All posts in BostonVR

Community XR 2019 & February Training & User Group Event

By On January 11, 2019 In 360 video, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, CommunityXR, Diversity & Inclusion, Education, HTC Vive, immersive journalism, Immigration VR, Journalism, Kathy Bisbee, VR Education, VR Filmmaking, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Community XR 2019 & February Training & User Group EventPermalink

At BIG and the Public VR Lab, one of our primary goals in 2019 is to support community media centers, libraries, museums, youth, arts and cultural organizations, and community-engaged filmmakers to understand, create, and provide community access to emerging media equipment, training, and content in all its forms, continuing to build a field for community-based VR, AR, 360, and MR (XR).

We call it Community XR, and we hope you’ll contribute to building the field too!

We hope you’ll join us this year at sessions at national conferences, at regional user group events, and for hands-on training programs to share what we and others have learned as emerging best practices in the field, and in developing staff and organizational capacity to utilize new ways to create media, tell local stories, and attract new partners, members, funding and other resources to our community media centers.

Stay tuned for other conferences and regional training from the Public VR Lab in 2019. Please let us know if you are already implementing 360, VR, AR or MR at your organization or school so we can add you to our growing international directory for Community XR!

We kick off 2019’s events in New England on Friday, February 8th from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm:

Join BIG at our innovative VR Lab partner organization, Westford CAT, for a day of learning how to implement Community XR at your arts, media or cultural organization at a hands-on training from 10-3pm, and/or for our free community XR users’ group discussion from 4-6pm!

From 10-3pm, BIG & the Public VR Lab’s team will offer a low-cost training custom-designed for media-makers, 360 Filmmaking & VR Storytelling Training for Media Professionals (registration below).

In the afternoon, Westford CAT & BIG will co-host a free Community XR users group where community media centers who are using 360, VR and AR (XR) will share current XR projects, challenges/successes, equipment, education programs and best practices for implementing emerging media at your community media center.

Read more & register here.

Discount available for Alliance for Community Media members (may be up to 50% off). Email Erin Kinney, at erin at brooklineinteractive.org for more details and eligibility requirements.

360 Filmmaking & VR Storytelling Training for Media Professionals

Friday, February 8th from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Well-designed immersive reality (VR, AR, 360) experiences can invoke a powerful sense of wonder and empathy and have a transformational effect on the viewer. In this half-day, hands-on training, you will learn how to use these emerging media tools to create immersive stories using 360 videos and applying it to your current media production work.

This workshop will cover the following topics:

-Overview of 360, AR & VR basics
-Examples/use cases of immersive stories in 360 video, VR and AR 360 cameras,

-Capturing high-quality footage, hands-on exercises using the Nikon Keymission 360 camera,
-Editing in 360 – learn how to edit your videos, experimenting with text, transitions, etc., and uploading 360 videos to the web,

-A (very) quick intro to WondaVR for our more advanced users to understand the possibility to create branched narrative stories in VR.

Please note: The February 8th events take place at Westford Community Access Television, 487 Groton Rd, Unit B Westford, MA 01886

Civic XR Meetup

By On December 12, 2018 In AR, Boston, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, Kathy Bisbee, Uncategorized With No Comments Permanent Link to Civic XR MeetupPermalink

On December 10th the Public VR Lab & BostonVR’s held a joint Civic XR Meetup event to learn more about Civic XR, and how technologists are using VR/XR in the public interest.

During the meetup we heard great talks by:

· Craig Herndon CEO Boston VR

· Jennifer Gradecki and Derek Curry from Northeastern University

· Jeff Jacobson from BostonVR and Boston Children’s Hospital

· Laura Schatzkin and Dave Maass, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

· Kathy Bisbee, founder of the Public VR Lab

 

 

Learn how to create content in VR, VR, MR, WebVR & immersive 360 films at the Public VR Lab

Learn VR & AR at BIG/The Public VR Lab
By On November 13, 2018 In 360 video, 360journalism, Aframe, AR, augmented reality, Boston, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, CommunityXR, Education, Kathy Bisbee, VR Education, WebVR, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Learn how to create content in VR, VR, MR, WebVR & immersive 360 films at the Public VR LabPermalink
Learn VR & AR at BIG/The Public VR Lab

Learn VR & AR at BIG/The Public VR Lab

The Public VR Lab has seven different ways you can learn to create in VR, AR, MR and immersive 360 videos, and equipment you can use to create! Whether you’re an educator, a developer, a programmer, or a traditional media maker, we’ve got a class, a hackathon or an informative event for you to learn!

360 Filmmaking & Storytelling Training for Media Professionals
Friday, November 30th, 12:30-4:30 pm
Description: In this half-day, hands-on training, you will learn how to use emerging media tools to create immersive stories using 360 videos and apply to your media work.

Practical Online Virtual Reality in Higher Education
Thursday, December 6th, 7:00-10:30 pm
Description: This workshop provides an introduction to the use of Multi-User Online Virtual Environments (MUVEs) in the classroom and the basic ways they are used to convey information and opportunities for project-based learning with commonly available platforms.
Dev Jam for the Vive and Vive Focus 

Saturday, December 8th, 9:00 am-9:00 pm
Description: Come join us and HTC’s Dario Laverde for a whole day of creation and collaboration with HTC Vive and BostonVR. This jam runs all day, and Dario will teach a two-hour class, Unity Programming for the HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Focus and Vive Trackers, for all who are interested in the morning.

Sign up here for ONLY the jam: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dev–jam-for-the-vive-and-vive-focus-tickets-51735748015

Civic XR: Using XR in the Public Interest

Join Boston VR & The Public VR Lab on Monday, December 10th from, 5:30-9 pm to demo and hear about ways civic-focused technologists are using VR/XR in the public interest space. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/civic-xr-using-xr-in-the-public-interest-tickets-52691286055

Lab Founder Kathy Bisbee Presents Keynote to National Telecommunications Professionals

Kathy Bisbee, Founder, Public VR Lab
By On September 18, 2018 In 360 video, 360journalism, Boston, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, CommunityXR, Kathy Bisbee, VR Education, WebVR, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Lab Founder Kathy Bisbee Presents Keynote to National Telecommunications ProfessionalsPermalink

Our founder and executive director, Kathy Bisbee presented a riveting talk on why the time is right now for community media and local government organizations to invest in a grassroots movement for community-based virtual reality, in the creative economy of VR, and in VR/XR storytelling.

Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame’s Participatory Media Installation is a Featured Artist at Boston’s Hubweek!

Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame
By On September 18, 2018 In 360 video, 360journalism, Boston, BostonGlobe, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, CommunityXR, Diversity & Inclusion, immersive journalism, Immigration VR, Journalism, storytelling, WebVR, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame’s Participatory Media Installation is a Featured Artist at Boston’s Hubweek!Permalink
Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame

Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame

BIG and our project, the Public VR Lab, are proud to announce the launch of a participatory media installation on immigration and migration stories in Brookline and beyond. We’ll be sharing the first release of Boston and Brookline stories from Arrival: Immigration in Full Frame in our container at Hubweek from Wednesday, October 10th through Sunday, October 14th, 2018! 

In addition to watching these compelling XR/VR stories, visitors will also have the opportunity to record their own families’ immigration and migration stories onsite as part of an interactive component of BIG’s exhibit. These new stories will be included in a broader national project that features a VR/XR visual timeline, scheduled to launch as a separate immersive storytelling project in late 2019-early 2020 at film festivals, libraries, museums, and arts and cultural organizations nationwide. 

Please come by Hubweek October 10th-14th in Boston’s Government Center, check out the stories and share your own American arrival story!

https://2018.hubweek.org/page/1343122/the-hub

Collaborations, XR for Change & Job Training Programs for Youth

By On June 27, 2018 In 360 video, 360journalism, AR, augmented reality, Boston, BostonGlobe, BostonVR, Brookline, CommunityVR, CommunityXR, Diversity & Inclusion, Hubweek, VR Education, VR Filmmaking, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Collaborations, XR for Change & Job Training Programs for YouthPermalink

As June ends, we’re celebrating all things Community Media and Community XR! Join us today at 3 pm EDT I’ll be presenting on Community XR today on a national webinar for the Alliance for Community Media (ACM). Register here for:

Community XR: How VR/AR/360 Can Extend Your Community Media Mission

This week we’ll be at XR for Change in NYC, launched this years’ Crowdsourced Boston community arts project to have 40 teams remake a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

We taught a media training to our job training youth program who then successfully pitched a reporter on their story before taking them on a career eye-opening trip to meet and learn about VR, marketing, and diversity initiatives from Colin Burch, VP of Marketing & Broadcasting at the Red Sox!

This month we were also featured on Hubweek’s blog, an amazing festival here in Boston focused on the synergy of art, technology, advocacy, community-building and health that we’re honored to be a partner with and a collaborator. This interview focuses on our new artist-in-residency pilot and our collaboration with talented artist, Nathan Miner.

https://medium.com/@HUBweek/featured-collaboration-brookline-interactive-groups-kathy-bisbee-and-artist-nathan-miner-bff42482b6a6

Upcoming Events at the Public VR Lab: March 2018

Mozilla WebVR
By On March 2, 2018 In AR, augmented reality, Boston, BostonVR, Featured, hackathon, Mozilla, VR Cinematography, VR Ecohack, VR Education, WebVR, Women in VR With No Comments Permanent Link to Upcoming Events at the Public VR Lab: March 2018Permalink

St. Patrick’s Day Hackathons on WebVR & AR at the Public VR Lab on Saturday, March 17th, 2018: Co-sponsored by Mozilla, Fasility, Boston VR 

Mozilla WebVR

BIG, the Public VR Lab, Fasility, and the Mozilla Foundation invite you to join the WebVR Experience Challenge and create a new game, experience, design, or interaction using assets from the Real Time Design Challenge with Sketchfab.

Mini-WebVR Hack: 1-6pm on Saturday, March 17th, 46 Tappan Street, Brookline MA at BIG

Register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mozilla-webvr-experience-challenge-mini-hack-tickets-43608581441

Bring your WebVR skills to the next level at this one-day mini-hackathon at Brookline Interactive Group (BIG) hosted by the Public VR Lab and Fasility, in partnership with Mozilla Foundation.

Mozilla invites you to join the WebVR Experience Challenge and create a new game, experience, design, or interaction using assets from the Real Time Design Challenge with Sketchfab.This mini-hack will offer workshops and mentoring to help you meet the challenge! Participating is an awesome way to gain experience in WebVR and become a part of the open-source VR community.

Submissions are due to Mozilla by April 2, 2018. By the end of the day’s mini-hack, you’ll have improved your plan, prototype, or in-progress project to help you along the path to a successful submission.

Refreshments will be provided during the afternoon and the event will conclude with time to share the day’s results and vote for superlatives.

This hack is in partnership with the Mozilla Foundation, hosted at BIG & the Public VR Lab, in collaboration with our awesome WEBVR partner, Fasility.

You can join our Public VR Lab Meetup group to learn more about hacks and events at the Public VR Lab!

Mohammad Azam

Mohammad Azam

The second hack is with Boston VR on augmented reality (AR) and using AR Tookit.

ARKit and Open Projects With Mohammad Azam

Register here: https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Rea…/events/248213026/

Mohammad Azam (http://www.azamsharp.com/) is a well-known ARKit guru and instructor. He will give a free class on ARKit at 10:15AM, open to the public. The class will start with learning the basics of ARKit development and then dive into intermediate topics. Azam will also provide free access to his best seller 8+ hour Udemy course on ARKit and his ARKit development book.

The rest of the day, until 6:00pm, will be a chance for everyone to work on their own VR and AR projects. We’ll have one or two htc vives, an Oculus rift, a hololens or two, and so on. However, the resources and emphasis will be on ARKit. We will gather as many ARKit experts and other resources as we can and add them here, as they are found.

An iPhone 6S or above is required to run ARKit applications.

We will begin at 10:15 am sharp.

There will be a small $5.00 fee to pay for pizza and snacks. If you cannot afford it for any reason, please contact jeff@enterprisevr.com and we’ll give you complimentary ticket.