A priceless gift
by Heather Leggett
It has cost Adelaideans little more than their time, but UniSA’s Gift of Knowledge lecture series is giving those who sign up a wealth of information.
The free lecture series, which started in July, covers a fascinating range of topics that are already stimulating national debate.
From discussions about sustainable communities, to x-ray vision, human rights, the future of our water supply and obesity, the series has featured some of UniSA’s brightest researchers.
The remaining eight lectures will be no exception. Those who attend can expect to be involved in a discussion about climate proofing Australian cities, hear from a ‘recovering economist’ and be privy to new research that might change life as we know it.
The Gift of Knowledge series is part of UniSA’s drive to give the community access to valuable knowledge on key local and global issues.
For the full list of lectures still to take place from September to November, see the Gift of Knowledge homepage, and also check our events page.
X-ray vision a reality
Being
able to see through solid walls sounds like the stuff of science
fiction, but for researchers at UniSA’s Wearable Computer
Laboratory, this is real life, only better.
As attendees at a Gift of Knowledge lecture in late July found out, it is called Augmented Reality (AR), where a combination of real and virtual data gives users a form of x-ray vision. The technology involves registered computer graphics being overlayed on real images in real time.
While the technology has applications in search and rescue, medicine, construction and entertainment, you’re most likely to encounter AR on your mobile phone. Professor Bruce Thomas, Director of the Wearable Computer Laboratory says that commercialisation of this technology isn’t far off.
"It’s very easy to get into the market," he says.
"Mobile phones, for example, are equipped with hardware components that support AR applications, like digital cameras, GPS and wireless internet connections. Hand-held and other movable forms of AR can bring digital information out of the workstation and into a person’s everyday life."