Rudai 23. Thing 17: Reflective Practive

For this task I have decided re-write one of the previous tasks and implement the Gibbs model of reflective practice.  I have chosen 'Thing 14: Augmented Reality'.

Thing 14 was my first attempt at creating something using Augmented Reality, when to module came up I wasn't really sure what to expect as I'd never heard of Augmented Reality, it sounded kind of complicated.  After reading the Rudai blog post I felt a lot more comfortable about trying to create something using AR.  I realised it was something I had tried in the past but didn't know it was called 'Augmented Reality'.  There was a free fashion magazine around London a couple of years ago, I don't remember the name of it... you could scan the cat walk pictures and they'd come to life (providing you had the magazines app).  Also Rudai gave a great example to get me started, Anatomy 4D.  

Having learnt exactly what AR is and viewed some examples I was pretty confident I'd find it easy to create something myself.  The concept isn't to dissimilar to a technique which I currently use, QR codes.  I have displayed QR codes in relevant sections of the library.  If a student can't find a book they can scan the QR code using their phone or tablet and will be taken directly to the LRC website which contains the online resources which they may find useful.

I have decided to make a poem come to life using AR, for this I used Aurasma.  On Youtube I have noticed there are some poems and short stories that have been animated, I thought it'd be a great idea if you scanned the poem or a image and it came to life in the form of an animation.  The poem I have chosen is Bluebird by Charles Bukowski.  My original plan had been to use the poems text as the 'trigger image', but after much thought I decided it would be better to use a still from the animation itself, this would give the viewer an idea of the animations style.  I uploaded the image to Aurasma but was meet with a message warning me the image was not clear enough so would not scan well.  To combat this I created the image below which contains clear black lines which scan easily.

Trigger Image

 

 My attempt in action

You can view the video I used here.

I was happy with the results of my first attempt a AR, it was cool seeing it all come together.  Here I feel I have learnt valuable skills that I can use in the future.  Something like this could be displayed on walls around the library to promote a 'poem of the week'.  Students could scan then watch/listen (using headphones of coarse!).  I had a lot of fun during this task and the skilsl I have gained could be used outside of work also.  One problem with AR is the viewer will have to sign up to Aurasma (or another provider) to get involved.  In hindsight I should have tested this out on student and gathered opinions, what they thought of it? Had they seen AR in action before? Would they take the time to sign up?

If I were to do this task again I create a 'Poetry Corner' in the library, here I would place a booklet contain multiple trigger images, an iPad with Aurasma downloaded on it (and signed in to my account) and a comfortable chair.  Students could chose a poem, scan it and watch/listen. 

I feel AR and QR are both really great tools.  In the future I can imagine tablets will be more affordable and even more widely used than there are now, they will also all come with standard software for using AR without having to sign up.  When that happens I fell AR will be something that is used more frequently in libraries.