I saw Jason Silva talk in Austin on Friday. He is part futurist, philosopher and movie maker. He makes these intense ‘espresso shots of philosophy’, in the form of three minute videos, and discusses the exponential growth of technology and how the next few decades will reveal advancements that seem beyond comprehension today.
Silva expounded about our addiction to our screens. Wake up, check phone. Check watch, leave for work. Drive to work, looking at the dash and the radio. Get to work and look at the computer. Go home, read your tablet, while watching television. Get into bed, check phone. Sleep. Wake up. Rinse and repeat.
Here at SXSW, literally everyone is constantly looking down at their phones. Everyone, except one guy. A guy navigating through phone zombies, with his head up and shoulders back.
He is wearing Google Glass.
Google recently showcased their boldest product in years, the Google Glass. They look like regular spectacles, but have this little computer, with a camera about the size of a pack of gum on the right arm. There is a tiny piece of glass where you’d have the lense that is a small, transparent display. It looks quite ridiculous now, but give it time, it will eventually become less awkward. Its key features are the ability to make and receive calls and messages, bring up content activated by voice such as time and maps, and take and share pictures.
Apart from looking like he was wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, he looked very comfortable. It looked like everyone needed them.
Not only was it the first time I’d seen Google Glass, it was the first time I saw the 8th mass media in action. Eaon Pritchard first told me about augmented reality being the 8th mass media, based on the following evolutions
1st mass media: print - from 1400s
2nd mass media: recordings - from 1890s
3rd mass media: cinema - from 1900s
4th mass media: radio - from 1920s
5th mass media: vision - from 1940s
6th mass media: internet - from 1992
7th mass media: mobile - from 1998
8th mass media: augmented reality - from yesterday
Just when we are starting to get the hang of creating interactive branded experiences on the web and mobile, we have to create a whole new playbook around developing experiences for an augmented layer on top of the real world. The opportunities for this are only limited by our imagination.
Seeing the 8th mass media in action yesterday in Austin was hard evidence it is here, and happening, and planning for it needs to start today.
Tommy McCubbin
Interactive director
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne