A student saw my Google Glass the other day and asked me, “Is it worth it?” It’s no secret the price of the device is $1500. My short response was – “yes, I consider it an investment.” I’m not rich enough to have bought Google Glass to show off and to have a new toy. I have several reasons for committing my money to this device. It’s the same reason I spend so much time on social media and mobile devices. They are integral to my work and my life-long learning. I believe wearable computing and the internet of things (pervasive/ubiquitous computing) will be part of the next wave of technologies that I will need to be ready for as a higher education technology professional. I bought Google Glass as part of my preparation and learned more about these technologies that will become more common sooner than we think. These technologies will bring new opportunities and challenges in higher education in how we conduct our business and provide support and an environment for student learning. Privacy, ethics, and confidentiality issues must be considered, and policies must be adjusted. I don’t know what to expect as I learn how Google Glass works. I know that part of learning involves encountering new ideas that will lead me to questions that will (re)-direct me to new topics I may not have considered before. Google Glass provides me with hands-on experience to help me in the learning process.
Tag: google glass
My First Days with Google Glass
“Is that Google Glass? Does it recognize my face and can you see my criminal records?” These are the first questions I received on my first day wearing Google Glass as my wife and I walked toward the Monterey Bay Aquarium during our holiday break. I figured this would be a good place to wear them for the first time since picking up the device from Google’s Venice Beach office the week before. I felt self-conscious and unsure of how folks around me would react. I was pleasantly surprised that while folks at the aquarium gave me a look of curiosity, I didn’t hear any negative remarks. From what I’ve read online and from my conversation with the Google employee who provided me with hands-on training, people’s reactions vary. I also expected at some point to be called a “glasshole“. What I didn’t expect was that I’d be called by this name by another higher ed technologist I really admire after posting a picture of my wife and me on Facebook, a platform I had found to be a safe place for sharing my personal experience. The comment made me think twice about bringing the device to our family holiday party so I ended up keeping them at home. I did regret that decision just because I wasn’t able to capture many of the fun moments we had as a family throughout the night, especially during the white elephant game.
My initial experience with Google Glass is in some ways similar to when I started speaking about wearable computing, mobile, social media, cloud, and even the web way back in the mid-1990s. Some folks were excited and there were those skeptical of the new “fad//toy/useless/wasteful to business” technologies. Given how visible Google Glass is on one’s face, the potential benefits as well as potential ethical/privacy issues it represents, I think opinions on both sides will be stronger this time. In a conversation with a friend, I mentioned how Google Glass could be used for photojournalism, and immediately, his response was “or voyeurism” to which I immediately agreed with this unfortunate possibility.
I bought Google Glass for professional and personal reasons. Professionally, I want to explore how this device could be used in student affairs and in higher ed. I’d like to connect with other folks who are already thinking about the applications of Google Glass in higher ed. The ability to play around with the device itself has certainly helped me think more about the possibilities. One function I’ve found useful is the ability to take photos through the wink feature while I’m on the go. It’s really convenient to take photos without having to take my iPhone out of my pocket.
I also bought Google Glass for personal reasons, primarily for golf. I’m curious as to how I could use it to improve my swing at the driving range. Apparently, I have a tendency to sway and move my head a lot and this is not a good thing. Using Google Glass to record my movement while I’m swinging should help analyze these problems. Another use is for GPS on the course. Two days ago, I tried using it with the available golf glassware on the course, with not much luck. Given my limited experience with Google Glass over the last two weeks, here are my initial observations:
Pros:
-Easy to learn. While there’s some learning curve involved, I was quickly able to figure out the basic gestures (back, forward, down swipes, tap) and voice commands for the device to be usable. Connecting the device to my iPhone (personal hotspot/Bluetooth) and with my wi-fi weren’t too difficult either. There were very specific steps involved, which includes pointing the Google Glass to a QR Code to connect it to the network, so I just made sure not to miss any steps.
– It fits comfortably and adjusting it is very easy. The frame is made with titanium and so it’s strong and malleable.
– The wink feature, just recently added, is by far my favorite and most convenient to use. That I didn’t have to take my iPhone out nor did I have to issue a voice command “OK Google take a picture” to take photos is nice.
– Social media sharing. There are two ways to share photos/videos. The first option is to “Send” to an individual who is in your Google+ contact. The second option is to “Share” on Twitter or Facebook. I’ve been able to share a photo via Twitter (tagged with #throughglass) but I’m still figuring out how to share on Facebook. I suspect this is because I have two-factor authentication enabled.
– Screencasting. The guest feature, which allows a Google Glass owner to share the device with others without exposing their personal information, has been disabled with the newest version. Screencasting, a feature that allows the display of what is on the Google Glass screen on a paired mobile device on the same network, is very convenient for demos.
– Google Support. My experience with the support team has been superb since I first inquired about how to be in the Explorer Program months ago. Whether through their Twitter account (@googleglass), via e-mail, phone calls, and the staff at the Google office, I’ve received very timely, professional, and friendly support.
Cons:
– I wear prescription glasses without them, the smaller text is hard to see as they are blurry. I will now have to use contact lenses for me to use the device. Another option, which I’ve already signed up for is to get a prescription eyeglasses for Google Glass.
– Wink feature doesn’t work with the shades on. While this should have made sense to me, I had to laugh at myself for not realizing this would not work since the camera could not detect my wink behind the shades. The problem with this is that I will most likely need the shades to see the screen better when I’m outside, like playing golf. I would like to use the wink feature, but it will not work.
– The case is a little bulky. The device doesn’t fold like a regular pair of glasses so it’s stored in a
Given my limited experience with Google Glass, I have many features to learn and I will be sharing them in the future as I use them.
As I’ve done with new technologies I’ve come across during my professional life, I look at Google Glass not only from a technologist’s perspective but from one who is curious about the sociological implications of this device. How will folks interact with me and what concerns will they bring up? I also try to look at this device from a student affairs perspective. As wearable computing becomes more prevalent, how will these devices change the way students communicate, how they build relationships, and how do they impact their identities in the way they represent themselves to others? How can we use these devices as part of our work? What ethical/legal/policy/privacy issues need to be considered?
Disrupting My Own Thinking
I don’t know about you, but I’m so busy at work just trying to keep up with what we need to build and maintain existing systems for our customers, it’s hard to see what’s coming ahead even a year ahead of us. Projects I work on take months, even a couple of years to build and I’m working on many of them at a time. I’m very busy managing. I think this is the issue posed by Clayton Christensen about disruptive innovation. Organizations miss emerging technologies/opportunities beyond their horizon because they’re too busy trying to meet the demands of their current customers. I can definitely relate to this.
If I don’t read books, blog posts, tweets, collaborate with folks outside work, I don’t think I would even know about the larger issues and trends impacting higher education like MOOC, online learning, and student financial debt crisis. I work to satisfy the needs of our university students and our customers but I read/communicate outside my university work to keep up with larger issues.
In a way, my interactions/experience with my personal learning network (PLN) which consists of higher education professionals and those outside higher education are what I use to disrupt my day-to-day, localized thinking. There are many ideas, programs I would like to implement at work but the reality is that I first need to satisfy what our customers demand and need. Does that mean I don’t think about new ways to meeting these demands? I absolutely think about new/improved ways, but they cannot be disruptive to a point where what I do severely impacts how they serve their customers in the process. They are incremental improvements. I believe in the idea of learning through failing, but “failures” do cost resources and money so when we implement or try new programs, we better start out with some thoughtful approach and define what we need to accomplish, we just can’t be trying new things just for the sake of experimenting. After all, our salaries and resources we use come from students and their families.
So, I go back to the idea of using my PLN and my experience outside my work to explore new ideas, to dream beyond possibilities, and to disrupt my own thinking. I was in with a twitter conversation about technology and graduate programs earlier tonight that got me thinking about the future of student affairs profession. I write this post, I am looking at my Pebble smart watch and waiting for my invite for a Google Glass. I’m thinking about buying this Estimote Beacon and combine it with Leap Motion to experiment with the idea of geo-fencing in my home. These are wearable and sensor technologies that I can’t see us using at work anytime soon (though I think they’ll be as common as smart phones the way it is now). But, it does not mean I can’t dream about what it may be like a few years from now either and imagine a campus so different from what I see now.
Web, Social Media, Mobile, now Google Glass (Wearable Computing)
When I spoke with colleagues about web sites in 1996, the responses included “why do we need web pages?“. Comments such as “students don’t use mobile devices” and “social media is just a fad so why are we even investing time and effort into them” are typical when I talked about using mobile websites and using social media for conducting student affairs business a few years ago. I hear the same skepticism with Google Glass. I’ve been sharing my enthusiasm about this product lately as I was selected to pay for the early version via #ifIhadglass contest. I hope to get my invitation to buy an early version of Google Glass soon.
I don’t know if in fact Google Glass will be a success in the near future but I have a feeling we are entering a new era in computing. Privacy and ethical issues, as well as appropriate uses will obviously be issues to resolve, just like with other technologies. I posted a statement on facebook a month or so ago about Google Glass in higher education. A couple of friends, including Joe Ginese, offered the ideas below:
Advising (Academic, Career):
- Roving advisor. Advise students in a cafe with no laptop as long as you had wi-fi.
- “Career/interview coach” on Glass. Perform mock interviews with Google Glasses worn by student/career coach. Interviews can then be critiqued for body language and responses.
POV Behind The Scenes/Tours:
- Career counselor take tours of potential employers and give a POV tour of the facility or office.
- Share behind-the-scenes videos (how groundskeepers maintain the campus, dining services chefs preparing meals).
Academic/Vocational Training Uses:
- Career Counselors take tours of potential employers and give a POV tour of facility or office.
- Real-time translation and recording for international students who have a hard time keeping up with the lecturer.
- Dictionary/thesaurus when professors use difficult words.
- Real-time videos of techniques (culinary/art schools showing how-tos and technique training)
What other uses can you add to the ideas above?
Image of google glass provided by this website.