Digital Humanities – Spring 2018

Creating an Aura for the Physician

For this assignment, I created an augmented reality text using Aurasma Studio. A definition for augmented reality that I found that I liked was, “Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time.” For this project the goal was that when scanned by a smart phone, for me my iPhone, my picture of the physician would then expose digital material that I chose, and the material would then link you to a website that I chose about physician’s during medieval times as well.

First, I went on Aurasma. Then, I clicked the “Assets” button at the top on the page in the center. That brought me to this page below, and then I clicked on The Physician picture. When you click the picture, a purple button will pop up in the top right corner of the screen that says “Create New Aura”, and I clicked on that as well. Then, it’ll bring you to the page that I have placed next to the first image, and I clicked “Click to Select Existing” since the picture is already on the website, and selected the physician.

Then, I clicked the “Next” button in the top right corner, and my screen looked like what I’ve inserted below. I then clicked the “Click to Select Existing” option, since I browsed the internet and found a picture of a medieval doctor that I liked. Then, that image (my “trigger image”) was projected onto the original image, and I had options to the right to pick how the image would appear. Then, I clicked the “add actions” button in the square all the way to the right ,and inserted a URL I found to be interesting. Then, I clicked next in the top right corner as I had Previously.

Lastly, I downloaded the app “HP Reveal”, and when I put my camera on the actual physical picture of the physician, the trigger picture popped up. Then, I was able to visit the website I had connected to the Image. I believe that this technology would be very interesting to use in the real world. Imagine being able to go up to something and by just hovering over the object with your phone, it could re direct you to a link all about that topic? We would have so much knowledge right at our fingertips, and would have to put in virtually no effort to obtain it. Though using technology in the classroom can cause distraction, I believe that a few units where something like this would be used would be very beneficial because it would keep the students engaged, and intrigued.

-Megan Bender

Pokemon Go and AR experience

I have to admit, I played Pokemon Go pretty excessively a while ago when the game first came out. I remember getting kicked out of a lot of areas while playing with my friends because we would wander around private properties during absurd hours of the night. Thankfully, the obsession only lasted a few weeks over the summer which was fun while it lasted. Getting back into the game was interesting because I had no idea (nor really was interested) in the AR feature. To my surprise, it made the game a little more enjoyable (even though the AR probably uses more battery).

That’s my character. WishesGranted was the name I chose because my friends would always use my name as a pun for what you could probably already guess.

I found a couple in my house but in order for the AR to work, I had to be in a relatively open space with a decent amount of square footage, so the only place I could catch them was in my kitchen. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the pics of me seeing the pokemon in AR because the pictures are over 4mb in size. I do however have some screenshots of what I caught.

Although the game is fun to play, I don’t think using augmented reality in this scenario is entirely educational (not that it was intended to be).

I think the benefits that can be taken away from augmented reality are the following: it can provide a more engaging learning experience and, if used effectively, can give a cooperative and interesting work environment. The first point can explain itself for the most part, but what I want to focus on is the justification for my second point. An example that I can think of is a group of architects that are designing a building in the exact spot of land that they plan to but it in. With some sort of AR building simulator, they can construct whatever they want and see how it looks in its surrounding environment before it is built in reality.

The one major downside to AR could be its distracting and fabrication capabilities. This can obviously bring a negative influence on the human senses whether it makes one unproductive or even not aware of what’s real and what isn’t (if the AR managed to evolve into something so incredibly realistic).

-Grant Boyd

The Secret Agent – Voyant Tools

The book I chose to use for this assignment was “The Secret Agent” by Joseph Conrad. During the prediction phase of this assignment, I came up with a summary of what I believed the story was going to be about. At the end of my summary, I included a list of words that I predicted would be seen throughout the story. I handwrote the summary; it went as follows: I believe that my story will be about a man who is working as an undercover agent; however, his wife and children do not know that he is leading this double life. He is living a normal life with a normal job; in an office or a furniture shop. Towards the end of the story, the agent is faced with a decision that will change his life. Someone in his family is a prime suspect and he will have to choose between following the lead in order to close the case or he will have to find a way to let them get off with no issues. We will see what happens!

Possible Words: spy, undercover, confused, family, liar, sleep, night, friend, coffee, double life, missing, time, hiding, trusted, boss, followed, son, children, followed, boss, mission, discovered, man, open, door, and view.”

During my time using Voyant tools I came to a realization that I didn’t exactly have all the right answers when it came to the plot of the story. The story had more to it and was much deeper than I initially configured; it is much more complex. I enjoyed using the Voyant tools website because I found it to be an interesting, as well as engaging device. In a classroom setting, I feel that I could use this as an activity for my students at the beginning of reading of a novel. I’m interested to see what else this “digital humanities” class will bring, directly adding to my teaching pedagogy.

The Squire’s Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is an artificial reality that uses the existing environment around itself and overlays new information upon of it. For this assignment, I use Aurasma Studio to create an “aura” or augmented reality by using the character of the Squire from “The Canterbury Tales.” Under “assets” there was a picture of the Squire.

To create an aura for the picture click on the top right corner where it says, “+Create New Aura”, continue by clicking “Next”, and finally click the gray button that says “Click to Upload Overlay”. At this point you can upload a picture or video that will overlay the stock photo you choose previously.

Once you have chosen your overlay, you can “add actions” on the overlay and be able to add a link to maybe another image, video, or website

Once here, you can add the action and choose whether you want the action to appear when the overlay it tapped, or double tapped, or even after the overlay finishes appearing. There are a couple actions to play around with. After completing your overlay and actions, click next and in the following screen you can save the aura, preview it, and even share it.

For my overlay I chose the picture of the Squire and for my action I had a website that is about squires, which, explains in details what is a squire as well as what they did in the Medieval Era. To be able to see the aura you created, you have to download an app called “HP Reveal” its a free app and allows you to play with your creation. All you have to do is aim your phone camera at the trigger image and the app does the rest.

on the left is a screenshot I took with my phone of what happens when the HP Reveal app sees the trigger image and the on right is after you have clicked on the image that popped up.

(Squire Link)

I find this be a great teaching tool because education is becoming more and more geared towards using technology like computer, iPads, iPhones, and any other smart devices. The use of augmented reality could help spark interest and teach students at the same time. Educators need to find new ways to be able to have students comprehend as well as interact with the material and information that is needed for a general education and augmented reality may be a solution.

-JP Ospina

Creating an Aura for the Shipman

I believe this project is the answer to the question: how can teachers make “The Canterbury Tales” more exciting to students? And I agree, wholeheartedly. Attaching an aura to a character in a story could motivate students by having a familiar technological tool (iPhone) intertwined with their studies of ancient texts (the Tales). In order to create an aura for the Shipman character from “The Canterbury Tales,” I used the Aurasma Studio website. Once on the site, under the assets tab, I found the image of the Shipman.

The Shipman asset (Image via Aurasma Studio)

From there, I clicked “Create New Aura,” “Next,” then “Click to upload overlay.”

The “Click to upload overlay” button can be seen in the box with the large + icon (Image via Aurasma Studio)

Inside the overlay, I uploaded the image of the medieval boats (the picture that opened with the blog post) from my computer. I chose that image to be the link between the Shipman and an informational website because I though it represented the character and the information on medieval times well. After uploading the image, I selected “Add Actions.”

“Add Actions” brought me to this screen (Image via Aurasma Studio)

This screen allowed me to control how my image would be presented under VR and how my connected link would surface for viewers. The website I ended up attaching to the image is a WordPress blog about medieval pilgrimage, with an article focusing on the realities Shipman faced during the time period. After this step, I clicked “next” and this screen showed me one of my final products.

My Aura was now attached to the image and the Shipman (Image via Aurasma Studio)

By taking my phone out and logging into the HP Reveal app, I was able to see my aura come to life and the image popped up immediately, fading into the linked WordPress blog on medieval shipmen. It was exciting to see that, when done correctly, this aura not only worked on my computer but also on paper. The leap from technology being online to the physical reality of my sheet of paper was amazing, and I realized quickly, the augmented reality we’ve been discussing in class.

These tools, if utilized in classrooms, could (by bringing in the familiar element of iPhones and augmented reality to younger students who are growing up in the digital age) essentially ignite a new found interest in the canon texts they are “forced” to read in school. Instead of yawning over a Shakespeare play, students could be understanding it using augmented reality tools and engaging with the text – maybe even having some fun, while they’re at it.

-Sarah DeLena

Creating an Augmented Reality Text

image of a young man in medieval clothing

For this assignment, you will be creating an augmented reality (AR) text using Aurasma Studio. An augmented reality text is a physical text that when scanned by a smart device such as an iphone or ipad, produces some digital material that is overlaid on that physical text.

You can read the full assignment by following the link below:

Creating an Augmented Reality Text Using Aurasma