LS589 – Week 5 blog post: Layar and Within
This week we are learning more about virtual reality
(VR) and augmented reality (AR) programs and how they can be used by libraries
and educators. And I am hooked!
Can you believe I actually thought I could be
considered “tech-savvy” before this class? Boy, was I wrong! There’s so much
out there that I didn’t even KNOW was out there and each week I fall down a new
rabbit hole of information and slight obsession.
This week I am most intrigued about Layar, a website and
app that allows users to upload images of a greeting card, flyer, package or
any other item to instantly create a personalized AR experience with
interactive digital elements such as videos, music, social media links and
more. I just signed up for a free account in which I get one free basic page
but it appears that pricing is fairly reasonable.
The basic package is $3.50 per page and the page can
be live for 30 days and includes media and social buttons and video hosting.
The Pro package is $34 and offers the basic page with statistics and year-long
publishing. Both would be affordable for most libraries. I can see my public library
considering this for an annual appeal campaign where we offer something
interactive to donors to thank them, or as a way to appeal to younger donors. I
can even imagine it being used to supplement and enhance our printed annual report.
Another application mentioned in our readings this
week was VRSE Storytelling. As a former journalist, I was very excited to try
that out. To the Googler I went – only to find out that it is now With.in. Apparently, if
you have an awesome product, someone
else is going to want it and change it, as was the case with
the other tool mentioned this week, Word
Lens,
which is now Google
Translate. C’mon, people, keep up!
Within is a platform for information story-based VR
content. It is unique in that it supports all of the current major headsets
such as Oculus Rift
(as if a librarian could afford one, there’s cats and cardigans to be had!), Samsung Gear VR,
HTC Vive
(how much? I can buy all my friends a cardigan wardrobe for this price!), Sony
Playstation VR and Google Cardboard
(yeah, that’s more like it). And they’ve worked with U2 – what’s not to love?
In all seriousness, though, I cannot believe how much is out there and how much
continues to be improved upon. The Walking
New York tour featured in the New York Times is impressive!
It’s inspiring to see what libraries and educators can
do with these technologies with, of course, the proper training and support
from their leadership to pursue learning about and implementing these new
technologies.
My research into all this exciting VR and AR stuff led
me to this
article that warned of the importance of chasing shiny, new
things. While is sounds cool and fun now, the article focused on the 2016
Virtual Reality Industry Report, which shows that “the
VR industry is still six to eight years away from hypergrowth or a tipping
point in adoption of the medium.”
Also, it seems that developers are paying attention to
the cost of their efforts as it is expected that more than 50% of all VR
content is expected to cost $24 or less. That would make it more of a
possibility within the library and educational fields and expand its reach
outside the gaming industry.
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