This week’s curated content includes links exploring the following:

• • Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends Report
  • how to use fonts in elearning
  • use cases for augmented reality
  • secrets of great storytelling
  • a look at a powerful new social VR experience
  • how our language shapes the way we think

Here are all 294 slides of Mary Meeker’s internet trends report by Harry McCracken
Every year Mary Meeker provides a presentation on internet trends. It’s a report that many in Silicon Valley look to to see how the technology landscape is evolving. It’s a monster report – 294 slides in all – but there’s plenty of information to explore with implications to the world of technology-based training and education.

5 Tips for Using Fonts in eLearning by Tim Slade
The use of words is a core element of many elearning programs. While most designers focus on what the words actual say, it’s very easy to lose some of the meaning of the words if what the words look like is distracting. This post goes over a few quick tips on how to use fonts that can make huge differences in your elearning design.

10 Real Use Cases for Augmented Reality by James Paine
Augmented reality is fast emerging as a viable new way of simultaneously interacting with digital information and the physical world. There are exciting opportunities to leverage AR in training and development. However, in order to harness the potential of AR, it’s important that learning and development professionals look beyond traditional training and education paradigms when considering what is possible. This post is a great list of examples. I encourage you to look at the non-training options to see the broader array of use cases for AR.

4 Secrets of Great Storytellers by Stephanie Stahl
Story is an essential part of communication, which is why it is also an essential component of many learning and development programs. But what makes a great story? This post has some great answers to that question, framed within the context of marketing, which actually uses storytelling in a very similar way to L&D.

With Venues, Oculus and Facebook Push Social VR Into New Territory by Peter Rubin
When most people think of virtual reality, they likely think of an individual experience, even an isolating one since you’re literally blocking out the physical world during the experience. But VR also has tremendous potential as a social experience, as this post explores. The primary point of this post is to explore Oculus Venues, a VR experience where you can attend a live concert with other people, all in VR. It’s a fascinating exploration on its own, but I also share it for the look into the design of Venues itself, and for the commentary around managing social presence in VR.

How Language Shapes the Way We Think TED Talk by Lera Boroditsky
One of my favorite quotes from George Carlin is about language. “We do think in language, and so the quality of our thoughts and ideas can only be as good as the quality of our language”. It’s a concept that has stuck with me since I first heard it, and something I’ve only increased my belief in over time. This TED Talk capitalizes on actual research into the idea and shares some great examples of how languages used by different people at different times actually shaped the way they think.

DEADLINE THIS FRIDAY JUNE 8
Win an Oculus Go!

facebook recently released the Oculus Go, the first standalone VR headset for consumer use. This watershed moment will help propel the usage of virtual reality – including the usage of VR for training and learning – even further.

We’re excited to explore this new technology at Realities360 and will be hosting a testing station in our Technology Showcase where you can try this amazing technology for yourself.

We’ve also secured two of these devices to be raffled off to Realities360 attendees! To be eligible to win, you just need to be registered for the conference by Friday, June 8. To gain an additional entry into the conference, follow @realities360 on Twitter and tweet about why you’re excited to #GoToRealities360 using the hashtag.