Guest Comment: I’ve seen the future – and it’s augmented
- Added:
- Dec 19, 2008
As social networks and virtual worlds grow in popularity, the lines between our ‘digital’ and ‘real’ lives are becoming increasingly blurred. Steve Richards, Managing Director at Yomego, explores how this ‘augmented reality’ will affect our lives as technology evolves...
In 2009, it will be ten years since that groundbreaking slice of futuristic virtual reality science fiction, “The Matrix”, was launched on an expectant world. A decade on, and science fact is rapidly catching up through a growing phenomenon called augmented reality.
Scanning the technology horizon, the point at which the real world and the virtual world begin to merge into one another is approaching more quickly than we probably imagine.
We’re seeing the launch of new games for leading consoles that allow you to view yourself in real time on your television screen, whilst interacting with a virtually generated pet, dropped into that real world view.
Similar applications are being created for mobile devices equipped with a video camera and viewing screen. Some are beginning to offer the opportunity to overlay an internet of information over the real world.
In Japan particularly, an increasing proliferation of so-called “quick response codes”, attached to a whole host of everyday objects, gives users of mobile phones or other handheld devices with image capture and internet capability instant access to a wealth of useful information about these objects via the world wide web.
Taken individually, no one of these applications suggests we’re about to jump down a Matrix-style virtual reality rabbit hole just yet. But thread them together, and the opportunities are mind-blowing.
As entertainment and sources of consumer information, in the first instance, these new technologies will allow people to get more fun and utility out of everyday pastimes such as car journeys and shopping. But, as is often the case with new technologies, where entertainment and the consumer lead, industry and others won’t be far behind.
The military now makes regular use of computer gaming technology to prepare soldiers for combat. Elsewhere, the use of robotics and instant messaging is starting to enable surgeons and medical consultants to perform complex operations remotely, thousands of miles away from their patient.
It can only be a matter of time before continuing innovation turns augmented reality into the brave new frontier of technology. Instead of accessing the augmented world through the lens of your handheld device, imagine putting on your quick response coded I-shades and touching or pointing to anything in your immediate environment to activate the relevant web-link that tells you all you ever needed to know.
Watching The Matrix again, a decade after its original release, the film’s vision of the future remains in equal parts disturbing and exhilarating.
The question now is how soon, and not when or if, like Neo, will we swallow the red pill, unlock the augmented reality mainframe, and enter Wonderland.
By Steve Richards
Managing Director
Yomego
Yomego is a social media agency, based in Glasgow, which builds communities around virtual worlds, user generated content and social networks. Its clients include MTV, Ladbrokes, History & Heraldry, CSC Media and Dennis Publishing.
