A Magic Book looks like a regular storybook with colorful pages and simple text. By touching a switch on the HMD, readers can fly into the virtual scene and freely explore the immersive environment. Wearing HMDs, each reader can view AR scenes from their own perspective or fly into the immersive world and see each other represented as avatars in the same virtual scene. Readers that remain in the AR setting have a God s eye view of their fellow readers as miniature avatars in the virtual scene before them. In contrast, the 3-D environment being developed at the IMSC without fancy eyewear.
Interactive video is also under development.
One of the most promising technologies for journalism comes from the development laboratories of iMove . For example, using the software it is possible to add layers of information into a linear video, where the viewer can click on a building, person or other object and obtain information the journalist has provided, such as identifying labels, links to related Web pages, or additional multimedia. Extended user controls allow manipulation of playback speed and direction of the video. Our technology turns video into an active experience, allowing the viewer to explore news and sports events individually. Researchers and their students have used the MJW to create several situated documentaries to tell the stories of past campus events.