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By Chris Baraniuk
Will Google Glass catch on? With a backlash in full swing, there may be one
thing that threatens the technology s adoption more than anything else, argues
Chris Baraniuk. And in the video above, BBC Click s Spencer Kelly takes a look
at how one airline is embracing the technology while some other businesses
would rather ban it.
A presumably naked man laughs open-mouthed as water trickles from his bright
red face, soaking the Google Glass headset he is wearing in the shower. This
infamous image, posted online by tech futurist Robert Scoble just over 12
months ago, encapsulated the excitement among early adopters of this
technology. Glass, a voice-controlled wearable headset connected to the
internet, promised a transformation of the way we interact with computers, and
each other.
A year on and it s Scoble s enthusiasm that has been dampened. I m wearing it
right now, he says. It s really useless. I can t store more than 20 contacts,
and I can t take photos and put them on Instagram or Facebook. Getting apps on
here is a pain.
Scoble, who works for US IT firm Rackspace, still uses the device, however he
cites a long list of concerns: the battery life is too short; it is a little
too heavy for some wearers; and the interface which allows apps to access Glass
s various features still needs work.
Google s engineers are no doubt hard at work on these issues ahead of its
public launch, expected later this year. However, technical problems may not be
the biggest barrier to Glass catching on. A backlash against Glass has been
rapidly gathering pace for entirely different reasons in recent months. It s
the most controversial product of my lifetime, says Scoble.
Robert Scoble gained notoriety for his enthusiastic photo wearing Google Glass
in the shower - now he's not so sure about the device (Robert Scoble/
Scobleizer.com)
The hype and the controversy surrounding Google Glass began in April 2012, when
the company released a much talked about concept video, revealing the
capabilities of Glass responding to voice commands and recording video
through the eyes of the wearer, for instance. Then last year, a beta version
was made available to a limited number of explorers at a cost of $1,500 plus
taxes.
It didn t take long for critics to emerge. Writer Ed Champion catalogued 35
arguments against Google Glass , from anxiety over ever greater personal data
collection by Google to the potential for distraction during conversations.
Meanwhile, the privacy advocacy group Stop the Cyborgs, based in London, warned
that the device s video camera could be used for intrusive surveillance.
Authorities, corporations and lawyers will be able to access everyone s footage
under the relevant electronic communication act, the group wrote on its blog.
Recently, Glass has also triggered animosity of another kind in Google s own
backyard. In February social media consultant Sarah Slocum was accosted in a
San Francisco bar while wearing the device. You re killing the city! said one
woman as she tried to snatch Glass from Slocum s head. Some now view the device
as an objectionable symbol of a wealthy Silicon Valley elite an elite they
say is pricing poorer residents out of the city.
Yet for many, one of the most significant concerns is that Glass allows users
to record photos and videos of others without their consent. Unease about
covert image capture has caused Glass to be barred from a string of bars,
restaurants and other locations. This hostility has even led to the coining of
a new pejorative, glasshole , to describe users who don t respect the personal
space of others.
In other words, perhaps the greatest obstacle Google faces if it wants us all
to adopt Glass is its potential to disrupt existing social norms and aggravate
our interactions with one another. Unlike the personal devices in our pockets,
it sits right there on one s face, perpetually demanding a reaction from
others.
Laura Freberg, a psychologist at California Polytechnic State University and
Google Glass owner, believes society will develop a new etiquette for using
head-mounted technology in social situations, but it will take time. People
will need to work out where and when the use of such devices is acceptable to
others.
I walked into the restroom and was like, oh my gosh... I m going to make
people really uncomfortable , she says. It s a learning process for the
person who is wearing it as much as it is for the people around you. I think
developing good manners will help us work through a lot of these problems.
A small study carried out by Freberg s students, for example, found that
someone who started using Glass during conversation was seen as more distracted
or rude than someone who began using a mobile phone. She adds that, to be
successful, the device should be as physically unobtrusive as possible because
humans, who learn to read faces for emotional information at a very early age,
may be instinctively distrustful of anyone whose eyes or eyebrows are unusually
obscured. More subtle editions of Glass which use traditional glasses as a
frame have indeed been recently announced by Google.
Bill Buxton, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, also believes it
will take time for society to evolve the social norms around wearable computing
technologies, in a similar process to the establishment of mobile phone
etiquette. He also notes that with more and more gadgets like smart watches and
intelligent wrist bands under development, tech companies are under growing
pressure to engage in debates regarding privacy and other social issues related
to such technology.
We dismiss too quickly concerns about privacy, intrusion and other
repercussions amongst our peers, in our enthusiasm for adopting the latest and
greatest, newest technology, he says.
You can't miss somebody wearing Google Glass, and some think that's a problem
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Google was apparently compelled to respond to the use of the word glasshole,
dropping it into a list of do s and don ts for those wearing Glass in public.
And more recently the company attempted to dismiss common concerns about the
device in a blog post addressing the Top Ten Google Glass Myths .
So could Glass flop when it launches to the public? It s possible, but even
sceptics like Scoble believe wearable computers of some kind will become viable
by the end of the decade. Microsoft produced a lot of tablet PCs and they
weren t doing very well, but then Apple came along with the iPad and boom, the
whole product category took off, he says.
The emergence of new and disruptive technologies has always been accompanied by
clashes between those enthusiastic to embrace their benefits and those more
concerned about their potential downsides. The introduction of the telephone in
the late 19th Century saw some emphasising that it could make societies more
democratic, open up job opportunities, reduce loneliness and foster world
peace. Others complained it would increase crime, undermine the art of writing
and threaten privacy by facilitating wiretapping and unwanted marketing calls.
Although all of those things have occurred in some measure, society eventually
evolved ways of amplifying the positive and limiting the negative impacts of
the telephone. We all now recognise appropriate telephone etiquette, for
example. So what we re really seeing with the Glass backlash, then, is a
society seeking to define the boundaries of acceptable use, a society preparing
itself for this provocative technology s inevitable arrival.