Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality or Virtual Insanity?

Nigel Young
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

So unless you’re living under a rock (though technically thanks to the eclipse this week a large part of the world was reminded that we’re living under lots of them) you’re aware of both VR and AR. Although that in itself is a huge assumption as the vast majority of people I speak with don’t really know the difference between the two and assume that VR/AR is an appropriate expression to cover the two!

Let’s start with defining VR and AR in lay-person terms. Virtual Reality was the earlier of the terms and is probably the easiest for us to conceive. Those of us who saw The Lawnmower Man back 25 years ago (yes really) or the Matrix or Tron or that one with JLo… well, you get the picture, VR is a known beast — it’s about an immersive experience where the reality you see around you replaces real life. The nuts and bolts of it are that you (currently at least) have you normal vision (at the low end, at the high end there can be a lot of other sensory replacements) replaced by the VR headset. The sudden price drop of 360 cameras (now available for a couple of hundred dollars even in NZ — that means real cheap where you have a few more people and less sheep) has meant that making the reality that goes into the headset is much more affordable to create. It’s almost like creating media rich video compared to having to make animations from scratch. Combine that with cheap headsets for playback (as cheap as Cardboard potentially!) and suddenly VR is no longer in the realm of science fiction but very much… err.. reality.

Thanks Pixabay

So that leaves AR. Augmented Reality is slightly different, is sometimes overlooked (I just read a Forbes article today raving about VR and AI, but completely failed to mention AR) and arguably has the biggest impact. The concept of AR is different because it combines the world we see and experience naturally with the digital world. It’s not just a fully immersive ‘have to be in it’ type environment (although it can be that too) but can bring computer objects and real objects together into one experience. When Pokemon Go went viral recently it was a game that brought AR into the conversation. Low-end AR often involves using a mobile device (with back camera) to superimpose something onto the screen that your eyes can’t see without it. What that means is that you use the real-world as the back-drop for your immersive world. That’s pretty awesome when you think of the applications involving the use of real-world and triggers that can reveal the digital interaction. A great really simple example is having complex tools or equipment that when looked at through the ‘lens’ show you how they work, exploded diagrams and x-ray type views you simply can’t see with your own eyes.

Pixabay again thanks :)

AR also has its hardware too. Lots of the next generation of wearables (anyone remember the ill-fated Google Glass?) should show us more digital superposition on our reality. But it has an advantage in that the most common interface is a mobile device and who doesn’t have one of them in their pocket?

The great thing about both AR and VR is that in the learning world these are uber exciting. Just imagine the possibilities that exist when we can strip away layers or take people to places they simply couldn’t go without them. VR has the power to let you walk on the moon (hey, has anyone ever really done that?), drop into a volcano or fly. AR can allow you to do incredible things in your own environment and has amazing opportunities for just-in-time learning. Of course there’s also the wow factor in VR in particular and the ability for anyone to make ‘content’. The down side of this is that we’ll end up with a lot of bad content (think very bad 3D videos) and stuff that’s impressive to look at but lacking any depth of learning. Augmented reality has potentially the easiest application directly to learning, but there’s truly space for both in the learning environment.

The third one? Oh yes, virtual insanity. I had to add that because it’s one of my all-time favourite musical videos with the cat in the hat Jamiroquai. Is there words of warning in there for us? Maybe, but the ‘useless twisting of the new technology’ should be entertaining along the way. Virtual Insanity aside the new reality isn’t what the old one was, exciting times!

Interested in VR or AR? Give me a buzz, I can help :) Alternatively if you’re interested in Virtual Insanity I appear to be well along in that path too…

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Written by

@the_nthdegree. I’m a passionate learning technologist who believes that maybe (just maybe) learning can save us… I‘m learning tech lead at Synapsys NZ Ltd

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