There’s a “revolution” happening in newspaperland. Yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph (as well as other Sunday metros around the country) were promoting “the latest innovation in print media since coloured ink”: Papermotion.

“Readers,” the breathless page 2 story explained, “get the chance to enter an interactive digital world that will bring newspapers to life like never before.”

All we needed to do was turn to page 23 and hold the ad, for the film Night At The Museum 2, “in front of a personal webcam on your computer” to start “activating a virtual-reality world where they can interact with characters from the film”.

Easy there, tiger.

Here are the steps that readers — this one at least — had to go through to experience this technological wonder.

1. The ad said to “Go to sundaytelegraph.com.au”

2. This redirects to news.com.au/dailytelegraph

3. Read entire front page of the site to discover no link for anything to do with Papermotion or Night At The Museum 2.

4. Use search box to search for “Papermotion”.

5. Click through first search result to find the online version of the story I was just reading in the newspaper.

6. Click on LEARN HOW TO PLAY BY CLICKING HERE link in story.

7. Link lands on Night at the Museum 2 front page.

8. Click “Getting Started” button.

9. Button redirects to Total Immersion software download site.

10. Download 2.1Mb Total Immersion plug-in.

11. Installer opens, shuts down browser. Agree to something. Install plug-in.

12. Open browser again.

13. Open history to find link to Night at the Museum 2 site again.

14. Select “See Rex the Dinosaur Roar to Life” button.

15. Inititialising. Wait.

16. And wait.

17. A window finally opens, webcam turns on, so I hold up the printed ad in front of it. Nothing happens.

18. Consult “Tips & Tricks” section for advice.

19. Find that I should “hold the Papermotion target steady about 3 inches in front of the camera”.

20. Attempt to find a way to view the screen when holding a full page of tabloid newspaper 3 inches in front of the camera. Behind it I can hear something growling.

That’s a whole lot of fail. If I was 10, which is Night at the Museum 2’s demographic, I would have lost patience by step 3.

To see augmented reality the way it should work – simple, fast, plug-in free and beautifully rendered (although you do need to print out an A4 mono page) – take a look at GE’s “Plug Into the Smart Grid” site.