Sunday, November 24, 2013

Director's Brief: Google Glass



 The following was written as an assignment for The Hyperlinked Library MOOC in the form of a report to the director of a library on Google Glass.  It is appearing here for the first time.

           This is a preliminary report on a technology that has not yet been released to the public.  It is based on internet reports and opinions.  I don’t expect any final decisions to be made at this point, but we should be thinking about the issues raised by this new form of computer technology.

Google Glass is a wearable computer in the form of eyeglasses.  It can be integrated with prescription lenses.  It contains a computer chip, a camera, a battery, a motion sensor and WIFI.  It can be voice activated, but it also has a touchpad that is worn on an arm for silent activation.  It will allow Glass wearers to take photos or record videos hands free, and upload them automatically to Google’s cloud applications. (Houghton, 2013).

The miniature screen is  a cube located in the upper right hand corner of the device, and there is a microphone behind the user’s ear. (Arapaho Libraries, 2013).  Perceptually it will seem like the screen is eight feet away. Severely nearsighted people won’t be able to see it clearly without integration with their prescription  lenses.   There is a red light that is visible when something is being recorded.   Glass shuts off every 30 seconds and needs to be re-activated.  If users record frequently, the battery will need to be re-charged within 90 minutes. Google states that with normal use the charge should last an entire day (Liedtke, 2013).  It currently doesn’t include GPS.  Wearers will need to tether it to an Android smart phone  for access to the advertised Google Maps functionality that will allow them to get directions (Houghton ,2013).

There are 8,000 beta users currently testing Glass. (Stephens, 2013) They or their employers are paying $1500 to test this device.  After it’s scheduled for release in April of 2014, it will probably cost approximately $500.(Epstein, 2013) There are a number of librarians and library systems who are  demonstrating  the beta version of Google Glass to their users. 

  There are numerous potential uses.  Most prominently mentioned is the ability of physicians to receive information (e.g. the patient’s vital signs) while continuing to perform surgery (Doyle, 2013). Although I have seen no one point this out, if a surgeon were distracted during surgery by the Glass information feed, his surgical instrument could slip and harm the patient.  So this may not be a good use for Glass.

Of particular interest to libraries are educational uses  involving interactivity and virtual field trips as well as information feed  to students  (Kwikboost, 2013)and the likely ability that Glass may have in the future to simultaneously translate to and from any language.  Google Glass  beta tester, librarian Arian Kruppa  reports that Glass currently can’t understand any language other than English(Tween Tribune, 2013).  The widely reported  speculation that Glass will be able to translate is based on the existence of Google Translate.   This means that a translation application for Glass could be developed by Google.(Titlow, 2013)
  
              An important negative attribute of Glass is its radioactivity.  Google has reported the radiation of Glass to the FCC.  The FCC has ruled it safe.  Yet since it’s worn constantly on the head, Glass may increase the incidence of brain tumors (Wang, 2013).
   
             Another serious issue is the danger of a data breach.  If Google’s cloud is hacked, which has happened in the past, users’ identity information will be completely compromised.  In response to criticism, Google has prohibited facial recognition applications from the Glass equivalent of Google Play. (Houghton, 2013).  This would prevent Glass from identifying persons in Glass videos, accessing their identity records and imperiling their data in the event a breach.

               Reference librarians may be impacted by Glass wearers intruding on reference interviews conducted at the public reference desk ,and violating their confidentiality by videotaping them and uploading them to You Tube.  One solution could be to conduct all reference interviews in a private space by default. 

                Violation of privacy is a widely expressed concern about Glass.  Although Google removed an application that would allow photos to be taken silently by blinking, Denver Post reporter Michael Liedtke  states that while he was wearing Glass, he was able to record a video of a Google  representative discussing privacy as it applies to Glass without his knowledge by pressing a small button on the right frame without speaking a command aloud.(Liedtke, 2013) The arm touchpad would also allow silent commands.  So it will be possible to photograph or record individuals without their knowledge or consent.   
   
             A relevant study involving the possible impact of the prevalent presence of Glass wearers on society is a 2008 study  called “The eye of the camera: Effects of security cameras on prosocial behavior”  by Rompay, Vonk and Fransen  which showed that there is tendency to act in people pleasing ways in the presence of security cameras (Rompay et al, 2009).  Glass could have a chilling effect on speech which would be contrary to democratic values. 
   
             A study dealing with the concern that Glass will make users more distracted deals with the surprising finding  that only 2% of the population can multi-task successfully.  Scientist David Strayer called them “supertaskers”  and discovered that their brains are organized differently from the other 98% of us. (Sundem, 2012)   A Harvard Business Review blog article by Peter Bregman  states that multi-tasking reduces productivity by 40% because switching between tasks causes a loss of time.  Bregman cites a study by Ophir, Nass and Wagner in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that heavy multi-taskers are more distractable than light multi-taskers because those who multi-task more lose their ability to focus on any task. (Ophir et al, 2009).   So it would seem that Glass may aggravate trends that were initiated due to the common use of smart phones.  If Glass becomes as popular as portable technologies it is likely that the average attention span of technology users will continue to decline. 
  

              The privacy issue can possibly be dealt with by having Glass wearers sign agreements that they will not photograph or videotape library users or staff without consent which will be kept on file.  If they violate this agreement, they can be suspended or banned permanently from the library depending on the severity of their offense.  A simpler solution might be to tell Glass users to remove their devices, and ban Glass from the library as we have done with cell phones.   The Technology Committee will need to discuss how best to deal with Glass wearers in our population.

 As the Director, you will have the final decision about the role that Google Glass should play at our institution.  This is a powerful technology that may have great benefits, but will also have great risks.  Since Glass is still in beta phase, the best recommendation may be to wait and see what the impact of Glass will actually be instead of relying on internet speculation.  The Technology Committee will consult with other libraries that have Glass wearers on staff to find out what their experience has been with this device.   The version of Glass that is finally released may have significant differences from the device that is currently being tested.  Let us weigh the benefits and drawbacks of Glass,    
                                                             

                                                                        References

Arapaho Libraries (2013) Arapaho libraries website.  Retrieved from:http://arapahoelibraries.org/googleglass on November 23, 2013.

Bregman, P.(2010). How and why to stop multi-tasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/05/how-and-why-to-stop-multitaski/  on November 23, 2013. 

Doyle, M. (2013). How Google Glass is now being used in surgery. Forbes. Retrieved from:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/ptc/2013/11/05/how-google-glass-is-now-being-used-during-surgery/ on November 24, 2013.

Epstein, Su (2013). A Google Glass future. Public Libraries Online. Retrieved from: http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/11/a-google-glass-future/ on November 23, 2014.

Houghton, S. (2013). Google Glass: Release date, news and features. Tech radar.AV. Retrieved from:  http://www.techradar.com/us/news/video/google-glass-what-you-need-to-know-1078114  on November 23, 2013.

Kwikboost (2013). Google Glass in the classroom: A transformational trend?  Retrieved from:http://www.kwikboost.com/google-glass-in-the-classroom/  on November 24, 2013.

Liedtke,M. (2013) Google Glass: Spectacle-like, but impresses. Denver Post.  Retrieved from: http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_23825644/google-glass-spectacle-like-but-impresses-review  on November 23, 2013

Ophir,E. et al (2009). Cognitive control in media multi-taskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  doi: 10.1073/pnas.09036206.

Rompay, T. et al (2009). The eye of the camera: effects of security cameras on pro-social behavior. Environment and Behavior, 41(1), 60-74.  doi:  10.1177/0013916507309996.

Stephens, M. (2013) News: Jen Waller, Miami Ohio librarian and Google Glass. Tame the web. Retrieved from: http://tametheweb.com/2013/10/06/news-jen-waller-miami-ohio-librarian-and-google-glass/ on November 23, 2013.

Sundem,  G. (2012). This is your brain on multi-tasking. Psychology Today. Retrieved from:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-trust/201202/is-your-brain-multitasking  on November 23, 2013.

Titlow, J. (2013).  10 compelling ways people plan to use Google Glass.  Read Write.com.  Retrieved from: http://readwrite.com/2013/03/07/10-compelling-ways-people-plan-to-use-google-glass#awesm=~oo9AUTXa3yPp1e on November 23, 2013.

Tween Tribune (2013). Are Google glasses worth $1500? Retrieved from: http://tweentribune.com/tween78/are-google-glasses-worth-1500  on November 23, 2013.

Wang, R. (2013) Wireless radiation from Google Glass: Is there a risk? Pong. Retrieved from:  https://www.pongcase.com/blog/wireless-radiation-google-glass-risk  on November 23, 2013.

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