How do we know what is real? Augmented reality

When people think of augmented reality they think of the future – possibilities that are beyond our current technological abilities.  When I first watched the Star Wars movies long ago, talking to each other via hologram seemed only possible in the Empire.  This, in a technical sense, allowed two people to communicate in different spatio-temporal areas; allowing people to communicate and exist in both space and time.  The idea of communicating through a hologram always seemed a distant idea only possible in the cinema; however this all changed in 2008 when American news program CNN did the first TV interview via hologram during Obama’s Presidential election with celebrity Will I Am.  See the video here.  Watching the video, I still find it amazing that this type of interview process is becoming a possible option in the media.

The concept of augmented reality is also coming to the fore, as Chris Grayson describes, for economic purposes in the retail industry.  Ray-ban has a virtual mirror on its website that allows you to try on virtual glasses and similarly Holiten with jewellery and glasses.  There are other augmented reality technologies designed for the retail sector that will soon be a possibility in Australia; one example is the Intellefit Body Scanner.  The Intellefit body scanner allows customers to step inside a chamber where radio waves scan the person’s fully clothes body in 10 seconds with the scanner collecting more than 200,000 body measurements.  A video of this can be seen here.

Since the emerging possibility of augmented reality we are now seeing a convergence with mobile and mobile with eye wear.  There are apps on an iPhone such as the digital compass which makes itself aware of its longitude and latitude coordinates.  At the end of this year we will also see another futuristic device, similar to that only previously possible in The Terminator movies.  Google is set to release augmented reality glasses that will run on the Android platform.  These glasses will contain a low resolution camera that will look at what the wearer is seeing and overlay it with information about surrounding buildings and friends.  Other features include; 3G or 4G data connection, sensors and GPS. An article on this can be read here.

Augmented reality technologies have developed at a fast pace and are slowly becoming integrated into everyday life.  Mychilo S. Cline worries about this stating; the more time in virtual space, there will be a gradual migration to virtual space, resulting in important changes in economics, world view and culture.

Sources used for this blog post:

Anon. (n.d.) ‘Virtual Reality’, Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality> (one of the better entries)

Grayson, Chris (2009) ‘Augmented Reality Overview’, GigantiCo <http://gigantico.squarespace.com/336554365346/2009/6/23/augmented-reality-overview.html>

Ionescu, Daniel (2012), PC World, http://www.pcworld.com/article/250453/google_augmented_reality_glasses_expected_by_years_end.html

A Current Affair (2010), http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=7947796

Extended mind

Members of generation Y have grown up in a technology paradigm; the development of technologies such as the internet has impacted greatly upon our lives.  This has resulted in reliance upon convergent forms of media such as smart phones, tablets and laptops holding crucial parts of our lives that we would feel “lost” without.  When the concept of “active externalism” was presented in this week’s readings, it resonated deeply with me and the current paradigm I am in; where objects in environment function as a part of the mind. 

This theory, as presented in an essay by Andy Clark and David Chalmers, states that the mind and the environment act as a “coupled system” whereby the mind can extend into the external world.  This means that certain elements of the external environment, such as technologies, contain cognitive memory and therefore a part of our knowledge. 

The concept of active externalism relates on a personal level and after discovering this concept, I have realised that certain technologies have become a part of my cognitive processes.  The smart phone has become ubiquitous in society and entered my life four years ago with the iPhone 3.  At a basic level a phone contains phone numbers and messages; with my smart phone now it contains my photos, emails, calendar, reminders, alarms, social media, maps and my number one go-to guide, Google.  My smart phone is only one example but is a convergent media form, environmental aid and mnemonic technology.  If I lost my phone, in effect, I would be losing a part of my knowledge and my mind.  I have delegated techniques my mind performs and subconsciously extended them into the external world and into technologies; I have coupled my convergent technologies and my mind, my smart phone has part of my cognitive processes embodied in it.

As Bernard Stiegler puts it, the better the vehicle, the less we know how to drive – I am now slightly worried that the smarter the technologies become and develop, the more obsolete human skill and the performance of my mind will become.

Sources used in this blog post:

Stiegler, Bernard (n.d.) ‘Anamnesis and Hypomnesis: Plato as the first thinker of the proletarianisation’ <http://arsindustrialis.org/anamnesis-and-hypomnesis>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Mind>

Chalmers, David (2009) ‘The Extended Mind Revisited [1/5], at Hong Kong, 2009’, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S149IVHhmc>

Media Ecologies - mapped out

The term "Media Ecologies" was first defined by theorist Neil Postman with the help of Marshall McLuhan.  The term describes information flows and relationships as well as how technology impacts on society.  The term is quite complex and some what ambiguous and at first, quite difficult to comprehend.  To try and decipher Media Ecologies, I created a detailed mind map linking all the meanings and examples together:

Media ecologies mind map - click for larger image

The mind map helped me to understand the complex and ambiguous nature of the term Media Ecologies with contemporary and relevant examples which relate back to the ARTS3091 course.