The Pixel Farm

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update!  Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to over the last few months

Fall 2011 @ NYU

This semester I assumed a new position as a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU.  I’m currently teaching three courses this semester – two sections of Introduction to Computer Programming using Python and one section of Web Design and Computer Principles.  My students are amazing, and I’ll be sure to update the blog with highlights from class.  I’m planning on incorporating an augmented reality assignment into both courses and I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of projects emerge!

ZooBurst

ZooBurst has seen incredible amount of growth over the last few months, and our community currently stands at a little over 50,000 members.  I’ve been working on a number of additional enhancements to the system, including some advanced media-creation features as well as a tool that let teachers and students import content directly from a PowerPoint presentation into an Augmented Reality Pop-Up book.

In addition, we have been actively developing a mobile application that will (hopefully!) be released by mid December — our first version will allow iPhone and iPad users to experience their ZooBurst books on their mobile devices in Augmented Reality.  More details on this project will be available very soon!

Mechanics of Place: Istanbul and Augmented Avenue

I recently partnered with a pair of amazingly talented local artists, Sarah Drury and Hana Iverson, to help bring to life a series of community-based mobile augmented reality projects.  For these projects we utilized ZooBurst as a content creation platform which facilitated the rapid construction of rich-media 3D experiences.  From there we used the Junaio AR framework to create a series of publicly accessible “channels” that allows visitors to experience an alternate reality when moving through a specific space.

The first project we worked on, Mechanics of Place, is a collaborative art project envisioned as a framework for creative urban engagement. Participants co-create the experience through a Mobile Augmented Reality platform that bridges the virtual and physical world. The expanding collection of AR poems is layered onto specific locations in cities around the world.  Our first workshop and installation took place in Istanbul, Turkey in September 2011.

Mechanics of Place: Istanbul

Viewing an AR Poem via an iPhone

Augmented Avenue: Memories of Lancaster is a “collaborative art project for creative urban engagement that offers visitors a new way to experience the Lancaster Avenue neighborhood. Drexel University students worked in partnership with members of the community who narrated their stories and memories, together co-authoring a dynamic portrait of local history.  Each student interpreted that experience and co-created a photo and sound collage available through the smartphone, and on display at 3820 Lancaster Avenue from September 30th to October 29th, 2011 as part of the LOOK! On Lancaster Avenue Arts Project sponsored by the City of Philadelphia’s ReStore Corridors Through Art program.” (mCenter, Drexel University)

Augmented Avenue: Memories of Lancaster

Speaking

This fall I spoke about my work with augmented reality in education at three amazing events.  In September I gave a talk at the TCNJ Center for the Arts entitled “How Augmented Reality is bridging the gap between the Real and the Virtual.”  Afterwards I worked with a group of Interactive Multimedia students in a hands-on workshop to help them explore how they can begin to incorporate AR into their own work.

Also in September, I gave the keynote speech at the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative’s kick-off session for the 2011/2012 academic year.  My talk at the NJECC focused on practical ways in which teachers can begin to incorporate augmented reality into their classrooms.

In October I was thrilled to be able to give the keynote address at this year’s Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.  My talk, entitled “Visualizing the Future,” focused on augmented reality as a tool to enhance student engagement and bring ideas to life in the classroom.

Presenting at the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, World Conference 2011, Honolulu, Hawaii

And just for fun, here are some pictures I took during my brief visit to Oahu.  I brought along my new underwater digital camera and got some pretty good shots while snorkeling in Hanauma Bay!

Hanauma Bay Nature Park

Hanauma Bay Nature Park

Getting up close and personal with the wildlife!

Under the sea ...

Under the sea ...

And here’s a quick compilation video of some underwater footage that I shot!

Random aside -- I had no idea that Pineapples grew like this!

Hi everyone — just wanted to provide a quick update on some new ZooBurst developments.

• 41,000 users!: The ZooBurst community is now 41,000 members strong! In addition, teachers have created over 14,000 student accounts over the past year.
• New Feature – Class Media (premium members): Our new “class media” system lets teachers maintain a shared collection of images that can be used by their students when building a book. Teachers can upload any number of images from their computer into this shared repository by clicking on the ‘Class Media’ button on the ‘Classes’ page in ZooBurst. Students can then click the new ‘Class Media’ button while using the ZooBurst builder to access and use these pictures in their own projects.
• New Feature – Audio Comments (premium members): Audio comments let you and your students use your voice when leaving comments on books created inside of ZooBurst.
• New Feature – Uploadable Audio (premium members): In addition to being able to record audio and search the ZooBurst sound effects library, Premium members can now upload MP3 file directly into their books.
• New Feature – Drawing Tool (premium members): We’ve released their first version of a drawing tool that lets you easily create your own characters for your books. Premium members can click on the new ‘Draw a new picture’ button inside the ZooBurst builder to get started. Here’s a quick demo video that shows this tool in action:

And, as always, we’re working on some exciting new ZooBurst features that will become available over the coming months. One of my favorites is a prototype system to allow you to take your ZooBurst stories and experience them on a mobile device (iPad, iPhone, Android Device, etc). Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ve been working on!

Easily construct a mobile augmented reality experience using the ZooBurst book builder.

Place a tracking marker somewhere in the "real world" that will be used to tie your ZooBurst books to that place -- in the image above I've placed a marker on the side of my refrigerator. In the future we hope to be able to support the creation of your own customized markers as well.

Launch the Junaio app on your mobile device and point it at your tracking marker -- a series of doors will appear. Each door corresponds to a different ZooBurst book that you've created.

Tapping on a doorway will bring up the selected experience. Note that almost all ZooBurst features work on a mobile device, including "chat bubbles" and sound recordings.

I’m just finishing up my summer teaching assignment here in Mallorca, Spain. This year, as in previous years, I taught a section of “Educational Applications of Technology” for a group of amazing international schoolteachers and administrators. Our class blog is available here if you want to check out what we covered during the summer term.

I’m looking forward to coming back to New Jersey, but I can’t say that I’m overly excited about leaving my beautiful home away from home out here!

EDAD660 - Educational Applications of Technology, Summer 2011. We are all wearing party hats to celebrate TCNJ's 30th year here in Mallorca.

3D class photo - put on a set of Red / Blue 3D glasses with the red lens over your left eye to check it out

View of Cala Major

Visiting a vineyard in Binissalem

Lunch on the beach

I’m thrilled to announce that ZooBurst has been named one of the top Websites for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians! For more information about the award please check out the AASL press release.

ZooBurst is named as a top Website for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians!

Of course I had to try this with ZooBurst — here’s my first attempt at writing a ZooBurst / Junaio “bridge” that displays a ZooBurst book on a mobile device.  The screenshots below were taken on an iPhone 4, but this works just as well on my Android powered HTC Incredible.

Recently I’ve been exploring how to expand the ZooBurst Augmented Reality experience beyond a desktop-based computer & attached webcam.  While I’ve been interested in doing this for a while, I’ve been hesitant since the idea of having to write a different app to target both the Android and iOS platforms was something that I wanted to try and avoid.

Thankfully I’m not alone in this aversion to creating and supporting multiple mobile apps, and some very innovative products have recently been released to help streamline the creation of mobile AR content.

Earlier this year I was intruded to one such product named “Junaio“.  Designed to work on both Android and iOS devices, Junaio allows users to create customized “channels” that can be used to overlay virtual content on top of the real world.  Currently Junaio can augment a space based using one of two methods – physical location or natural feature recognition.  Location based AR experiences rely on the GPS & compass of a mobile device to calculate a user’s position, and natural feature recognition works by detecting pre-defined visible patterns within a space.  In terms of natural feature recognition, content creators can upload arbitrary patterns and “train” Junaio to recognize their own markers, allowing you to track much more than “simple” patterns (such as fiducial markers.)

Of course I had to try this with ZooBurst — here’s my first attempt at writing a ZooBurst / Junaio “bridge” that displays a ZooBurst book on a mobile device.  The screenshots below were taken on an iPhone 4, but this works just as well on my Android powered HTC Incredible.

A sample Junaio tracking pattern printed on a standard inkjet printer

A Junaio tracking pattern augmented with a page from a ZooBurst book ("My Trip to Egypt") - The items are "touchable" and will trigger a text-based pop-up as well as streaming audio when activated.

A page from my "Little Red Riding Hood" ZooBurst book being augmented on top of the sample marker