Friday, March 27, 2015

Austin's Google Glass Assigment



Wearing Google Glass around for a day was certainly an interesting experience. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the day and I was unable to wear it outside much, but I did get a few opportunities to wear it around campus and see people's reactions. The learning curve wasn't too bad, maybe 30 minutes or so of messing around with the device. By the end of the day I was far more comfortable using it, which will bode well for when I have it again for the second Google Glass assignment. Framing the pictures and video interview took a little getting used to, as I often put my head too low, but I soon got used to this as well.

The camera itself seems pretty solid, although maybe a little bit lesser in quality than that of my iPhone 4s. It was hard to not turn or move my head at all while taking pictures because just a little bit of motion would make the picture blurry. One interesting thing was that even when I was in a loud environment, the voice activation was still very accurate. I thought I would have to use the button more, but the voice activation is way more convenient.

I think the social interaction was the most interesting part of the assignment. Surprisingly, I didn't have anyone come up to me and tell me they were uncomfortable and thought it was weird. In fact, I had about four or five people come up to me and asked if it was Glass and wanted to hear more about it. I'm not sure if this was everyone's experience, but it seemed like it was received well. Some people still definitely gave me stares, especially the lady swiping me into the dining hall for dinner. It felt a little uncomfortable with all the looks, but I got used to it eventually.

Google Glass is absolutely great for first-person video. It really gives the viewer a good experience of what it's like to be the subject of the video without actually appearing in it. I think if it were a more well-known and accepted device, many more people would use it and the lack of awkwardness would allow people to take better shots. It definitely has a positive network externality. One negative is obviously that the camera quality isn't as high and that you can't zoom in. It really forces you to zoom with your feet more than with any device I've ever used since you can't hold it in front of you. Also, I was fully aware that I looked ridiculous when I was recording or taking a picture. I guess I just need to work on my Glass posture. Other than that, I was pleased with the device and am excited to use it again.

My video was on the Spring Carnival at Lamberton, which can be found here.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)