Engaging Augmented Reality in Public Places
Stuart Reeves, Mike Fraser, Holger M. Schnädelbach, Claire L O’Malley, Steve Benford · 2005
Augmented Reality (AR) systems are moving beyond the laboratory and into the public domain. Such a shift presents new challenges for AR design. In this paper, we study a public artistic exhibition which includes a bespoke AR system. Our design reflects social and physical constraints of the public space in which the device is placed. We investigate the effect of AR on the engagement of visitors with the exhibition. Through our analysis, we provide evidence to illustrate the differing ‘augmented ’ and ‘disaugmented ’ levels of engagement users experience with the AR device in addition to typical engagement observed in social scientific studies of the exhibit face. We discuss the importance of separating target and display, and how levels of engagement with public AR can be explicitly supported. Author Keywords Augmented reality, public exhibitions, engagement.