Augmented Reality
Head back to the science fiction of the 1990s, and you often find protagonists immersed in virtual worlds.
These frequently lurid, neon-clad spaces, packed full of ‘computer code’ imagery (this was the 1990s, after all) were usually accessed by way of a hefty headset, and allowed the user to go anywhere – or any when.
Today, the onset of consumer-accessible virtual reality has largely transformed science fiction into science fact (and, in Spielberg flick Ready Player One, also dystopian future) – but the requirement to wear a headset hasn’t (yet) gone away. Fortunately, augmented reality offers us an alternative – and one that’s in key ways more broadly useful.
Augmented reality takes a step back from placing the user within entirely virtual confines. Instead, it seeks to merge digital objects with the real world that you see.
