Steve Mann (born 1962) is a professor at the University of Toronto, an advocate, and arguably the founder of the field of wearable computing based on his early work in personal imaging.
NOW, The Globe and Mail, National Post, and Toronto Life have all described him as "the world's first cyborg", from his early work with wireless wearable webcams. This exploration in wireless connectivity with personal imaging has been described by Professor Mann as "glogging" (cyborg logs).
He also works in the fields of computer mediated reality. He is a strong advocate of privacy rights, for which work he was an award recipient of the Chalmers Foundation in the fine arts. His work also extends to the area of Sousveillance (inverse surveillance).
His has more than 200 publications, including a textbook on electric eyeglasses and a popular culture book on day-to-day cyborg living.
Mann is currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Other researchers with similar areas of interest include Raymond Kurzweil, and Eduardo Kac, the world's first person to have an identity microchip implanted (which Kac did as an art performance to initiate inquiry and philosophical debate --- quite different from the reasons for which Kevin Warwick later had an identity microchip implanted.)
In 2001, Peter Lynch, who also directed Project Grizzly, made a movie, Cyberman, about Steve Mann's life and inventions.
Mr. Mann holds degrees from MIT (PhD in Media Arts and Sciences '97)
and McMaster University. While at MIT he was a member of the Wearable Computers group in the Media Lab.
See also
External links
Last updated: 10-13-2005 14:10:02
