Mobile Augmented Reality for Supporting Reflection

Abstract

Reflecting on past experiences is crucial for learning from them and reconsider actions that have been taken in order to make better future choices. Different tools have been developed to support reflection both as an individual and collaborative activity. Aim of these tools is to provide individuals with information related to experience in order to make them reflect about it. However reflecting in a setting which is not the one where the object of reflection happened affects the reflective process due to the lack of the context in which the experience took place.This work aims at investigating how the usage of the Augmented Reality can be exploited in order to support reflection. In particular the main goal of the work is to study how Augmented Reality can trigger reflection on work practices that rely on deployment and management of resources in space.The outcome of this work is the analysis of a system that allows users to collect contextual information that has a strong spatial dimension and the design and implementation of an Augmented Reality application for tablet-device in order to visualize the information collected. A high level architecture of both the overall system and the prototype implemented is provided as well as storyboards for the solution proposal. The prototype implemented has been object of an experts evaluation in order to assess the potential usefulness of the application in real settings connected with the Italian Civil Defense. A workshop paper based on the work done in this thesis has been also written in concert with my supervisor Professor Monica Divitini and my co-advisor Simone Mora.