For a paranoid section of the population, a giant face on a monitor can be an Orwellian nightmare come true. But, a giant face on a monitor that walks around town in a white jumpsuit is actually pretty cool. Still, he should definitely keep an eye out for a girl in red shorts wielding hammers.
Videoconferencing aficionado and awesome costume builder, Dan Rosenfeld wonders why after 30 years video conferencing hasn’t progressed beyond novelty technology. Dan and his partner have theorised that it has something to do with lack of eye contact, spatial awareness and gaze awareness. To test their theories, Dan created The Big Head Project.
The rig is a head-mounted box with a 24-inch LCD monitor on the front that displays a larger-than-life version of Dan’s face. Inside the box, Dan has a tiny camera trained on his face, a microphone and a monitor connected to an external camera so he can see where he’s going. To test gaze awareness, the rig is configured so that Dan is looking directly at you while talking to reduce the thousand-yard stare associated with teleconferencing.
Dan’s costume/experiment was a hit in the neighbourhood, but I can’t imagine that the huge box on his head was comfortable. Of course next year I expect to see a slimmer, sexier version of the costume as is Halloween tradition.
[Guru Ramen via Hack a Day]