Steve Mann
Categories: 1962 births | Canadian scientists
Steve Mann (born 1962) is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is considered by some as the founder of the field of wearable computing based on his early work in personal imaging.
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Career
Mann has more than 200 publications, including a textbook on electric eyeglasses and a popular culture book on day-to-day cyborg living.
Mann holds degrees from MIT (PhD in Media Arts and Sciences '97) and McMaster University, where he was also inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Hall of Fame, Alumni Gallery, 2004, in recognition of his career as an inventor and teacher. While at MIT he was one of the founding members of the Wearable Computers group in the Media Lab [1]. In 2004 he was named the recipient of the 2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence for his article "Existential Technology," published in Leonardo 36:1. [2]
Mann 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 (a term he coined for "inverse surveillance").
He was the subject of a widely-publicized post-9/11 incident where Canadian airport security forcibly removed many of his wearable devices.
Mann as Cyborg
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" (see CyborgLog).
In March 14, 2002, Mann received world-wide news attention when The New York Times [3] reported on an incident in which he was detained by security personnel at St. John's Airport in Newfoundland, Canada while preparing to board an Air Canada flight to Toronto. The article reported that Mann was strip-searched and his electronic implants were forcibly removed, disorienting him sufficiently to necessitate that he use a wheelchair. At the time, Mann's lawyer reportedly estimated the value of the lost equipment at $56,800 [4], and Mann has claimed that doctors advised him that the separation from his implants (some of which he had lived with for many years) could lead to brain damage. [5] Technology philosopher Paul Virilio reported on this matter in his book Crepuscular Dawn excerpt.
Movie documentary
In 2001, Peter Lynch made a movie, Cyberman, about Mann's life and inventions.
Similar Research
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.)