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Steve Mann
Can Humans Being Clerks make Clerks be Human? – Exploring the Fundamental Difference between UbiComp and WearComp
In this paper it is argued that pervasive ubiquitous computing and surveillance tends to give rise to a dehumanizing society of automatons, whereas wearable devices owned, operated, and controlled by individuals have the potential to counteract this trend.
Within the context of reversing the dehumanizing aspects of ubicomp, through the use of wearable technology, two fundamental axes are defined and described:
– Incidentalism (Nonselectivity), which is the degree to which the wearer´s action appears to not be intentionally directed at a specific individual; and
– Freewill (Existentiality), which is the degree to which an action appears to originate from the wearer´s own mind, without outside influence or duty.
The primary action explored is that of picture taking in establishments where taking pictures is prohibited. The hypothesis is that an otherwise unacceptable picture taking activity is acceptable in direct proportion to the Incidentalist axis and in inverse proportion to Freewill axis. An extensive lifelong series of experiments conducted in several different countries around the world, in which the author was wearing photographic computers for more than twenty years, is reported.
it – Information Technology (vormals it+ti), Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 1611-2776
Volume: 43, 02/2001
Pages: 97