Augmented Reading

DNA newspaper has employed an augmented reality application, DNAit, to enhance the reading experience and feedback from readers

BY KTP Radhika

Newspapers and magazines often come up with innovative ways to deliver content to readers. One such instance is that of Mumbai-headquartered English daily, Daily News and Analysis (DNA), when it decided to use an augmented reality (AR) application, DNAit, to make its content fluid, interactive and seamlessly integrated.

For DNA, like all media businesses, feedback and engagement with customers has always been a challenge. The management felt that AR will be a perfect branding tool for them and that the technology will make the media more interactive. It also felt that AR will help them understand consumer preferences in terms of likes or dislikes, their views and opinions on the news the publication offers. Debashish Ghosh, Board Member and Chief Technology Officer, DNA, says, “The whole idea behind DNAit is to engage the readers of print media and offer them greater value. The era of one-way communication has ended. All forms of media such as print, electronic and online have evolved over a period of time and are now trying to engage consumers by developing online content or mobile applications. We wanted to provide our readers with additional information not only in the form of text but also as images, graphics and videos.”

To meet these demands, the newspaper management approached augmented reality solutions vendor Prisma Global. The vendor’s rich domain experience of over 30 years and its customer-focused approach prompted DNA to choose Prisma’s solution. Prisma studied the needs of the newspaper thoroughly and then built DNAit on top of their product Snap2Life. Shreeram Iyer, Chairman and Group CEO of Prisma Global explains, “Snap2Life is an AR tool that combines the printed world with the web by creating a direct link between a subject and its associated online content. Using this tool, every page and picture in a magazine or newspaper can be a linked to the website and digital content. What we did with DNA was that we customized the user interface to DNA’s requirements. It just took us four days of time.”

How it works
DNAit augments the real world with the help of digital content on a 3D platform. To start with, the user needs to download the AR application on their smartphones. It is currently available on iOS and Android platforms. Like QR codes, one can scan anything in the newspaper such as an image, logo or headline. DNAit then will recognize that particular image and provide additional content (it could be additional images or videos or information). For instance, if one clicks an image of the national flag, applications will algorithmically and scientifically figure out each pixel that matches with the pixel of the reference image. If the image matches, it automatically offers the additional content to the user. According to Ghosh, implementing the application was not a time consuming process. However, they had to train their internal staff to link additional digital content to print communication which took a week.

As a technology AR has been there for almost 10 years. However, till two years ago, AR was not available to end consumers on devices since the technology was restricted to only B2B segments. “We all have seen the depiction of this technology in many construction events and B2B events but it was never available to the end consumer. However, as smartphones started penetrating the Indian market in a big way, Internet usage on smartphones also went up at a high rate. This has made AR available to the end consumers. Now with developments in the AR space, it can be used as a perfect branding and marketing tool and will be a lot more useful to the media industry,” feels Ghosh.

Real benefits
DNAit has enhanced the overall experience of DNA readers. The daily is now able to provide readers an interactive experience of reading the newspaper. Ravi Joshi, Editor – DNA, says, “In this age when the young urbanite prefers to Google it, tweet it and even WhatsApp it, we give our readers an opportunity to DNAit. The ethos of the newspaper is to ensure that the connect between DNA and its readers is no longer a one-way street. Interactivity is the only way forward and we are taking multiple steps to remain the most vibrant news paper product. The response has indeed been overwhelming.”

Ghosh adds, “With this application, we are able to engage the readers, enhance their reading experience and receive their feedback. Now, the flow of information is not restricted to just one-way communication; it is a two-way process.” And for the management, the benefits were manifold. The DNA management is now able to recognize what interests reader the most in the newspaper. “We could evaluate which news is highly consumed by readers. We are also able to figure out what kind of news excites our readers the most,” sums up Ghosh.