Emerge: Sessions on Augmented Reality at the Web 2.0 Expo Open

John Havens, well known for his book with Shel Holtz, Tactical Transparency, and as former Lead Organizer of Podcamp NYC, is helping us put together a block of sessions at the Web 2.0 Expo Open all about Augmented Reality (AR).  While I had an idea about Augmented Reality before John started talking to me about all the possibilities it opens up, this concentration of sessions with some of the leaders in AR will be a great look inside what’s rapidly becoming possible with the proliferation of smart phones and digital applications.

Augmented Reality is being touted as everything from “gimmicky” to “bigger than the web” and has been utilized by companies like GE, IBM, Walmart, and Best Buy. Whatever your take on the subject, AR is getting a massive amount of buzz and the technology that has been written about in cyberpunk novels for over two decades is coming to fruition via the mobile tools available in the latest Android models and iPhone. “Emerge” , as we are calling these sessions, will feature a number of leaders in the AR community who will dispel inaccuracies while also demonstrating how the ideas of collaborative intuition combined with the semantic web and social networks make AR the “touchstone technology” that makes it a paradigm shift that may drastically alter culture and commerce alike.

Here’s just a few quick YouTube videos about AR so you can see it in action:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0pMeg1UN0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw_Mp5YkaE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00FGtH5nkxM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNu4CluFOcw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67xUCULGdE[/youtube]