01/01/2024
What Unique Experiences Will Augmented Reality Bring to Us?
I believe that the interaction design of Augmented Reality (AR) is not just about placing windows in space, but more about creating a virtual environment. In this immersive 3D space, we can have the experience of being “elsewhere”.
Figure 1 organizes the design space of immersive media, breaking it down into two dimensions: time and space. For the spatial dimension, users can observe from a fixed point in space, move through space, or interact with objects within it. In terms of time, users can observe at a specific point in time or along a timeline, and even access immersive media in real-time.
Immersive content can provide rich contexts, facilitating our remote communication. I would like to elaborate on the interaction space of “space sharing” as a specific case.
In the era of screen-based interaction, we can engage in remote communication through online meetings (like Zoom). For example, we see each other through video, create context through screen sharing, and collaborate using online file systems. Now, in the spatial interaction era, we can see each other in space, share the space around us to bring our immediate environment into the conversation, and collaborate in space, manipulating virtual and even real objects together.
Figure 2 shows the interaction space of space sharing. Depending on the user's position and viewpoint in the virtual space, there are four types of interactions: following the sharer's viewpoint, following the sharer's panorama, observing from a limited viewpoint with multiple positions, and free viewpoint observation in space. With these, we can virtually enter the physical space of the space sharer. This allows the context of the conversation to extend from the computer screens to the environment itself, enabling us to communicate and share the things around us more effectively.
