Spectators at a geek show: an ethnographic inquiry into wearable computing

As new technologies create smaller, cheaper and faster machines, we see a paradigm shift from desktop computing to wearable computing. In less than a decade, we have witnessed the creation of a "cyborg" community. Although cyborg computing provides many attractive features for the advanced computer user, the cyborg community remains rather small and wearables remain a privilege of the few. Few studies exist that detail the cyborg experience and how this paradigm shift is affecting social interactions among users and non-users. Based on ethnographic techniques, this preliminary investigation attempts to identify themes and to provide models for understanding cyborg and non-cyborg interaction so that we may design better systems for developing and interpreting social interactions among users and non-users.