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The Ripple Effect Group were official supporters of the first ever Google Glass Meetup in Australia hosted by the +INSPIRE Centre at the University of Canberra. On Monday, the team trekked to Canberra to participate in the event, hear from Google Glass Explorers and engage with developers and researchers. And of course, we wanted to try them for ourselves. Over 100 people attended the evening, representing education, technology and medical sectors, as well as members from Canberra Grammar’s Code Cadets, a high school initiative for students interested in technology and programming.
The event was a great opportunity to learn from current users both in Australia and globally, thanks to a Google Hangout running throughout the event.
Some of our sketch notes:
As most of Glass’ functionalities (camera, voice control, GPS and search) can be found on a smartphone, you may wonder the value of spending $1,500 USD for a new gadget. The beauty of it lies in the immersive, real-time experience through voice control. Cecilia Abadie points out, an audio-based interface is the most human way of interacting and in the future, consumers will expect to command hardware through speech. According to Professor Mark Billinghurst, in his course ‘Designing for Wearables‘, one of the principles for designing for Glass is ‘Don’t transfer your smartphone experience onto Glass’. Designers and developers must keep the benefits of Augmented Reality and real-time helpfulness in mind when creating useful applications for Glass.
While we read up on reviews and first-hand experiences shared by Glass Explorers, there were a few surprises along the way. These include:
- Glass uses bone to conduct sound: You’ll hear audio through your Glass better if you cover your ear.
- Glass features a non-invasive view: You have to look up to see information on your Google Glass screen, so the view is non-invasive.
- The early prototype of Glass weighed over 3kg, compared to the current 42 grams.
- Want to peek through Glass yourself? Check out GlassSim to create your own Glass card.
We’d like to thank Alexander Hayes, Matt Bacon, Prof. Robert Fitzgerald and the team at the +INSPIRE Centre for organising the inaugural Meetup for Google Glass in Australia.
We’ll be continuing our own research and discussions on the value of wearable devices for business, with more blog posts over the coming weeks on Google Glass and wearable technology.
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Amazing! So happy you could all come and be part of this watershed moment – very much looking forward to your involvement with https://inspire-edu.squarespace.com/ucwts/2014/5/16/meeting-ais
for W3c validation
[…] For example, our team was recently in Canberra as supporters of the +INSPIRE Centre’s first Google Glass meetup in Australia. Google Glass is one of many new ideas beginning a renewed cycle of disruption to how […]
for W3c validation
[…] participated in the first (and probably the only) Google Glass Meetup in Canberra. Read about our experiences and sketch notes from that day – it seems such a long time […]