Steve Mann's Keynote Address at the McLuhan Symposium on Culture and Technology, Friday October 23, 1998, from 4:00 - 5:30

I AM A CAMERA:

Humanistic Intelligence is the medium; our everyday living is the message.

Steve Mann

University of Toronto

mann@eecg.toronto.edu

http://wearcam.org

• Just as:
  • wheel is extension of leg, and
  • radio is extension of voice,
• So is:
  • the camera an extension of the eye,
  • the computer an extension of the brain, and
  • wiring, circuits, and the internet an extension of the nervous system.
• WearComp/WearCam (wearable computer, wearable camera) experiments/inventions of 1970s and early 1980s:
  • made above metaphor a reality
  • transformed body into not just a camera, but also a networked cyborg entity.
  • body thus became a `photoborg' entity: cybernetic organism always seeking best picture, in all facets of ordinary day--to--day living.
  • mediated reality: altered perception of vision used to attain a better understanding of light and shade.
  • mediated reality applications: toward personal solitude and the prevention of the Theft of Solitude. Preventing the Theft of Attention.
  • later evolved to Wearable Wireless Webcam, early 1990s experiment in connectivity and shared visual space.
• Invention evolved in coming years.
• clothing=extension of our skin: when endowed with networked computational capability, becomes social fabric of community.
• neighbourhoods of people who are cameras could also reduce crime, and serve as alternative to Orwellian world of ubiquitous surveillance

Historical Overview/Context