Week 5: Augmented

Word: Augmented.

You hear Augmented. You think ugly thoughts. ... don't you?

Images of the body, manifested and mutated, instantly come into the mind. Twisted beings and flashes of Joan Rivers scratch into the roots of your brain. Somehow this word has been completely monopolised by the macabre. That fleeting sense of horror. Smouldering flesh and frankly, just distasteful stuff really... you know, that sort of thing.

Hopefully though, I digress, this image can be changed to reflect a new angle toward the augmentation of our world. Specifically, what media can do to change our reality.

What struck most about the readings this week was the vast array of practical applications that you can use with Augmented realities. In particular, the article "7 Ways Augmented Reality will Improve Your life" showed the newest IKEA catalogue sporting the new 'quick-model' app that allows readers  to simply scan the image on the page and have an instant moving model opaquely appear upon the phones! Not only amazing! but also wonderfully useful for any person struggling to win the battle of 'of honey, but I'm not sure if it would actually fit.."

Ofcourse, not everyone I think seems to have this inescapably ecstatic mood toward this new technology as I do. Privacy, omission and experience of the 'the real' versus 'reality' generate hot debate among many when it comes to the technologies of IKEAS quick-models, patient environments and google glass. Can an augmented reality create a fake reality? Can it innately hinder the human experience rather than enhance? Should we be allowing a device that has the potential to be used for both bad and good be available so freely to all?

All of these questions hold validity. Especially when we refer to things such as google glass. But frankly, perhaps a little blind faith may not go ascue. In the case of google glass, a history lesson might be a good reflection of a cyclical pattern. The introduction of CCTV generated much same same debates such as privacy and validity, but the test of time has showed that the benefits far outweighed the liabilities. Though in all fairness, this still is debated. (see below: BBC Morning's 2010)

The questions remains for me to be however, nothing ethical, but shallowly commercial. What else can we do with it? Frankly, the opportunities for design, industry and advertising are so vast, it's nearly stepping us into a new realm. A renaissance almost, of the technological era.