Augmented Reality (AR) is the next step in the evolution of the ever-expanding metaverse, and a new venture focused on the creative endeavors of Black women highlights the growth in that space. Meta, the company behind the best-selling Meta Quest 2 VR (virtual reality) headset, partnered with The Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts (CBFA) and Girls Who Code to create a new AR effect known as “The Crown.”
Reality Labs, an arm of Meta that specializes in VR and AR hardware and software, shared in a blog post the concept behind The Crown AR effect. With the assistance of Girls Who Code, a leading computer science education organization headed by Dr. Tarika Barrett, selected four coders and creators from Howard University, the college that the late Chadwick Boseman attended ahead of his brilliant Hollywood career.
These four creators were given access to AR tools and varying resources by way of the Meta Spark platform. Across a period of weeks, the coders were trained in the finer points of AR using Meta Spark Studio and mentored by Meta Spark Partner and Curriculum Educator Ommy Akhe.
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“The Crown” AR effect, which can be used on Instagram and Facebook, draws inspiration from the foundation’s logo and is representative of the Global African Diaspora. The effect can be found on both the Girls Who Code and The Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts Instagram profiles, with the goal of driving awareness and fundraising to the foundation.
This is the latest in a series of Girls Who Code and Meta initiatives to support young women of color as they explore different pathways into the tech industry and the arts by introducing them to the fundamentals of AR content development and future prospects that exist within AR. It follows our earlier collaboration with Girls Who Code, RCA Records, and Doja Cat.
Girls Who Code selected four young coders and creators from Howard University (Boseman’s alma mater) — Khendra Phillips, Andria Joseph, Violet Edwards, and Latanya Khissy — and gave them unprecedented access to AR content development tools and resources.
The Crown AR effect can be accessed via the Instagram pages of Girls Who Code and The Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts. The Crown AR effect can be used on Instagram and Facebook profiles. The videos below demonstrate how The Crown AR effect will look in real-time.
This activation adds to an ongoing partnership between Girls Who Code and Meta in order to support Black girls and women who wish to enter the world of computer science and the tech industry at large along with the vast world of the arts.
Learn more about Girls Who Code here. For information about the Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts, click here.
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Photo: Meta
