The Emergence of Augmented Reality (AR) as a Storytelling Medium in Journalism

Abstract

Digital technology holds the potential to transform journalism and the media in several beneficial ways, including new forms of storytelling that might better engage citizens and provide more context, nuance, and texture to reported events and issues. However, the extent to which these benefits have been realized is mixed and subject to debate. In this monograph, we examine how digital technology might transform the content of journalism through augmented reality (AR). The significance of digital storytelling through AR is manifest in its potential to engage a citizenry increasingly disengaged from traditional news and to provide more contextualized information.

FIJI: A Framework for the Immersion-Journalism Intersection

“…Essentially, the smartphone or tablet becomes a handheld window to a world comprised of the surrounding real world and virtual objects. For example, The New York Times used handheld AR to transform its masthead banner into a 3D animation of New York City (Pavlik and Bridges, 2013). Another example of handheld AR journalism is the CI-Spy application developed by Singh et al (2015), in which users were introduced to the history of a local historic site.…”

“…With handheld AR, a cameraequipped smartphone or tablet is pointed at a predefined 2D image and then a video or virtual 3D object is overlaid onto that image (Pavlik and Bridges, 2013). Essentially, the smartphone or tablet becomes a handheld window to a world comprised of the surrounding real world and virtual objects.…”

Medios de comunicación impresos y realidad aumentada, una asociación con futuro

“…Los resultados referidos a la percepción de los lectores en el uso de RA para complementar el contenido impreso indican que les produce una mayor cercanía a la noticia; y, en función del tipo de acontecimiento noticioso, consideran que fomenta la curiosidad por la información, sienten inmersión en la noticia al visualizarla inserta en un contexto recreado audiovisualmente, perciben que les transmite mayor credibilidad y convicción sobre lo leído y consideran que esta tecnología puede permitirles, en función de la noticia, divertimiento e interactuar con la información, según el caso. Son resultados coincidentes con el estudio de J. Pavlik, quien también atribuye a la RA la capacidad de involucrar a la ciudadanía en el acontecer, mediante otra forma de contar las historias periodísticas (Pavlik, 2013a(Pavlik, , 2013b.…”

Going Beyond the Classic News Narrative Convention: The Background to and Challenges of Immersion in Journalism

“…Two years later, after the death of Amadou Diallo, a Bronx resident killed by 41 police bullets, they collaborated with journalists from APBNews.com on a 360° photographic report from the scene of the killing. They also used AR to discuss past events, such as the 1968 students' revolts on the university campuses (Pavlik, 2001;Pavlik and Bridges, 2013).…”