A people-centric framework for mobile augmented reality systems (MARS) design: ArcHIVE 4Any

Abstract

This paper introduces a generic people-centric mobile augmented reality systems (MARS) framework to leverage the application system design and implementation. Proposed 4Any framework could be used as a meta architecture to guide the development of MARS. The main challenge in MARS design is providing a generic framework flexible enough to allow rapid development of applications to be used by different types of people. The paper demonstrates how 4Any framework has been applied in an ongoing project ArcHIVE 4Any using two field studies in Chalon sur Saone, France and Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey. ArcHIVE 4Any was implemented by using Django framework. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of the framework in terms of flexibility of system architecture and usability in recording landmarks in a number of heritage sites. In 4Any Framework we assume learning has to occur anywhere, anyway, anytime for anybody. The actors in this framework are specified as Instructor, Learner, Device and Programmer. Each actor initiates an action with respective entities Information, Media, Location and Time. What mediates each action is the metadata layer between the entities and people profiles using the same system. Metadata layer provides mapping between the underlying structures and definitions of associated content between the actors and entities. This way, each user sees a different face of the same system. The 4Any system architecture separates the system into four modules: Instruction, Learning, Device and Coding. There are 2 main sides of this framework to support learning anytime, anywhere, anyway by anybody: Pedagogical and Technological. The framework is composed of four layers that correspond to each row: Actors, Profiles, Metadata to be shared, and Scenario. With the rapid development of mobile technologies, new features of mobile devices will become available. The usability test results with ten Instructor profiles suggest that 4Any framework will be able serve as a vehicle for people-centric computing, to be used by anybody, anywhere, anyway, and anytime. Thus, the paper contributes to the knowledge in Human Centric Computing by taking into account multiple users and presenting different faces to each user demonstrating an example of the People Centric Computing paradigm.