Glass is just the first and maybe the most publicly obvious of the heads up display devices that are in development right now. Heads up display is have been in varying forms of development for close to 20 years (possibly more, but you know, Skunkworks stuff). Previously the development seems to be in the realm of military hardware, but most recently mobile development firms have jumped in on the act.

In the news we have recently seen a number of articles; the first woman to ever get a moving violation for wearing Glass while driving.  In the northern part of the US, there is a technologically savvy patron who is trying to get a manager fired because she insisted that he remove his Google glass headset while dining in the restaurant.

We’re not looking at a Tony Stark situation here. People are not looking through glass and seeing the world overlaid with advertisements and maps and wireframe models and a floating computer screens. There are options like that in the works for similar devices right now but what Glass really is is a series of post it notes that pop up with something “important” happens.  It is the visual equivalent of the pings and rings your phone gives off when an email or text comes in.

Thing is, they are already *remarkably* polarizing.  I’ve already had friends and business partners declare they will *never* hold a conversation with someone while they are wearing a Glass headset.  I’ve known one woman to go so far as to state that she would simply walk out of the room without a word.  Without ever seeing the technology in the wild.

Being here in the middle of high-tech central, I see people wearing Glass on a fairly regular basis.  I have some idea of what it feels like to be the person on both ends of the conversation, both the tech-savvy #Glasshole (or as I prefer to say #Glasstastic) and the non-tech person trying to hold a conversation with someone who may or may not be paying attention to the conversation at all.

So in the interests of exploring what is going to be a new social moire, I’m starting a weekly (if all goes well) post about social situations involving Glass.  We get to define this moving forward, the tech-savvy and the socially relevant.  I’d like to see us hammer out how to integrate a device as disruptive as Glass, rather than having both sides of the table ragequit the conversation and return to their respective circles.

Unlike most of my posts, I’ll be leaving the comments open (and moderating them, TYVM) so interaction will be encouraged.  I’m interested in hearing opinions on topic, and suggestions about situations to deconstruct as welcome.