Hey everyone!
So.. I've had a bit of a break from these blogs over the holidays so apologies for being a bit slack!
When we discussed augmented reality I must admit I was a little dumbfounded by how much of a phenomenon virtual worlds are! People getting rich by selling property!? People actually BUYING property to begin with! MMORPGs and augmented reality games I can kind of see the appeal in since they have game elements and goals (although as Byron points out, there could be complications regarding augmented realities these days with bomb scares etc), but the concept of virtual worlds like 'second life' I still find hard to grasp. It seems from a lot of your other blogs about this week's topic, that others of you find it a bit hard to come to terms with too. I guess we live in such a social environment (being students in dunedin) that its hard to imagine actually having to log on to a virtual space to interact with other people. I'm sure if we grow older and lose touch with old friends/ have limited time to go out and meet people/ don't have the courage to step out of our comfort zones and head to a speed dating session/ grow so fat that we can't physically leave our own homes (touch wood), we too might embrace the convenience of having potential relationships and friendships just a click away!
Hardey's reading about internet dating outlines the effectiveness of the internet as a tool for dating, in comparison to older methods like newspapers, but I feel (at this point in time) that when we replace things like spontaneity and fun risks with highly informed, researched planning, we lose some of the fun there is in forming relationships. Not only is somw of the magic gone but as Sophie pointed out, there is a danger of being exposed to scammers. This doesn't even have to be a risk for dating services alone! Scammers could strike in any online space, whether it be on something like second life, msn or any other chatroom where people are forming relationships with strangers who seem to be trustworthy. Anyone can invent an online self which differs greatly from their offline self (isn't that what the internet is all about!?) so we really don't know who we can and cannot trust initially.
Just another thing about augmented reality before I leave you! I found an awesome video of a demo from the company 'Total Immersions' which specialises in augmented reality technologies. The demonstrator (one of the co-founders of the company) talks about how the augmented reality technology works and how it is used by car companies like nissan and BMW for a range of things including design simulation to visualise new prototypes by changing shapes and colours and are subsequently saving almost ten million euros on each project! This alone shows how augmented reality is helping to change the world in regards to the economy and production costs. No doubt augmented reality is going to take over the world one day! Its pretty exciting stuff!
Cya later!
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