Tuesday 1 September 2015

Thing 14: Augmented Reality - to be continued

This is a term I've heard only briefly, and usually either on my cert in computing science or in nerdy circles. I know the information profession is connected to evolving technology but this is far out of my normal realm of everyday librarianship. Most people in Ireland's everyday librarianship I'd wager. The most contact I've had with this concept is probably QR codes, which in my experience aren't what they're cracked up to be.




Needless to say, I was a bit sceptical starting this module as to how relevant or useful it could be to me and my job. The mere mention of downloading something 4D kind of made me giggle. I understand how apps such as field trip, or at least apps that exist around the same idea of providing additional information about what somebody is looking at, may be useful, but some of the apps such as Aurasma seem a bit frivolous on the outset. They are interesting developments in lenses etc but much like popart on your old Nokia they're fun but don't really add anything useful.




The Anatomy app could indeed be useful but I can barely update the apps I have at the moment, never mind download a new one. I will give it a go later though.




Testing out either or these apps, realistically, either involve the user setting up an account or me paying money. I'd be inclined to agree that Layar would be the better option for a real project but as it's only a tester I'd be more inclined to consider Aurasma. For a second I thought I'd seen the Summer Buzz bee in Maynooth library, but I thought it was just that; a picture of a bee.




>Update<


I later decided that if I want to do this for a purpose, i.e. for my fan blog, Layar would be better, but I'd have to set it up so it only runs for a month.
As I began to use the AR I also began to see what Niamh was talking about as regards it being a way of teaching young people digital literacy, a big part of our job. It could be something more fun or interesting I could use to promote library use in my own institution but obviously only for a short period. I will try it for my own mini fanblog project first and see how I get on.


I will update once I use it and also once I take a look at the librARi demo....



Update 2: 
Much like with Screencast, my lack of decent technology has limited my ability to try these things out. No matter hoe much I delete, my phone doesn't have enough room to download Anatomy 4D or Layar, meaning I can't truly try them out. Layer also doesn't seem to have a less than 6 months/extortionate charge option but the free one month plan seems cool enough if only I could actually get the app to see the results. Anybody want to take a look and tell me? https://www.layar.com/campaigns/W9DAXTR0F6


The demo for LibrARi is pretty cool with the related texts and latest additions in given topic. At first I thought it was for lazy people with the "your book is here" function though haha.



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