Pokémorials: Placing Norms in Augmented Reality

University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol. 50, 2017

Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2018-02

46 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2017

See all articles by Elizabeth F. Judge

Elizabeth F. Judge

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Tenille E. Brown

Bora Laskin Faculty of Law; Human Rights Research and Education Centre

Date Written: December 15, 2017

Abstract

Augmented reality is an emerging technology that overlays digital images onto depictions of the real-world using a hand-held device. Augmented properties, where these real and virtual spaces intersect, raise interesting norms conflicts. While norms literature has emphasized the importance of communities, the significance of place has not been as strongly emphasized as a factor. To illustrate the place-based nature of norms, this paper examines norms conflicts between real property and technology communities that occurred when Pokémon Go, a gaming application that uses augmented reality, was played at memorial sites. We discuss Pokémon Go as an example of augmented reality and detail how the technology creates augmented properties. The paper analyses in detail the norms conflicts that arose when Pokémon Go players visited memorial sites, such as cemeteries, war museums, and monuments, which attracted media attention and public condemnation. Notably, the strident criticisms against playing the game at places of remembrance could not be explained in terms of real property depletion, trespassing, or overcrowding. Instead, we argue that the conflicts may be explained based on the place-based nature of norms, the still emerging norms around the use of augmented reality technology, and the uncertainty around the norms for new places of augmented property. Significantly, although augmented reality as a technology is spatially precise, it is not sensitive to place and does not incorporate place-based norms in its architecture. Building on these insights, we recommend using “zoning” mechanisms from property law and technology to mediate these place-based norms conflicts that may continue to occur as the use of augmented reality affects real property.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Norms, Pokémon Go, Law and Technology, Law and Geography, Property Law

JEL Classification: K11, O34, O35,

Suggested Citation

Judge, Elizabeth F. and Brown, Tenille E., Pokémorials: Placing Norms in Augmented Reality (December 15, 2017). University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol. 50, 2017, Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2018-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3088660

Elizabeth F. Judge (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada

Tenille E. Brown

Bora Laskin Faculty of Law ( email )

Thunder Bay, Ontario
Canada

Human Rights Research and Education Centre ( email )

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