Our story so far

By mramirez November 26, 2013
Dissemination, MimasAR
Augmented Reality, benefits, education, Mimas, mobile, Team SCARLET

The following links and videos show the ways in which Mimas has engaged with AR in the past few years across various subject areas to develop both location and object based experiences. Juniper Research has estimated that over 200 million users will interact with AR apps by 2018, in contrast to 60 million in 2013. AR will become an integral part of the consumer’s ecosystem, and education has the potential to harness this massive user demographic to move from single app examples to a key future learning platform.

Juniper AR Research overview

Definition of AR from NMC Horizon Report 2014 – http://horizon.wiki.nmc.org/Augmented+Reality

Benefits of AR – http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/the-benefits-of-using-augmented-reality-in-education/

[youtube=http://youtu.be/oW0boI-8OI0]AR at Mimas presentation showing the different projects we have been involved with

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCG4SUZOzYk]Walkthrough of our latest AR project (Bringing display cases to life)

Tips on creating education based AR – http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/tips-on-creating-education-based-ar/

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzI1dtSQ7ac]Walkthrough of original SCARLET project

Article on the Geology AR field trip project – http://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/rocking-augmented-reality-01-oct-2013

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ScmdEMdOCk]3D object tracking for clinical skills

insideAR 2013

By mramirez October 15, 2013
MimasAR
Augmented Reality, benefits, conference, insideAR, junaio, metaio, Mimas, munich, technical specifications, wearable devices

insideAR is one of the biggest AR conferences in Europe showcasing the latest developments in industry, advertising, marketing and education. It was the first time I had been to the conference and I was pleasantly surprised to see how far AR has evolved in the last year, both in terms of software functionality and real use cases. I was also more confident that the previous limitations that have stunted AR’s early uptake (unstable tracking, practical applications, shallow user experiences) were slowly starting to be addressed.

From the opening keynote sessions from Metaio about their new functionality with the tagline “Always on, always augmented”, it was both enthralling and entertaining. I was particularly impressed with the demonstration of Junaio “Mirage”, transferring their location based software onto Google Glass.

To manage expectation, they were quick to point out that presently, battery life is a massive issue with wearable devices, Google Glass lasting only 15 minutes in AR view. One of the other main problems with glass based devices is user interaction, having to connect with a smartphone to do this seems to be counterintuitive. Metaio seemed to have partially solved this issue by allowing the wearer to use a crosshair controlled by head movement to select items on stage such as POI’s.

On the exhibition floor there were numerous examples of how AR had increased business efficiency and increased sales. The IKEA catalogue is distributed across the world (220 million copies), the AR app allows users a view into how furniture would appear in their homes and in less than a year over 700000 users have interacted with their app. This is in response to a survey of their customers stating that 14% have bought items that did not fit into their home. Next year, they are hoping to launch further enhancements allowing customers to use AR as an interactive instruction manual. I for one will welcome a more visual approach to assembling flat pack furniture having struggled with indecipherable printed instructions in the past.

Perhaps the most exciting innovation as an AR developer was the new edge based tracking using CAD 3d models. Tracking has traditionally been one of the biggest challenges in object driven AR, environmental conditions (lighting, reflections, shadows etc.) can seriously deteriorate the user experience. Edge based tracking (as seen in the above image) uses a 3d model of the object to calibrate the physical objects position, determining the match without being limited to textural features. It is incredibly robust and I can envisage it being more effective in practical situated learning such as in clinical skills labs and workshops where light is always an issue.

Mitsubishi Electric were integrating this functionality with their new meVIEW app for air condition service technicians to assist in their service tasks and new product lines released. It has had immediate impact reducing call centre volume, engineer training costs leading to more satisfied customers.

For continuing personal development this is a major breakthrough, imagine being able to combine traditional specialist face-to-face training with independent AR supported learning on the latest product developments reducing expensive overheads, giving employees the security and confidence to develop and reinforce their skills.

I was fortunate enough to test drive the latest Mercedes driver assist AR technology around Munich. Although still in its infancy (issues exist related to displaying “real time” data) it was mind-blowing to see how the next generation of cars could use AR to improve their driving experience.

Both Audi and BMW were also in attendance demonstrating AR in maintenance situations for both engineers and the average driver. Functionality included being able to identify the model of the car from the bonnet, then providing visual overlays helping a owner add washer fluid, identify engine components or change the oil.

Travelling home, my overarching impression from insideAR was that it confirmed my belief of the vast potential of AR in education, reinforcing my opinion that it could help students overcome challenges that currently existed in support based learning particularly in practical subject areas. Now, more than any other time, there exists an opportunity to work with students and academics to provide effective and valuable AR experiences, moving past the conceptual to incorporate them into everyday learning with clear tangible benefits.

New Workshop – A Practical Introduction to Augmented Reality

By Louise Egan September 18, 2013
Jisc Netskills, Matthew Ramirez, Technical Training
Augmented Reality, Mimas, SCARLET, training, University of Manchester

We are pleased to announce that we have partnered with Jisc Netskills to run a new Developing Augmented Reality for teaching and learning practical workshop. The workshop is to be held on the 4 December, and will be hosted at the Netskills Training Suite at Newcastle University.

Steve Boneham, Netskills Consultant Trainer who has co-developed the workshop, described it as a result of an ideal collaboration:

We’ve seen an increasing interest in using AR in education from participants in our workshops. However, until now we didn’t have a dedicated event to really get into the practicalities of creating AR. We are delighted to be able to work with Mimas to combine their specialist AR knowledge with our expertise in training.

Working together we’ve been able to create an event that we feel will really help people understand how to effectively implement AR in their own practice.

We hope this will generate a great deal of interest, so please do share!

Booking is available now.

Bringing display cases to life

By mramirez September 6, 2013
JRUL
Augmented Reality, John Rylands, junaio, Katie Donlon, Mimas, University of Manchester

Have you ever wondered how the objects in display cases get chosen, or the journey they go on to arrive there?

Five Year 6 pupils from Oswald Primary School have been chosen to guest curate one of the themes in the Rylands Gallery; the faiths cases. Whilst providing items and interpretation peers can relate to, the pupils will also be learning about the different roles and processes involved in exhibiting items.

In addition, the project will provide a layer of interpretation through augmented reality allowing visitors to uncover more information and providing additional activities on their mobile devices. It is a collaboration between Education and learning at The John Rylands Library and Mimas.

Some of the features include:

3D models of some of the objects using touch gestures to rotate, scale and move.
Picture yourself with virtual models of the objects, then upload them for posterity on the library Flickr page to show your friends and family.
Learn fun facts about the objects such as where they were discovered, how they are stored and what they are made of.
Watch videos from the children who curated the cases and view detailed images.
Unlock hidden content by answering questions on the objects.

Here is a sneak peak of some of the early AR content including one of the curators, Luke appearing in a Harry Potter inspired newspaper.

Discover Geology AR Field Trip

By mramirez August 16, 2013
Content Development, Field trip, Matthew Ramirez, MimasAR, Project evaluation
Discover Geology, education, EPS, evaluation, geology, geospatial, Hope Valley, testing, University of Manchester

Yesterday, a coachload of enthusiastic people embarked from the Manchester museum to Castleton in Peak District to test the new University of Manchester Discover Geology app, co-developed by Mimas, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty, and the Manchester Museum. Early feedback suggests that it was a unanimous success, read more about the user experience from one of the participants MancOnline.

The field trip experience is now available via Junaio , search for ‘Discover Geology‘ after you open the app. The app allows the user to enhance their walking experience, learning more about the geological history of the Hope Valley with expert academic commentary and insight. Other functionality include:

Feature finder identifying fossils, oil deposits and minerals such as Blue John.
Location based Points of Interest(POI) along the way navigating your journey.
A compass allowing the user to find their bearings, to compliment the audio commentary.
Geological ‘Beneath your Feet’ diagrams illustrating the geological make up at points along the route.
Dynamic navigation informing the user of the closest POI.
Route finder – audio directions to the next POI…. and many more.

One of the participants stated that the app was like having a personal guide in their pocket. Anyone familiar with the Peak District owning an Android or Apple device should test it out the next time they visit the Hope Valley. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee the gorgeous sunshine we witnessed yesterday, but we can assure you will learn a lot more about the geology of this beautiful location.

Oxford Brookes University Special Collections: creating a poster with AR

By Laura Skilton (formerly Shaw) July 17, 2013
Dissemination, mobile research
Augmented Reality, Oxford Brookes, Special Collections

A guest blog posted on behalf of Eleanor Possart and Gerard Helmich

The Archivist’s perspective

I was first introduced to AR (Augmented Reality) by my colleague Gerard. Gerard is the Library’s IT Development Librarian, and, earlier this year, he ran an introductory training session on AR and its uses. Now technically ‘first introduced’ isn’t quite accurate as another colleague had previously made mention of the SCARLET (Special Collections using Augmented Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching) project, but it wasn’t until I’d actually seen AR demonstrated that I ‘got’ it. The training session showed me the potential of AR, and so when I was asked to use AR to promote Special Collections, my head started buzzing with ideas.

I decided it would be best to start small and work on something we already had. I also wanted to use AR to promote Special Collections in general, rather than focus on a specific collection that would require a larger project to do it justice. I therefore decided to create some AR content for our Special Collections poster, which we had in digital and printed form. The poster contains images of items that reflect our five collecting themes – Art & Architecture, Food & Drink, Public and Allied Health, Publishing and Literary Prizes, and the University Archive – and I wanted to create additional content for each of these themes.

I signed up for a couple of webinars, including the Mimas Webinar ‘Augmented Reality in Education: the SCARLET+ experience‘, and also looked at examples of AR on the web for inspiration. Gerard and I then discussed what browser we should use for the project. We considered Junaio, Aurasma, and Layar, and decided on Layar for a number of reasons: we liked the fact that the object itself (i.e. the poster) acted as the trigger, as opposed to a QR code; we also appreciated that Layar provides a free service (with advertisements) as well as a paid service (without advertisements), which would allow us to experiment without cost; and we knew that the University was already using Layar to create AR content for our prospectuses, so it made sense to use a browser with which our students would already be familiar.

Once the browser was chosen, and I had set up an account, it was then up to me to go away and experiment with what features Layar had to offer. I wanted the poster to be fun and varied, as well as informative, so I tried to create something a little different for each theme. In the end I used a simple link to a pre-existing webpage containing a historical timeline for the University Archive; a link to a webpage I created, containing an old map of Oxfordshire with hotspots linking to images of local architecture from one of our collections; an image gallery representing our five principal food and drink collections; an audio recording of a colleague reading a nursery rhyme from one of our children’s publishing collections; and film footage from one of our health collections relating to occupational therapy.

One of the biggest challenges was finding images and footage that was out of copyright. It was also tricky finding content that was appropriate for each feature, and I ended up changing one of the images on the original poster as one collection provided better material for audio content than another. I also found that I needed help, from Gerard, converting the AR content to the right format for Layar to use (particularly the audio visual elements). Choosing, scanning, and editing the AR content was by far the most time consuming aspect – using Layar to apply the AR content was quick and easy in comparison.

I enjoyed making the poster and I think that AR is a great way of providing extra (and often more interesting) content where space is limited (i.e. on posters or in exhibitions). I am also interested in seeing how AR might be used to aid teaching, and am excited by a current project that being undertaken, by one of my colleagues, to use AR to enhance classes using our Artists’ Books collection. The only regret I have is that my recently acquired smartphone can’t download the Layar app, so you need to be aware that not everyone will be able to view your hardwork!

The IT Development Librarian’s perspective

Our initial investigations into AR very quickly lead us to the SCARLET project’s blog. This was the source that made it apparent to us that we really might be able to use AR to help support our users. The examples made available via the blog and demonstrated at the Augmented Reality in Education event held at City University in 2012 fired our enthusiasm for setting up some of our own AR projects.

Our introductory awareness sessions for Library staff about Augmented Reality were followed by a review of the major AR browsers and the creation of test content for both Aurasma and Layar. We finally selected Layar as our browser of choice, for the reasons outlined above by Eleanor. We do feel strongly that the initial requirement to scan a QR code rather than the item itself is too limiting to be effective outside of a classroom environment, though this does mean objects or graphics that will not make good trigger images cannot be used. This is the trade-off we have made to ensure that the AR process is as simple and easily understood as possible for the end user.

It is extremely important that we are able to create AR content without the requirement for any programming, as we lack developer support. Although this means we cannot deliver some potentially desirable features, it does enable a large number of staff to experiment with the technology. The Special Collections poster created by Eleanor will be a useful tool in promoting the use of AR to Oxford Brookes Library staff and will hopefully spark off a number of new projects.

Eleanor Possart and Gerard Helmich

Our Hope for AR – Discovering fossils, geological features and more

By Laura Skilton (formerly Shaw) June 4, 2013
Content Development, Project Managment, Project overview
Discover Geology

Mimas is currently working on some exciting Augmented Reality (AR) projects, one of which is the creation of an AR field trip for geology students.

Working with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty, and the Museum at the University of Manchester, this new Discover Geology project (aimed at MSC students) should give us a fantastic example of how AR can enhance a fieldtrip and develop an experience that can also benefit the public.

Students can unlock hidden information using hotspots via the AR application on their smart phone, providing hidden gems of data about the surrounding area. Another fascinating element is that information can be found on areas of the landscape that no longer physically exsists!

The idea is a simple one – develop a field trip within the Hope Valley using AR. To ensure the project is simple too, we’ve enlisted the help of our usual mixed team using their relevant skills and expertise:

Dr Ian Hutt, Adele Aubrey, Stephen Wheeler and Stephen Davies, the Project Manager and E-learning Specialists within EPS at the University of Manchester
Matt Ramirez, Lead AR Developer at Mimas
Dr Stephen Boult, our academic lead (School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences)
Stephen Devine, Multimedia Developer at the Manchester Museum
Laura Skilton, a little bit of project managing at Mimas but mainly poking video cameras in front of people and writing blog posts!

The current activities for the project are storyboarding and the collection of the relevant resources needed to develop the experience. By pulling together the mixed team throughout the process we are ensuring that what we develop is achievable, technically possible, content rich and of course a useful tool for the students.

If you want to know a little more about how the experience will actually work, take a look at this short video of Ian describing the user journey.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/XZbSEz2cgpM]

As the project progresses we’ll keep you updated via this blog.

If you’ve read this blog you may also be interested in the AR Landmap experience.

Team Scarlet wins an award for innovation!

By Laura Skilton (formerly Shaw) May 20, 2013
Dissemination, Project Outputs
awards, junaio, SCARLET

Mimas are committed to helping to bring together technology and education but it’s always lovely to get rewarded!

At the 2013 Education Innovation Conference & Exhibition, Jackie Carter (Senior Manager, Learning and Teaching and Social Science Data Services at Mimas) who directs all of our AR work, accepted an award on behalf of the Scarlet team. The award was for innovation in higher education on the back of all the work we talk about on this blog. A big thanks to everyone we have worked with to date on AR.

Here is Jackie with Spencer Kelly of BBC click who gave out the awards.

Read this blog post about the ALT-C award we also won last year: http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/scarlet-team-are-joint-runner-up-in-learning-technology-awards/

AR(t) magazine – new article by Matt Ramirez, the Mimas lead AR developer

By mramirez May 16, 2013
Dissemination, MimasAR, mobile research, Project Outputs, SCARLET+
ar(t), Augmented Reality, benefits, junaio, Mimas, Team SCARLET, University for the Creative Arts, University of Manchester, University of Sussex, user journey

We are really pleased to announce that an article written by Mimas’ Matt Ramirez is featured in the latest issue of AR(t) magazine. The article talks about lessons learnt and knowledge gained through both the SCARLET and SCARLET+ projects, and how AR can enhance the student experience.

A special thanks to Jean Vacher, Marie-Therese Gramstadt both from the University for the Creative Arts, and Rose Lock from the University of Sussex for their input.

The article can be found on pages 57-61, we hope you find it informative. This edition in particular includes a number of articles relating to using AR with students.

http://issuu.com/arlab/docs/ar_lab_magazine_3/61

Innovation in Education – Augmented Reality, a Manchester Showcase

By Laura Skilton (formerly Shaw)
Dr. Guyda Armstrong, Dr. Jackie Carter, John Hodgson, JRUL, Matthew Ramirez, MimasAR, Project evaluation, Project Managment, Project Outputs, SCARLET+
Augmented Reality, conference, event, Laura Shaw, Mimas, University of Manchester

Mimas have been developing Augmented Reality (AR) experiences for use within education for over two years and in that time we have amassed a wealth of experience, knowledge and examples. We have barely touched the surface of its potential; but the enthusiasm and interest in the possibilities have been extremely encouraging. So, with experiences gained and success stories to share, we thought it would be a good idea to host an event within the university (where Mimas is hosted) to demonstrate what we’d achieved and the great potential of AR.

“The showcase day provided a golden opportunity to bring together important and interested people across the university and within the wider region to consider the future potential of innovation in education. We hope that by demonstrating the exciting potential of the work undertaken at Manchester we have highlighted the considerable expertise available on our own doorstep. We know there is more to do to evidence the effectiveness of AR in learning, but we believe that we have developed an approach on which others can build. As Edison said ‘If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves’. The time is ripe to be further astounded.” Dr. Jackie Carter, Mimas

The showcase, held on the 24^th April (by invitation only), requested the presence of a number of key people across the university and Manchester, who we felt would have an interest in how we are developing AR for use in the educational context. We were full to capacity with attendees including Professor Richard Reece (Associate Vice-President, Teaching, Learning and Students), and Matt Gallop and Jenny Chapman both from the learning Innovations team at the BBC.

“It was great to see the projects, which have been developed, and those in the pipeline. The AR field trip has some obvious resonance with some of the work we have been looking into around Face-to-face Learning events. Keep up the good work!” Matt Gallop, BBC

The hour-long showcase event included a vast array of examples from augmented manuscripts to medical cannulas and was a chance to show off about the awards we have won. We heard from all of the projects that Mimas have worked on:

SCARLET (Special Collections using Augmented Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching) at the University of Manchester

Dr Guyda Armstrong (Senior Lecturer in Italian), Andy Land (E-Library Infrastructure Manager) and John Hodgson (Collections & Research Support Manager at the John Rylands University Library) who worked on our original SCARLET project bringing special collection to life using AR, further information: http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/?s=scarlet

SCARLET+

Rose Lock (Senior Archive Assistant (Library) at the University of Sussex) who worked with Mimas to lead on the technical development of an AR application for the University of Sussex. Further information: http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/author/roselock/

Manchester Medical School

Kurt Wilson (Clinical Teaching Fellow) spoke about his work to date with Mimas and his ideas for how AR and 3D printing could be used by Medical Schools to help students develop clinical skills. Further information: http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/embedding-the-scarlet-methodology-in-other-subject-areas/

Landmap

Gail Millin-Chalabi (Mimas Geo-Data Research & Development Officer) spoke about how Mimas combined their skills in AR with its Landmap service. Further information: http://teamscarlet.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/visualising-rich-spatial-data-with-3d-and-ar/

Discover Geology

Ian Hutt (Senior Learning Technologist, Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences at the University of Manchester) told is about our new and possibly most ambitious project to date, Discover Geology, which will develop an AR fieldtrip – watch this space for a dedicated blog post about this project soon!

So what’s our secret?

Our model – a simple formula that begins with a committed mixed team approach, and if you’ve ever heard or spoken to Mimas about AR before you’ll know that’s where our expertise lies. Every AR projects starts with the right team of people, sharing a penchant for developing AR to improve the student experience. For AR this usually means people with content, academics, technical skills and project management, and obviously students. We’ve been lucky enough to work with some fantastic people, such as award winning academics, librarians with amazing content and people who despite their inexperience with technology are willing to learn and learn quickly. This model seems to be working.

“It has been a joy to work with Mimas on the SCARLET project. They have managed the project with consummate professionalism, encouraging creativity while ensuring that deadlines and objectives were met. While their technical skills are impressive, the project was driven by pedagogical needs, not by technology. We have learnt a huge amount from them about project management and we will seek every opportunity to work with them again.” John Hodgson

We love AR

Our passion for innovative technology and education initiates our work, and at Mimas we get that the students and academics drive us, not the technology. We also ensure our projects are well managed; this guarantees that we achieve what we set out to within a short space of time and budget. We also make certain that when a project partnership ends, we have successfully transferred our skills, knowledge and enthusiasm, to provide all the tools needed to sustain a project.

“Mimas have given me the framework and confidence to create my own AR applications. My understanding of the way AR works has increased exponentially and I now feel able not only to build applications but also to explain to others how it works and show them how to create their own; embedding the skills into our department.” Rose Lock

Future thoughts

Whilst chatting to Matt Ramirez, our key AR technical lead, I realised how much we have learnt about AR and how the technology has improved. Our projects have provided a great deal of valuable feedback from students and academics; whilst access to supplementary resources is useful (especially video), it is the ability to augment the reality that was the key to unlock further learning.

It’s great to see this learning applied to new projects. At a recent meeting for the new Discover Geology project we were planning a teaching tool that would allow students and the public, to find fossils, overlay historical images over a changing landscape and even the possibility to find out what was lying beneath their feet! I can’t wait for this application to be available and to collect the student feedback. A blog post and video will be available about this project very soon.

Please keep an eye on our blog to find out more about our new AR projects and to get updates from those already being used by students. We will also be posting a short video from the showcase very soon. And, finally, if you’ve got ideas or projects you’d like support with please contact us or share your ideas/experiences via AR-DISCUSS@jiscmail.com.