A Survey of Augmented Reality

Ronald T. Azuma (1997)

This is a really interesting article about augmented reality (AR) and its potential for a wide variety of areas. The author starts by defining what is AR and what is the main difference with a similar technology called virtual reality (VR). AR consists in merging together reality and virtuality. For example, you can use a visor for watching a real table but over the table there can be different objects (say a bottle) that are laid over (superimposed) in the real image of the table. VR, on the other hand, consists in creating an entire virtual environment, completely separated from "the real world". The author explains that AR has a wide variety of potential applications within many different areas such as medicine, manufacturing, visualization and planning, entertainment and militar as well as civil aviation.

For instance, regarding medicine, a surgeon could use a visor that aids him to know exactly where to make an incision. In aviation, a pilot could use a special visor to have visual aid in order to be able to easily locate the runway during landing in low visibility conditions. In entertainment and education, a person could use special glasses to walk around ancient ruins, say Foro Romano in Rome, and he could see a virtual recreation in 3D of how the original buildings looked like superimposed exactly where the real ruins are.

The author comments on the main difficulties that AR technology has to deal with in order to be an effective tool. Making a perfect match between the real world and the virtual images being superimposed is by far the biggest challenge. The author explains that it requires an extraordinary level of precision of less than a degree. Therefore, the visor or glasses used (or whichever kind of device being used) must make use of many different internal sensors and receivers such as GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes and even some high precision laser guidance system in order to make the virtual images match the real world as good as possible. However, the author explains that even with these advanced sensoring technologies the experience shows that making a totally exact match between reality and virtuality could take several more years of development. Nevertheless, the author emphasizes that AR could utterly change the way we work and entertain ourselves and that it could make many types of jobs and activities much safer than they are today.

Narrative, linearity and interactivity: making sense of interactive multimedia

Lydia Plowman (1996)

This article explains the pros and cons that the new narrative based on interactive multimedia (IMM) offers for educational purposes. The traditional and conventional form of narrative which humans have developed and cultivated for thousands of years has three main characteristics: temporality, causality and linearity. When we read a book, watch a movie or attend to a theater play, we are told a story that has a linear unfolding of events: there is a chain of events that leads to just one and only end. IMM, however, allows us to choose from a set of different alternatives so that we can steer the unfolding of events in the pace we wish or even in the direction he want. So, how effective is this new technology when it comes to educate children? This article describes the experience of a class of seventh graders using four different titles of educational interactive programs.

Although IMM has shown that children become more engaged in the process since they can interact with the system in many different ways, there are some drawbacks related to how much the children actually learn with this technology. The author comments that allowing the child to have total control in how and when the information is being displayed can eventually represent a distracting factor. Likewise, an interactive medium can eventually be misused when the children hasnt been given enough instructions from the teacher about what are the real goals and the topics to be learned in a particular session. For instance, the narrative of a particular lesson given by an IMM CD-Rom can be disrupted by the discussion that can arise when two kids have to decide which option to choose in order to continue the interactive lesson.

Finally the author reflects on the difference between two main characteristics that IMM can offer: the mythical aspect and the rhetorical aspect. The first aspect has to do with "showing" while the second one is related to "telling". Since IMM allows the information to be given by using a combination of techniques like text, photos, animation and video these two concept play an important role. For instance, video has to do with the myth because it "shows" a particular process, say how the planets orbit around the sun. While a text describing how the solar system works is "telling" the information and thus is related with the rhetorics. A well designed IMM for educational purposes must make a balanced use of these two elements.

Beyond representation: towards an action-centric perspective on tangible interaction. 

J. Tholander and M. Jonsson (2008)

In this article the authors reflect on the importance of changing the ways in which engineers and developers think about interaction design. The article emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift from the more conventional "data-centric" approach to the concept of "action-centric" interface. By "data-centric" approach they refer to the idea in which most of the personal computing had been designed in the last 30 years. The user uses a keyboard and a mouse only. The keyboard is an input device that mianly lets the user to enter characters and numbers, in other words, data. The computer monitor shows information in form of text and pictures, which is also data. But an action-centric approach proposes a deeper and more complete way to interact with a computational system: by doing, in other words by using our whole body as well as other physical objects.

The authoers describe an experiment in which a boy interacts with a computer using physical objects. These objects are commonly called "phicons", a combination between the terms physical and icon. Just like computer users usually interact and manipulate icons in a graphical user interface (GUI), in this experiment the user manipulates physical objects in order to determina different parameters as functions, positions, etc. The authors explain that tangible computing represents a resource for action, which offers almost unlimited ways for interaction. They also comment about the importance for interacting by action as a more natural way for allowing humans, which are physical creatures, to use their bodies in order to interact with the digital world.

Finally, the authors reflect about the importance of tangible computing for providing context and allowing a more social way of using computers. For instance, using physical objects for interacting with computers allows different users to collaborate with each other and plan coordinated actions which can improve the way in which a group of users can use one single compter simultaneously.

Assignment 2: Seek 'n Meet

Assignment 2: Seek ‘n Meet

1. The application

1.1 General description

Our project consists in the development of a mobile application, called Seek ‘n Meet, that allows the user to meet other people based on their current location. This application is especially aimed for tourists that wish to meet people at their current destination, but even local residents can use this application as well.

1.2 Application’s core function

This application has as its main function to locate other users that are currently in your surrounding area in order to be able to contact them via text messages and see their profile information.

2. Market analysis

2.1 Target group

As previously mentioned, our purpose is to make of this application a popular system and therefore there are no major segmentation factors defining our target group. Probably age is the only demographical factor that could have some relevance for identifying our target group. We think that younger people might show more interest in meeting new people. Furthermore and thinking of the fact that this application would be used by tourists willing to meet other tourists in the vicinity, this requires a more adventurous spirit, something we believe is a more frequent characteristic amongst younger people. Nevertheless, this is not a rule and that is why we think our potential users belong to an extremely wide spectrum.

2.2 Core service to be offered

Seek ‘n Meet is basically a social network. The key element that differentiates this application from other social networks, such as Facebook, is that the search of people is based on geographic location so that the users can only come in touch with other people located in their proximity. So far, we have thought of the user only being able to chat with other users and see their profile information, but one can definitely think of eventually developing the application even further by incorporating new tools and functions.   

2.3 Product availability

We want to make this application a massive product available for a wide range of users around the globe. Our application is intended to get revenues from advertisement that will be shown in some sections of this app and therefore having many users around the world will contribute to maximize profitability as we get more companies advertising in our application (see Section 2.4 for more details on this topic). That is why we intend to have this application available in both of the main application stores for mobile devices: the AppStore (for iOS devices) and Android Market (for Android based devices). Since iOS and Android use different programming languages this implies that one has to invest in the development of two applications. This means that one will have higher development costs, but we believe that this is actually a good choice if one is to make this application widely available to the general public.

2.4 Main source of revenue

Our business model consists in making this application available to a large group of people, which means that, at least in an initial stage, users will be able to download it for free from the application stores straight to their mobiles or tablets. Our main source of revenue will come from partnership with sponsoring companies that will be able to advertise their products or services through our application in form of clickable banners.

Since the application has a global character the idea is to get sponsors in different areas of the world. The application will be designed in such way so that the user will only be able to see the advertising of companies that operate in just the geographical area where she is currently located while running the app. We intend to have two main ways of displaying ads in our application, each one having a different price. One mode of displaying an ad will be showing it at full screen for a few seconds (probably four seconds) directly after the user logs in. Since this ad will be shown at full screen every time the user logs in then this ad will be the priciest. Another alternative of advertising in this application will be in form of small clickable banners. Since the screen in mobile phones is relatively small then we have decided that this banners will be shown only when the user clicks in a button in the main menu that will take her to the advertising section of the app. Because these advertising banners are shown only if the user chooses to visit this section then these advertising banners will have a lower price.  For more information about the fashion in which the advertising is going to be displayed go to Section 4.

3. Technical analysis

3.1 Hardware requirements

 Since this application collects geographical positioning data of the users, it is then required that the device running this application is equipped with GPS receiver or other similar system for geo-location. We have thought of smartphones and tablets to be the main type of device for running this application, not only regarding their geo-location capabilities but also due to their reduced size and weight, which make them extremely portable.

3.2 Selling platform and operative system

We aim to make of this app a globally used system and because of this very reason is that we want to make it available for as many types of user as possible. Ideally the application should have a cross platform character, which means that it should be available to run in the two main operative systems for mobile devices, namely iOS and Android.  

4. Interface

4.1 Interacting modality

As previously mentioned, we have planned to develop this service as a native application to be run in mobile phones and tablets. This means that the interface for this system will be mainly based on touchscreen interface rather than a conventional physical keyboard or other pointing device such as a mouse.  

4.2 Description of the navigation structure

Section 5 shows the preliminary design of the user’s navigation structure and the main menu including all the different options that the user can choose from. Note that the colors used in these illustrations were randomly chosen and do not represent the final graphical profile and colors to be used in the final version.

Screen 1 is the intro page that will show the name of the application (Seek ‘n Meet) and its main logotype. This screen will be shown for around four seconds. Then the app will show Screen 2, which is the log-in and registration page. Since this application is a social network where users can find new people then we decided that it is mandatory for the user to register (screen 3) in order to be able to use this service. In order to prevent people to change their profile at any time with information that could eventually be false, then we decided that the users would only be able to change data in their profile maximum twice a year. Right after the user has logged in Screen 4 will be displayed showing an advertisement of a sponsor that operates at the user’s current location. This ad will be shown at full screen for about 4 seconds. Right after that Screen 5 will be displayed showing the application’s main menu. If the user chooses “Send alert” then Screen 6 will appear. In this section the user can select how often she wants the application to update her current location. In that same section the user can also select how far from her current location will this alert be available. This option is meant to let the user determine a certain perimeter around her current location. The user will therefore be unreachable for people located beyond this established perimeter. After the user has determined these two elements (update frequency and perimeter around current location) then the user can tap on “Send Alert” and the signal alerting other users of her presence in the area will be sent. If being in the main menu (screen 5) the user selects “Seek friends” screen 7 will be displayed. In this section the user can determine the size of the perimeter around her current location where she wants to seek for other people, leaving any other users that are located outside this perimeter out of the search. Once the user has determined this factor and after taping in “seek friends” screen 8 will be displayed. This section shows a list of the users that have sent alerts of their presence that are located within the established perimeter around the current location. When the users select a person shown in the list then screen 9 will be displayed. In this section the user can select among two options: to start a chat with the selected person or to see the profile information of that same selected person. Another option in the main menu in screen 5 is “see local offers”. Selecting this option will bring screen 10 to appear. In this screen one can choose amongst different interests, for example, shopping, sport, food and beverage, etc. Choosing one of these options, say food and beverage, will display screen 11, which will show several advertising banners of local restaurants and bars that are available in the user’s current location. These are small clickable banners that when selected automatically open the website of the chosen restaurant. Finally, the last option in the main menu (screen 5) is “edit profile” where the users can edit their personal information such as name, age, profile photo, etc. 

5. Appendix

5.1 Preliminary design of the navigation structure

5.2 Preliminary logotype

Assignment 1: Designing an application for Vegans

1. Application’s brief description:

This application is aimed to vegans that want to find and share new vegan recipes. They will also have the possibility of rating the recipes shared by people, write reviews and upload photos of their dishes.

2. Users

User group description: Vegans are a subgroup within vegetarians. They abstain from consuming any product from animal origin.

Group’s motivations and values: Vegans refuse to consume products of animal origin basically out of two main reasons: animal rights and environmental issues.

Subgroups among vegans:
There are three main subgroups among veganism, namely:

• Dietary veganism: also called strict vegetarians. These vegans have a total restriction for consuming any sort of animal product, even dairy products, eggs and honey.
• Ethical veganism: also called lifestyle vegans. These type of vegans extend the total restriction to consume animal products not only regarding their diet but also concerning other items such as clothes, cosmetics, etc.
• Environmental veganism: Similar to the previously named group but they put emphasis on the problematic of industrial exploitation of animals and the environmental damage due to excessive animal breeding.

Personas:
These are just a few examples of different personas one can find among vegan people.

Mary Miller - a dietary vegan. Mary is an actress from New York. She is 30 years old and she likes to cook. She tries to vary her meal a lot in order to get all the nutrition she needs.
Peter Griffin - an ethical vegan. He is a 47 years old philosopher from San Francisco. He likes reading and writing articles about environmental matters, Video productions and following the debates regarding the animal rights are some of his main activities.
Helena Svensson - an environmental vegan from Sweden. She is 25 and she is an activist that often goes and participates in many organized events, demonstrations and other activities aimed to protecting animals.  
Main characteristics of the potential users:

• The driving force for people wanting to use this app is the need for varied food in order to meet the required nutritional levels for a healthy life, abstaining from consuming any kind of animal products such as meat, eggs, honey, milk, cheese, etc.
• Gender is an irrelevant factor regarding the potential users for our app.
• The targeted age is 18+. Our application does not intend to teach little kids on how they should compensate their diet for the lack of meat and other animal products.
• The users should have some experience with smartphones or tablets.
• A minimal skill for cooking is required but by no means do users have to be expert cooks. Learning to cook is actually another appealing factor of this application.

3. The activity

The main activity to be supported by our service is related to the vegan cooking, which includes the possibility of choosing the right ingredients and sharing nutritious and tasty recipes in order to improve the life quality of vegans.

Factors:

• The users can use the application anytime they want to search for new vegan recipes as well as giving ideas and suggestions of diverse kind of vegan dishes. In other words, sharing is the key concept behind this application.

• The fact that this application is about sharing information with other people implies that it requires the device to be connected to the internet, either by wifi connection or cellular network such as 3G.
• The risk factor is basically depending on the cooking process, either by cooking something with wrong ingredients that could lead to some level of indigestion or eventual injuries caused during the cooking process such as hurting one’s finger while cutting some vegetables. Maybe a frequent warning reminding users about safe cooking could help to avoid eventual hazards.

4. The context

Since this application has a strong culinary character then it is only natural to think that the main environment in which it is going to be used is indoors, most likely in the kitchen. Indoor environment is protected from most external elements such as weather. The main concern being in the kitchen is the use of a computer device while manipulating food. We think that this kind of application would work best on a smartphone or a tablet due to the fact that they have touchscreen which is easier to clean than a physical keyboard.

5. Technology

5.1 Input: Touchscreen based interface is a good option for this kind of application. Cooking is a relatively messy activity and manipulating physical keyboards with dirty hands can lead to some sort of malfunction in the device, for example, some keys can get stuck due to rests of food falling in the keyboard. Touchscreens, on the other hand, offer a smooth flat surface free from any type of holes or moving parts which makes it more suitable for manipulation in a dirty environment. Even if the screen gets dirty with some food rests it is easily removed just by wiping it with a humid piece of soft cloth.  
5.2 Output: Since the idea is to create an application for mobiles and tablets so it should have a graphical interface and design that makes it easy to visualize in smaller screens. There is going to be a text section and a picture section. Furthermore an option for leaving comments and ratings on the recipes shared by the other users.
5.3 Communication: We think the best way to make a popular app is to go global and therefore the first version of this app will have english as main language. It should be advertised using some major public platforms where the vegan community gathers and interact with each other, such as the official international vegan website (http://vegansociety.com/), social networks, specialized forums and YouTube.
In relation to the connectivity and bandwidth requirements, since this application is basically focused on sharing ideas with other people, a permanent internet connection is vital but it does not require a particularly fast bandwidth.  
5.4 Content: Vegan recipes and the rating and reviews from other users are the main content in this application. Another important information content are the pictures that the users post of their own culinary creations. Sharing is the very main goal of this application. Having a daily diet that completely abstains from meat and other animal products is a constant challenge and therefore exchanging good tips of nutritious and tasty vegan meals is a great tool for making life easier for vegans around the world.