Stuck E. in Augmented Reality | The Official Stuck On An Eyeland Podcast

After a year of navigating the Augmented Reality Industry both as a consumer and a developer, I started to notice trends in a variety of tangential fields: medicine, the arts, and business to business.

I recap a remarkably interesting year of Augmented Reality Development. Things have been remarkably interesting, especially this year. One of the things that I am enormously proud of is the fact that I spent literally a year in AR, and because of that I learned so much. I feel like it took a pandemic for me to get a career. I think that is just pretty crazy to me. For the most part it has been an interesting year to say the least. One year in Augmented Reality I was able to accomplish literally opening unity for the first time; to going ahead and making my first app called Eyelnd Feevr that I released in January, and I started working in this pseudo influencer YouTube video maker and online educator thing. I essentially took on the idea of exploring my identity as a black creator and sharing that with the world.

2020 was supposed to be off to a great start but the luck gods obviously had other plans.  

I recap the highs and lows of the year, and reflect on all the opportunities that came my way in life, augmented reality, medical school, and as a creator.

I Made an Augmented Reality App that Triggered Racists. With all this stuff going on in the world: COVID, Social Unrest, Police Brutality, I decided to make a statement with my work. I had to make an Augmented Reality app for the movement.

So today I decided to turn a sketch on paper into an interactive art piece using Unity, Augmented Reality, and Vuforia. The goal was to see how awesome I can make a simple drawing and push the idea of combining technology and art as far as I could take it. At the end of this little journey, I ended up with a sketch of a character named Cubey, an AR app for my Android phone, and a pretty cool experience to play with.

The value of augmented reality comes from the way digital elements blend into a person's perception of the real world, not only as a simple display of data, but through the integration of immersive interactions. Instead of reading a book, you can watch it, listen to it, or play with it. Instead of looking at a 2D picture, you can rotate, scale it, and move it.

What is an immersive experience and why does it matter? Those two questions have circulated my mind recently as I have gotten deeper into the AR space. An immersive experience is an illusory environment that completely surrounds you such that you feel that you are inside it and part of it.

Augmented reality has the power to change the way we as Black people can interact with the world and create opportunities with technology. I am on a journey to shed light on those avenues as a full stack augmented reality mobile developer. I hope to make stuff that inspires other Black creators to do the same. 

When the XR industry is booming, we are going to see studies on diversity and wonder where the black people are at. With the billions of dollars the industry will be worth, we will wonder why Black people are not getting their fair share for the pie.

Activism is the act of doing something to spark change. When we look at using augmented reality, we are really trying channel the energy and creativity we have into a medium that is more immersive and interactive. Instead of looking at art on a sign, we interact with art in augmented reality.

Let’s talk about why augmented reality (AR) is important. (AR) is important for many reasons. Because of Covid 19, in person learning, training, teaching, and entertainment will change forever.

Let's discuss the history of augmented reality (AR). Want to know about when it was created, where it was created, why it was created, or who created it? Don't worry. I got you covered. At the end of this, you will be able to contextualize how AR fits into a timeline.

I break down how augmented reality works on XR devices, and how we use it to interact with digital objects in the real world.

We learn about the different types of Augmented Reality approaches you can use.

Curious about the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality? In this video, you will find those questions out!  

Check out my free course on Art, Tech, and Activism in Augmented Reality: https://gum.co/OWHaN

Don't exclude Black Creators from Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality and XR Opportunities.

We need to push for diversity in Tech! I don’t want to see headlines ten years from now asking, "Where are all the Black people in augmented reality, mixed reality, and XR."

Using AR, you can recreate those experience for other things to contextualize the realities and combat that fantasies people have. You can replay all the events of police brutality in AR, you can replay all the events of public lynching's, you can replay all the events of Slavery. You can experience these events in an immersive way that goes beyond watching a move and you can interact with the elements as if it were a game. It is not a game because AR places the experience in the real world. AR makes the fantasy real.

For the Black Community, Art has always been a conduit for expression. Augmented reality can take that expression to new heights!

Here are some reasons to consider when you use Augmented Reality for activism, protesting, and civic engagement.

Augmented reality has the power to revolutionize the way we communicate ideas and advocate for different causes. With that being said, I explore the power art has in activism and how it can possibly expanded with AR.

You may be wondering: what is augmented reality? Why do we care about it. Often people talk about it as if it is akin to bitcoin; pre-2017. It is one of the biggest trends in tech with a tons of growth potential. It is one of the things that will continue to grow as technology advances. Augmented reality is the key to immersive integration of virtual and physical experiences.

Let's chat about Capitalism. Does it give people more opportunities, or does it just line greedy pockets. Who I affected? Who wins? Who loses? Can social safety nets mediate the effects? What happens when those safety nets are gone? I discuss all of that here.

Check out the blog posts about it: