Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide

For everybody interested in augmented reality and virtual worlds. Most things Tim O'Reilly writes is worth reading ...

Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide: "

By Tim O'Reilly

I'm jealous. The Prags have just published a book I wish I'd thought of first: Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide.

I've been talking quite a bit about augmented reality lately, especially when people ask me about what I think might represent a discontinuity significant enough to represent a paradigm shift of the scale of the PC revolution or Web 2.0. Sensors instrumenting the world and driving collective intelligence applications that provide new information layers in our everyday experience is one big element of this next revolution.

The topic also comes up whenever people ask me about Second Life, because I'm much more fascinated by the possibility of SL to create additional information layers on top of this world than I am about the idea of it as a complete alternate reality. I usually point to an SAP project I learned of last year, in which SAP is working with a Swiss property management firm to build instrumented models of their buildings in Second Life. That is, you open a door in the building, a door opens in the SL model. The building catches fire, so does the SL model. And of course, that's why I was so excited about Google's acquisition of Sketchup. It seems to me to be a really important long-term play in the mapping space. After all, so much of the built world we interact with isn't represented at all on the maps we use. An address on the 37th floor of a building looks just the same to our mapping system as one on the first floor. But does it need to be that way? Not in a future where we've populated our maps (at first perhaps Google Earth, but eventually web-based maps as well) with additional layers representing the human-built world.

Augmented reality is also coming at us in the news, especially forward looking news outlets (hint: 'News for nerds. Stuff that matters.') Take a look at these recent Slashdot headlines and think about them as all part of an emerging augmented reality trend: Smart 'Lego' Set Conjures Up Virtual 3D Twin, Cellphone App Developed that Could Allow For 'Pocket Supercomputers', Stanford's New Website Converts Your Photos to 3D, and The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey. Add in the recent Radar posts The Future of Cell Phone Headsets and More on the Virtual Reality Audio Headset. Season with a dash of Nintendo Wii and innovative cell phone games like Mobzombies (Radar post.)

We're clearly careening towards a world in which virtual worlds are overlaid on the real world, bits interpenetrated with atoms.

I should be clear that this broad-strokes definition of augmented reality isn't what's covered in the Prags' new book. They are focused on a more traditional definition: 'to create the sensation that virtual objects are present in the real world.' They provide some first tools for developers to explore interfaces and techniques for doing so, with an emphasis on overlaying rendered objects onto real time digital video. This is a subset of the big picture I'm drawing in this post, but an important one. And perhaps even more to the point, this book will help to socialize the idea and to get people started building the new skills that will be required as augmented reality interfaces go mainstream.

I was thinking after class about how we represent ourselves online, and how we could show a connection between ourselves and our avatars, when I happened along this neat idea for a sort of performance piece. Avatars, wearing approximations of our own face. now, I'll fancy up the handle for the item that it'd give up to the class, but if people are interested in taking part, they can send me pictures of themselves and I'll make the masks

Tornado Transport System

Dean has been wishing out loud for a free-fall, random delivery transport system for ATEC's new architectural plan. What good, chaotic fun it would be, he thought, if an avatar could be plunked down somewhere totally unexpected. He also asked that all designs for the New ATEC Island be non-static, ever-dynamic. Always game for Dean's version of controlled chaos, the rest of the team agreed, and thought it might be practical to have an option for a direct transport to a specified destination as well. The obvious solution: a Tornado and Hurricane Delivery System. A tornado is unpredictable, ever-shifting its form and its path, so it could be the random delivery unit. A hurricane follows a path capable of being tracked, yet it too is a shape-shifter, so it could be the direct delivery unit. A sketch for a layered-form tornado design is shown here, having gobbled up Avatar Blake Wake for delivery who-knows-where. Research is now in progress to explore design and scripting challenges. Interested builders & programmers for this insanely bold project should contact Diana Souza or Liz Rittenhouse.

Island space plan

Dan is out

I am not in class today as the kid has a particularly nasty strain of the flu that's going around. I'm fine, but I'd feel really bad if I brought it to school with me and one of you got sick. Even with drugs, she's been down four days. Without drugs, you could be out two weeks. And you guys would then hate me.

Anyway, the diagram I posted the other day is just a starter. We had four good areas to talk about, and ideas within those areas. I'd like to have flushed those out better, spending time on each other, rather than jumping from idea to idea. I guess if you guys do that today, somebody take notes and we can update where we are -- either with new ideas or builds off the ones we already have.

Habbo and Paramount Pictures to Sell Virtual Movie Paraphernalia

Virtual goods for movies. If only I could find a virtual Veronia Mars. No, wait, that's TV. Damn.

from Mashable

Virtual world Habbo has announced a deal with Paramount Pictures to create virtual goods for movies. Think Spiderman lunchboxes, but in the virtual world instead of the real one.

Specifically, users of Habbo will be able to buy things like accessories for their avatars, virtual furniture, and other worthless crap movie paraphernalia based off the movies “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” “Beowulf” and “Mean Girls.”

As cynical as I am about virtual worlds in general, this deal makes a lot of sense and could probably be pretty profitable for the two companies assuming they are adding virtual goods from titles that are hot with their young and fickle audience. Habbo claims more than 1.8 million teen users, most of whom can probably nag their parents into buying them a virtual Lindsay Lohan “Mean Girls” action figure if they really want one.

see also Reuters story.

Ideas talked about in class today (Jan. 23)

In class today we mentioned several ideas, which I've captured here in sort of a cluster map -- a nod to Jumanne.

Anyway, the larger theme is the bigger circle. Different ideas for the theme are represented by the smaller circle. I jotted down the names of a few students who talked about the themes/ideas. I apologize if I've gotten someone's name wrong, or misspelled it. I'm still learning.

Dean would like us to think about these themes/ideas, but we've already got quite a bit we can brainstorm over. Perhaps in the next class? And I expect we will add to our list a lot over the next week or two.

If I missed something, interpreted something wrong, mislabeled a theme/idea, let me know. I'll make whatever changes are needed.

Larger image.

Reading for next week

The Online Disinhibition Effect by John Suler

Learning Space Design

This site contains large amounts of research data concerning Learning Space Design. Not only can you download an entire ebook on the subject but you can download pod casts as well as case studies.

http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=5521&bhcp=1

Art Education and MobileLab ideas for Second Life

Here is the more detailed document:

http://jkd033000.tumblr.com/