By the 1970s, the computers became fast enough for most applications an average user might run -- the time of multimedia was not yet to be -- but they were still occupying a considerable amount of space, since they were essentially solid blocks of iron. The input was done by the means of the punch cards, in the early years of that decade, or by keyboard - a new concept on the market. 1971 ushered in the 4004, a computer that was finally small in size, yet powerful enough. Features of 4004 were very advanced for its time: 4-bit data, giving programmer 16 distinct possibilities for abstract representation; programs had to be less than 256 bytes long, which was enough for "symphonies" in assembler; program counter and accumulator were introduced -- both of which became sine qua non of modern computer architectures and theory of compilers. Still, computers had to be plugged directly in the AC outlets. The input and the output, done via punch cards, would inherently spell out the static nature of computers. Most importantly, computers were not designed with people in mind -- users would have to modify their behaviour with respect to computers, not vice versa.

This was the climate to which wearable computer -- WearComp -- was born. In the 1970's, wearcomp challenged our pre-conceived notion of computing, as something that would be able to run on batteries. In present age of long-term batteries, we take such claims for granted, but that was a shocking idea for its time. Wearcomps were more than merely an alternate excercise in supplying power to digital computers, however. They were a new vision of how computing should be done. Gone were the days where computer was seen as immutable construct that would require us to undergo strange rituals of drilling holes in paper cards in order to run it. Wearable Computing exemplified that computer and human were now seen not as separate concepts, but rather as a symbiosis. We were free to use computers in direct, instictive fashion, without punch cards and long, complicated procedures they introduced. The computers could become a true extension of one's mind and body.

Steve Mann models a wearable from the early 1990s.

In the beginning of 1980s, personal computing emerged. It was therefore introduced to the world after the wearable computers were already a fleshed out concept, not just an intriguing hypothesis. But whereas wearables were not present in the mass-culture, personals were on a marketing crusade: IBM's PC and other, cheaper clones spread world-wide like a wild fire. Finally there was a machine that enthusiasts could play with. You could suddenly have a computing power on your desk that, albeit modest in performance, did not cost thousands of dollars. This moved the industry from catering to big business to catering to people. Alongside all-present personal computers, wearable computers were developing at rate that was if not more, then certainly at least as exploding as the one of personals. PC's introduced a concept of WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mice and Pointers) to the world, and forever changed the user interface for all of us. At the same time, wearables went through a transformation of their own: They were now eyeglass based, with external eyeglass mounts. While still not quite covert, they were laying landmarks of developing principles which are still adhered to: miniaturization, extension of one's mind and body, covertness and personal empowerment. The last requirement was a herald of era of surveillance -- general public was slowly starting to think of the Big Brother syndrome and wearables could be a powerful weapon in the hands of the individual against the machinery. Thus the idea of centralized surveillance was challenged. In addition to this, whole new areas were discovered for and by the wearables: photography, performance arts and others.

The next big wave was the laptop in the 1990s. People wanted to have their computer with them at all times to use at a moment's notice. The problem still remained because the user needed to find a workspace in which to use their laptop as they were still stuck using keyboards and mice (or touch-pads, for more advanced models). It is not surprising then, that most people still think of computers as just big blocks of iron which are either attached to a desk or need to be plunked down upon one before work can begin.

For more than twenty years though, there have been visionaries who refused to see these computers just as big blocks of iron sitting on our desks. They were after a new paradigm of computing - computers that would be the extension of one's personality, computers that would work with your body rather than against it, and almost needless to say, the computers that will be with you at all times, always at your disposal. In the two decades that had passed, wearable computing pioneers and the growing army of followers had had more than enough time to think through the shortcomings of their invetion. Wearables are at their prime. The rigs were no longer crude and obvious to those around you -- now you had completely covert systems which would reside inside your average glasses. Alongside with the new concepts in design came the new concepts in philosophy and applications. One of the prevalent ideas in wearable computing is the concept of mediated reality. Mediated reality refers to encapsulation of the user's senses by incorporating the computer with the user's perceptive mechanisms which are used to process the outside stimuli. For example, one can mediate their vision by applying a computer controlled camera to enhance it. The primary activity of mediated reality is direct interaction with the computer, which means that computer is "in charge" of processing and presenting the reality to the user. A subset of mediated reality is augmented reality. It differs from the former because interaction with the computer is secondary. The computer must be able to operate in the background, providing enough resources to enhance but not replace the user's primary experience of reality. Wearable computers have many applications centered around this concept of as well as many other exciting applications centered around the idea of immediate access to information. These we will discuss in a follow up to this article called Applications of wearable computing.

Steve's current wearable looks like an ordinary pair of bifocals.

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