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).