12/12/2016 0 Comments December 12th, 2016Augmented reality in medicine: Is it a gimmick in the publishing industry? Teaching and learning about medicine is difficult as there are many complex physiological systems, adaptive expertise and multidisciplinary collaborative skills to be learnt, which is why augmented reality has such a potential in this market. AR enables its user to visualise information (such as in the form of an interactive 3D diagram) by overlapping computer created images with the real world on a digital device. In the educational sector, AR has often been used to enhance books and learning in a way that will help the user to engage with the content more easily, improving their understanding. Jacob Santoso who helped develop HoloCell, indicates at the potential for AR, “we can put a lot more information into a 3D space than into a 2D space.” “Medical students don’t have enough cadavers” publishers such as CEO Brian Mullins from Dacqri take note, noticing a gap in the market for anatomical augmented reality publishing material. But with the restrictions book based augmented reality has, will non-book based augmented reality be more successful in this industry? What is out there?
Digital publishing company ‘Daqri’, have produced augmented reality 4D anatomy target posters for medical students. These posters can be interacted with on their AR app. Augmented reality in medical textbooks for students is also another potential avenue for publishers, creating a USP for themselves in the educational sector. Apps such as the Edulus VR virtual reality app enable teachers to make their worksheets and textbooks become interactive with augmented reality models in an attempt to excite and engage their students. With apps like this available there is the real opportunity for partnerships between publishing and technology companies, to develop their textbooks and technology, reaching a wider audience. With the STM book market worth $5 billion worldwide, the opportunities for publishers are endless. It has also been predicted that (Microsoft Annual Build Conference) the coming years may show a number ‘early-adopter institutions test[ing] out both virtual and augmented reality in their medical education curriculum’. This indicates at a great potential revenue income opportunity for publishing and technology companies in the coming years as the demand for AR by education institutions goes up. Medical education for a younger Audience? However, alternatively there are a lot more AR books and media available for a much younger amateur audience such as biological children’s education publishing. ‘Red Cell, White Cell’ is an example of this, created by Michael Brown this book, targeted at parents, uses augmented reality to help parents explain the basic biology of the human body to their children. Then also with ‘Brainspace’, a children’s educational AR based magazine created by Kickspace, covering a range of educational topics such as the basic human anatomy and conditions. Alternative AR media… for both professionals and the ordinary person More medical AR material appears available in a non-book related media environment aiming specifically at medical training where students can physically learn techniques. This enables them to build up expertise and develop adaptive skills to problems they might encounter in the real world, ‘learning by doing’. An example of this is ‘AccuVein’ an app to help improve the accuracy of nurses inserting a needle into a vein using a handheld scanner to show where the patient’s veins are. Alternatively an example of this for both the normal person is with Lucien Engelen’s (from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical centre in the Netherlands) ‘AED4EV’ App. This app shows the nearest defibrillators nearby helping people find medical assistance in emergency situations, enabling not only professionals but anyone to help in a medical situation. What issues may be encountered? However a lot of technical issues can come up with AR, making it work less efficiently. Issues such as challenges with the environment, lighting, weather, colour schemes of the environment and shadows can cause glitches in the system. Issues with the display device’s camera quality can also effect the effectiveness of AR. More investigation and development is needed by technology companies with specific experience in this industry. Is this the future? Yes, this is the future for professional medical learning but perhaps not for the publishing industry. Augmented reality in professional medical learning has surpassed book learning and appears now as a standalone product without any book type element. Medical augmented reality specifically in the publishing industry will mostly be in much lower stages of learning such as high school, primary and undergraduate university textbooks. Why? Medical training requires much more complexity that products such as ‘AccuVein’ have. AR in books doesn’t give the scope that medical training needs, but may be suitable for lower end learning to build up the reader’s understanding of the anatomy and tools. References: Websites:
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AuthorMy name is Victoria Bush and I am a Publishing Media/Fine Art student at Oxford Brookes. I'm 19 years old and I'm a self confessed bookaholic. I'm going to write 6 short blogs on this website on the realm of 'digital publishing'. I hope you enjoy them! ArchivesCategories |