ar – Mythography Studios

Let’s design for the best of humanity and the best of technology.

Augmented Reality (AR) blurs the boundary between the physical and digital worlds. In AR’s current exploration phase, innovators are beginning to create compelling and contextually rich applications that enhance a user’s everyday experiences. In this book, Dr. Helen Papagiannis — a world-leading expert in the field — introduces you to AR: how it’s evolving, where the opportunities are, and where it’s headed.

If you’re a designer, developer, entrepreneur, student, educator, business leader, artist, or simply curious about AR’s possibilities, this insightful guide explains how you can become involved with this exciting, fast-moving technology.

— STEFAN SAGMEISTER, DESIGNER AND COFOUNDER SAGMEISTER & WALSH INC.

About the author

Dr. Helen Papagiannis

Dr. Helen Papagiannis is internationally recognized as a leading expert in Augmented Reality (AR). Her work spans over a decade in the field as a researcher, designer, and technology evangelist. She is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Infinity Augmented Reality Inc. (New York and Tel Aviv), and was a Senior Research Associate at York University’s Augmented Reality Lab (Toronto).

Dr. Papagiannis’s presentations and exhibitions include TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design), ISMAR (International Society for Mixed and Augmented Reality), and ISEA (International Symposium for Electronic Art). Her TEDx 2011 talk was featured among the Top 10 Talks on AR, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the prestigious World Technology Award. Prior to her augmented life, Dr. Papagiannis was a member of Bruce Mau Design where she was project lead on “Massive Change: The Future of Global Design”, a groundbreaking exhibition and best-selling book (Phaidon, 2004) examining the new inventions and technologies changing the world.

It’s not just about augmenting reality, it’s about augmenting humanity.

You’ll explore how:

Computer vision, machine learning, cameras, sensors, and wearables change the way you see the world

Haptic technology syncs what you see with how something feels

Augmented sound and hearables alter the way you listen to your environment

Digital smell and taste augment the way you share and receive information

New approaches to storytelling immerse and engage users more deeply

Users can augment their bodies with electronic textiles, embedded technology, and brain-controlled interfaces

Human avatars can learn our behaviors and act on our behalf

People said this picture summed up the events of this week perfectly.

agazeuswnzaiynvrxrzi — It would be funny if it wasn’t so bad.

I say it marked an entire era.

The pure irony behind it is staggering. This is:

A grainy, smartphone shot
Uploaded on Twitter (A massive equalizing communication tool)
Of someone playing an augmented reality game (Pokemon Go)
In front of a line of riot police
Because a person was killed by the police while a woman streamed the whole thing on Facebook Live
And because a police drone was deliberately used to blow up and kill another alleged offender during a standoff.

I mean, if someone had written that story in a novel somewhere, they’d have called it far-fetched. And this is real, it’s happening now.

Notice I didn’t say “a black man” on point 5. I said a person. Because that person was killed in front of a woman and a small child, and that just shouldn’t happen. But the dialogue on this is enormous, I don’t want to touch on that.

Yes, this photo is a chapter-break in our history. We have a full-scale dystopia posing as utopia, civil rights violated, technology both liberating and influencing ourselves, our minds, our decisions.

I worked a bit on a couple of news channels, and have a unique perspective on what things mass media want to show or not. I can’t actually write examples, but trust me on this: The media shows what it wants to. But you already knew that, deep down.

Also, with technologies like Live-U (multi carrier video broadcast from a mobile unit through any and all available cellphone companies) and Youtube, and Twitter and every person carrying a computer in his pocket, media has become more instantaneous. If the shot is there, the news channels will want it. A news crew carries top-of-the-line equipment worth easily 60-70 thousand euros, but if a kid on his iPhone got a better shot of the news-story, the news channel will broadcast the latter. Doesn’t matter if it’s shaky, doesn’t matter if it’s grainy, dark, out of focus. It will play, because it is valuable as news.

One day we had some faulty equipment and in our frenzy, we joked about having the weather guy just live-stream through Skype.

Then we got the go ahead, and we just put him through just like that. Fingers crossed and praying the line won’t drop.

And if you don’t care what we do in tiny little Greece, here’s the same event in USA. “Twitter’s Periscope Becomes a Lifeline for Democrats After Republicans Turn Off C-SPAN.”

But it’s not just news. Our lives, what we care about, the events we like are getting online right now. Periscope and Facebook are becoming our allies (now that’s ironic) in world events. Facebook’s safety check feature worked despite Turkey’s blackout, and band Radiohead is helping fans live-stream their concerts.

There is no conclusion to this post. Read the linked articles and make up your own.

Tag: ar

Some Serious Reading on How the Veil, Or Augmented Reality Will Shape Humanity

Let’s design for the best of humanity and the best of technology.

About the author

It’s not just about augmenting reality, it’s about augmenting humanity.

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