"If you saw the world through Steve Mann's eyes -- actually, through the glasses attached to his wearable computer -- you'd always have a computer display floating in your field of vision. As you walked across campus, you could simultaneously surf the Web or type notes using a handheld keypad. Or you could look at everything as a kind of television show, filtered through a video camera that brightened or darkened what you saw -- for easier viewing or just to suit your mood.
Mr. Mann, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto, was one of the first people to propose and develop "wearable computers," now a growing area of research at colleges around the world. He has also taken an unusually personal approach to his work, turning himself into a long-term experiment: For nearly 20 years, he has worn a computer-vision system nearly every waking moment, trying out his latest inventions and learning what it is like to live in the physical and virtual worlds at the same time.
His eyeglasses look like a prop from a science-fiction film. A mirror positioned over his right eye beams a video display into his retina. A digital video camera captures whatever he sees. Wires run from the glasses to a small computer concealed in a belly bag under his wool sweater.
This is an older version of his 'rig,' as he calls the wearable computer. His latest model is smaller and more discreet, fitted into a standard pair of sunglasses. But that machine was damaged by airport-security officials, he says, in a recent incident that has led him to sue the airline. Repairing the damage will take months, he says....
At the university here, Mr. Mann teaches a course on how to become a "cyborg," a term he uses to describe himself. A cyborg, short for "cybernetic organism," is partly organic and partly mechanical. The most famous fictional cyborg is probably Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in The Terminator.
The otherworldly term highlights Mr. Mann's belief that wearable computers are not just a new kind of gadget, but the beginning of a fundamental shift in the relationship between people and technology. Mr. Mann's custom-built computer is not just a tool, he says, but an extension of his perception, his memory, and his identity....
Mr. Mann has also developed software that lets his computerized vision system alter the world he sees. He has set his wearable device to detect billboard advertisements, for instance, and to wipe them out of his visual field....
The technology can also turn wearers into news broadcasters via the Web, sending out live images of anything they witness. Mr. Mann and his students have attended protests in Toronto while wearing their computers, allowing them to disseminate firsthand images of the events before local television stations do....
If you talk to Mr. Mann face to face, however, you cannot be sure whether he is looking at you or reading the latest computer news from an Internet discussion list. The experience can be off-putting, at least to those who are not accustomed to spending time with cyborgs.
But Mr. Mann points out that humans have adapted to other wearable technologies that must have seemed strange at first -- eyeglasses, wristwatches, and such. 'We've adapted to shoes and clothing,' he says. 'It seems reasonable that we should be able to adapt into a higher form of life that is with these kinds of machines....'
[Thad Starner] doesn't usually have a camera in his system. Instead, he uses his wearable computer much as he would his desktop PC -- to write papers and check e-mail. His current research deals with how to turn the wearable computer into a kind of 'personal butler,' automatically displaying information in response to audio cues. For instance, if you talk about scheduling a meeting with someone for next week, the computer might pull up your calendar....
Mr. Starner's wearable computer comes in handy during speaking engagements on other campuses, he says. As he meets colleagues, he can call up their research interests from the Web using a computer display on his eyeglasses and a small keypad. "They're very flattered that I know so much about them, or seem to," he says. "It makes you seem a lot more socially graceful than you are. It's really cool.' " [The Chronicle, via Lockergnome Bytes]
I wanted to quote more from this article because it's a fascinating look at Steve Mann and research in the area of wearable computers overall, but instead I'll encourage you to go read the whole thing yourself.
Potential benefits: talk about making library services portable! This goes well beyond the Knowmobile, even if you're just out in the stacks.
Potential hazards: I'm already a klutz, so I know I'd be walking into things left and right. Even worse would be drivers using these systems!
Of course, this would be really great in meetings....
[
