Oct

Owney the Dog lives on in augmented reality

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum today launched a new augmented-reality experience that brings to life “Owney the Dog,” mascot of the Railway Mail Service. The experience, offered via iPhone and Web applications, is the first multidimensional, augmented-reality experience triggered by a U.S. postage stamp.

Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, N.Y., post office in 1888. He loved the mail and began to ride with the mailbags on Railway Post Office train cars across the state and then the country. In 1895, Owney even made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe. The RPO clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot, marking his travels by placing medals and tags from his stops on his collar. He has been preserved and is on display at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., and is the subject of a recently released official commemorative stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

The Owney augmented-reality experience comes “to life” when the Owney the Dog postage stamp is viewed via a free iPhone app available from the Apple iTunes Store or the museum’s special webcam page. A multidimensional virtual Owney appears above the stamp. Owney barks, trots, sits and listens to postal train whistles in full 3-D. When the stamp is moved closer to the camera, details of Owney’s collar and some of the tags he received from his many travels can be seen. When viewed from a slight distance, the stamp can be moved around to see Owney from any side or angle.

“As the Smithsonian’s first augmented reality application, Owney the Dog was a fun way for us to learn about this new technology in partnership with the Postal Service and its launch of the Owney stamp while extending the Owney experience to broader audiences, including those who may not be able to see Owney in person at the postal museum,” said Nancy Proctor, head of new media initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution. “The app also offers fascinating glimpses of how digital technologies might change our experiences of analog stamps in the future and even the concept of stamp collecting!”

UPDATED: Oct. 20 Owney Look-Alike Contest Winners

The National Postal Museum today announced the winners of the national Owney the Dog Look-Alike Contest. More than 70 dogs across the country lounged on mailbags, dressed up in letter-carrier uniforms and posed by mailboxes, competing to be the modern-day Owney the postal dog’s look-alike. The nationwide contest sponsored by the National Postal Museum and the Washington Humane Society logged 8,284 votes from the public to select the three dogs that best represent the spirit of Owney.

“Bently,” a 4- or 5-year-old terrier mix from California who somehow became homeless—just like Owney—was the contest winner, receiving 1,662 votes. Second and third prize winners were “Jordy” (from Virginia) with 1,607 votes and “Murphy” (from Ohio) with 998 votes. Winners will receive prizes and have their photos displayed in the museum next to the real Owney for two weeks. The top prize is an iPad2, on which the winner will be able to view Owney’s new interactive e-book, Tails from the Rails, being released by the museum later this fall.