So, it's been several months since I've had Glass. I was hoping that I'd fall in love, and it would be happily ever after. Unfortunately, it hasn't been quite that way. However, I'm hoping that by the time Glass hits the shelves in spring, the bugs will be worked out. Here's three of the major ups and downs.

The Ups
Enhanced interpersonal communication: More to come on this, but in short, Glass allows me to continue eye contact while receiving information in my line of sight. While it took a little time to practice, I can watch my calls, texts and emails as I'm carrying on a conversation. This way I can continue a conversation uninterrupted by my phone.

Directions: Glass is my primary GPS. I'm currently in Philadelphia for the PRSA International Conference. This required a six hour drive across the state and continual navigation on foot through a city I'm unfamiliar with. Simply saying "OK, Glass, get directions to Maggiano's" and viola walking directions to the restaurant using a pivoting blue arrow. While Glass' user agreement frowns upon driving with Glass on, I'd argue it is MUCH less intrusive than continuously looking at my GPS, which is not directly in my line of sight while my eyes are on the road.

Hands-free: It's why they created it. I can take pictures or Google easily for quick information. However, (and I know this belongs in the downs) no typing functionality means you can't scroll through a site. HOWEVER, once you get to a site it will store on Google Chrome and will pull up on my phone or on my MAC, so I can get to the full site on another device.

The Downs

Audio: I still have to plug my ears when receiving a call or having a text read aloud. However, using my ear buds does help and the connection is usually very clear.

Still need my phone: I frequently leave my phone in my office or my car. Because Glass uses a bluetooth connection, no phone, no Glass. Maybe soon Glass will be able to function without my phone. It won't replace my phone but could connect without it.

No Starbucks connection: While it will allow WiFi connection, it will not allow connection with any Wifi that requires a user agreement. That means no WiFi at Starbucks. This is bad--enough said.

I've committed to wearing them more often now that school's started, so I hope to have more to come.

Lessons from Glass:

1) You get used to stares and whispers, but I also have met more people per hour than ever in my life.
2) People in our culture have no sense of personal space. People have touched me and Glass. A lot.
3) The most frequently asked questions include: Can you see through me? (Answer is 'no'). Does it have facial recognition? (Answer is also 'no'). Do you know all my information by looking at me? (Answer is 'no,' but if you have your name on your bag/name tag etc. I will respond with "Yes, Bob" and may or may not tell you that I'm perceptive, not clairvoyant).
4) Airport security did not blink and let me walk through the metal detector with them on. They then became a little distracted with asking questions about them. I will not name the airport.
5) Internet connectivity is key and Verizon is not the service to have with these. Looking to find another data provider.
6) You cannot access Glass through a heavily protected network (one that requires you to download a security agent) or one that makes you agree to a terms of service. I'm still trying to get them connected at Mercyhurst. I'm heading to Panera shortly and praying that it works there.
7) The battery life is meh. I can drain my Glass and phone within four hours doing normal 'stuff'.

I will also leave you with this little text exchange between my dear friend @wheresmyboat and me:





Him: "How are your creepy glasses?"
Me: "Random people want to touch me and them."
Him: "Line of the day: 'Random people want to touch me and them'"
Me: "Hahaha. Well, that happens a lot actually...but now they're actually looking at my eyes ;)"
Him: Touche.

While we wait...here's a look inside Glass broken down. Looks pretty simple. For the record, I will not be taking my Glass apart so I'm grateful for those who do ;)

Doing a round-trip BUF to NYC in less than 12 hours is probably a little crazy, but I'm, of course, rationalizing it by my motivation to get Glass. [First, off topic, let me say that the long-term parking at BUF for $9 a day is wonderful. They picked me up at my car and I was at the airport within 15 minutes. Here's hoping everything today goes that smoothly (PS: if you know me, and my navigation abilities, it won't lol)].

Many of you and several reporters have asked what I'm using Glass for. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine what exactly I'm going to study with Glass until I actually have them. I've read other bloggers posts, articles, reviews, Google's take on them and the reviews are mixed. One faculty member says they have little utility, but I can't help think there's some value at least in understanding how the students will be using them. Anyway, here's my best guess thus far at what I'll be looking at...
(1) How does Glass contribute to the ever-evolving debate regarding technology use in the classroom--not only on the part of the professor but also the students?
(2) As a communication professional, does Glass offer advantages technologically over existing media, specifically in social networking, video and photography? More and more we're seeing video and photography from professional organizations being released that was shot on a smart phone. Though the quality can't replace professional equipment, it's getting there. How does Glass compare?
(3) What are the ethical concerns about student's use of Glass in the classroom? Right now Glass is not available to those who wear prescription glasses. So, for the time being, a professor or any other group can ask individuals to remove Glass. But, what happens if and when Google makes Glass with prescription lenses?
(4) Are there advantages that Glass offers for students and/or professors that is not available with any other technology? I can imagine utilizing Glass to project my notes / additional material so that I can move about the classroom or more easily move the classroom to a remote location (outside on a sunny day, let's say). However, recent blogs note that Glass's battery life is short, which will prohibit this.
(5) What apps can be developed to assist classroom use? This is where I'm going to rely on my colleagues at Mercyhurst, but apps for Glass are rapidly appearing. As far as I can tell we'd be the first to have them for education.
(6) What are the applications for advertising/marketing via Glass? As a consultant in the field as well as a lecturer on the topic, exploration of how Glass can be leveraged by other corporations to make money/get messages to consumers is yet another area of exploration.
(7) And the ever-so-general how does Glass change life? I'm curious about driving with Glass. Will it be easier to have my driving directions in my line of sight versus on my phone or will it be more distracting? Though my phone can do much of what Glass can do (photos, video, etc.), will the hands-free aspect make it easier/better?
So, what are you interested in seeing Glass do? I'll try my best to incorporate your ideas into my 'research' :)

Check out the short article written by The Chronicle of Higher Education about those of us in academia using Glass. Hopefully, they'll do a follow up once more of us have them. I'll post more later on in the week about the questions asked by the Chronicle and my full responses relating to how I plan to use Glass. Until then...

FINALLY!

Now, help me pick a color:

A shout out to Sean McCracken, Erie Times-News reporter, for a great article (I may be biased) on the three Erie-ites chosen for the Google Glass Explorer Project. Also shout out to Deb Morton, Mercyhurst University media relations extraordinaire, who made it all happen.

I found it remarkable that of the 8,000 people in the world chosen for the project three were from Erie. I guess one reason may be that, as you may or may not know, Erie, Pa., is a popular test market (see the list on the right). Or, on the other hand, maybe Erie-ites are just that technologically savvy.

While I still wait, impatiently I must admit, for Google to message us about the Project's status, I came across this SXSW Demo by Google Senior Developer Advocate for Project Glass Timothy Jordan, which I think is a more in-depth explanation than my previous posts.

Here's the 50-minute version:

 And, here's the version for those of us with short attention spans ;)

Of course I promise my blog followers will be the first to know when I get the Google notification. Let's just hope it's soon; my students are leaving in just a few weeks, and I would love to get some in-classroom applications in before the summer hiatus.

The video Google put out on a Day in the Life of Glass.

What my day in Glass will look like :)

 

Thank you Mashable for this awesome article about Da Vinci's Occhiovita Immagine (Eye Life Picture) and it's creepy similarity to Google Glass.

While the 8,000 or so winners wait for instructions from Google on what our next steps are (I'm keep fantasizing about some Amazing Race quest, but I have a feeling it's going to be basically--go to NYC, hand over $1,500, and, um, thanks), I'm curious as to what you'd do if you had Glass (or could borrow mine). Drop me a comment and let me know; maybe I'll letcha try it out!

PS: The waiting list is quickly growing for people who would like to 'just stop by to catch up' (of course once I have Glass that is).

It looks like I'm among some pretty influential and celebrity level folks including Soulja Boy, former Speaker of the House of Representative Newt Gingrich, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, video game designer Cliff Bleszinski, and singer Brandy Norwood. Here's the full list.

Shout out to to doctoral student Andrej Karpathy, who put together some pretty awesome data....for more, check out his site.

Word cloud description of the Twitter winners

 and my name and entry from Andrej's research

It looks like I'm one of three people planning to use Glass in higher ed so far--two of us in the classroom and one who works in the library.

So now, about that $1,500 and a trip to NYC...

I don't win anything. Ever.

In fact, my bad luck is transferable. Friends call me the 'kiss of death' because they, too, seem to lose when I'm around.

That's until Thursday, March 28.

That's the day I received the following tweet: "@megs9979 You’re invited to join our #glassexplorers program. Woohoo! Make sure to follow us - we’ll DM in the coming weeks."

WHAT?! So of course I do what every normal person does, I assume it's a mistake and attempt to triangulate the tweet. After all, just the day before articles began to surface that Google's selection process was a bit random. Truthfully, I didn't care if it was random or not, but after looking around, it seems pretty legit.

Step two: Post to every social media channel and text anyone and everyone because it was my duty to let everyone know I was one of only 8,000 people selected. In the world. That was met with a disappointing lack of enthusiasm-- a few likes, a few comments (I have a Klout of 63; this is unusual).

Do you people all live under a rock?!?

This is the next best thing.

This will change your world.

This ...will...be my job to show you over the next year before Google officially releases Glass.

I am coming to realize not everyone is as tech obsessed as I may be, so let's start at the beginning.

What's Google Glass?

“We wondered, what if we brought technology closer to your senses? Would that allow you to more quickly get information and connect with other people but do so in a way — with a design — that gets out of your way when you’re not interacting with technology? That’s sort of what led us to Glass." --Product Director Steve Lee.

Here's where you should start: What Does it Do? How Does It Feel?

Several articles are out there about Glass. Here's one that gives a first-hand account.

More to come once I get them.

What's the Explorer Competition?
In February 2013, Google launched a competition posing the question, "What would you do with Glass?" All you had to do was use the hashtag #ifihadglass on Google+ or Twitter.

The winners, 8,000 of us, will be allowed to purchase Glass a year before they become available. Turns out there is no such thing as a free Glass. So, for those of us 'winners' we get to cough up $1,500 for my new eye wear. (Wonder if my insurance will see this as a medical necessity?!?)

You may be wondering what my tweet was? Was the prose sagacious? Did I include video? Um, I wish.

The award-winning rhetoric simply was:

"Engage students in discovering its potential in a higher education classroom #ifIhadglass"

Was it profound? Probably not. But, it's the truth. There's been lots of debate over integration of technology in the classroom already and, in fact, about Glass itself. I have always been an advocate of utilizing technology in the higher ed classroom, rather than restricting it. I have used it as a tool as a student myself, and my students find it useful as well. Glass is the next thing, but it's a big 'next'.

I'll be exploring that concept: Glass in Class over the next several months (once Google actually sends me Glass) as well as other topics in social media and technology. How does it take us to the next level in learning and teaching?

I'm looking forward to this interesting opportunity and hope you will follow me on this journey!