Earlier this week I spoke on the Augmented Reality: Entertainment Meets Ubiquitous Computing panel at the National Association of Broadcasters conference.  In my intro talk I stated that AR should be thought of as the intersection of two separate trends: the augmentation of human capabilities through technology, and the digitization of the physical world of people, places and things. I named these trends ‘augmented humanity’ and ‘enspirited reality’. My slides for the panel (cc-by-nc):

My fellow panelists (photo) came from diverse perspectives and included Joe Garlington from Disney Imagineering, Bruno Uzzan from Total Immersion, Chetan Damani of Acrossair, and Rebecca Allen, director of Nokia’s Hollywood research lab; the estimable Seth Shapiro moderated the discussion. Garlington showed video clips from several of Disney’s mixed reality theme park projects, Bruno wowed the crowd with his familiar K’NEX demo, Chetan showed off one of the acrossair apps live on iPhone, and Rebecca Allen screened an extended clip from NRC’s Westwood Experience mobile storytelling project. Overall I think the discussion was well-received, even if the topic was a bit fast-forward for the largely broadcast-focused attendees.