Project Abstract

The use of AR technology for increasing engagement is a growing research area. With the minority of under-18’s reading in their free time in the UK, I explored how the use of AR would improve engagement with books through the use of sounds and animations. Alongside this, I wanted to improve accessibility in books by adding features to help users with visual impairments (such as switching to a large text version). Using Unity and the HoloLens headset, I created a virtual environment where the user would be immersed into the world of the book with assets representing a key part of the book. Several difficulties were encountered during the development ranging from the device locking itself out to the version of Unity I was using not being compatible with the plugins I wanted to use. Despite this, I created a product which holds three different books that were obtained from the Gutenberg Project which are accompanied with an appropriate environment. Although I met most of the aims and objectives that I set out, the user study concluded that both e-readers and traditional books are better. Despite this, the participants in the study found it a fun novelty and some participants commented that they liked the accessibility features that are present.

Keywords: HCI, AR,

 Conference Details

Session: Poster Session A at Poster Stand 101

Location: Sir Stanley Clarke Auditorium at Tuesday 7th 13:30 – 17:00

Markers: Jen Pearson, C�cilia Pradic

Course: BSc Computer Science, 3rd Year

Future Plans: I have a job lined-up