Mediated Reality Through Glasses or Binoculars? Exploring Use Models of Wearable Computing in the Context of Aircraft Maintenance

Abstract

Aircraft maintenance is often considered a typical application for specialized wearable computer systems, designed and used for a specific purpose only. From the findings of an interpretive case study conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Systems, the largest commercial airline in Scandinavia, there is evidence to question the potential usefulness of such a system.

Instead, in this article, aircraft maintenance is used to explore the potentialities of different use models of wearable computing (i.e., the way the system is designed, used, and understood, and which should also make sense in other environments). The use models are (a) a vertical model addressed by a binoculars-analogy, where the system is designed and used for a specific purpose; and (b) a horizontal model, approached by perceiving wearable computers as eyeglasses, where the system is used throughout the day for a number of activities. Problems with both models suggest an alternative use model, which is presented as the embodied use model, drawing on the notion of embodiment introduced by Ihde (1990).