Augmented Reality

Overview
An Augmented Reality can be understood as one or more “layers” or “display screens” interposed between you and the external world. The level of augmentation you experience is a combination of your hardware, your software, your location and the presence of LADAs (locally-active digital agents). Some ARs are realistically-rendered, capable of fooling the eye into mistaking them for actual terrain: virtual doors are modeled over real doors, streets over real streets, etc.. This technique is often used to great effect in immersive AR games (“aug-games”), the popularity of which explains the requirement for mandatory Non-Overridable Proximity Elements (“NOPEs”) in all legally-produced AR hardware.

More often, however, an AR display provides ancillary data, menus, or clusters of related icons/images to activate or choose from. These semi-transparent images hover on or around the object they are “attached” to. Some ARs (especially those used for entertainment) include sound as well. Each AR running program produces its own display, in what is called an ARL (“layer”).

Augmented interfaces are usually either semi-transparent or literally invisible: "Information processing dissolving in behavior."

 AR Hardware
The basic necessary ingredients for an AR system include wireless connectivity, a display technology, a camera, a processor, a motion sensor and the ability to run Apps. Thus they take many forms. AR data may be displayed via computer monitors, phones, PDAs or pads, glasses, goggles, helmets, smartglass surfaces, holographic displays, retinal displays or entoptic contact lenses.

AR Layers
Multiple ARLs can be run simultaneously (depending on your hardware capabilities), and this gives you the ability to turn off any layers you don’t want to see in your AR environment. At any given moment, your ARE might include:

Avs & ‘Faces
  Avatar = Your projected image, your virtual body as seen by others. “Av” for short. It can be:


 * Virtual (seen in VR space by anyone using the same software)
 * Contextual (seen in realspace by people using a compatible AR rig and software)
 * Holographic (seen by everyone in realspace). "Holotar"

 'Face = An overlaid interface seen by others, it appears to hover around you. Can be:


 * Virtual (seen in VR space by anyone using the same software)
 * Contextual (seen in realspace by people using a compatible AR rig and software)
 * Holographic (seen by everyone in realspace). "Holoface"

AR = Augmented Reality. A subjective overlay that you see when you’re using an AR rig (contacts, glasses, or implants); it's tied to the viewer, not the viewee. Some AR programs are games, some are apps, and some are "Themes" that give your perceived reality a desired look and feel.


 * Your own AR may alter your view of other people's avatars, whether they run their own projections or not. Example: your theme could make everyone appear blue.
 * Your own AR may project 'faces around other people, whether they run their own projections or not. Example: A cop pulls up a cloud of data around a suspect.
 * Holographic 'faces are designed to encourage others to interact with you or your data. Example: A sponsor's logo over my head, air-touch it to get a free coupon.
 * Contextual 'faces are much the same, but can only be seen if you're wearing an AR rig. Example: My hit points appear to you because we're in the same game.
 * Contextual avs and 'faces typically use common protocols enabling anyone with a common AR rig to see them as projected. Example: Mr Waddles appears as a dapper mustacheo’d walrus to everyone who uses one of the common AR apps.
 * Alternately, contextual avs and 'faces may use proprietary protocols (enabling only people with the same/proper software to see them) Example: game characters or profession-based AR tools, which produce visuals only seen by users of that specific app or game.

The concept of "personal space" has expanded to allow more room for hand gestures and visual displays. We stand a little further from each other in public, whenever possible. This is especially true in the most Ubified areas and social strata.

Most people run multiple AR apps, and you pull them up and down as you move through your day. Running multiple apps simultaneously will present you with multiple "ARLs" (Augmented Reality Layers) or simply "layers", each of which presents its own 'face, surrounding your view of me.

Most of the time, people on the street use common AR rigs and leave them at default settings, so when you look at me you see my common av (projected by me, if I'm projecting one at all) and a standard 'face (projected around me by your AR rig). If I'm not projecting an av (and many people don't, because they prefer to wear fashionable clothes, holojewelry, etc), to you I will look something like the artist's rendition of "Kate B" at left. (Note however that you won't see all the stuff around my waist - that's actually part of my own interface that I see myself: my city map, my emails, and my calendar; so the "Kate B" image is incorrect in that regard.)

If you want specific data on me that isn't represented in the common AR, you switch software or add another soft layer to your AR. For instance, if you pull up your Shopping App because (a) you like bargains and (b) you get micropayments for looking at ads, then I look more like "Anna B" below. You can interact with my corporate logos. Notice in both cases, the data is mine, but the appearance of it is governed by your AR settings. In effect, you "throw a 'face" on me.

So there's this concept of "layers" and each AR app throws up a layer in the 'faces you see.

You can pull up a 'face on just one person in a crowd, suppressing those around everyone else; otherwise people's 'faces all begin to overlap each other, becoming difficult to use.

In your standard AR 'face, everyone has a diamond or other pointer over their head, like people in The Sims. By looking at this pointer (maybe in combination with a command word or gesture) you can "open" and "close" the 'face you see around me.

I have a feeling that projected avatars and colorful holo-images will be particularly fash among younger people, as they are striving to define their identity. It's a normal teen/YA phase of development, not unlike wearing your musical tastes on your sleeve, or clique-signaling via clothing, hair and makeup today. As one ages, one tends to relax on these issues. Not a hard-and-fast rule, of course, but a general one.

You can view some AR layers (games, typically) in "full-immersion mode," which masks reality completely (except for redlined regions). art (c) by Keiichi Matsuda

Aug Pets and Aug Friends
Augmented pets and augmented friends are popular items, especially among young people. Typically driven by expert systems and weak AIs, these virtual creatures and stylized humanoid forms not only provide users with a feeling of companionship, but they may be programmed to test, train or even educate their users, serving as guides, tutors, sparring partners or information-filled adventure buddies. Some couples have begun to raise augmented babies, a practice which is debated by therapists.

Like most ARLs, your aug companion layer can be projected publicly or privately. When projected publicly, anyone using a standard ARE will be able to see your augmented companion and may be able to interact with it (depending on your settings). Two such companions can even play together, if set to recognize each other.

Aug Themes
 Themes are generic display adapters that filter everything you see into a matching aesthetic when viewed through your AR device. No matter what artistic style, narrative genre, historical period or abstract mood you want to use to see the world, it can be found (or custom programmed for a reasonable price). The Theme you use will modify the default appearance of most people, places and things you look at, allowing you to feel as though you're living in the world of the Theme, rather than the actual 22nd-century world.