Referencing: The Sixth Sense
The first thing to notice about the Sixth Sense is that it allows the wearer to use any surface around them to view information and edit media. In the replacing space article, Harrison says “the structure of the space around us moulds and guides our actions and interactions.” This is very true in regards to the Sixth Sense. While using the device, any surface can become part of the device: a wall, a newspaper or, if nothing else is available, even your own hand. Whatever you end up using for the display depends completely on where you are at any given time.
The Sixth Sense is also a great example of ubiquitous computing. With its ability to turn any real-world surface into an interactive space, the person wearing the device can view and edit photos or browse the web on whatever is in front of them.
The Sixth Sense requires a lot of “performance” by the wearer in order to use many of the functions. The most obvious is when the user is taking a picture. In order to take the photo, the user holds up their hands as if to create a “frame” around what they want to save an image of. It is very quick and easy, but passers-by who see this, don’t see someone with a camera, but rather someone who looks like they are pretending to take a picture. With these photos, the user can go up to any wall and use hand gestures to browse through their albums or edit them. The personal keywords that are displayed on the front of someone when you go up and talk to them, is also an example of performance. Thanks to the Sixth sense, these people are now wearing a dynamic costume that can change depending on who they are talking to or even information they have posted on their blog.
The ease of the picture function seems to be exactly what Matt Jones had in mind when he came up with the idea of "bionic noticing”. All someone needs to do is use their fingers to frame a picture and the Sixth Sense takes it. There is no other hardware required. This makes for an easy time of “obsessively recording curious things” around the user. Adding an upload function to the Sixth Sense seems very easy and logical. Every time someone uses their fingers to take a picture, it could be uploaded to a photo site such has Flickr as well as saved on the device to be viewed or edited later.
The Sixth Sense, in a way, makes everything connected to the internet. Any book you pick up, person you look at or item you buy at the store activates the device, which then uses the internet to find more information on them. I really love how looking at a person brings up keywords about them. It seems like a great idea for networking and a fun way to find out interesting and unusual things about people. While the future probably holds a world with every object having access to the internet, this is a nice stepping stone that is probably more cost effective.