Matjaž Kljun

Dual Camera Magic Lens for Handheld AR Sketching

One challenge of supporting in-situ sketching tasks with Magic Lenses on handheld Augmented Reality systems is to provide accurate and robust pose tracking without disrupting the sketching experience. Typical tracking approaches rely on the back-facing camera both for tracking and providing the view of the physical scene. This typically requires a fiducial to be in the scene which can disrupt the sketching experience on a blank sheet of paper. We address this challenge by proposing a Dual Camera Magic Lens approach. Specifically, we use the front facing camera for tracking while the back camera concurrently provides the view of the scene. Preliminary evaluation on a virtual tracing task with an off-the-shelf handheld device suggests that the Dual Camera Magic Lens approach has the potential to be both faster and lead to a higher perceived satisfaction compared to Magic Lens and Static Peephole interfaces.

Playing with the Artworks: Engaging with Art through an Augmented Reality Game

In the majority of cases our experiences of artworks in galleries and museums is as passive observers. While this is widely accepted practice in terms artwork preservation it limits the engagement potential with younger visitors. In this paper, we present the results of a focus group with nine K-6 children revealing their opinions about (i) art, (ii) museums and galleries, and (iii) standard engagement practices in these venues. Participants stressed the importance of art and museums, showed a high respect for artworks and artists, depicted interactive activities they liked at museums, and described how they would liven up art venues. In addition, we explored a way of using augmented reality (AR) technology to create an engaging and personal art experience for a young audience. To achieve this, we built a prototype for a treasure hunt style game where participants coloured a contour drawing not knowing what exactly they are colouring. However, they were told that if this coloured drawing is placed correctly, it should wrap around a 3D object (statue) or overlay a 2D canvas (picture) somewhere in the gallery.

Using a Mobile Phone as a 2D Virtual Tracing Tool: Static Peephole vs. Magic Lens

Traditional sketching aids rely on the physical production of templates or stencils which is particularly problematic in the case of larger formats. One possible solution is 2D virtual tracing using a virtual template to create a physical sketch. This paper evaluates a mobile phone as a 2D virtual tracing tool by comparing three tracing methods: (i) a traditional tracing method with a printed template, (ii) a virtual tracing method Static Peephole (SP) in which the virtual template is manually adjusted to a physical contour by drag and pinch gestures, and (iii) a virtual tracing method augmented reality Magic Lens (ML) in which template is projected on the physical object such as paper hence navigation is possible through physical movement of the mobile device. The results show that it is possible to use mobile phones for virtual tracing, however, ML only achieved comparable performance to SP mode and traditional methods continued to be quicker and preferred by users.

LMS in the pre-school education program

Traditional learning environments are today placed face to face with information and communication technologies (ICT) which gradually ambush visible place in education. For this reason it is important for both students and tutors to be capable to use new methods of supplying and receiving the knowledge. One of possible methods are online learning management systems (LMS) which incorporate principles of social constructionism which is based on the idea that we all better acquire new knowledge within a social process when communicating facts to others and base new knowledge on already known facts. We introduced such online learning environment to a first year students at the Faculty of Education with no previous knowledge or little knowledge of ICT usage. We tried to find out how much time a future preschool teachers need to gain satisfying level of digital literacy and competences for learning and teaching skills with information and educational technology (IET)

User Engagement Continuum: Art Engagement and Exploration with Augmented Reality

The most common way to consume art is through observation and acknowledgement of its existence. From the viewpoint of preserving art and cultural heritage, such passive consumption seems adequate. From the viewpoint of preserving art and cultural heritage, such passive consumption seems adequate. Yet, passive consumptions hinders users’ potential for exploration, creation and expression by not allowing to build upon existing artworks. Novel technologies could change this and augmented reality (AR) is one of the most promising by offering the possibility of mixing physical artworks with digitally augmented users’ creations and/or curation of personalised exhibitions. However, novel technologies could change this and augmented reality (AR) is one of the most promising by offering the possibility of mixing physical artworks with digitally augmented users’ creations and/or curation of personalised exhibitions. In a similar way that web enabled users to become active participants in, for example, commenting, sharing views, rating and deciding on the course of television shows in real time, AR could act as a medium to leave digital augmentation of artworks in real physical spaces. In this chapter, several AR ideas and solutions are presented with a common theme: each allows users to engage with art or cultural heritage in different ways. The chapter finishes with a presentation of user engagement continuum based on how AR solutions support engagement with artwork consumption and creation, and concludes with implications such AR solution would present.

ART for Art: Augmented Reality Taxonomy for Art and Cultural Heritage

Existing augmented reality (AR) taxonomies act as generic classifiers of AR systems and do not provide any insights into technology adoption for a given use context. For this reason, this chapter proposes an alternative activity-based taxonomy method that is designed for technology adopters and aims to highlight how well are opportunities created by advances in technology really utilized in a specific context. The proposed method is evaluated on the case study of AR technology adoption in the context of art and cultural heritage. In this process, we build an AR taxonomy for art and cultural heritage which was used to classify 86 AR applications in this domain. The results of classification provided meaningful technology adoption insights, such as: (i) general lack of support for personalization and communication activities of visiting a museum where applications fail to exploit AR potential such as providing support for: context aware bookmarking, artistic expression of the visitor (e.g. enabling visitors to curate augmentations for the exhibited artefacts), sharing the visit experience of “I was here”; (ii) low quality of support for analytical activity where applications fail to show interesting information such as information that is there but cannot be seen by the naked eye; (iii) low quality of support for sensual activity where provided augmentations fall short of extending the art form or the artistic experience.

Collaborative Annotation Sharing in Physical and Digital Worlds

Despite the existence of a plethora of annotating software for digital documents, many users still prefer reading and annotating them physically on paper. While others have proposed the idea of merging these two worlds, none of them fits all the design requirements identified in this paper (working in real-time, use readily available hardware, augment physical annotations with digital content, support annotation sharing and collaborative learning). In this paper we present the implemented prototype and a focus group study aimed at understanding studying habits and how the system would fit in these. The focus group revealed that paper material is often discarded or archived and annotations lost, web resources are not saved and fade with time, and that the prototype proposed fits in their studying habits and does not introduce any privacy concerns – be it ones related to the prototype’s camera (used in public setting) or ones related to annotations sharing.

“Break the Ice”: The Use of Technology to Initiate Communication in Public Spaces

The use of mobile technologies in public spaces often serves to disconnect users from their surroundings and alienate them from current social setting. However, digital interactions are often seen as the most appropriate method for communicating with strangers because they can be impersonal and free people from the fear of face-to-face rejection and social judgment that is based on first appearance and impression. This paper aims to explore if the perceived sense of security when using internet and mobile technologies for communication could also be established in a public setting of a cafeteria and benefit individuals when they are lonely in a public space. For this purpose, we built a technology probe that facilitates digital interactions (e.g. games, instant messaging, collaborative sketching, etc.) between collocated individuals in a public settings of a cafeteria by placing tablet computers on all tables. Our exploratory study shows that people could benefit from such a system as it is likely to alter their common behaviour—a result of a new possibility of initiating communication without the fear of jeopardizing their integrity.

“I Agree”: The Effects of Embedding Terms of Service Key Points in Online User Registration Form

Terms of service (ToS) are becoming an ubiquitous part of online account creation. There is a general understanding that users rarely read them and do not particularly care about binding themselves into legally enforceable contracts with online service providers. Some services are trying to change this trend with presenting ToS section as key points on a ToS dedicated page. However, little is known how would such presentation of key points affect the continuation of user registration at the time of account creation. This paper provides an exploratory study in this area. We have offered users to participate in a draft for a prize in exchange for their names and email addresses. For this purpose we have created three registration forms: a standard form with ToS hiding behind a hyperlink and two with ToS key points presented at the time of account creation with different engagement requirements. Initial results suggest that ToS key points presented just as a list at the time of account creation is no more engaging than a form with ToS hidden behind a link. More text even made several users to complete the registration quicker than the users with the standard form. Moreover, different designs of the ToS key points list requiring different user engagement affect the interaction and reading of ToS key points, but the actual time spent on ToS is very low.

“I Was Here”: Enabling Tourists to Leave Digital Graffiti or Marks on Historic Landmarks

Since ancient times travellers and tourists were carving or writing their names and messages on historic landmarks. This behaviour has prevailed to this day as tourists try to leave their marks at places they visit. Such behaviour, today often seen as vandalism, is particularly problematic since the society tries to preserve historic landmarks while graffiti often leave indelible markings. One solution to this problem is to allow tourists to write digital graffiti projected on historic landmarks and other public surfaces as an additional tourist offer. Projecting digital information on walls does not leave permanent marks while still allows authors to “physically” mark the place they visited. In this paper we frame our vision and highlight the approach we plan to pursue within the context of this topic.