I am a document camera

My becoming a document camera arose quite naturally during some of the large number of invited lectures I was asked to give. I'd typically use a video projector, and plug the projector into my body, making the presentation from the computer attached to my body. Most of my presentations I prepared as WWW pages, with links to my main Web pages, so that giving a presentation was a simple act of showing the audience a series of Web pages.

Now since I wear (or, in the more existential sense, "am'') an embodiment of my Wearable Wireless Webcam apparatus, one of the Web pages I show to the audience is my "Put yourself in my shoes and see the world from my perspective'' page. I found that what for me seemed quite typical, was shocking, or at least surprising to the audience, especially during question and answer period when I would walk around in the audience, and talk to people one--on--one, transmitting our conversation to the projection television screen at the front.

However, perhaps the most useful outcome was of course the fact that I could hold onto a small notepad, and look at the notepad, and of course the whole audience could see the notepad as well. Often during presentations, I would pace around the room, and walk out into the audience, and even sit down in a chair, as if I were a member of the audience, while giving the Keynote Address at a major conference or symposium.

Being me instead of seeing me

Thus after a while, I began to wonder why I was actually physically present at the conference site, particularly when the number of invitations to give talks was growing. For a while, I was giving approximately three Keynote Addresses a month, and this was indeed far too much needless travel. Thus I came up with the idea that I'd do exactly the same thing as I had always done, with one minute difference: I wasn't there.

Instead only my connection was there --- not my face, my avatar, or any other aspect of me, except for the existential aspect of facilitation by which the audience could vicariously be me: being me rather than seeing me.

I called this style of lecture a "Vicarious Soliloquy''. It's not really a soliloquy, in the sense that it's not really an audience watching, from an external viewpoint, me give a talk to myself, but, rather the audience is vicariously experiencing me give the talk to myself.

Example of Vicarious Soliloquy: DEFCON 7

Perhaps it's incorrect to say "I was invited to give the Keynote Address at DEFCON~7''. Instead, it would be more correct to say that "The audience of DEFCON~7 was invited to my Keynote Address'', or maybe "The audience of DEFCON~7 was invited to be my soliloquy'' (as opposed to watching my soliloquy, as might be the case in traditional cinematography in which the audience experiences a second or third person viewpoint).

This excerpt from my reality stream depicts how the audience was, in effect, able to be me, rather than see me, in the sense that a first--person perspective was offered by the apparatus of the invention serving as the existential document camera:



Downsampled frames taken from a Vicarios Soliloquy motion picture sequence. Vicarious Soliloquy is a new cinematographic genre characterized by a true first--person perspective. Rather than see me, I give the audience the opportunity to "be me''. The existential aspect of the apparatus of the invention puts the audience, in effect, inside my head to share a first person perspective. I presented the Keynote Address of DEFCON~7 as a lecture to myself, which I gave while walking around, while writing on a notepad. The apparatus of my invention causes the eye itself to, in effect, function much like a document camera.

This capability adds a new dimension to videoconferencing.

In addition to writing on the notepad, I also looked at (and therefore showed the audience) as well as annotated copies of some of the historial pictures of the apparatus of my invention:



Looking at copies of a picture of an historic WearComp apparatus, the audience also sees this same video from my right eye. Annotating copies of the picture, I present a lecture to myself that others experience vicariously.

Realitap: I am a luddite cyborg

See me or be me?

What's needed to receive one of my Vicarious Soliloquy

One computer goes to the big screen projector and runs a Web broswer that's pointed to my right eye (e.g. visits my EyeTap site). A second computer runs sfspeaker (SpeakFreely) and is connected to the PA system, and is responsive to the microphone array of my apparatus. A third computer runs sfmike and is set up so that I can hear the audience, their reactions to my lecture, and such. The third system sends the sound back to me, so that I can get audience feedback without acoustic feedback (e.g. I can hear the audience without getting the screech or squealing sound of positive feedback run amok).

It's actually quite simple, for anyone with a reasonable degree of UNIX competence, to facilitate such a talk and connection to my apparatus.