Creating Open-Access Augmented Reality Experiences

Madison Percy Jones, Digital Writing Environments, Location, and Localization (DWELL) Lab, University of Rhode Island, USA, madisonjones@uri.edu

Leah Heilig, University of Rhode Island, USA, leah_heilig@uri.edu

Aidan Donnellan, Digital Writing Environments, Location, and Localization (DWELL) Lab, University of Rhode Island, USA, adonnellan@uri.edu

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3641237.3691684
SIGDOC '24: The 42nd ACM International Conference on Design of Communication, Fairfax, USA, October 2024

As spatial computing gains focus within mobile technologies, augmented reality (AR) is a useful tool for digital publishing and communication. However, most AR platforms are cost prohibitive, limiting uptake by digital humanities practitioners and requiring end-users to download apps poses other barriers. We explain how to implement a free, open-access AR platform for browser-based AR experiences and offer considerations for integrating it into design activist projects.

CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Collaborative and social computing;

KEYWORDS: Augmented reality, open-access, coding literacy, web development and design, design activism

ACM Reference Format:
Madison Jones, Leah Heilig and Aidan Donnellan. 2024. Creating Open-Access Augmented Reality Experiences. In The 42nd ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC '24), October 20-22, 2024, Fairfax, VA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 Pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3641237.3691684

1 Introduction

As companies emphasize spatial computing in mobile technologies, AR is poised to become more widespread in publishing and communication. However, high costs have hindered adoption, keeping AR an “emerging technology” for decades. This compounds problems for researchers in the digital humanities and professional communication, where limited resources hinder use. Designers also face “app fatigue” where users rely on only the most popular apps. Hesitancy to download apps reflects growing distrust in data collection and surveillance culture [1]. For those looking to create AR projects, there is a need for browser-based platforms that do not require downloading an app. We share an open-access platform for building web-based augmented reality experiences using the AR.js library and discuss considerations for integrating this resource into design activist projects.

In this work, we do not assume a deterministic or reductionist position on emerging technologies; nor do we see the goals of this project as aligned with ubiquitous adoption of AR or any other technology. Instead, we offer one way to engage with AR in a financially accessible way, and view technologies as tools to be used responsibly and ethically versus solutions unto themselves. For practitioners integrating AR into their classrooms or training, we recommend drawing from Greene's layered approach to ethical AR for the workplace when creating projects or teaching AR to students: 1) the design layer to help users orient to the interface, 2) the monitoring layer that considers physical and biological tracking and surveillance, 3) the document layer that draws attention to the guiding a user through use of the technology and understanding their user rights, and 4) the context layer that considers broader work environments [2].

1.1 Augmented Reality as Intervention and Activist Work: Affordances & Challenges

AR has several uses in activist projects. Previously framed as an intervention intended to “disrupt and subvert cultural conventions” [3], AR affords users a way to participate in “hybrid activism” [3, 4] that blends physical and digital participation. AR designs, intimately connected to physical places, allow activist designers to reimagine and redefine understandings of location, history, and social interactions. Inspired by activist practices like culture jamming and graffiti art, AR has been used for activism in many ways, including exposing corruption, inciting protests, subverting censorship, and rewriting narratives of places via crowdsourcing [4]. As the technology becomes more usable via handheld devices, AR provides an affordance to activists in that it allows for the redesigning of space and cultural memory, with less direct physical risk to the activist, in the face of limited resources.

Despite its benefits, there are several concerns for users. In a survey of design activists using AR, Silva et. al identified challenges like uncertainty about legal ramifications, ethics of data stewardship, maintaining equitable access, and the costs of publishing/maintaining work, especially with platforms like LayAR [3] and Aurasma [5] disappearing. Other ethical concerns have been brought up regarding AR's “digital fingerprint” [4] and its invitation for surveillance by larger institutions. It is important to be mindful of these challenges and concerns so they can inform design activist praxis. Like any technology, AR is a tool that has its risks and affordances, and it is important to inform practitioners of both to make informed decisions about their projects.

Our project offers a resource for design activists, teachers, and communication practitioners to experiment and build AR projects at no cost. AR.js, an open access, browser-based platform can also be used to learn the affordances and constraints of AR technology and locative media without the barrier of extensive coding knowledge.

2 Methods (AR.js)

We offer a working demo of AR.js, an open-access tool for AR and spatial computing that uses HTML, CSS, and JS. Our poster offers a brief tutorial for creating a basic browser-based AR experience in AR.js. The tutorial walks through the process of producing the basic HTML file for a marker-based application, importing the Ar.js library from GitHub, customizing the trigger image and overlay, and running the experience on a server. During the poster session, we will have a live demo, where attendees can select images or 3D objects they would like to see displayed in real time. We will use these images or 3D objects to create an augmented digital “space” for the SIGDOC conference, demonstrating how the tool can create digital public memory in real-time.

Getting started with AR.js only takes a few steps and basic knowledge of HTML. The following walkthrough will create a cube in augmented space on a marker image. Additional examples and more in-depth materials can be found on the AR.js documentation site (https://ar-js-org.github.io/AR.js-Docs/).

2.1 Setting Up Your HTML File

1. Create and name your HTML file

this is the file to open to test the experience
common naming convention is index.html

2. Set up the basic HTML Elements

<html></html> will hold all the code
<body></body> will be nested inside of <html> and will hold the experience's attributes

3. Import the version of the AR.js and A-frame libraries you want to use.

The library import is the only code that will be outside of the <body> at the top of the <html> section.
This is done by copy and pasting the github links for both into the HTML file in this format “<script src=”insert current version library”></script>”.

2.2 HTML Code

This code creates the index file containing the experience and calling the AR.js library:

<!doctype HTML>
<html>
<script src="https://aframe.io/releases/1.3.0/ aframe.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://raw.githack.com/AR-js-org/AR.js/master/aframe/build/aframe-ar.js"></script>
<body>
<a-scene embedded arjs>
<a-marker preset="hiro">
<a-box position="0 0.5 0" material="color: indigo;">
</a-box>
</a-marker>
<a-entity camera></a-entity>
</a-scene>
</body>
</html>

2.3 Additional AR.js Elements Defined

<a-scene>: sets up scene settings
<a-marker>: sets the image the camera will look for to start the AR experience
<a-entity camera>: creates an element to hold camera video
<a-box>: creates the box object in your AR environment (where box attributes like color and position are set)

3 Conclusions

Working with AR.js has provided the following insights:

AR.js is a helpful tool for teaching, bringing experiential learning to more digital and physical places, and delivering information in hybrid ways. Building open-access AR projects with students provides an important opportunity for pedagogies to engage with the spatial dimensions and ethics of AR, as well as to understand how coding can function as a platform literacy for design with spatial computing [6].
Creating open-access augmented reality tools subverts costly software, allowing practitioners in more disciplines to engage with this technology. Scholars can visualize historical sites, artifacts, and cultural phenomena in ways that challenge traditional models of publication, as well as redesign how one interacts with public space using locative media [7].
With spatial computing, browser-based augmented reality presents incredible opportunities to engage the public with immersive storytelling experiences. AR.js allows for experimentation and understanding technological constraints without cost-risk to the user.

Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship through Rhode Island EPSCoR, funded by the National Science Foundation Grant no: OIA-165522. Findings do not necessarily represent our sponsors.

References

C. Woods and G.P. Johnson. (Re)Designing Privacy Literacy in the Age of Generative AI. Communication Design Quarterly, 12(2), 2024, DOI: 10.1145/3655727.3655736
J. Greene. Ethical Design Approaches for Workplace Augmented Reality. Communication Design Quarterly, 10(4), 2022, DOI: 10.1145/3531210.3531212.
R.M.L Silva, E. Principe Cruz, D.K. Rosner, D. Kelly, A. Monroy-Herrnández, & F. Liu. Understanding AR activism: An interview study with creators of augmented reality experiences for social change. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), April 29-May 5, 2022, New Orleans, LA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 15 pages, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517605
M. Skwarek. Augmented reality activism. In: V. Geroimenko (ed) Augmented Reality Art. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69932-5_1
J. Greene & M. Jones Articulate Detroit: Augmenting Public Writing. Computers & Composition Online, Spring 2019, https://doi.org/10.23860/articulatedetroit.
A. Vee. Coding Literacy How Computer Programming Is Changing Writing. MIT Press, 2017.
J. Frith. Smartphones as Locative Media. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.

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SIGDOC '24, October 20–22, 2024, Fairfax, USA