In the eye of the beholder
p2pnet.net is based in Canada, and we’re really proud of Steve Mann.
He’s a faculty member in University of Toronto’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and he’s pretty famous around Tarana because of his, well, different way of looking at things.
It’s not unusual to see Mann strolling about TO strapped to the gills with gear that makes look him like a passing Borg.
That’s because he invented the WearComp (wearable computer) and WearCam (eyetap camera and reality mediator), and he likes to use them every chance he gets.
But what some people see as eccentricities are in fact based on serious considerations.
“Personal imaging, at the intersection of art, science, and technology, has given rise to a new outlook on photography, videography, augmented reality, and ‘mediated reality’, as well as new theories of human perception and human-machine interaction,” Mann says here.
“My current personal imaging apparatus, based on a camera and display built within an ordinary pair of sunglasses, together with a powerful multimedia computer built into ordinary clothing, points to a new possibility for the mass-market.”
Mann and his wearable computers may be familiar to many Canadians, they’re now ‘breaking news’ elsewhere, as an Associated Press report here
“When you first meet Steve Mann, it seems as if you’ve interrupted him appraising diamonds or doing some sort of specialized welding,” says an Associated Press report here. Because the first thing you notice is the plastic frame that comes around his right ear and holds a lens over his right eye.
“But quickly you see that there’s more to his contraption: A tiny video camera is affixed to the plastic eyepiece. Multicolored wires wrap around the back of Mann’s head. Red and white lights blink under his sweater.
“Mann greets you, warmly at first, though he soon gets distracted by something on the tiny computer monitor wedged over his eye. In fact, being with Mann sometimes feels like the ultimate, in-your-face version of having a dinner companion who talks on a cell phone.”
Amusing? If you want to see it that way. But as the AP report says, Mann believes wearing computers and cameras will give people “more power to maintain their privacy and individuality”.
Wearable computers and ReplayTV are in the same general space. The latter, feared and loathed by Hollywood, allows users to tune out tv ads. Wearable computers let them filter out advertising and other elements of daily experience they find objectionable, says Mann.
“And in a world of ever-increasing surveillance cameras for security, and strong database-mining software for government intelligence and corporate marketing, Mann believes regular people ought to have cameras and powerful computers on them, too. It’s all about leveling the power dynamic,” says AP.
“People feel they’re masters of their own destiny when everything they need is right there with them,” he says.
“A cyborg could, say, take pictures of hostile police officers during a political demonstration and instantly post them on the Web – to spur others to join in the protest, perhaps, or to simply provide alternative documentation of the scene. Mann calls such postings “glogs” – short for “cyborg blogs” (”blogs,” of course, is itself shorthand for “Web logs”).
“In more everyday language, Mann advocates ‘using a bit of the machine against itself’.”
He does indeed. And if any of this grabs you, it’d be well worth your while to zoom on over to Mann’s websites and check it all out for yourself.
It’s truly fascinating.
