#glassexploring

I've now had Glass for about a week and I've loved exploring both new and familiar places. It really does make me feel like an explorer, seeing things from a different perspective, and forcing more intense examination of the world around. It's amazing not only because of the hands free operation, but also because of the eye-level point of view image capture.

Discovery Park

Last weekend, we went on a family bike-hike to Discovery Park in Seattle, very near to where we live. It's really a spectacular park, with lots of different terrain, and the perfect environment to test out what Glass can do in different lighting conditions. We biked into the park and hiked down the unpaved trails all the way down to the beach. The weather was spectacular, reminding us of why we put up with all the gray drizzle for most of the year in the PNW. Tahoma (Mount Rainier) and the Olympics were both visible off in the distance.

Ballard Locks

Yesterday, we biked over to one of our favorite places in Seattle, the Ballard Locks. On the south side of this fully operational lock system that connects Lake Washington to the Puget Sound is a fish ladder that allows salmon to traverse the dam at the locks through a series of ascending levels, so that they can reach their spawning grounds in the freshwater tributaries East of Seattle. 
There's a viewing gallery where you can watch the fish negotiate this ladder, and yesterday, we caught the first glimpse of the Chinook run for the season (those are the "big ones" I marvel at in the video).

I really love this place, and it never disappoints, even when the salmon aren't running. Watching the boats move through the locks can entertain us for hours, and you can traverse the whole thing with your bike in tow, making a shortcut to all the great restaurants and other fun things in Ballard.





So, why is Glass better than just a good cell phone camera? It may not be evident in these pictures, but the freedom to use it and to see things you might have missed if you'd been fumbling for your phone or an SLR is really the key. It's effortless to use, and doesn't distract from walking or riding or having a conversation with other people. It certainly engages, and I'll have to devote another post to the interactions it has facilitated, but on the observation side, it's quite possibly the most exciting tool I've ever used.

#glassismine

Panorama of Bay Bridge from Google Glass fitting in San Francisco #throughglass

The trip down to San Francisco yesterday to pick up Google Glass was a novel adventure. I'd never flown to and from a city in the same day, and it was satisfying to make my way down to the Embarcardero without using my car (early morning Über-X to SeaTac, flight from SeaTac to SFO, Airtrain and BART downtown). It did feel a little over the top, like renting the fur coat in that silly ice bar in Vega$. 

But once Google maps told me I was close to my destination, my skepticism faded and I found myself enjoying the treasure hunt (there was a hastily crafted note on the door of the building, commanding Glass seekers to knock to be let in). I even giggled when I saw the Glass logo at the entrance to a starkly furnished, industrial office space. From then on, it was just fun.

After the ceremonial unboxing, fitting and acquainting, I hit the town. What a perfect day in San Francisco! I wandered around the Embarcardero, noodling with picture taking and navigation, both of which were simple, mostly intuitive and delightful. The Saturday farmer's market across the street from the Google office was a lucky find - beautiful produce to sample and photograph.

I realized after the fact that I had unwittingly captured an extended video well beyond the 10 second standard length. Because I was wearing a big floppy hat, and the sunglass blade in Glass, I'm not sure anyone noticed I was recording. I picked tangerine on purpose, so that I would be conspicuous in these situations, but it is remarkable how unobtrusive the unit can be. And how much video can drain your battery. By the time I'd walked through the market, my Glass battery was near dead, and I just made it with the navigation to Tadich Grill for lunch at the bar before it powered down.

Lunch @tadichgrill

So, first thoughts? Fun! Brings back the feeling I used to have in high school when I'd explore the museums in Washington DC with my old SLR and film. I think it's the combination of deliberate image creation, new perspective and ease of capture that inspires. I'm looking forward to a new view on my neighborhood and other familiar places and the reflection that comes with it.

Svetlana, thanks for taking the time and care to help me fit my Tangerine unit, and for your genuine interest in what I intend to do with it. I loved connecting with another singer - would have loved to have had Glass back in May when my band played the House of Blues in New Orleans! Next time...

And thanks, Google, for picking me to be an Explorer. Friends have jokingly referred to this process as Borg assimilation. Maybe... The further I go in the process, the deeper my understanding of the symbiosis. I'm enjoying being a part of this giant experiment and I'm committed to contributing to development and application in new environments. Hopefully, privacy concerns permitting, one of those environments will be the operating room.

My #GoogleGlass Journey: #beforeihadglass

https://twitter.com/googleglass/statuses/316606353282048000

"Me? I never win anything!" I thought. "This is fantastic!" 

And then, I spent the next 24 hours glued to my screen, searching for anything and everything I could find online about Google Glass. 

In the beginning, there wasn't much. How did it work? Why was it created? Who is this guy, Sergey Brin, anyway? I watched his TED talk, and devoured any piece of news I could find. 

Within hours, there was a blogpost including a list of all the winners notified via Twitter, and I scanned for recognizable names...a few celebrities and other well-known folks. Alongside were their Twitter bios and the #ifihadglass tweets, so i began searching for my people: the surgeons. Amazingly, I found another trauma surgeon, all the way across the country in Maine. In minutes, with a direct message, I'd made my first friend via Twitter, starting with an hour-long phone call with a brilliant, telemed trauma geek, Rafael Grossman. We made an immediate connection, a mutual understanding of the great possibilities to connect providers to improve emergency trauma care delivery. To expand the reach of telemedicine, to reflect on and refine the kind of in-the-moment decision making pervasive in our work, to hone surgical skills and documentation, to unlock new educational opportunities and better communicate with the patients we serve...it was almost overwhelming to imagine how much a single device could change how we behave as physicians. It came as no surprise to me that months later, Rafael became the first surgeon to use Glass in the OR. Our first conversation was exhilarating, even though I was still months away from even knowing when I would be invited to purchase Glass!

A crowd-sourced Google Glass Google map soon developed, and I added myself to the Seattle area. Clicking on the various pins representing self-proclaimed Explorers, I found a whole group of local social media pros who were just as excited as I was. This led me straight to Google+, and I unearthed my unused, under-appreciated account that I'd created a year prior. The Seattle Explorers community was born and within a few weeks, we met IRL at a local restaurant. It was thrilling to meet people outside of my professional sphere with real tech experience. As an early adopter in medicine, I'm often met with blank stares and suspicion about how technology and social media can really do anything for patient care or research innovation. Not here! These were my people - and although i was the lone physician, several of them had deep roots to the healthcare community and respect for the uphill battle we face as tech savvy practitioners. Unfortunately, I was on call that night and had to dash away to attend a trauma code...

In the long hours of waiting for something to happen on call, I discovered the husband of one of my partners through his Google+ profile. We connected via Facebook and I came to find out he'd been invited the prior year at Google I/O...complete with glass brick! Eduardo would get glass before any of us #ifihadglass winners, and generously shared the experience with me and my family. For me, the initial experience was fascinating, but really overshadowed by witnessing my digital native sons put them on for the first time. When I was their age, I sat before the blinking green cursor of the Commodore PET computer in elementary school, writing simple basic commands, never imagining that one day I'd be wearing a computer more powerful that that which ran the space shuttle that I would see lift off on TV during a school assembly.

Eduardo also brought his Glass along to a meeting of surgeons in Lake Chelan last month, where we passed it around and continued the conversation about glass in surgery. What would patients think?  In five years, instead of dictating an operative note after the operation, will we simply record the case and annotate it as we go with glass? What about privacy? What about quality improvement? And training? Are we really ready for this?

I'm looking out the window on the Olympics as my trip to San Francisco begins today, thinking how much things have changed since I first tweeted my #ifihadglass contest entry. The community surrounding this project has grown exponentially, all facilitated by social media. I've awakened to the importance of using online interactions to expand my real-life connections and collaborations. I want to be a Glass conduit for: my fellow surgeons, the health systems in which we work, and most of all, the patients we serve. We need to consider how to adopt and adapt, proceeding respectfully and always with an eye to delivering the highest quality of care. It can be unsettling on the bleeding edge of a new technology, but this journey has also brought intense engagement, satisfaction and fun - even before I have Glass. I'm grateful for the time to prepare over the last few months, to ready myself for this. So, watch me now, here we go!