A framework for debating augmented futures: Classifying the visions, promises and ideographs advanced about augmented reality

While AR is slowly becoming reality, projections about the technology are divided. The direction that AR will take, the form AR will come in, how it should be used and the societal impact it will have are all being contested. With emerging technologies such as AR, these debates occur in a mostly rhetorical space, as positions and visions of the future are advanced. Some of these are also negative visions, arguing against the technology. These communications, arguments, and positions are how the technology is made persuasive to those in and outside the AR community, but have yet to be empirically studied or understood. This study seeks to map out the rhetorical promises that are being made about AR. Through qualitative interviews with a variety of actors in the AR community, this study advances a taxonomy of technological promises, higher order principles that those promises appeal to, and finally the contested characteristic that can change the valence of the vision. This framework will help make the debate about AR clearer, and help people frame their discussions and debates about AR in a more productive way.