The importance of social and human aspects of wearable computing

Today, any good science or RND acknowledge that good science and technology exists in interaction with their surroundings and not in vacuum. Scientific discoveries are no longer considered as isolated idiosyncratic events but rather as processes dictated by their surroundings. Of the potential new technologies available at any one time only a few are developed and become widely implemented. As such, any given scientific development's ability to improve and serve the needs of its broader contextual basis is a key factor that will determine its importance and acceptance within society. As a consequence it needs to be acknowledged that the motivating factor behind all technological activity is the desire to fulfill a need. You can't design technology without paying attention to human needs or else the users won't use it. For this reason all designs should be made or realized - whether that be through prototype, batch- or mass- production or some form of three-dimensional or computer model - if the need is to be truly fulfilled, the design is to be legitimately evaluated, and the design activity is to have been purposeful and worthwhile.
Wearable computers take all that is stated above one step further. “Wearable Computing” as a technology deals with computer systems worn as unobtrusively as clothing. As such, wearables further effect the person's interaction with the world and more so- his interaction with his own body. If the wearable won't be in accordance with its wearer needs, it won't be worn. Wearable computing take special emphasis on the conception that technological enterprises are determined neither by advances neither in knowledge nor simply by the identification of needs, but by social interests. In this way technology is shaped by society, by consumer choice and it could also be argued that technology shapes society – workers wearing special glasses with a screen attached to them get a different perspective on their surroundings and as a consequence they treat it differently and behave in it in a different way.
In this sense, in order to succeed in the wearIT@work project researching human needs and insisting on a human centric design to all products is essential.