Bibliography

References

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Barrett, D. (2013). One surveillance camera for every 11 people in Britain, says CCTV survey - Telegraph. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10172298/One-surveillance-camera-for-every-11-people-in-Britain-says-CCTV-survey.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].

Chase, W. (2013). BRC Drone Summit for Droners & UAV Operators | Burning Blog. [online] Blog.burningman.com. Available at: http://blog.burningman.com/2013/07/eventshappenings/brc-drone-summit-for-droners-uav-operators/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].

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Kelly, F. (2010). CCTV Britain: Why are we the most spied on country in the world?. [online] Express.co.uk. Available at: http://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/215388/CCTV-Britain-Why-are-we-the-most-spied-on-country-in-the-world [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].

Www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk, (2014). Virtual reality in social phobia research and therapy. [online] Available at: http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/research/vr/Projects/SocialPhobias/research.htm [Accessed 14 Dec. 2014].

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YouTube, (2014). Sound sculpting lets you feel 3D holograms. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMdQTkfne8 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2014].

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Haptic Technology

I have always been fascinated in other ways people can be immersed in the media that consume. I tend to feel like the medium of film & game are the only medium that immersion can be felt at its full potential, that and TV. Not just in the media we consumer but also technology like this can help doctors as they would virtually be able to reach into a patient's body.

I specifically chose this topic as I believe that in Emergent media, this kind of technology would best suit as the go-to technology to attract and amaze an audience. Personally, it feels like it is the next up in terms of

Research into this has lead me to seeing that development into this tech has already been in place. It has been called Haptic Technology or Touch Feed Technology.

What does the term Haptic mean and what is its relation to technology?

The article written by William Harris from HowStuffWorks.com states "Haptic is from the Greek "haptesthai," meaning to touch. As an adjective, it means relating to or based on the sense of touch. As a noun, usually used in a plural form (haptics), it means the science and physiology of the sense of touch. " (Harris, 2014).

How the feel of touch is related to technology is one of the many questions that has been in development as "Since the 1980s, computer scientists have been trying to answer these questions. Their field is a specialized subset of haptics known as computer haptics." (Harris, 2014).

An example of its relation to technology would be on a Nintendo Wii, you could be playing a game of tennis with someone from across the world. Both of you can perceive the ball coming towards you, using the controller (haptic device) you swing at the ball and the device allows the user to feel the impact of the ball with regards to how hard the user swings it. This is an example of the promise that touch feed technology brings. One of the more basic examples anyway.

The University of Bristol have found ways this profound technology can create immersion in the surgical field as Futuretimeline.net reports that "New research by the University of Bristol, using ultrasound, has created a virtual 3-D haptic shape that can be seen and felt in mid-air. This breakthrough, led by Dr Ben Long and colleagues at the university's Department of Computer Science, could improve the way 3-D shapes are used and function as an important new tool in certain situations. It could enable surgeons to explore a CT scan, for example, by enabling them to actually "feel" a disease, such as a tumour."(3-D haptic shapes can be seen and felt in mid-air, 2014).

- Figure 1: TesiaTouch

Here are a set of videos that aim to explain the technology and its promise:

- Figure 2: Haptography: Digitizing our sense of touch - Katherine Kuchenbecker

- Figure 3: Sound sculpting lets you feel 3D holograms

Virtual Reality & Mental Health

The technologies available for gamers to extend immersion is ever growing. The was an experiment conducted to find possible outcomes that virtual reality could have on the human brain. My understanding of the article 'What a virtual reality art show could say about the future of games' is the analysis and documentation of the experiment that took place for 28 days coupled with the outcomes and the pro and cons of the experiments that took place. The aim of this experiment was to see how adaptable the brain is to another physical body and whether our sense of self comes from inherent personality or cultural identity.Whether virtual reality will have positive or negative implications on its subject is debatable, but one thing is for certain, virtual reality will play an increasingly important role in public and private life as we move towards the future.

For a month, artist Mark Farid was attempting to 'exist' within another person's life. This was done in a London gallery as he wore a virtual reality headset and noise-cancelling headphones giving over his sense to a singular incoming feed. 

The virtual embodiment of "the other" according to professor of clinical neuropsychology Barbara Sahakian was  detrimental to Mark's mental state as she states "it is unclear whether any potential damage to Mark's mental health could be repaired"  however the article goes further to report that researchers suggested that the same sort of "VR (virtual reality)  representation could be used to treat stroke victims how to re-use their bodies" this shows the study to be inconclusive as Mark's mental was assumed stable prior to the experiment. I say this because "Research into the possibility of using VR in a mental health setting has tended to concentrate upon its application to problems such as fear of heights, fear of flying and fear of spiders. It has been regarded as a natural extension of the systematic exposure component of cognitive-behaviour therapy. The first feasibility studies were conducted at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and used VR to treat acrophobia, or fear of heights (Rothbaum, Hodges, Kooper, Opdyke, Williford & North 1995). 

Results from these early trials suggested that subjects did indeed experience a wide range of physical anxiety symptoms consistent with their being present in a threatening situation involving heights. Not only was the affect generated by the experience of the right kind, subjects also reported a subsequent reduction in anxiety in real life situations and were less inclined to avoid heights." (Www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk, 2014).

In conclusion, my understanding of this article is that the mental health issues that Mark faced were due to the length of exposure he had, being in another person's world, leading to all sort of illness; motion sickness, disorientation etc. If in fact he actually had an issue like a stroke for example, the oculus rift he had on for 28 days would have been more helpful and may not have impaired his brain in the way that it did. Also, upon reading, it would seem to me that if someone were to play a game whereby the user was to embody let's say a soldier in a military game for the duration of time as Mark, the user may undergo the same mental health issues that he did himself. 

Stuart, K. (2014). What a virtual reality art show could say about the future of games. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/20/virtual-reality-art-future-games [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014]. 

Google Campus

I went to an external event that had to have relevance to 'Emergent Media'. A group of friends and I decided what better to do, than go to a seminar where start up companies were pitching their new and upcoming products/services which involved new and emerging technologies or already existing technologies but refurbished for public appeal. On another note, I learnt that Google Campus have other campuses in different locations namely Santa Monica, London and Paris.


Upon getting to the event, we were all excited to see what this 'campus' would look like as we had previously seen the film 'The Internship" which involved a Google Campus. In america and the venue was exceptionally stunning. Furthermore, our expectations of the London Google Camus was pretty high because of the film we had seen but upon reaching the venue we were taken aback. We initially thought that the campus would be a stand alone building, until we saw it was looked to be what looked like an old warehouse. We did on the other hand see some pretty old pieces of technology like the first Macintosh Computer and first video recorder.

- Figure 1:  1984 Macintosh: Apple Computer, Inc.

We were all underwhelmed at what we saw but decided that we didn't come to the campus for its looks, but for the content the start ups were going to provide us with and if the products/services were going to to be interesting or not.


1st
Self Care People

www.theselfcarepeople.co.uk

Their mission statement states "to empower people to prevent diseases, Identify Health risks, and manage long-term health conditions using the state-of-the-art technology that enables the healthcare team to access Patient generated health information and use the information for better diagnosis and decision making."

Personally I didn't really understand this pitch as the person pitching explained that there would need to be a piece of technology to be installed in the patient's home. I had trouble understanding how the information in the device would be relevant to the patient if they needed help ASAP. For me, this wasn't the most appealing pitch as the person selling their service for me, wasn't able to get their point about the service across effectively.

2nd

Henchman

https://www.henchmanapp.com/

In summary, this for me was the best pitch as it had the most people talking about it and for me it was the most intriguing. It is a mobile app that deliver "anything" to you within 60 minutes or your money back. Their mission really is to "Get anything you want from any restaurant or store delivered to you in less than 60 minutes" 


The pitch that was given really interesting but the business model only exists for a certain area and not all across London as of yet. Even the Mobile app looked of professional quality too as you can see below: 


The pitch for me was sold. I feel like a lot of people in the audience were interested in the promise it had. Personally, when they manage to expand their I would like to try them out to see if their manage to achieve their goal.

- Figure 2: Henchman App UI

Here's a picture of me at the campus (my friend photobombed):

Digital Revolution & London

London has managed to transform and adapt itself into a Tech City because of the incredible promise that is centred at its heart. London has even labelled a world leading 'Tech Hub' as of June 2014 according to Dunkley and Baxter from Standard.co.uk, stating that "London was today named as the world’s leading financial technology hub ahead of New York, San Francisco and Singapore". This is due to the new generation pushing creativity that has surged the Tech City. Even the Barbican aim to stage an exhibition their take on digital revolution in London stating "It also looks at the dynamic developments in the areas of creative coding and DIY culture and the exciting creative possibilities offered by augmented reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technologies and 3-D printing" (Barbican, 2014).

Drones have been on the receiving end of scrutiny for over a decade. For example, the book Drones Utilization: The Facts About Drones And Its Importance In Protecting The Boarders by M.Stalley (2014), as he talks about how "Drones have changed a great deal over time in terms of what they look like and what we can expect from them" to TED Talks about whether 'Drones will either destroy the world, or they’ll save it.' commenting that "The truth, of course, is that, well, they’re set to do both. Sophisticated developments see extraordinary advances on the part of the military, while the same technology is being harnessed and applied for life and planet-saving reasons, too." (Walters, 2013) basically managing to summarise the mixed reactions of the fact that drones, as beneficial as they are to some, the others aren't as welcomed as I compare the likeness of surveillance in general to the premise of drones. 

- Figure 1: BRC Drone Summit for Droners & UAV Operators

- Figure 2: CCTV, Privacy and the Law










The over population of surveillance has earned Britain the name, the 'surveillance state' according to the David Barrett from the Telegraph reports, "Britain has a CCTV camera for every 11 people, a security industry report disclosed, as privacy campaigners criticised the growth of the “surveillance state” (Barrett, 2013). The frustration with surveillance comes mainly from being part of generations Y and Z. They would be the most receptive to technology as since their birth they have had constant access to it. These generations would argue that CCTV has gone too far. 





This is exemplified by the statement made in a BBC news article that argues "But CCTV has grown far beyond this. No-one knows precisely how many cameras there are in the UK, but the estimates go as high as 4.5 million, making Britons among the world's most watched people." (BBC News, 2011). There are on the other hand people that believe surveillance if good as Kelly Fergus reports that "The arguments for the use of CCTV in this country are well known: cameras provide a deterrent to would-be criminals and make us feel safer. But is it true, and does that justify the enormous surveillance society we have become, the incarnation of the nightmare vision George Orwell had when he wrote 1984?"(Kelly, 2010). The comparison can be made here. There are some that acknowledge its worth and respect it while others believe that the continuity of CCTV, like drones can 'destroy the world'.

Cybernetics

Personally cybernetics is basically the study of the interaction between us humans and machines. "The branch of science concerned with control systems in electronic and mechanical devices and the extent to which useful comparisons can be made between manmade and biological systems". (Dictionary.com, 2014). 

It has some close relation to the ideology of transhumanism as although transhumanism is human enhancement, this does not mean to say that goals cannot be carried out either way. Specifically according to Bostrom, Transhumanism " promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology."(Bostrom, 2014). 

Automatic cybernetic systems are programmed to be able to control systems that they are assigned to, "It maps the pathways of information by which systems may either be regulated from outside, or themselves from within. The science has led to the development of things like computers, automatic navigation systems for spacecraft and so-called "smart" weapons". 

- Figure 1: Cybernetics                                                                                                                                            (Asc- cybernetics.org, 2014)

Examples of automatic cybernetic systems are various kinds of automatic control devices in engineering (for 

example, an automatic pilot or a controller that maintains a constant temperature in a room). These systems can also be made to learn and with such can be programmed to give feedback on the data collected thereby learning to refine the job it does.

Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading. Warwick’s RFID implant was used primarily for interacting with his environment. He can turn on lights, open doors, adjust heat, and access computers with a wave of his hand. "These sorts of experiments with implantation technology earned him the superhero-esque nickname “Captain Cyborg”. Warwick has numerous detractors who say his work is simply an attempt to garner publicity, Warwick believes that research with RFID 
implants could lead to future medical 
                                                                                  - Figure 2: Kevin Warwick
developments that would aid those with damage to their nervous systems." (Rfidgazette.org, 2007).


McLuhan's theory of the extension of man best helps to understand Warwick's extension of himself involving the implantation of an RFID chip to control a robot arm as it exemplifies the fact McLuhan makes when he combines Marxist theories of industrial alienation with Freudian theories of subconscious extensions. According to Freud, “With every tool (man) is perfecting his own organs, whether motor or sensory, or is removing the limits to their functioning." which to me with Warwick's implantation alerts the need for or the practice for us to evolve. 

  Warwick talks about possible future of healthcare as you will see in the video below:

- Figure 3:  Implants & Technology -- The Future of Healthcare? Kevin Warwick at TEDxWarwick

These indications inevitably all lead to one thing for humans. Evolution.

The main theorist associated with the term Evolution would be Charles Darwin as he was the theorist that pioneered the term. My interpretation of his approach to transhumans and cybernetics in relation to robotics and our programming of them:"This approach enables robots to adapt to upgrades by evolving new control systems on the fly." (tech, 2009). This quote almost exactly explains the type of technology enhancement that we have gone through in order to get where we our whereby machines are able to evolve on the fly which directly goes back to how ACS's operate and how they relay feedback to better their systems. 

Wearable technology

Technology is becoming part of our daily use and has hastily been made something that we rely on daily. In the world of wearable technology, the possibilities are endless in the sense that not only gadgets that can be worn like clothes and watches are classed as smart wearable. According to Karehka Ramey from useoftechnology.com technology " is increasing day by day, we all depend on technology and we use various technologies to accomplish specific tasks in our lives. Today we have various emerging technologies which impact our lives in different ways, one more recently being smart technology."(Ramey, 2012)

What is RFID?

- Stands for Radio Frequency IDentification 

A small chip carrying an antenna capable of carrying large bytes of data, come in the form of tags and according to HowStuffWorks, "RFID tags, a technology once limited to tracking cattle, are tracking consumer products worldwide. Many manufacturers use the tags to track the location of each product they make from the time it's made until it's pulled off the shelf ". With this tech, companies are able to keep track of their 'cattle' as they are aware of our location, following us wherever we go feeling like another human is with us which is exemplified when theorist Kevin Kelly said "technologies are nearly living things." which puts things in perspective. 

Kevin Warwick (Captain Cyborg) - "There's no way I want to be a mere human" (Lee, 2014)

- 1998 a RFID transmitter implanted under the skin of his arm alerted lights to turn on when he was present

- Figure 1: Kevin Warwick implant
     
- As he moved his arm, the signals from the array was sufficient to enable a robot arm to mimic his movements.

- Figure 2: Kevin Warwick 

The video below details the raw  benefits that have come from just some of the smart wearable technology.

- Figure 3: Rami Banna on wearables

This shows promise in the future of smart wearable technology. Tech Columnist Teynan states that even smartphones are even a thing of the past in his article 'The Future of Wearable Tech Has Arrived'.

"Smartwatches, fitness trackers, and augmented-reality glasses are so 2013. Tomorrow’s wearable technology will fly off your body to snap a photo of you. It will know where you’re going and quietly steer you in the right direction." which strengthens Kelly's statement about technology; "technologies are nearly living things." and goes so far as to say that this wearable technology will be a ""decisive fashion statement".

- Figure 4: Google Glass

McLuhan's term 'extensions of man' "refers to how an individual or society creates or makes use something that extends the human body or mind in an innovative way" (Schnell, 2008). Google glass extends sight, allowing him/her's eyes to go beyond just sight. Smart watches, with foresight, might be the new smartphones given the technology they presume to hold, they may be able to make day-to-day operations more effective. Backed up by Forbes.com stating "The time may soon come when phones and tablets are a thing of the past, and the smart devices on which we all rely will sit innocuously on our persons, as unobtrusive as jewellery or clothing" (Leung, 2014).

Rest assured there are more products featuring this technology:

http://www.slideshare.net/ValaAfshar/internet-of-thingsslideshare

In conclusion, wearable technology is due to be the next big thing if it isn't already, replacing people's phones and may well even go on to be the next best on-the-go device to use.