For this blog assignment, learn a bit more about Augmented Reality technologies. Explore new developments on the Net. Check out the list of resources I’ve linked on our Syllabus. Try out an example of AR if you can.
And then write an extended blog post, as specific as possible about what you think the potential benefits and/or drawbacks of introducing augmented reality tools into our daily lives. How might it change society?
Also: think about the digital rhetorical of your blog post to maximize the number of people who read and potentially respond to it:
- Give it a catchy title
- Figure out how to make any links or media live in the text
- Add “tags” in the field to the right to make it more searchable.
Blog 2.
Smart Glasses – An Unfair Social Advantage?
Until doing the course readings this week, I had no idea what augmented reality even was. After doing a Wikipedia search the basic definition was that it uses technology to enhance one’s current perception of reality. Whether augmented reality is being achieved by wearing Google glasses that allow you to video chat with friends and give them a direct representation of what you are seeing, or a headset that places images of both the physical and virtual world in front of your field of view, there are countless technologies promising to change the way we see the world.
In “Ok, Glass” Shteyngart discussed the experience of being one of the few people who was given an opportunity to try out Google glasses. It is apparent that they would be immensely useful, allowing a person to record and take pictures of much of what they were seeing, as well as share that information with others. I did question the ethical implications of that software though. I feel like if someone walked by wearing the glasses I would actually feel quite uncomfortable, not sure if they were filming those around them. Sure, pinhole cameras have existed for decades, but to me those are reserved for spies, or for over protective mothers trying to catch their nanny feeding their kids junk food, I wouldn’t expect to run into that out on the street. Shteyngart mentioned that he signed up for all of the news publications he was able to (New York Times, CNN and Elle), but soon there will be a lot more offered for the Google glasses.
According to an article on CNET, an Israeli start up hopes to bring features like face and voice detection to smart glasses.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57617653-76/infinity-ar-well-fulfill-sci-fi-promise-of-augmented-reality/
In case you don’t feel like reading the article, the gist of the message is that in the next three months the company (Infinity AR) is hoping to be able to launch a free app called the Brain for smart glasses. They plan on making their money by ad revenue, but the ads will be tailored to the person who is wearing them, making them “useful” (or that’s there way of avoiding the word “annoying”) The Brain app hopes to provide useful services that aren’t already offered, most notably being able to judge the mood of others based on their tone of voice, or conduct face recognition based on information the person has already given.
Now to me, that just seems like an unfair social advantage. While the rest of us scan our brains desperately trying to remember the name of the petite blonde in front of us is – is it Kylie? Carol? She told you like a hundred times – these privileged individuals could simply rely on their glasses to do the remembering for them. Not to mention being able to gauge others precise mood. It almost reminds me of playing Sims as a child, where I could see the little percentage bars that tell you how much the other characters liked me and would desperately try to make the fictional love interest like my character. Will that be next? Will glasses be able to tell that the petite blonde, who’s name was actually Sofia, likes you 64% but finds you 12% annoying and 24% boring?
I also worry that they would be a distraction from the outside world. If the wearer is being constantly updated about news stories or sales at their favourite store, wouldn’t that make it harder to pay attention to the people around them or the task at hand? Already when you walk around so many people are completely wrapped up in their cellphone, but with smart glasses all that information is even easier to access, and I would worry that if they became affordable it could seriously change the way people interact with one another.
That being said, though, I do think it is pretty darn cool.