previously described by Dave Foreman^[24] and Edward Abbey.^[25] According to Foreman in Eco-Defense—The Field Guide to Monkey-Wrenching, these are tactics of sabotage, covert activity, and direct action.^[26] Watson says he incorporated his own personal experience in writing the book.^[27]

In Earthforce! An Earth Warrior’s Guide to Strategy, Watson expressed disdain for the truthfulness of mainstream media:

The nature of the mass media today is such that the truth is irrelevant. What is true and what is right to the general public is what is defined as true and right by the mass media. Ronald Reagan understood that the facts are not relevant. The media reported what he said as fact. Follow-up investigation was “old news.” A headline comment on Monday’s newspaper far outweighs the revelation of inaccuracy revealed in a small box inside the paper on Tuesday or Wednesday.^[28]

Watson was explicit about what he perceived to be the lack of truthfulness in mass media: “If you do not know an answer, a fact, or a statistic, then simply follow the example of an American President and do as Ronald Reagan did—make it up on the spot and deliver the information confidently and without hesitation.”^[29][30] In a subsequent book, Ocean Warrior, Watson expanded on this view, saying: “Survival in a media culture meant developing the skills to understand and manipulate media to achieve strategic objectives.”^[31]

Controversy[link]

Separation from Greenpeace[link]

Paul Watson continued as a crewmember, officer, and skipper (in 1972) aboard several Greenpeace voyages throughout the mid-1970s. He considers himself a founding member of Greenpeace and Greenpeace International, a claim Greenpeace disputes. According to an influential member, “No one doubted [Watson's] courage for a moment. He was a great warrior-brother. Yet in terms of the Greenpeace gestalt, he seemed possessed by too powerful a drive, too unrelenting a desire to push himself front and center, shouldering everyone else aside.”^[1]

In 1977, Watson was expelled from the Greenpeace's board of directors by a vote of 11 to 1^[32][33] (Watson himself cast the single vote against it). The group felt his strong, "front and center" personality and frequently voiced opposition to Greenpeace's interpretation of "nonviolence" were too divisive.^[34] Watson subsequently left the group. The group has since labeled his actions at the time as those of a "mutineer" within their ranks.^[35][36] That same year, he founded his own group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.^[37]

During an interview in 1978 with CBC Radio, Watson spoke out against Greenpeace (as well as other organizations) and their role and motives for the anti-sealing campaigns.^[38] Watson accused these organizations of campaigning against the Canadian seal hunt because it is an easy way to raise money and it is a profit maker for the organizations.^[38]

Greenpeace has called Watson a violent extremist and will no longer comment on his activities.^[39]

Charges and prosecutions[link]

Watson was sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $8,000 for his actions during a Canadian seal hunt protest in 1980. He was convicted of assaulting a police officer. He was also found guilty under the Seal Protection Act for painting harp seal pups red and being on what is known as the "front".^[40] Watson was arrested in 1993 in Canada on charges stemming from actions against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland.^[41] In 1997, Watson was convicted in absentia^[42] and sentenced to serve 120 days in jail by a court in Lofoten, Norway on charges of attempting to sink the small scale Norwegian fishing and whaling vessel Nybrænna on December 26, 1992.^[43][44] Dutch authorities refused to hand him over to Norwegian authorities although he did spend 80 days in detention in the Netherlands pending a ruling on extradition before being released.^[43] In May 2012, Watson was detained by German authorities after he arrived at the Frankfurt Airport based on a request from the government of Costa Rica. The charge stemmed from an altercation in 2002 in which Sea Shepherd contends that the other vessel was shark finning in Guatemalen waters. Members of the other involved ship said that Sea Shepherd was trying to kill them.^[45] Watson was charged with violating navigational regulations.^[46] The conflict took place during filming for the documentarySharkwater. ^[47]

There have not been any successful attempts at prosecuting Watson for his activities with Sea Shepherd since the trial in Newfoundland. Watson himself defends his actions as falling within international law, in particular Sea Shepherd's right to enforce maritime regulations against illegal whalers and sealers.^[48]

Paul Watson leads protest against Makah whaling, Port Angeles, Washington, 1998.

Watson was also told to leave Iceland after disabling two ships in harbor and turning himself in to the Icelandic police . Kristjan Loftsson of Iceland's largest whaling company told The New Yorker that Watson is persona non grata in that country.^[1]

In April 2010, the Japanese Coast Guard obtained an arrest warrant for Watson "...on suspicion of ordering sabotage activities against Japan's whaling fleet",^[49] and Interpol has listed him as wanted at the request of Japan. The blue notice asks national police forces to provide information on Watson's whereabouts and activities, but does not seek an arrest.^[50]

Sierra Club immigration stance[link]

After his election to the national Sierra Club Board of Directors in 2003, Watson supported an unsuccessful slate of candidates supporting strict immigration controls as an element of a population stabilization policy. This effort was denounced by another candidate in the election, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, as a "hostile takeover" attempt by "radical anti-immigrant activists."^[51] Watson responded by saying that the only change he was seeking in the organization's immigration stance was to restore the position it had held before its 1996 "neutrality policy."^[52] Watson left the Sierra Club board in 2006.^[53]

Anti-sealing activities[link]

In April 2008, Watson stated that, while the deaths of three Canadian seal hunters (a fourth one is still missing) in a marine accident involving a Canadian Coast Guard vessel and a fishing boat during the 2008 Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt were a tragedy, he felt that the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seals is an even greater tragedy. Canadian Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn accused Watson of trivializing the memory of the lost sealers.^[54] Watson replied that Mr. Hearn was trying to distract attention from his government's incompetence as the boat the men were on capsized while under tow by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, while his political ambitions continued to support and subsidize an industry that had no place in the 21st century.^[55] Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams was quoted as saying, "I think what a lot of people don't realize is that this man is a terrorist."^[56] Due to the operations against Canadian seal hunters, Danny Williams called Watson a terrorist and said that the Sea Shepherds were not welcome in the province.^[57]

Australian visa issues[link]

In October 2009 Watson, who carries a US passport, complained to media outlets about having his request for an Australian visa denied. He states that the Australian government was attempting to sabotage the upcoming 2010 Sea Shepherd campaign by denying him entry into the country. Watson and several other shipmates were also unable to join the MV Steve Irwin on its promotional tour of Australia until they were able to provide documentation from the governments of the United States, Canada and Norway, exonerating them from previously claimed acts of violence, specifically claims by Sea Shepherd of intentionally sinking a ship in Norway.^{[58][59][60][61]}

Anti-whaling activities and alleged shooting[link]

Paul Watson and the Farley Mowat crew in 2005.

On March 17, 2008 Paul Watson said that he was shot by the Japanese crew or coast guard personnel during the Operation Migaloo anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean. The incident is documented during the season finale of season 1 of the Whale Wars TV reality show, and the first six episodes are covered as a buildup to what is portrayed as the major incident during the campaign. The footage in Whale Wars shows Watson standing on the deck of the Steve Irwin while Sea Shepherd crew throws glass bottles filled with butyric acid at the Nisshin Maru whaling vessel. Butyric acid was used for its foul odor and sticky properties.^[62] The Japanese respond by throwing flashbang devices. Watson is then shown reaching inside his jacket and body armour and remarking "I've been hit." Back inside the bridge of the Steve Irwin, a metal fragment is found inside the vest.^[63]

The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research disputes Sea Shepherd's statements. The Institute and Coast Guard said that they used seven flashbang devices designed to flash and make noise in the air without causing harm.^[64] Neither of the two conflicting accounts have been independently verified. The Australian Foreign Affairs Department had condemned "actions by crew members of any vessel that cause injury". Two media releases were made on the same day from the office. One said that the Australian Embassy in Tokyo had been informed by the Japanese that the whalers had "fired warning shots"^[65] while the updated version used the phrase "'warning balls' – also known as 'flashbangs' – had been fired".^[66]

Watson has been called an eco terrorist by the Japanese government for his direct action tactics against whalers, and have repeated their position after conflicts during the 2009–10 whaling season.^[67][39]

Leadership style[link]

His leadership style has variously been called arrogant, as well as pushing himself too much "front and center", which was cited as being one of the reasons he was expelled from Greenpeace.^[14] The atmosphere aboard his vessels has been compared to an "anarchy run by God".

The former member of Sea Shepherd and captain of the Ady Gil Pete Bethune described Watson as “morally bankrupt” who would order the intentional sinking of his own ships like the Ady Gil as a means to “garner sympathy with the public and to create better TV”. Watson denied this, "saying Bethune was bitter over his falling out with the organisation. 'No one ordered him to scuttle it. Pete Bethune was captain of the 'Ady Gil', all decisions on the 'Ady Gil' were his," Watson said. ^[68]

Attitudes about his activism[link]

At an animal rights convention in 2002, Paul Watson was also quoted as saying, "There's nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write the history."^[69] Recently, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck also discussed the comment, criticizing Watson's views.^[70] Watson responded to Beck's comments on the official Sea Shepherd website by stating that he had said that but that it was taken out of context, quoting Gerald Seymour's "One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.”^[71]

Watson has stated that he does not consider himself a 'protester', but an 'interventionist', as he considers protesting as too submissive.^[72] He often takes the attitude that he represents (or stands in for) law enforcement which is either unwilling or unable to enforce existing laws.^[14]

In popular culture[link]

A biographical documentary on Paul Watson's early life and background entitled Pirate for the Sea was produced by Ron Colby in 2008.^[73][74][75] The 2009 documentary At the Edge of the World chronicled the efforts of Watson and 45 volunteers to hinder the Japanese whaling fleet in the waters around Antarctica.

Watson, Whale Wars, and the Japanese whaling industry were satirized in the South Park episode "Whale Whores". Watson himself was called "An unorganized incompetent media whore who thought lying to everyone was OK as long as it served his cause" and "A smug, narcoleptic liar with no credibility".^[76][77][78] Watson responded to the South Park episode by stating; "My understanding is that the Japanese prime minister was not amused, and the whalers and dolphin killers are enraged at the way they were portrayed," Watson said. "That’s music to my ears. If the humorless whale killers and the bank-rollers of the dolphin killers did not like the show, then that’s all I need to applaud it."

Works[link]

• Sea Shepherd: My Fight for Whales and Seals (1981) (ISBN 0-393-01499-1)
• Earthforce! An Earth Warrior's Guide to Strategy (1993) (ISBN 0-9616019-5-7)
• Ocean Warrior: My Battle to End the Illegal Slaughter on the High Seas (1994) (ISBN 1-55013-599-6)
• Seal Wars: Twenty-Five Years on the Front Lines With the Harp Seals (2002) (ISBN 1-55297-751-X)
• Contributor to Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?: Reflections on the Liberations of Animals (2004) (ISBN 1-59056-054-X)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Watson

Wikinews has related news: Protester says Japanese whalers shot him

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Watson

• Earth Warrior: Overboard With Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, by David B. Morris (1995) (ISBN 1-55591-203-6)
• Eco-Warriors, by Rik Scarce (2006) (ISBN 1-59874-028-8)

External links[link]

• Sea Shepherd Conservation Society official website

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