Revealing Bob Jones: Bringing Yearbook Pages to Life

Ashton Jah, Writer, Photographer

As yearbooks start to roll out, a new feature that lies within has students wondering: What is this all about?

Beginning earlier this week, Yearbook staff announced pickup of this year’s edition and inside lies a yellow sheet detailing a feature that allows the yearbook to “come alive.”

This surprise comes from an app called HP Reveal, formerly known as Arusama, which allows the user to use a smart device to bring multimedia aspects to pages.

The app works by utilizing an augmented reality studio that can detect preset multimedia aspects on pages and display information, like videos, to users of the app.

Yearbook Editor-in-chief Raneen Alaskari, a senior at Bob Jones, is excited for this new feature, stating, “The yearbook now comes with a variety of digital content to showcase the school year. We hope people are excited about this app as much as we are because it’s really an exciting way to look through the book.”

Some students have been confused about how the feature works and what makes it useful. Some surveyed stated that they even “lost interest” because of the amount of effort it takes to use it.  

For the record, it is worth taking the time to check it out. The feature allows for students to look back on additional memories of their year. One commenter pointed out that it allows for “students to find more pictures and videos from the school year.” 

Although there are already many pages and videos attached to the book, staff says they are still adding new content, as well as content submitted by students, to the book. To submit content, students can email videos to [email protected] to have it added.

To access this feature,

  1. On a smartphone, download HP Reveal on the App Store or Google Play,
  2. Create an account with HP Reveal,
  3. Search “bjyearbook2018” in the Discover Auras field,
  4. Follow the account: bjyearbook2018,
  5. Go to the app’s home screen and open the in-app camera,
  6. And scan one of the 50+ pages that are currently linked to the book.

In the future, it might be something that sports and organizations can work into their media coverage throughout the upcoming school year for even more memorable content.