Internet cultural experience? Tangent on augmented reality

This is a new idea for me -- learning and exploring culture through the Internet. Of course, we use the Internet to find information like photos, videos, music, and words that are some aspects of culture, but what about the parts of culture that can't be transmitted through the Internet, like food? I suppose you can share recipes via the interwebs, but that's not the same as experiencing a meal with friends. Although you can learn a lot about culture through the Internet, I can't think of an experience comparable to physically immersing yourself in another culture: seeing the buildings in a city, smelling the city ;-) (^_~) and food, hearing native speakers communicating with one another, observing mannerisms, seeing how people live (and living among them), etc.

I have an American geologist friend who just moved to England to start a Post Doc at Oxford, and he recently tweeted the following: 

Hardest part so far is training myself not to step to the wrong side when encountering ppl in halls and sidewalks. That and learning coins.

 You can learn (in books, or the Internet) that in England, they drive on "the other side" of the road, which causes people to walk through halls and around corners in the same pattern, but it might not sink in that it is a cultural norm to hug the left side of a hallway when going around a corner until you yourself smack head on into a stranger! Similarly, you're not going to feel that panic when you're trying to buy a snack, and you're holding a handful of British pound coins and realize you don't know which coin is for which denomination unless you're in that situation in real life (unless someone designs a game or some type of virtual reality environment where you're shopping in England, which would be weird, but kinda cool?). The Internet is not a substitute for reality, but it can be used as a powerful learning tool...more as a primer for a "real" cultural experience where you're physically present.

On the flip side, this brings augmented reality to mind...some of you might be familiar with Google glass, just one example of augmented reality. There are different definitions and examples of augmented reality, but let's look to wikipedia for a definition:

Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements areaugmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPSdata.

I think about it like this: 

Artificial information about the environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world.

Let's say you visit Pompeii, and you know people who lived there a long time ago died because a nearby volcanic eruption rained down loads of fiery ash on the former city, but you don't know a lot about the details, and you want to learn more. Instead of just looking up information online, you can use an app for your smartphone or tablet that gives additional information about a place or an object. You point your phone at some mural or skeleton, and information about the it will come up on your phone, like a virtual "informational placard" which enables you to learn more. 

When I visited Pompeii alone a year or so ago, I somehow missed the informational maps, so I was wandering around the city, reading the few placards they had around the sites, but absorbing very few facts about the things I was looking at. If I'd had access to some augmented reality app, I could have learned more while physically being immersed in the culture of Pompeii...from most parts of the ancient city, you can see Mt. Vesuvio looming in the distance, an ominous reminder of the fate of those unlucky Pompeiians. 

But there are more details to learn -- archaeologists and anthropologists have been able to figure out who was who in Pompeii, from merchants to rich folks. The benefit to augmented reality is you can teach yourself at your own pace without having to use "the map" or hiring a docent to walk you through the ruins -- you choose what additional information you access. Additionally, you save time and effort because you're not stumbling upon Googling the right phrase to learn about the thing you're looking at. Actually visiting a cultural landmark is superior to learning about it on the Internet -- but technology, like the Internet and augmented reality, can help people learn more, and enhance cultural experiences.