As English is my third language, after Ukrainian and Russian, I had to look up the meaning of the word Augmented, which I found out means improved, increased, better, etc. After I finished the reading I would like to change the term augmented to the opposite of the meaning as disabling, controlled, diminishing, artificial. I understand the reason why the author used that word as information is readily available to us and much more accessible, many places we’re being bombarded with images and information, but I don’t necessarily see that as beneficial or useful. It’s quite the contrary, as constant increased surveillance and information being picked up from us to be converted into info making choices for us or at least trying to. There’s a lack of control and freedom, also a lack of self discovery or discovery of the world. I believe that people make themselves better by discovering and learning new things themselves, not a screen telling them and showing them information. Another sad realization is that augmented space is mostly used for advertising purposes, such as malls or places like Times Square, which is basically an outdoor mall in NYC. A few interesting examples of how artists use augmented space were mentioned and public projects as well, but those are rare in our everyday lives.
The most interesting part of the article I found was towards the end and also dealing with advertisement. It discussed the Prada store being designed like a church, which I thought was the saddest part for me. In todays age people worship and idealize the images they see on the screen, they are defined by these objects they buy and clothes they wear trying to become their idols; whereas, before in history people were defined by the God believed in, fought and died fro their freedom and beliefs. Now God is replaced by these material possesions like trendy clothes, fancy electronics and these things are what people strive for, long for and believe in. I believe this is a huge problem in today’s society and I’m not exactly sure what a solution would be. I enjoyed reading this article though it brought up some very key points.

~Veronika Trishyna