Category Archives: Virtual Reality

Prof Anneke Smelik says female artists need to start appropriating new technologies for their own storytelling. Photograph: Alamy

Virtual reality may be an industry in its infancy, but it is expected to generate $7.2bn (5.6bn) globally by the end of this year and be worth $150bn by 2020. Given that the technology is new and unlike much else in Silicon Valley, can it offer female creators the chance to start from and maintain a level playing field? Prof Anneke Smelik, an expert in visual culture at Radboud University in the Netherlands, believes the moment is ripe. Gaming, and VR generally, is considered very much a male genre, but female artists and filmmakers need to start appropriating new genres and technologies for their own storytelling, she says.

Why? Well, for one, the industrys biggest investments are being made in adrenaline-fuelled gaming experiences and pornography meaning that much of the content is dominated by men. In February, an extensive survey in the UK found that more men than women are likely to use VR; 20% said they had already, compared with 13% of women. Another study showed that two-thirds of women are not enthusiastic about trying VR.

It is not hard to see why: the tech world has a well-documented problem with sexism and virtual reality has yet to prove itself an inclusive space. Last year, gamer Jordan Belamire went viral after writing about being sexually assaulted online, highlighting questions of ethics, behaviour and consent in the virtual world, while Silicon Valley startup UploadVR faced a lawsuit over myriad claims, including gender discrimination and sexual assault suggesting that sexism in the industry has begun to infiltrate its content.

However, a number of female producers are determined to ensure that virtual reality will not share the same fate as other entertainment and tech sectors and are helping women reclaim the space by making content for and about women.

Independent filmmaker Jayisha Patel is one woman trying to exploit VRs potential. Her film Notes to My Father is a short documentary that explores the story of a human-trafficking survivor, an Indian woman named Ramadevi. When viewed through a headset, the perspective is chilling. One of the most harrowing scenes positions the viewer inside a train carriage full of men. In virtual reality, it is a vivid and uncomfortable depiction of what it is like to be the subject of the male gaze. I was trying to get the viewer to feel what its like being the only woman in the carriage and having all these men staring at you, hearing them adjust their belts, breathing heavily. You start to understand what its really like to be objectified, says Patel.

What I wanted to do with this film was not just use the female gaze in a story about sexual abuse, which is typically a womens issue, but use it to address the fact that men are often complicit in it and are instigators of it, she says. Doing stories about women is not just about showing empowered women on screen for a female audience, its also about showing vulnerability, so it can be a piece not just for a female audience, but for everyone. Here, the female gaze in virtual reality puts the viewer in the shoes of a character, offering an empathetic, sensory exploration of the female experience.

Another example of virtual reality that positions the viewer in a female space comes from producer and curator Catherine Allen. She runs a VRvirtual reality diversity initiative that tries to get more women to create virtual reality. Weve got this golden opportunity to make the VR space as inclusive and diverse as possible, but right now it is so male-dominated and the content reflects that. When I go on the Oculus store, Im hit by so many pieces that feel like theyre made by men, for men, she says.

Allen wanted to rectify this. Last year, she created No Small Talk, a VR talk show aimed at millennial women. Filmed in 360 degrees, it features presenter Cherry Healey and blogger Emma Gannon in a coffee shop chatting about everything from how to take photos with your smartphone to how it feels to suffer from anxiety. It feels like a visual podcast and is designed to make the viewer feel as if they are the third person at the table. We wanted to make it feel as though youre the quiet friend whos just sitting there and listening, says Allen.

The show was a step forward in creating virtual reality content that is accessible for female audiences, but it was not popular with everyone. Some of the male viewers we tested with just didnt get it. When women are having a conversation, men often describe it as gossip or chit-chat; it all sounds quite frivolous and unproductive. But when men are having a conversation, its described as discussion or deliberation or debate. We used this piece to really try to change that, by showing how women talk about big topics through everyday things, she says. It moves away from the thrill-seeking gimmick that so much virtual reality content is made up of these days.

Finding ways to amplify womens voices, stories and narratives is no mean feat, but virtual reality is starting to look like a positive space in which to execute those stories. Were still working out what virtual reality even is, how it fits into society and who experiences it, Allen says. I dont think it has more opportunity to expose people to womens stories than any other medium, but because, as an industry, it is newer we have a responsibility to help make it the most diverse form of entertainment it can be and one that can be reflective of society.

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How women are gaining ground in virtual reality - The Guardian

Zion Williamson has transcended traditional high school hoops hype to become a bona fide phenomenon. Half of the AAU matchup that shut down an overfilled Las Vegas arena (LaMelo Ball was the other half, to be fair), Williamson gets coverage as if he were a rock star. Just showing up at a Wofford basketball game made national headlines, here and elsewhere.

All that attention inevitably inspired Sports Illustrated to get in on the act, with the magazine launching a profile of the teen star and some ridiculously cool affiliated virtual reality video of Williamson dunking.

This may not be the ultimate connection of slams from Williamson, but the group of them belong in the pantheon. When adding in the virtual reality factor, the Sports Illustrated clip becomes definite, must see video for all Zion supporters and online gawkers.

As for the Spartanburg Day School star, he clearly wasnt intimidated by needing to perform a series of dunks for a group of cameras. After all, when youre used to being in headlines every week, what a few more dunks for a national audience?

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VIDEO: Sports Illustrated filmed Zion Williamson flushing dunks in virtual reality, and it's pretty cool - USA TODAY High School Sports

The Notion of Reality

As technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), big data, 5G, and the internet of things (IoT) advance over the next generation, they will reinforce and spur one another. One plausible scenario is a physical world so enhanced by personalized, AI-curated digital content (experienced with what we today call augmented reality) that the very notion of reality is called into question.

Immersion can change how we interact with content in fundamental ways. For example, a fully immersive AR environment of the future, achieved with a wide-field-of-view headset and full of live content integrated with the built environment, would be intended by design to create in the user an illusion that everything being sensed was real. The evolution toward this kind of environment raises a host of ethical questions, specifically with attention to the AI that would underlie such an intelligent and compelling illusion.

When watching a movie, the viewer is physically separated from the illusion. The screen is framed, explicitly distinct from the viewer. The frame is a part of traditional art forms; from the book to the painting to the skyscraper, each is explicitly separated from the audience. It is bounded and physically defined.

But with digital eyewear, things change. Digital eyewear moves the distance of digital mediation from the screen (approximately 20 feet) to the human face, which is at zero distance, and almost eliminates the frame. It starts raising inevitable questions about what constitutes reality when much of ones sensory input is superimposed on the physical world by AI. At that stage of the technologys evolution, one could still simply opt out by removing the eyewear. Although almost indistinguishable from the physical world, that near-future world would still be clinging precariously to the human face.

The next step would be moving the source of the digital illusion into the human body a distance of less than zero through contact lenses, implants, and ultimately direct communication. At that point, the frame is long gone. The digital source commandeers the senses, and it becomes very hard to argue that the digital content isnt as real as a building on the corner which, frankly, could be an illusion itself in such an environment. Enthusiasts will probably argue that our perception is already an electrochemical illusion, and implants merely enhance our natural selves. In any case, opting out would become impractical at best. This is the stage of the technology that will raise practical questions we have never had to address before.

At that point, what is real? How much agency are we humans deprived of when we are making decisions based on AI-generated content and guidance that may or may not be working at cross-purposes to our needs? How would we even know? In the longer term, what happens to our desire to control our own lives when we get better outcomes by letting those decisions be made by AI? What if societal behavior became deliberately manipulated for the greater good, as interpreted by one entity? If efficiency and order were to supersede all other criteria as ideal social values, how could an AI-driven AR capability be dissuaded from manipulating individual behavior to those ends? What happens to individual choice? Is a person capable of being good without the option to be bad?

Perhaps the discussion surrounding the next generation of AI-informed AR could consider the possibility that the ethical questions change as the source of digital content gets closer to the human body and ultimately becomes a part of it. Its not simply a matter of higher-fidelity visuals. First, the frame disappears, which raises new questions of illusion and identity. Then, the content seems to come from within the body, which diminishes the possibility of opting out and raises further questions about agency and free will.

This combination of next-generation technologies might well find its ultimate expression after we have collectively engaged questions of philosophy and brought them right into the worlds of software development and corporate strategy.

Movies, advertising, and broadcasting have always been influential, but there was never a confusion between the content and the self as we will likely see in the next generation. Having these conversations about ethics and thinking through the implications of new technologies early in their development (i.e. right now) could help guide this remarkable convergence in a way that benefits humanity by modeling a world that reflects our best impulses.

Jay Iorio is the Innovation Director for the IEEE Standards Association.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of Futurism or its affiliates.

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Will AI Blur the Lines Between Physical and Virtual Reality? - Futurism

NOW: VR in Rockport Library

Amanda Hill, WCSH 7:16 PM. EDT August 14, 2017

Rockport Virtual Reality

ROCKPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --While the internet and e-readers have taken away the necessity of a library, it's forced library directors to get creative; offering experiences you can't get from a smartphone.

"We've been sort of applying ourselves to different technologies and different things to make a library better for Rockport," said Ben Blackmon, the director of the Rockport Public Library.

Three weeks ago, the library installed a Virtual Reality system for patrons of any age.

"We've got a guided tour through the human vascular system, we've got some demos that let you walk around the Titanic," said Blackmon.

"It can facilitate experiences you wouldn't be able to have it any other way, specifically in STEM fields. It can take you to places you could never go, which is really neat, and we're going to hopefully use it to engage younger kids and the teen population, which is a little harder to grab."

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When whales attack... in virtual reality | WCSH6.com - WCSH-TV

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BIDDEFORD --Congregation Etz Chaim in Biddeford will welcome photographer Louis Davidson on Sunday, Aug. 20 for a special presentation of Synagogues Around the World.

Davidson will make a Virtual Reality presentation displaying an amazing selection of synagogues.

The free presentation will be held at the Congregation Etz Chaim synagogue at 36 Bacon St. in Biddeford at 7 p.m. Coffee and desserts will be served.

Davidson graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture. After a diverse career including working on the original World Trade Center project, Davidson has turned his architects eye to photography.

Predictably, his oeuvre stresses architectural subject matter while also including social documentary and fine art photography. Since 2006, Davidson has concentrated on photographically documenting synagogues around the world and he has photographed over 614 synagogues in 38 countries, including every one of the continental USAs 48 states and provinces of Canada.

The author of numerous photo books, Davidsons work has been exhibited internationally and is featured in the permanent collection of the Beit Hatfutsot Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel.

He lives with his wife, Ronnie, and dog, Harley, in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Los Angeles, California.

His work may be found on the Internet atwww.Synagogues.org.

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Photographer to offer virtual reality presentation in Biddeford - Biddeford Journal Tribune

The Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is hosting its third-annual Innovations in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health conference on the Stanford campus at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge at Stanford, CA on October 6 and 7.

The main focus of the conference will be using virtual and augmented reality as applied to treating anxiety, addiction, psychosis, pain, depression, PTSD, psychosomatic illness and other psychological disorders.

Speakers this year include Walter Greenleaf, Giuseppe Riva, Skip Rizzo, Pat Bordnick, JoAnn Difede, Diane Gromala, Hunter Hoffman, David Thomas, Jacob Ballon, Kim Bullock, Tom Caruso, Anne Dubin, Kate Hardy, Hadi Hosseini, Alan Louie, Sean Mackey, Elizabeth McMahon, Laura Roberts, Sam Rodriguez, Nina Vasan and Leanne Williams, among others.

Stanford is also putting out a call for VR Poster Abstracts due August 21, 2017 and Brainstorm VR Innovation Lab Entries, which are due September 1, 2017. You can submit your abstracts and ideas on the Stanford Medicine website.

For more information about the conference and to register, please visit the official Innovations in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health: Virtual Reality and Behavior Change site.

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Stanford Hosting Innovations In Psychiatry And Behavioral Health: Virtual Reality And Behavior Change Conference - UploadVR

Running until Sunday, 27 August, the idea is to use virtual reality (VR) technologies to bring to life the history of Colossus the first electronic computer.

The web and mobile company Entropy Reality, which specialises in advanced content management using Ruby on Rails, iOS, Android, Windows, HTML5 and more, is based in the Bletchley Park Science and Innovation Centre.

It has worked with the management at the Bletchley Park museum to create a virtual reality experience in the Colossus and Tunny galleries, where users can walk around the galleries and immerse themselves in the story of how code breakers shortened the Second World War by unravelling Lorenz, the most complex enemy cipher, used in communications by the German High Command.

Margaret Sale, a trustee at the NMC, said the VR experience is astonishingly good and pushes the boundaries of current technology in homage to the worlds first computer. It brings a whole new dimension to the possibilities of computer conservation and for the outreach display of Museum artefacts, she said.

Eddie Vassallo, CEO of Entropy Reality, described the challenge of creating the VR representation of Colossus. Its size and detail are mind-blowing in real life, he said.

For the virtual world, we required massive servers to process its 65 million points of data. Each shot took 31 hours to process and export. Then we had the huge post-production task of stitching together all our images and deploy various tricks of the trade, just like a magician, to make sure the viewer looks where we want them to.

The National Museum of Computing, Summer Bytesspecial opening times are from Thursdays to Sundays from 12 noon to 5pm, until 27 August.

You can viewdetails of opening times and guided tours over the next few weeks.

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Picture of the Day: Summer Bytes presents Colossus in virtual reality - Electronics Weekly (blog)

CNNand Volvo Cars USA will present the solar eclipse from multiple locations, coast to coast,in an immersive two-hour360 live-stream experiencestarting at 1PM ET on August 21, 2017.

The astronomical and historicvirtual reality event will be available all around the world in 4K resolution atCNN.com/eclipse, CNNs mobile apps, Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus via Samsung VR, Oculus Riftvia Oculus Video and through CNNs Facebook page via Facebook Live 360.

"CNN'sEclipse of the Century"will allow users to witness the first total solar eclipse totraverse the United States for the first time in nearly 40 years. The live show, hosted byCNNs Space and Science CorrespondentRachel Craneand former NASA AstronautMark Kelly, will harness stunningimagery from specially-designed 4K 360 cameras, optimized for low-light, that will capture seven 'total eclipse'moments stretching from Oregon to South Carolina.

While only a fraction of the countrywill be able to witness thetotaleclipse in-person, CNN's immersivelivestream will enable viewers nationwideto "go there" virtually and experiencea moment in history, seven times over. The livestream will be enhanced by real-timegraphics, close-up views of the sun, and experts from the science communityjoining along the way to explain the significance of this phenomenon.

As part ofVolvos partnership with CNN, four of the sevenlive-streamswill feature brandedcontent produced by CNNs brand studio Courageous forVolvo and integrate 2018 Volvo XC60s specially outfitted with advanced 360 cameras. The groundbreaking live 360 content by Volvo will spotlight four influencers in different locations, sharing their unique perspective and excitement for the future as they witness the solar eclipse from helicopters and road tours along the narrow path of totality. For more on Volvos partnership with CNN centered on the 2017 total solar eclipse, visitwww.RacingTheSun.com.

Additionally, on television, CNNmeteorologistChad Myerswill explain the science behind the solar eclipse, its course and timing; and CNN correspondentAlex Marquardtwill profile the excitement around the historical event. CNN correspondents will report live from locations across the path of the solar eclipse, with Marquardt in Oregon for the start,Stephanie Elamin Missouri,Martin Savidgein Tennessee, andKaylee Hartungin South Carolina.

For more information visitCNN.com/eclipse, and tune in to experience the event on August 21, 2017 at 1pm ET.

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CNN and Volvo Present the Solar Eclipse in an Unprecedented 360 Virtual Reality Live-Stream - CNN (blog)

PUNE: Online library platform Knimbus is going from being an e-library platform to enabling colleges and institutes create their own virtual libraries.

"Knimbus 3.0 will be a full stack platform that will allow institutes to build and customise their own online libraries using the material we have. They will have their own homepage and mobile app, which will allow students access content from anywhere," said Rahul Agarwalla, CEO, Knimbus.

Set up in 2011 as a platform to make online content more easily searchable for research students, the new version also marks a shift from catering to PhD students and researchers alone to university and college students as well.

Agarwalla likens it to a variation of the Netflix model, where all the content is curated by Knimbus onto one platform, which is then customised by users as per their preferences. Agarwalla said the SaaS platform was currently being rolled out to existing customers like Niti Aayog and the NIT, New Delhi, and undergoing final testing before opening it up to others. The company hosts content from over 500 publishers along with e-learning material from universities across the world, some of which is available for free, while some is premium content.

"We are currently working with 300 paid customers and have 750 live libraries. The aim is to get to a 1,000 paid customers by the end of 2018," said Agarwalla.

A recent survey conducted among librarians by Knimbus showed that almost 60% of them had some sort of a digital footprint. The biggest constraints according to them were the cost of doing so and the lack of infrastructure.

"All our content is on the cloud and we manage the back-end, which makes it easy for anyone to set up their online library," said Agarwalla.

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Knimbus is making e-libraries a virtual reality for colleges - Economic Times

Cantinflas, one of the most iconic Mexican figures of the 20th century, just got a 21st century makeover to help shed light on that countrys long history. Wearing his signature ensemble (low-waisted baggy pants, white undershirt, red knotted kerchief) and sporting his world-famous mustache, Mario Morenos comic character is starring in a new virtual reality (VR) project from the animation studio behind theLa leyendafranchise.

nima Estudios partnered withVentura Entertainment to develop the new VR ride which opened to the public just last month at the Selva Mgica amusment park. Titled Cantinflas presenta: La Mquina del Tiempo (Cantinflas presents: The Time Machine), the new attraction takes viewers after strapping on a pair of VR goggles on a train ride through Mexicos long-storied history with none other than the Mexican Charlie Chaplin as their trusty guide, in animated form.

Jos C. Garca de Letona, nimas COO, was effusive in celebrating this foray into VR. As our first virtual reality project, he said, we had the amazing opportunity to work in such a different and powerful medium and explore its many possibilities, having the short feature such an emblematic character as Cantinflas is an honor by itself. The whole experience and the trust placed in us by Ventura Entertainment makes us very proud and thankful. The seven-minute ride promises to be fun for the entire family, equally entertaining and informative for those eager to see Mexico through Cantinflas eyes.

You can experience Cantinflas presenta: La Mquina del Tiempo at the Selva Mgica Amusement Park in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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This Mexican Amusement Park Just Opened a Cantinflas Virtual Reality Ride - Remezcla (blog)