Report from the BOTI 2015 Conference: Augmented Reality and the Future of Product Information

The BOTI 2015 conference welcomed speakers representing Swedish businesses — Sigma Technology, Knowit, Saab, and Atlas Copco among them, — universities, and famous stand-up comedian Karin Adelsköld. The key topic for this year convention was “From information to communication.”

As an active BOTI member, Sigma Technology, of course, participated in the event:

• Johan Thornadtsson, Vice President at Sigma Technology Information and BOTI Board Member, was the host of the entire conference.
• Tommy Hudin and Jason Brim, Sigma Technology Information Engineers, held a 45-minute presentation on how to inspire technical writers. Among other things, they talked about their different personalities and different working methods as technical writers. Their speech inspired BOTI participants and triggered a discussion afterwards, where people shared whether they feel like a “Tommy” or a “Jason” at work.

• Jonas Lagergren, Sigma Technology Consultant, leads the BOTI working group that handles questions and topics related to research within technical information. Jonas was also involved in presenting Sigma Technology’s research on augmented reality:

“We’ve all heard and seen a lot about augmented reality the last couple of years. Colorful presentations show the capabilities of this new and exciting technology. But what value can it bring to our business?

“For this year’s BOTI conference, we wanted to present Sigma Technology’s take on the subject; not just a showcase of the technology, but a real problem that could be solved with augmented reality technology.

“The distance between the product and the writer can often be a challenge. We showed how we addressed this using augmented reality. We visualized how this technology can be used as a real time interaction tool between two persons. It helps a technical expert to interact directly in the field of view of the other person and even show tools and components. How amazing is it?

“The use of wearable technology, such as a head mounted display and camera, also gives the user a possibility to record short clips to complement the written instructions. This technique would not only visualize the information for the end user in a great way, but also it can make the development of technical information more efficient.”

“Sigma Technology has been a member of BOTI for several years by now. We take every chance to participate in its events to share knowledge and learn new trends in technical communication and product information,” Johan Thornadtsson states.

For more information, please contact Johan Thornadtsson.