In this augmented reality process, I began just like everybody else. I was assigned the Franklin from the Canterbury Tales. I went to Aurasma Studio, logged into the Cortland account, and went to the Franklin in “My Assets”. After selecting an image to overlay on top of the pre-uploaded format, I opted to “+ Create New Aura”, and overlaid my image on top of the green border already available in the assets.
After applying my overlay media, I chose to add an action. While doing a little research on the Franklin, I found an education friendly and informative video about a Franklin’s social position in 14th century medieval England, which supported its argument through description and language from the Canterbury Tales. When the augment is accessed, the photo media and video should be easily accessed, and after downloading the HP Reveal app I found this to be true and the my creation of an Augmented reality was successful.
This process was not only very simple, but also very practical when considering not only the accessible nature of technology in our society, but also the amount of information available on this technology that has become so accessible. This augmented reality program could be so helpful in a classroom setting. For example, if a student were to read the Canterbury Tales in a classroom that has an augmented reality program in place and provided its students with the platforms to access such programs, the students not only could instantly visualize the characters they may not immediately recognize through description or language. Going even further, these students would be able to access additional information about such characters and their place in the social setting that the story/literary work depicts.
Beyond literature, these techniques could be used in a historical context. If textbooks become AR friendly, students could take out their phones and instantly learn about individual historical figures in relation to the sociohistorical period being learned. For example, one could learn about the effects of polio when learning about FDR, or could possibly access an augmented reality map that literally maps out the Union states and the Confederate states if learning about the Civil War era.
Even from an industrial standpoint, a construction company could use AR to visualize future structures in a certain area, like how Pokemon Go projects animated monsters onto a camera view of the world around us. This would help project managers see problems/obstacles before they happened, while also allowing for certain logistics to be addressed, such as spacial relations with operating equipment and surrounding structures.
As we are becoming increasingly technologically oriented as a society, it is interesting to see how we can use these technological advancements to advance our own education and understanding of the world. The study of these tools are honestly very helpful, and perhaps an increase in the number of classes available like “Introduction to Digital Humanities” could lead to a better intellectual contribution of technology, as well as more successful industrial advancements.
-Peter McKasty