Studio IV: Contextual Statement

The augmentation of technology into physical media is a concept that has already
been achieved multiple times. How long, however, until new technology is used to
augment the old digitally? Stepping on the ship of those pioneering the concept, I
saw the static pages that many people use every day for online shopping and chose
that angle as a place to experiment with the concept of digital augmentation. The
purpose of this research was to examine how an audience interacts with an
animated/simulated environment over a static one and to gauge their reaction and
engagement to each environment in order to increase audience interest in the
subject matter.
Simulation is a technique (not a technology) to replace and amplify real
experiences with guided ones, often immersive in nature, that evoke or replicate
substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion. (2010, Lateef)

The trend of current and future technologies are moving towards moving images
and simulations as a way to convey ideas and to make testing and surveying
products easier.
One of the ways the old static environment is being replaced is with the fairly new
concept of simulated environments. Simulated enviroments provide audience
interaction in a way completely unique to itself. Allowing a user to enter, interact
with and change a virtual environment to their liking will open up an entirely new
angle on digital experiences. There is a lot of potential using simulated
environments; complicated concepts could be expressed easily with visual
expression and user interaction. Some concepts are already being explored
Computer simulated experiments have gained increasing attention from
marketing researchers interested in studying dynamic buying behaviour.
(Campo, Gijsbrechts, Guerra, 1998).

"For the past thirty years, people have predicted that technology will transform
the shopping experience," Burke says. "And for thirty years, we have been
disappointed. The limitations of personal computers and communication
technologies made shopping at home harder than shopping in the physical store-the systems were too slow, too unreliable, and too hard to use. Now the
technology has evolved to the point where it can deliver significant benefits to
consumers." (Englert, 2012). The concept of a simulated shopping center isnt
that new, but I couldnt find a single actual implementation into a real store
online. A very similar concept was a virtual demo created by company Keytree
(Prigg, 2012) using motion sensors in order to reproduce the shopping
experience without leaving the house. This is an interesting idea, but it did not
come into fruition because (in my opinion) it was trying to run before it could
walk; meaning first a successful virtual simulation has to be created and
maintained before elements such as motion sensors and virtual-reality helmets
can be implemented.

The simulation I ended up with was made using a Unity engine, which is an
easily accessible platform that acceptably shows the concept of a simulated
shopping environment. It is designed to engage the user and interact with them
while they shop. The main goal was to alleviate the frustration that often couples
shopping, both online and physical. The simulated environment is easier to
interact with for those who are not technically savvy and is also a more
informative way to purchase products. One of the benefits a user can get with the
simulation is a large amount of information is available instantaneously to them.
They can see dietary information, product reviews, and accurate descriptions of
the product without having to hunt the information down.

I designed the simulation to be completely different from a typical store. It

contains essential products and displays, but instead of being confined a large
building the user is outside in a field. The idea is to make the simulation less
restrictive than its physical counterpart, if the user feels better when using the
simulation than the mundane static format. There are only two different scenes at
this point in the simulation, each designed and lit in a way that enforces a
relaxed feeling to the simulation. I considered having music playing as well, but I
decided that would have been too distracting when people are trying to consider
purchases.

While I do have a working prototype, it is nowhere near completed. It has the

foundation, but there are many possibilities for augmentation. The room for
exploration and expansion with the concept of simulated technologies is great, I
have little doubt about the future expansion of simulations for many different
areas.

Matteo Giommarelli

References:

Computer Simulated Shopping Experiences. (1998). [online] Available at:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/images/uantwerpen/container1244/files/TEW%
20-%20Onderzoek/Working%20Papers/BDE/1998/BDE-1998002%20(262).pdf [Accessed 13 Oct. 2014].
Indiana.edu, (2012). Virtual Shopping Adventures. [online] Available at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/v22n2/p30.html [Accessed 17 Oct. 2014].
Lateef, F. (2010). Simulation-based learning: Just like the real thing. J Emerg
Trauma Shock, 3(4), p.348.
Mail Online, (2012). Online shopping goes virtual with a perfect recreation of a
supermarket (and you never need to leave the sofa to walk through it). [online]
Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2205408/Onlineshopping-goes-virtual-perfect-recreation-supermarket-walk-leaving-sofa.html
[Accessed 8 Aug. 2014].