15-20 Minute Paper
Jay David Bolter, Maria Engberg, Nassim Jafarnaimi and Rebecca Rouse
Georgia Institute of Technology
Biographies
Jay David Bolter holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina and is currently the Wesley Chair of New Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition to writing about new media, Bolter collaborates in the construction of new digital media forms.
Maria Engberg holds a Ph.D. in English from Uppsala University. At present she is Associate Professor in Digital Culture and English and Deputy Dean of the School of Planning and Media Design at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). She is currently a Research Affiliate at the Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech.
Nassim Jafarinaimi is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Digital Media program at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research explores the ethical and political aspects of design relating to the experiential and participatory dimensions of digital media and information technology. She holds a PhD in Design from Carnegie Mellon University and an MS degree in Information Design and Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Rebecca Rouse is a PhD candidate and instructor in the Digital Media program at The Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA.) Rebecca also collaborates on research in the Augmented Environments Laboratory, creating cultural heritage experiences with augmented reality technology. For more information, please visit www.rebeccarouse.com.
Abstract
Like other new digital forms, Augmented Reality is capturing the interest of a variety of fields in the humanities, arts, and design. Each field brings its own vocabulary and perspective. For media studies and literary theory, Augmented Reality can be a new space for inscription; for performance studies, AR can be understood as a new performative environment; and for the design community it becomes a new space for the craft of design. These three fields suggest three approaches to AR with important intersections and possible tensions. We propose to explore this triad from the perspective of production as well as consumption. In terms of production, the triad is: writing, performing, designing; in terms of consumption, reading, viewing, participating. Looking at a series of AR experiences that we have created, we propose a new aesthetic that puts these three approaches into productive conversation. The question is whether and how these different perspectives can contribute to a unified aesthetics.
We are confronting these issues directly in current design work for two projects: a cultural heritage application for the historic Black neighborhood, Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta, GA, and the design of an panoramic literary experience based on the life of the Swedish painter, Anders Zorn, created in collaboration with author Michael Joyce.
In conclusion, the aesthetics that we propose is not only a theoretical exercise but grows out of the practice of writing, designing, and shaping performative experiences in mobile AR/MR. Our aim is to contribute to the development of a new, hybrid lens to enhance the critical understanding of AR/MR technologies and artifacts.