Augmented Reality in Newspapers: Technology and Uses
An Interesting Feature in Print Media
Augmented reality is an interesting feature in newspapers that takes readers beyond the printed page. It enables people to see a video, animation, or other unexpected content that is apparently located on a page of their newspaper. The illusion is created when an augmented reality program and the camera software of a smart phone or tablet work together. The newspaper must be viewed through the camera of the mobile device in order for the illusion to work. In addition, the device must be connected to the Internet.
An Example of Augmented Reality in a Newspaper
Augmented reality or AR is the process in which a digital image is superimposed on a scene from the real world, creating a view that is part reality and part virtual reality. It's used in the environment as well as in newspapers and other types of print media.
Potentially Useful Technology
When augmented reality is used with a newspaper, a photo in an article is scanned with the camera of a mobile device. The AR software identifies the photo and then loads related digital content. The content is displayed in the device's camera view. It's often positioned over the scanned photo so that the digital content appears to have replaced the photo.
Although the content that is loaded is frequently a video, there are many other possibilities. A photo gallery, the latest news updates or sport scores, related social media information, educational animations, additional facts, a relevant map, a restaurant menu, a competition entry, or a reservation page for a special event are all possible uses for newspaper AR.
News Alive in Australia
More Examples of AR Use in Newspapers
Newspapers around the world have added augmented reality in an attempt to enhance their product, although this has sometimes been done on a trial basis. The newspapers want to attract new audiences—especially young people—to increase their waning number of readers. Two papers in my area have used AR in recent years. All of the pictures in this article were taken by me as I explored augmented reality in the Metro and Burnaby NOW newspapers.
The Metro Newspaper
The Metro is a free weekday newspaper in the Greater Vancouver area that for a while included daily AR content. The full name of the newspaper is currently the Star Metro Vancouver, which distinguishes it from the Metro newspapers published by the same company in different cities and countries. At least some of these related newspapers have also used AR.
In my exploration of the newspaper's augmented reality features I encountered YouTube videos, movie clips, videos that seemed to have been created by the newspaper, extra photos, photo slide shows, and an informative poster about training for a marathon. The newspaper also offered a competition code that was available through AR. The augmented reality was provided via Metro's own app for mobile devices.
Burnaby NOW
Burnaby NOW (part of the NOW newspaper group) is a free community newspaper that is published twice a week. At one time, each issue offered AR features similar to those of the Metro newspaper. The paper also enabled people to buy concert tickets through augmented reality. Burnaby NOW used the Layar app to provide its AR.
Additional Newspapers That Have Used Augmented Reality
The Tokyo Shimbun is a Japanese newspaper that has used AR to change articles aimed at adults into easily understandable articles for children. Animated cartoon characters, color, pop-up headlines, and a simplified alphabet made the newspaper useful and entertaining for a child. In Australia, one newspaper group has used an AR app called News Alive to enable readers to explore a 3D version of buildings.
Share the Newspaper With Children
How Does Augmented Reality in Newspapers Work?
When the Metro published its first newspaper containing AR content it likened the newspaper to the ones appearing in the Harry Potter movies. In these newspapers, moving scenes appeared on a page containing otherwise static content. This type of newspaper would be wonderful in real life, but it doesn't exist (yet). The appearance of movement on a page of today's newspapers is a trick that requires special equipment.
The reader must have a smartphone or tablet with a camera as well as an Internet connection in order to use the AR features of a newspaper. In addition, the augmented reality software must be able to link to the software controlling the camera of the mobile device. This should be no problem when using an iOS or Android device.
Augmented reality in a newspaper works via image recognition. With the aid of the camera app in the mobile device, the AR program identifies a photo and loads the digital content that is linked to that photo. As viewed through the camera, the linked content often appears as an overlay on top of the image that was scanned. If the digital content is a video, it does give the newspaper page a slightly Harry Potter-like appearance as it plays. Once the content is loaded, when the mobile device is moved away from the newspaper the content stays in view.
AR in Newspapers and Beyond
A Marker-Based Process
The augmented reality in my local Metro newspaper was marker based. The steps in using the AR from this newspaper on a mobile device such as my iPad were as follows. The newspaper app was available as a free download at the Apple Store.
- Open the newspaper app.
- Click the AR symbol on the front page of the app.
- The app opens the camera application on the iPad in scan mode. Fill the screen with the photo to be scanned.
- The photo is automatically scanned as a vertical green line moves over the photo. Markers (the green dots in two of the photos below) are temporarily laid down as the scan line moves.
- Information from the markers is sent to a newspaper computer.
- The computer compares the information from the scanned photo with the photo information stored in its database until it finds matching data.
- Once a match is found, the computer performs the action that it's programmed to carry out when that photo has been identified (such as loading a particular video or slide show).
Failure to Scan
This process for obtaining AR content is fast when it works properly, as it often does. Sometimes the "Scan result not found" message appears, however. The scan line moves over the photo and markers appear and then disappear as normal, but the scan isn't successful.
The augmented reality feature in the Burnaby NOW newspaper worked in the same general way as in the Metro newspaper. The Layar app used by Burnaby NOW examined outlines and edges in photos. It often worked very well but sometimes failed to scan successfully.
When a photo scan quickly triggers interesting content to load, the AR feature is very enjoyable. When multiple scans are needed to obtain success the process is less enticing. The photo scanning and content loading procedures aren't foolproof. It's frustrating when they don't work, whatever the reason for the problem. I occasionally encountered a photo that I couldn't scan correctly, even when I tried on multiple days and under multiple conditions.
Augmented Reality in the Burnaby NOW Newspaper
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeImproving AR in Newspapers
Augmented reality in newspapers is potentially a very useful feature and could be a great enhancement to them in the future. I enjoy looking at digital content linked to newspaper articles. Based on my experience, however, the technology needs to be improved. I consider the following features to be very important in order for AR in newspapers to be effective.
- The augmented reality feature should be easy to use, reliable, and as foolproof as possible.
- The scanning and content loading process should be rapid. Instant or very nearly instant gratification is necessary in order for the technology to appeal to people.
- The digital content should offer added value to the print article.
- Ideally, the digital content should be obtainable only through the AR program and shouldn't be something that a person could find on the Internet on their own.
- If the content is available on the Internet and can be accessed via a web browser, it's very important that obtaining it through an AR program is a rapid and convenient process.
- Some people feel that the new content should contain movement or interactivity, since otherwise static material in the newspaper is simply being replaced with more static material. I don't mind seeing static digital content as long as it's rich in new information.
An Unanswered Question
One question that needs to be answered is whether people will want to look at digital content linked to newspapers when they could get all their information from the Internet and dispense with a newspaper altogether. Compelling or unique content in both the paper and its AR content might help to attract readers. Apparently the attraction of augmented reality—at least as it was implemented—wasn't strong enough in my local newspapers, since the feature was dropped. Improved technology and new abilities might encourage the papers to try AR again.
Other Examples of AR Use
Other types of print media besides newspapers have used augmented reality, including the book version of Guinness World Records. Additional books and some magazines have used the technology as well.
Specialized AR apps are appearing. Microsoft Translator enables a traveler to point their mobile device at text written in another language and then read the text in their own language. The Google Translate app does the same thing.
Augmented reality apps have been developed to let people learn more about buildings, cars, museums displays, golf courses, mountains, stars, and other parts of the environment. Some of these apps work by detecting location instead of by reading markers, but all display digital content in addition to real-life content.
Eyeglasses that provide augmented reality seem to be increasing in popularity. The Pokémon Go game with added AR was very popular in 2016. There have certainly been some interesting developments, including the release of an AR development toolkit from Apple. Whether the new developments are helpful for newspapers remains to be seen.
Image Recognition That Triggers Augmented Reality
Access to Mobile Technology
The potential uses of augmented reality technology are exciting, but as is the case with many other technological developments, they aren't available to everyone. Many people don't have a smartphone or a tablet with mobile Internet access. They either can't afford them or don't want to get them. In some areas the mobile devices or an Internet connection aren't available.
People involved with the creation and use of AR features are getting excited about the increasing number of people with smartphones and tablets and about the potential uses of augmented reality. It's predicted that new uses for AR will appear this year. The problem of supplying mobile devices for augmented reality to everyone who would like them or could benefit from them—such as children in schools—is a major one, however.
In the high school where I used to teach, there were many "haves" with their own mobile device but also a significant number of "have nots". The school discussed getting a class set of tablets but never bought them because it would have been an expensive purchase. The high cost is a shame because augmented reality could be very useful in education.
Newspapers of the Future
I'm looking forward to seeing new developments in augmented reality for newspapers, other publications, and the environment and am very interested in its potential. At the moment I'm not confident in the success of AR for newspapers, however.
In its present implementation, viewing the AR features of a newspaper requires a commitment that people may not be willing to make. A newspaper reader must open an app, tap on the screen (in at least some apps), hover their device over an image, get a successful scan, and wait for digital content to be loaded from a computer on the Internet.
This multistep process for obtaining digital content may be acceptable when all the steps work rapidly and seamlessly, but not when one or more of them causes a bottleneck. Viewing augmented reality needs to be a "hover and see" process in order to attract people.
If AR technology is improved, however—which it probably will be—its present applications could become exciting and new applications could appear. I hope the improvements come in time to help newspapers. I enjoy reading certain papers even when they have no augmented reality features and would be very unhappy if they disappeared.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
Questions & Answers
© 2014 Linda Crampton
Comments
This sounds like a very interesting concept. I tend not pay too much attention to VR or AR but they are getting more interesting concepts and uses. Nice Hub.
I had heard of augmented reality navigation systems but never about newspapers. Thanks for sharing the info!
Wow! This is like in Harry Potter's movies, this augmented reality. And now it's happening in the USA and Canada homelands. I hope it reaches Philippines ASAP.
New technology on the leading edge. Wow. This is awesome. Glad to find your understandable explanation and learn of this. Thanks. It reminds me of the moving pictures on the Daily Prophet newspaper in the Harry Potter Series. Fiction does stimulate new realities.
Wow, this sounds pretty impressive!
AliciaC, that was very nice and pretty informative article. I guess there's just a little drawback that the quality of audio-visual services of the AR will be according to the device used. Otherwise, it's just another amazing invention human has ever made.
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Wow! I am totally stunned. Not in my wildest dreams I could foreseen augmented reality. Thanks for explaining this in such a way that even I can understand it, Alicia.
Interesting hub Alicia, as I had not come across augmented reality before. Like most things it has good points and bad ones. But one of my concerns is that it is just reinforcing our dependency on smart phones. As you pointed out, not every one has one or wants one. I'm already fed up with social occasions where people just sit fiddling with their phones instead of actually talking to each other.
Also can't we learn to love ordinary reality? Does it have to be augmented or virtual?
What a fascinating topic, and certainly as smart phones grow in popularity it will become more popular. Your point about whether people will still want to read newspapers if they can get it all online is certainly a good one, however!
The scope of this technology is limited. You need to have a smartphone or tablet with good camera handy and also you need to have a high speed internet connection at home to get this thing work. I don't think a lot of people is interested to get the advantage of this new technology.
Folks, I am missing something.
If you have a tablet, couldn't you just receive a graphic that resembles a newspaper with the copy being the latest news. The newspaper might charge a subscription, as they would for this new product, which few people are willing to pay.
I grant you the technology is interesting, but as a old newspaper reporter, I do not see this kind of paper being put together on a daily basis, video produced for it and then delivered from house to house.
Online news has been the biggest problem for newspapers. Some gave too much copy away and thus lost circulation and advertising dollars. Others only offer a sample and get a small number of subscribers to view the newspaper either like an online post or as my old paper is doing, offering access to a PDF file.
The technology is interesting, but the application and more important the need for the application escapes me.
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Wow, very interesting. I might have to actually get a smartphone or tablet or something. technology is amazing. Great hub.
Hi Alicia, now that's fascinating! I had heard of the idea, but I didn't know what it was called and had never seen it, so the videos and your explanation was great! We are getting clever aren't we with all the new tech stuff! lol! I just want holograms that I can have all around my house, now that would be something! great hub, and fascinating! voted up and shared! nell
Wow, this is a cool feature of a newspaper. I am imaging a Harry Potter newspaper in the future. With so many newspapers closing, I wonder what they will think of next to keep the paper business alive.
I am sorry I missed this fascinating read here! Been off a bit since the Easter weekend and this week ...
I have to say that I have not heard of this, or maybe I knew of it, but just did not know what it is called.
I do know newspapers are having to come up with something, being many in my state have let go so many people and only publishing a real newspaper on certain days with all being on-line.
Up and more and away!
Have a great rest of the week.
Blessings
Hi Alicia,
Great article about a technology I never heard of.
At the present time I fall into the category of those who don't use a smart phone or tablet but may do so in the future, so it's good to know what's out there.
Thanks for posting this well researched article. It was very interesting and I'm voting it up across the board except for funny.
Hi Linda. How interesting. To be honest I have never heard of Augmented Reality in newspapers. It sounds like a great idea. I don't get the daily paper anymore so this is news to me. I'll be curious to see how this evolves over the next few years.
It is amazing how far technology has come and what we can do with it. I haven't heard of this before!
I've never heard of this until now. You have such a good grasp of modern technology. Voted up and shared.
A brilliant hub and so much more to think about here you always come up with such great topics.
When do people find time to read so much material off their smart phones and tablets. I worked for 22 years on the same job. During the last few I had a television turned to CNN on my left,my computer in front of me and a stack of work on my desk. One daily job was to write a news capsule about the oil and gas industry. I had a service that highlighted the stories. I use the first paragraph, put a headline on it and a link to the paper. THose that had copyrights, I asked permission.
I had few people call me and asked me to stop because Louisiana was not a prime interest and they were receiving 10 other newsletters on their phones.
There are some good writers in the news media--but you have to read and not scan. It is not necessary that we all know or try to know everything. We just need to be aware and if working, concentrate on the job and not some interesting, but not a concern of your company, event taking place in another state.
I am retired. I spend more time reading my morning paper than I use to. I watch the evening news and I read the headlines I get in my e-mail and follow up if needed. I am not uninformed, but I do not try to know everything.
Just my 2 cents. I think we are still making pennies.
This is very interesting. Whatever attracts more readers huh? I know that newspaper readership is on the decline and so newspapers are doing what they can to change it up and attract people who are addicted to their phones and social media.
Wow. And I still miss plain clack and white for the daily paper.
I am an old newspaper reporter. We told our stories with words and still pictures. The advantage was you could deliver the paper by throwing it in the yard and the only thing the consumer needed was the ability to read.
Newspapers are dying. That is unfortunate because while the Internet may give us the national and international news (often in excess), the internet is not going to put the names of the people who made the Honor Roll at school, detail stories about high school football teams, pictures of the homecoming queens, actions of the city council, school board, etc.
I live in a faily large city and we have one daily newspaper. It does a good job, but not great because of space limitations resulting from a decline in advertising.
I am not going to hook up all the gadgets just to see a moving picture on my newspaper. This is an example of technology doing something that is not really needed.
Just call me old.
So interesting--I hadn't realized this was being done --I will have to keep a look out for it
Wow, I have never seen this yet but it sounds super interesting. You have done a great job on this hub and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Containing AR in newspapers is an excellent idea because so many of us carry smartphones and tablets, and what may appear as static in a newspaper can really come to life through the usage of a tablet with video. There is a lot of expansion and innovation that will branch off from this, we really are heading into the futuristic years with AR, Google Glass and what not. It will be exciting to see how this continues. I like the examples that you provided in the photos
Voted interesting, useful and shared. Linked to this from my Google Glass hub. Happy Easter!
Change continues, doesn't it my friend? I wonder if newspapers will even exist in ten years? I wonder if there will always be dinosaurs like me who enjoy thumbing through real pages of print? Oh well...Happy Easter!
What'll they think of next! I would imagine AR is good news for the newspaper industry as they have had to compete with online newspapers. Thanks for letting us hear about augmented reality.
I am another that has not heard of this technology before. You did a wonderful job of explaining all the details concerning AR technology. This sounds like something that will become more refined in the near future. Very interesting hub!
Wow, this is amazing technology. I'm also surprised it has been around for a couple of years. I haven't heard of 'augmented reality' either, but then I haven't looked at a newspaper for quite some time. We are usually a few years behind here n Australa though, so I doubt any of our newspapers are using it yet...but who knows. Voted up.
Augmented Reality is a great feature but as you have mentioned not everyone can access it. It is definitely like in the Harry Potter movies. Great write, interesting and informative.
Alicia, at the risk of appearing dumb, I have to say I have never heard of this before. I mean, I know about reading newspapers and magazines on the internet with links to videos, but to have a real newspaper to hold in my hand, to be able to view moving pictures is something I've never heard of.
I've concluded that I must be very far behind the times because after I read your excellent hub which explained AR perfectly, the suggested (related) hubs I clicked before coming back to leave this comment - had articles dated as far back as October 2012!
I guess I'm just surprised that I've never heard of AR, given the amount of time I've spent on the internet in the past year or two.
I thought I was a very "with it" Grandma, up to date on technology so I can talk to and understand my grandchildren and this has burst my bubble. lol
Your hub was very good as were the videos. Thank you for cluing me in. lol
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