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OF YEARBOOKS Share videos, expand coverage and increase interactivity Every day, more and more teens are using mobile devices — smartphones and tablets — to share videos and photos and to stay connected to their friends. Across the country, yearbook staffs are expanding coverage and creating a fun and interactive experience for their buyers by incorporating video into their yearbooks using augmented reality platforms, QR codes and the new ReplayIt video feature. Aurasma is one of several augmented reality platforms that uses image recognition technology to publish “augmented content” — such as videos and 3D animation. Yearbook staffs can use this platform to “transform” the photos on a yearbook spread into videos that can be viewed via mobile devices. The platform is not yearbook-specific. It’s available to anyone — yearbook staffs, businesses, organizations and individuals — who creates an account. Once yearbook readers download the free Aurasma app to their Apple or Android mobile device, they can hold it over the photo on the yearbook spread and play a content-related video on their device. The downside of using this platform is that the videos posted to Aurasma can be accessed only via mobile devices, not via laptops or computers.
With QR codes (quick response codes) a code is embedded into the yearbook pages. Readers download a free app, pass their mobile device over the QR code and watch a video, bringing to life the images on the yearbook spread. Students can also interact with video content on Jostens ReplayIt, a yearbook-specific social media platform. The free ReplayIt app for iPhones, Androids and Windows 8 devices makes it easy to share videos and photos on the go. ReplayIt can also be accessed through a laptop or desktop computer. At the end of the year, all the yearbook content — including videos — that has been uploaded to ReplayIt is sealed into a digital Time Capsule that’s available only to yearbook buyers. In 2014, ReplayIt is launching a Time Capsule mobile app, making it even easier to interact with the story of the year — anytime, anywhere.
fall 2013 |
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