Written by Dan Cyr
In a recent field study conducted by the University of Washington,
researchers performed 23 sessions with 31 participants over a 3 and a half
month time period. These in promptu, qualitative sessions in a local café in
Seattle yielded interesting results[1].
Prior to the interviews, a researcher would sit in the café with
a pair of augmented reality glasses on. After a while, the research team would
sit and interview various individuals asking them questions like “Did you
notice the glasses that he or she was wearing” and “Did you know that those
glasses can video record actions?” The results from the field study provided
rather interesting conclusions.
11 of the 31 participants didn’t even notice someone was
wearing augmented reality glasses in the café. Another interesting note is that 28 of the 31 participants either
acted indifferent or negative to this type of technology. People were concerned
with being recorded and privacy but mentioned how they are being recorded at
all times. They mentioned CCTV and traffic cameras. Being in Seattle, there are
CCTV’s all around. One participant mentioned, “It’s a bit like Big Brother but
we accept it as a society, and it’s not like you’re in a house.” Are people
really starting to accept what the future has in store for products like Google
Glass?
Taking a look at the data a little deeper, the place in
which a person is wearing the glasses plays an integral role. The difference
between a “private” and “public” place is a fine line. Participants mentioned
places like the bathroom and other people’s homes as not being suitable places
to film which coincide with legal restrictions. The perception of the recorder
or person with the glasses was interesting as well. If they looked “normal” to
the bystander then they were fine. If they looked like a “pervert” in their
eyes then it was a negative connotation. Other factors like being identified if
they are a foster child or person in protective custody and proximity to the
recorder also played an important role.
Many other interesting insights were gleaned from the field
study around buying a product to block recording and design considerations for
augmented reality glasses. More of this study
can be read here.
[1] Denning, T. et al. 2014. In Situ with Bystanders
of Augmented Reality Glasses: Perspectives on Recording and Privacy mediating Technologies.
Proceedings of the 32Nd Annual
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New York, NY, USA, 2014), 2377–2386.
No comments:
Post a Comment