Optical illusions: Professor researches smart glasses, incorporates into classroom teaching

April 13, 2015

When it comes to marketing, Assistant Professor Philipp Rauschnabel wants his students to see the future clearly鈥攁nd go beyond 20/20 vision.

Philipp Rauschnabel

Philipp Rauschnabel, assistant professor of management studies

 

Rauschnabel is incorporating marketing for smart glasses鈥攁 wearable computer that adds information into reality鈥攊nto his classes.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in everything that has to do with new technologies. With smart glasses, which are an augmented reality, we are integrating the digital world and physical world. This is a next step,鈥 he said. 鈥淪ince this has the potential to be big, I鈥檝e included smart glasses functions into my class and for our students to become familiar with the technology and its uses.鈥

Sophomore Kelly Fitch, who is taking Rauschnabel鈥檚 Marketing 352 class, said other than hearing the name Google Glass, she was relatively unfamiliar with digital eyeglass technology until the course.

But her excitement grew when she learned how the computing accessory could help others, both personally and professionally.

For a class project, Fitch helped create the concept of 鈥淥rder Up,鈥 an app that would assist wait staff, bartenders and chefs in remembering orders, recipes, names and faces.

鈥淯sing the computer in the glasses can help you remember who ordered what dish. Even if they change seats, it can quickly help you identify how long it鈥檚 been since someone has last received a refill and it could give table progression information,鈥 she said. 鈥淪mart glasses, with the right app, can make things much easier for everyone.鈥

Rauschnabel said additional ideas were a music lesson app that highlighted the correct notes to play on the instrument of the user鈥檚 choice and an interior design app that can pull in-stock item images for area stores and place them in a room for the user to view.

鈥淭he students on our campus are very talented,鈥 Rauschnabel said. 鈥淭here is so much potential in the new technology and they recognized that the next step is going beyond the screen.鈥

Rauschnabel, who researches social media, brands and technology trends, recently had an article on smart glasses research published in Computers in Human Behavior. In the 2015 publication, he looked at awareness and adaptation of the emerging technology.

鈥淭o my knowledge, it鈥檚 the first study to investigate augmented reality devices, like smart glasses, in a personal context,鈥 Rauschnabel said of the study he and co-authors Bjoern Ivens and Alexander Brem conducted surveying more than 200 respondents.

鈥淲e looked at the interplay between personality traits and the expectations concerning smart glasses. People who had more open personalities intended to buy Google Glass for its functional benefits; extraverts who expected the trend to become popular were interested in adopting the technology to assimilate with others.鈥

He said there鈥檚 more research to conduct as the technology unfolds, including design elements of eyewear and the pros and cons of the imaging system for both individuals and society.

But, for now, Rauschnabel鈥檚 focus is getting ahead of the trend. And taking his students with him.

鈥淭he benefits of having digital and physical information in your view field鈥攖hat melding of those two worlds鈥攚ill be important in the future,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e might not know exactly what it looks like right now, but with open minds, raised questions and creative applications, we鈥檒l be ready for it.鈥