Infographic: What is Augmented Reality?
Filed under: AR, augmented reality, education, infographic
I’ve been nuts for Augmented Reality (AR) recently, and I really love the ability to connect real world to digital world especially now there has been a focus on delivering AR content triggered by print media.
Layar is one such platform for augmenting print, and is available as an app for Android and iOS. Content is delivered via an augmented reality browser which is similar to a web browser but it uses your camera to apply layers of digital information over the view through the camera.
As defined by Wikipedia, Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Source: Wikipedia.
The infographic below What is Augmented Reality designed by Fresh Pepper Designs gives an overview of the history and current uses of AR. It also provides a timeline for the evolution of augmented reality technology. Finally it illustrates the future of augmented reality. Here is a presentation on the history of augmented reality in much more detail.
There is also a shift happening and it’s going to bring some exciting new augmented possibilities to your web browser in the next 18 months or so. You can see a sneak peek here in The Awesome Web.
Where I see augmented reality gaining traction
While there are many other opportunities for using AR in marketing and business, I really think the opportunities for educators are huge. As more of these online AR publishing tools (see links below) are made available to the general public I can see a day when adding AR to educational materials will be commonplace. I’m doing my bit and this week I’m facilitating a hands on workshop for educators at the VITTA annual conference here in Melbourne.
Here are my top 2 suggestions for connecting print media to digital information for awesome learning outcomes.
Books
Add rich media and social media to any book or object. For example augmented reality can connect your books to Video, 3D, Images, Audio, Pinterest, goodreads, Shelfari, Great Book Stories, YouTube, Vimeo, facebook, Twitter, Amazon and more. See examples of Augmented Reality used for education via books here.
Posters – Hot Topics/News/Special Days
Bring hot topics, special days, discussion points and recent news to life with AR. How about Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, Elections, Natural Disasters, Thanksgiving, Australia Day.
Experience it for yourself. Download Layar. See examples of Augmented Reality for education via posters I have created on Teachers pay Teachers.
If you would like to learn more and try AR out for yourself I’ve put together a list below for you.
Layar’s creator tool for print
Popular AR sites
View it larger online: http://visual.ly/what-augmented-reality
Hi Brendan,
Great to see your enthusiasm for AR. We have been really glad to partner with Telstra in AR. If you are in Sydney come to the FED Sep 25 where I will be discussing a wide range of issues on AR or if you are in Melbourne, check out our work in the Next Horizon Room indicating AR roadmaps.
Hi Scott. I’ve been doing a bit with AR and education. Looking forward to seeing how it all goes when AR hits web browsers. I’ve been a follower of you guys on Facebook. Will check out the room Next Horizon Room downstairs. Keep in touch. Brendan