Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 7, 2014 FEATURES 11 By Melissa Campeau A pediatric nurse in train- ing prepares to give a needle to her first live patient. She's nervous but knows her instructor can see exactly what she sees and will guide her through the process, step by step. at's because the nurse is wearing Google Glass, which features a built-in camera to send point-of-view video to the instructor, and a screen overlay on her right lens that allows the teacher to guide her to the pre- cise injection spot. While this scene may not be play- ing out in medical schools just yet, it's not too far away, thanks to augmented reality (AR) technol- ogy paired with devices such as Google Glass. Augmented reality is a live view of your environment supplement- ed by computer-generated im- ages, sounds, video or GPS data. A typical smartphone, for ex- ample, can be turned into an aug- mented reality device by simply uploading an app. "If you're travelling for business and you're looking at a menu in another language, you can hover the camera over the menu and in real time it will transcribe the menu into your native language," says Marc Saltzman, a Canadian author and technology expert based in Toronto. "You'll see the English words superimposed on the screen." Taken to the next level, aug- mented reality becomes a wear- able technology, where an AR device is wirelessly tethered to a smartphone or other computer. But augmented reality does have its limitations, says Saltzman. "Unless you're in a Wi-Fi hotspot, you won't have any Internet access if there's not a smartphone nearby," he says. Despite the limitations, new de- vices are entering the marketplace at a rapid pace. Smart Glasses by Samsung, for example, allow your fi ngers and hands to become a virtual keyboard. And Epson recently announced a necklace projector, designed to turn your hands into a screen for emails and texts when held in front of the projector. e device with the most buzz, though, is Google Glass. Resem- bling a futuristic set of glasses, the device is touch- or voice- controlled and allows people to see information displayed via one lens, overlaid on the fi eld of vision. It also lets the user hear informa- tion through a bone conduction speaker, sending sound to the in- ner ear through the skull. Essentially, Glass can pick up what you're seeing and hearing and send you visual and auditory information too. ere's an app for that Practically speaking, this tech- nology could be a very big deal. Stanford University recently live-streamed a demonstration of Google Glass used in surgery. Doctors wore the device while performing an incision to remove a mass, directing their gaze at a particular area of skin on a pa- tient. A display on their lens (in their fi eld of vision, thereby elimi- nating the need to look away) il- lustrated the procedure, step by step. ere are everyday medical ap- plications as well. " ere's a CPR app for Google Glass," says Saltzman. "When you're looking at a person, it will tell you, by digitally imposing images onto the real person, where to put your hands so you're doing compressions properly." And other fi elds also stand to benefi t. "Think of all the instances where manual dexterity and pre- cision really matter," says Kather- ine Jones, vice-president of HCM technology research at Bersin by Deloitte in Oakland, Calif. "You've got thousands of uses in business, from manufacturing to production lines." In forestry, people could use Google Glass to show which trees are digitally tagged for cutting and at what angle you should be cut- ting, without even having to hold anything, says Saltzman. Oil, gas and mining industries can also envision practical appli- cations for the technology. NEWER > pg. 12 CA CA CA CANA NA NA NADI DI DI DIAN AN AN AN HR R RE RE REPO PO PO PORT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RT RTER ER ER ER ER ER ER ER E FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FE FEAT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT AT A UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR UR U ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES ES E R S 11 TECHNOLOGY Au g me n ted rea lity — inc lud i ng t echno l og y lik e G O OG LE GLASS — cou l d re vo l uti on ize work pl a ce TECHNOLOGY G T h ro ugh t h e L O O K I N G g l a s s , Ap Apri ri ril l 7, 7, 201 014 Ap Apri ril l 7, 01 014

• Cover