The final grant products will be delivered the first quarter of 2022
KENT, Ohio (WKBN) – Kent State University is using augmented reality to teach the history of a deadly shooting 50 years ago, and it’s getting a grant to do it.
Coinciding with the 50th commemoration of the events of May 4, 1970, Kent State University faculty members have received a grant for $175,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant will help them launch an on-site augmented reality experience of that day when Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on Kent State students protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, killing four and wounding nine.
The technology delivers historical content to the user on a mobile device according to the user’s location.
The goal of the project is to harness augmented reality for teaching history, memory healing and civic activism. The technology will allow users to visit this time in history by placing them in the reconstructed landscape of the campus, as it was on May 1 – 4, 1970.
As a result of a previous grant provided by NEH in 2018, the Kent State team developed a prototype of the augmented reality experience. The new grant will expand content provided in the prototype, reshape the experience and ultimately bring the application to the public.
With the new NEH grant, the team estimates the public will be able to try out the product for the 50th commemoration in May 2020.
The final grant products will be delivered the first quarter of 2022.
You can click here for more information about the 50th Commemoration of May 4.