As the semester nears an end and everyone is busy with final projects, it’s hard to wind down and relax. When I do take short breaks, however, I find myself seeking comfort stimuli: pictures of baby animals, sweet and salty snacks, and funny YouTube videos.
To whoever is still reading this, I’m sure you’re like the rest of us — busy, busy, busy. If you don’t have time to read more, I encourage you to at least watch the video below. It’s short and funny. Credit goes to Machinima ETC, Feb. 2013.
Okay. So now to the somewhat educational part of this post. While the parody above was pretty silly, it also brought up some important concerns about Google Glass.
Maintaining relationships — will Google Glass distract people from face-to-face social interactions?
Cheating in school — will Google Glass facilitate cheating on exams in school?
Recording copyright material — will Google Glass make it easier for people to steal?
Pranking people — will Google Glass provide people who take pranks to the extreme a new medium to bully?
Compromising privacy — will Google Glass raise even more privacy concerns in this Internet age?
Multitasking too much — will Google Glass be a hazardous multitasking tool?
When I heard about working with Google Glass for class in the beginning of the semester, I was really excited to be able to test this new product. As I’m thinking more about the multimodal project and Google Glass in general, it seems important to consider how problematic Google Glass can be. I believe Google Glass has some remarkable features that invites positive-user outcomes, but as I continue my research, I will also try to think about the possible negative outcomes that come along with the whole package. The lesson seems to be that when excitement over something new obscures reality, it’s time to take off the rose-colored glasses.
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Nice video! It’s kind of interesting that, at least from my experience, GG doesn’t quite work like their examples! Not that easily, anyway. As far as all the possible negatives, I feel like every new technology presents issues. With GG, I see it as a hands-free smartphone more than anything else, and so it has a lot of the same possible negatives. So really, the negatives already exist with smartphone usage, it’s just that GG is faster and perhaps less obvious.
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Great points! GG also “places” the technology in direct juxtaposition with “body/identity.”
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It would be interesting to see how these same concerns relate to Porter’s categories (body/identity, dissemination/circulation, access/accessibility, interaction, and economics).
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Hey Christina,
Nice post! I like that you took what we are focusing on for our project and added some satire to it. I think that each of the concerns you brought up about Google Glass are valid and I wonder how/if Google will address these. I think that when these are implemented more main-stream, there will be a plethera of rules and regulations as to where and when they can be worn. Something I thought about in regards to privacy, is adding in a recording indication light. This way others know when you are, or are not recording video. Just a thought!
Great work!
Collin
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Christina,
You bring up some very good points about GG and the negatives associated with it. Although commanding GG is not as easy as the video portrays, there are definitely negatives associated with it. It would be interesting to look at these areas more in depth through GG’s evolution. Very nice insight though!
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