Google Glass sounds like something out of a dream. But it is not as “available” as it might seem to be, and is out of the question for most people. Most people, that is, who could use technology to create civic value. Google glass is cool, but we need technology that is more affordable and…
Wow-that is one incredible blog. Nice work!
"A major corporation like Google should create its own civic value, by making its value-producing technology available to all who can use it productively. And, according to Shirky, this is just about everyone."
"Valuable technology" is a very subjective term. Google should surely create civic value making tools for productivity with easy access for all. But diffusing Google Glass into our social culture causes chaos between those who embrace tech and those who fear it.
Google had an agenda to settle that conflict.
Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus and activist for a collective virtual revolution offers insight to the logic behind Google’s agenda from the start. Google’s Explorer Program gave those who want new tech tools a chance to invest in the possibilities.
Those who can propose new uses of the new technology, Shirky claims, then negotiate with traditionalists about how to take advantage of the new, while preserving the best of the old.” (Shirky, 209) He explains the benefit for Google to create an opportunity for more radical users to persuade traditionaliststo see the same social value.
Negotiated Transition, as Shirky describes it, gives those who see Google Glass as a tool rather than a threat, a chance to take their $1500 device and prove its power.
People want to show off things they care about. To share the excitement with those who may feel scared seeing them sporting shades of glass. Radicals are the perfect promotion.
Google Glass is now “available for anyone to buy” thanks to those radical tech lovers who took out their wallets and became walking promotional products, wearing Google Glasses and teaching traditionalists how to see through their view—Literally.
Work Cited:
Shirky, Clay. Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.















