Is "Glass Journalism" the New Face of Journalism?

A web-based journalism professor, Robert Hernandez, teaches at the University of Southern California. This year Hernandez created a new course for his journalism students, called "Glass Journalism." This course is the first of it's kind at USC, and challenges students to tell stories using Google Glass. So what was Hernandez's reason for creating this new course? To change journalists from followers to leaders by using this new platform. "As someone who hijacks technology for journalism, I want to be proactive about shaping what journalism will look like on this," said Hernandez.

The syllabus for this "Glass Journalism" course includes students creating apps for Google Glass to help enhance storytelling and story consumption.  However, this is not the first time Google Glass has been used at the university level. Syracuse and Northeastern University in Boston tasked their students to create Glass Apps relating to social media and healthcare.

Ernest James Wilson III, the dean of USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism realized the courses being taught needed an upgrade.  Wilson created a new strategy that would include updating curriculum to reflect emerging technologies and give students more holistic skill sets. Hernandez and Wilson hoped that this new course would fulfill the goals of the schools new strategy.

Photo retrieved from Mashable.com

This is just the beginning for the use of Google Glass in the classroom. I believe that once the product becomes more available it will spread like a wildfire. Although it has a hefty price tag of $1,500 it is extremely beneficial in the field of journalism. Google Glass would create new opportunities for journalists to record and take photos. Having experienced older methods of journalism involving bulky cameras, and endless cords, I truly appreciate the creation of this new platform.

Read the full story at Mashable.com

Google Glass App Could Help Firefighters

Patrick Jackson is in the process of creating an app for Google Glass. Even before this new technology is out on the market, people are saying that Google Glass has a lot of potential, and an app like this, is only one of the reasons. Patrick Jackson is a firefighter and programmer who saw the need to create something that would help firefighters do their job better, and more efficiently. The app would help with a multitude of issues, some of which include floor plans, and a way to know how to get people out safely. Jackson has made a few apps in the past relating to firefighting, which his engine uses. The app could possibly be ready to test in the next six months.

This app seems like it could have the potential, in later developments, to seek out trapped people, furthering the ability of firefighters to save lives. I think that Google Glass could be a very useful product as we move into the world of voice activation. Certainly, apps such as this will help its success. I am interested to see how people will adjust to seeing things, such as diagrams in their field of vision, though. Also, a downside that I could see with Google Glass, is the price tag. At each unit carrying a price tag of around $1500 dollars, it could limit who it is available to.

Article posted on mashable.com on January 21, 2014