Piers posted an op-ed piece a few weeks ago on AR and the surrounding hype, comparing it to Second Life. Pointed out in the discussion was that AR is in its infancy stage…where the applications are yet to take full advantage of the technology. I believe one poster referenced how the first retail Web sites were designed to look just like their brick n’ mortar spaces…and look how much that has changed.
Just so happened I was catching up on some reading over the weekend and read an interesting article in CommArt. The article, written by some dude who was obviously very much into AR, gave examples of interesting AR applications and how there is so much room for growth for the tech. It was pretty cool…but, I had one misgiving…
Will it make us less smart? I know technology has done wonders for us and is continually making life easier. But it seems more often than not, technology is freeing up time only to be spent back on technology. I reference the Subway Finder AR app that was discussed in the article. While it’s very cool to hold up your phone and see where the nearest subway is…any tourist traveling w a map should be able to do the same. And I get that the interactive app allows you to sync with train schedules and such…but again…to me, this is basic knowledge that an educated traveler would posses or at least attempt to find out before visiting a city.
Not looking to sound old and out of touch…but as Piers mentioned, is technology simply adding layers or interaction vs adding insight? big difference.
anyway, just my thoughts on a Friday as i’ve been up since 4am with a 10-week-old and my mind has been churning on this. any thoughts are good thoughts…would love to hear yours.