Introduction to Damien McDuffie’s Vision
Damien McDuffie has at all times seen himself as an archivist—a keeper of the legacy, tales, and pictures of his family, in addition to Black people in Oakland and beyond. Over the years, he’s worked as a contract journalist, ran brand strategy for the culture collective Wine & Bowties, and facilitated the preservation of historical archives for the Huey P. Newton Foundation in regards to the Black Panthers. McDuffie is now working on a more progressive option to document culture and history: augmented reality.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that superimposes images in your view of a real-world environment. The technology has taken off in quite a lot of use cases, whether that’s letting you are attempting on a pair of glasses virtually or placing furniture onto an image of your front room to see how it will look in real life. In McDuffie’s case, he wants to make use of AR to bring historical archives about Black culture to life.
The Black Terminus AR App
His latest project, the Black Terminus AR app, officially launched a couple of weeks ago. It allows users to see curated videos on top of specific murals throughout town that he’s teamed up with local artists to work on. Last weekend, McDuffie and fellow artists unveiled the biggest augmented reality mural on the west coast at seventh Street and Washington, right across the road from the Oakland Police Department. The 30 foot wall-to-wall mural is the work of artists Timothy B., Kiss My Black Arts, and Mali Byers honoring Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, founders of the Black Panther Party. People can see video content and graphics after they download the app, open it and point it to the mural.
Preserving Culture and History
McDuffie’s interest in preserving culture began when he helped his grandmother and aunts digitize family records, including boxes of photos. Then when he got access to physical archives not available to most people through the Huey P. Newton Foundation, his passion for bringing history to life was renewed. “I actually consider in museums as being a spot for the people. And it doesn’t really make sense to have so many archives when no person can really access them,” McDuffie said.
The Journey to Augmented Reality
In 2019, McDuffie began digging for methods to assist the community access archives which may not be in history books, or that had a hefty price tag to view them. He began traveling domestically, visiting museums, and talking to other artists. Before the pandemic, he also got the possibility to travel internationally to Tokyo and Thailand, where he discovered augmented reality museums. McDuffie said these experiences helped him realize augmented reality is the long run of documenting history and educating the general public. “This is a option to preserve stories,” he said. “My mind immediately goes to education: How can the youth profit from this?”
Development of the Black Terminus App
When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, McDuffie found the time needed to develop his own app. He spent $20,000 of his own savings to develop the Black Terminus AR app. He also received $21,000 in grants through the tech company Unity and one other grant from the Oakland Black Business Fund. McDuffie learned the right way to create an augmented reality app by watching YouTube videos from everywhere in the world, including Australia, India, and Mexico. He learned the fundamentals: the right way to code, export the app to your phone, upload to the Apple and Google Play store, and other technicalities.
Future Plans and Goals
And now with the mural on the corner of seventh and Washington, he’s setting his lofty goals. He sees Black Terminus as a digital venue that may proceed to archive stories in Oakland and beyond. “My big vision is to create the AR museum for the people where you’ll have the ability to open your camera in any city that you just’re in and get a guided tour in regards to the history of town,” he said. McDuffie also desires to partner with artists across disciplines to make use of augmented reality to assist local businesses, entrepreneurs, musicians, and other artists.
Conclusion
Damien McDuffie’s Black Terminus AR app is a groundbreaking project that goals to preserve and convey to life the history and culture of Black people in Oakland and beyond. Through using augmented reality, McDuffie is making a latest option to experience and interact with historical archives, making them more accessible and interesting for the general public. With his progressive approach and dedication to preserving culture, McDuffie is setting a brand new standard for using technology in education and community development. People can download the Black Terminus app available on Apple and Google Play and take a look at the mural in Old Oakland honoring Black history.
