Tom Purves: Designing for An Augmented Reality World

What is Augmented Reality?

It’s really an old idea Think “Terminator vision”

Once thought to require silly hats Call this “head’s up” augmented reality.

But, for now, this will do fine

Bringing down all the resources of the internet out of cyberspace and into ubiquitous reality Flickr: c@rljones Mobile phones are like the billion roofing nails that tie the cloud down to earth.

Just like ordinary reality Flickr: wvs

Only more so Flickr: wvs

Why is this important

Augmented reality finishes what the internet started

Internet 1.0 (1995-1999) was all about the great disruptive promise of the “cyberspace” and “online shopping” Internet 2.0 (2005-2009) was the 10 years it took to really figure out what to do with it: USG, rich web apps, social media Augmented Reality (2008…) is where mobile technology and wireless broadband make the internet finaly ubiquitous. And inescapable.

By this measure you could say there are many “augmented reality” apps already The other day, my dad googled a small duck. This augmented his reality. Call this “head’s down” AR

Broadly, what are the effects of Augmented Reality?

Increased transparency

Reduced privacy

Timely access to information

Constant access to entertainment

Marketers can’t keep using the same old tricks

In theory, anyone can easily know everything there is to know anything or anyone anywhere they are.

Design implications

Assume connectivity is always on

Except when there are glitches

Except for caching, storing anything locally is dumb

The cloud is the computer

Flickr: Jamais Cascio But back to terminator vision

Senkai Camera Cool app. Maybe this will be the “apple newton” of pure AR

Kweekies 3D game projected into realspace through your phone screen

Terminator Vision +

+ Ordinary Reality

= Augmented Reality

Shopsavvy

“ Amazon declares war on retailers” Shop savvy, Amazon mobile app etc: these are a Retailers worst nightmare

Idee Inc., image recognition search on an iPhone

Social Augmented reality

Social Augmented Reality

The knowledge of joining a crowd and knowing:

Who do I know here?

Where do I know them from?

Who should I get to know?

Who here is single?

Are there any naked pictures of them on the internet?

There will be many layers of reality Not everyone wants to live in the Youtube comment section of reality

Marketing gimmicks

Choose your context, choose your data sets

Good realities / Bad realities Who are we to judge?

Marshal McLuhan

Mobile phone

Enhances: Voice, conversation

Retrieves: Spoken word, direct conversation

Reverses: Video, picture, text messaging, Augmented reality

Obsolesces: Public payphones, wrist watches, land lines, leaving notes, advance planning

Mobile + Augmented Reality

Enhances: Awareness, tacit knowledge, wisdom

Retrieves: Written word, gestures, lore, gossip

Reverses: “batman vision”

Obsolesces: Desktop web, Newspapers, ipods, departments stores, guidebooks, paper maps, paperbacks, magazines, local storage, phone numbers, MSWindows

What is still holding us back? Mobile Processing power Some of these apps running <10fps Screen size Are small relative to the world Human limitations: eyesight, thumb width Serious interaction problem for many demographics GPS locating speed Waiting…. Waiting… ah fuck it Network bandwidth/latency 400ms pings are not so responsive Tools/APIs Just emerging Battery Power This stuff devours batteries Installed base Smartphones not ubiquitous yet Fragmented mobile platforms Going to be with us a while M-commerce & monetization Buying real stuff is hard

What is getting better? Mobile Processing power Moore’s inexorable law Screen size Tablets, new tech foldable/rollable? Human limitations: eyesight, thumb width Better touch interfaces, natural gestures GPS locating speed AGPS, other cues e.g. wifi Network bandwidth/latency 4G/LTE brings better speed/latency Tools/APIs Will come Battery Power Moore’s law brings efficiencies Installed base >50% by 2012 Fragmented mobile platforms Ultimately the browser may displace native apps M-commerce & monetization We’re working on it

Near Future Tipping points

iPhone 3.0 expected capabilities:

Faster processor (the current one is unchanged from 2007)

Video capabilities

Where the iPhone goes the interactive design geeks follow

Androids everywhere

More mobile brands launching android soon

Waiting for the deluge of Chinese off-brand

Future blackberries (go Canada)

May bring corporate/enterprise killer apps

Who really becomes empowered?

Who also becomes empowered?

Who benefits from augmented reality? Brands Consumers State Control Opposition Police Criminals Developed world Developing world The center The edges Extroverts Introverts The old The young E-government E-anarchy

As a designer, you can choose sides If you are a mobile designer, there’s no shortage of paying work ahead

When augmented reality fails (PROTIP #71: Don’t drop Augmented reality)

The more sophisticated a technology, the more fragile it can be