Response: Augmented Reality

Augmented reality can be used to provide services in many ways, as we’ve seen in class this week. From fixing cars, to training military, police, or firefighters– augmented reality should prove to be incredibly useful as we move into the future. Perhaps one day doctors will use AR during surgeries. I can also see a future where 15 year olds take Drivers Ed through AR technologies.

Through class, I’ve realized that AR is different from VR in that it provides insight on actual reality. Virtual reality takes users and players into simulated worlds. AR works off the basis off the real world. This makes it much more helpful and useful to society. Whereas VR is seen more as a gaming platform, AR could be used for the public good. Despite reading the articles online, it took real-life examples for me to realize that there is a difference between the two technologies. Although they are obviously related (I guess AR grew out of VR?), AR has taken virtual reality and applied it to everyday life.

Its strange to think about, but we are moving into a society that will one day be dominated by technologies such as these. And that’s a little scary. Designers will one day have to incorporate these technologies into the media they create. We aren’t that far off from it, either. It could be as soon as a few decades away, which means that in my lifetime, and certainly in my children’s, the world will look like a very different place. I wonder if some of the mystery of life will be taken away if we have a constant stream of information superimposed on reality? Car windshields, buffet lines, and classrooms will all have digital text and information displayed to provide people with as much information as possible about what they are looking at.

I can’t say exactly how we will incorporate AR into the future of design, but I know that it will be done. I think the most important thing is for us to remain open to the changes– since we really don’t have a choice. Its somewhat intimidating and most definitely life altering, but technologies like AR are only destined to grow and further develop as we learn more about how to use them and incorporate them into our ever day life.