I, cyborg

Slightly self conscious wearing Glass

Are we headed for a cyborg future? I'm not sure, but I tried Google Glass for the first time last night and I was conscious that I was looking like a cyborg. Once you get over the initial self consciousness, it's quite a lot of fun trying it out. That's one of the benefits of having dinner with David Kelly, Learning and Development Consultant, and owner of one of the infamous Google beta testing devices. He had to purchase it from the megalithic company, and now explores its potential use in learning contexts. Basically, he's doing their research for them and paying for the privilege. You can read his work here on his Google Glass blog.

Putting on Glass for the first time, there is no discernible difference to donning a pair of standard spectacles. They feel similar, and there is no perceived weightiness on the right side, where the arm is thicker. This arm contains a touch pad, trigger and all the essential electronics that make it what it is. Obviously, unlike standard spectacles, there is no glass to look through - just a small heads up device above your right eye. It was a minor surprise to see it light up, and a small illuminated square appear in my peripheral vision. You need to gaze upwards, straight at it, to see it clearly. The screen is adjustable to your eye focus. It is not as obtrusive as I expected it to be.

I quickly learnt for myself that touching the side of the right arm of Glass, the touch screen becomes multifunctional, invoking a variety of menu choices in your view screen. It was easy, once I understood that in the 'take a picture' menu, I could simply blink my right eye, and it would capture a picture of my field of vision. Next it displayed the image and asked me whether I wanted to delete the image I have captured with my eye blink. A quick tap, and it's gone. It captures short videos too, and can also overlay information about the world around you straight into your vision, giving an augmented sense of reality. With a little practice, I could appreciate that it would be unobtrusive to the wearer and less hazardous to wear than many might claim.

I didn't spend enough time wearing Glass to personally discover much more about it, but Dave is a mine of useful information and is generous with his advice. During his presentation at Learning Technologies in London this week, he talked his audience through a host of social, psychological and organisational issues. On usability, he was quite clear: The distraction comes not from the device wearer themselves, he said, but from all those who spot them wearing Glass, and approach them to ask questions, request a try out, or in some unfortunate cases, to hurl abuse. There is a stigma for Glass wearers at the moment, because according to Kelly, they are still a huge novelty. But, he predicts, they will become much more common place in the next few years, as they become more available, more streamlined and cheaper to purchase. His demonstration of additional shades rescued his Glass wearable from a slightly odd protuberance on the head to a more conventional pair of sunglasses. The optical device faded into the background.

Clearly there are ethical and moral issues for wearers of Glass to consider - it is hugely disruptive. Is it acceptable to walk into a public toilet while wearing one for example? Would that be a threat to privacy? What about those who have already fallen foul of the law by either being arrested for wearing Glass while driving, or being forcibly ejected from movie theatres? Google Glass has huge potential in the learning and development arena. All of us, if we are honest, could see practical applications that would enable us to enhance and extend learning. But the future of Google Glass will depend on how readily society is able to accept wearable technologies.

Picture courtesy of David Kelly


I, cyborg by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.