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The presentation begins with the group entering virtual reality themselves and introducing the topic of their conversation. First they talk about the public’s perception of VR. Most people believe that virtual reality is here to stay, now that more are aware of it. The speakers encourage anyone who is interested in experiencing virtual reality to try it out now, because there are a lot of conventions where companies are letting anyone use their products. According to a survey, across all age groups more than 50% are most excited about watching movies and television in VR. From there, three of the panelists talk about their specialty within the industry.

Edward Tang, the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of the company Avegant, talks about the devices used in VR. His company has produced a device that doesn’t use a screen at all, and instead projects the virtual image into the eyes. This is said to reduce retinal train. The image is projected onto many microscopic mirrors in front of the viewers eyes. This means there is no pixelation, and the image looks more lifelike because we are seeing light reflected off of surfaces, just like we observe the real world. The device is completely mobile, and can be transformed from a normal pair of headphones into an audio/visual virtual reality device with the touch of a button.

[su_box title=”Summary” style=”soft”]

Most people believe that virtual reality is here to stay, now that more are aware of it.
Anyone who is interested in experiencing virtual reality should try it out now, because there are a lot of conventions where companies are letting anyone use their products.
One company, Avegant, has produced a device that doesn’t use a screen at all, and instead projects the virtual image into the eyes. This is said to reduce retinal train. The image is projected onto many microscopic mirrors in front of the viewers eyes.
Vrtify is a company that is exploring another promising application for VR: music, specifically letting people experience concerts virtually. If a concert isn’t sold out, instead of letting the extra tickets go to waste, extras can be sold to VR users who want to watch a live show from the comfort of their home.
VTime is the world’s first social virtual reality experience. It allows people to have up to four-person conversations with people around the world in a variety of virtual locations. It also lets people experience a virtual theater or television in a virtual room, so you can watch movies with friends and family as if they are there with you.
No matter how detailed a presentation is, you need to experience VR to fully understand its appeal.
Every speaker agrees that, while necessary to keep the industry alive, advertising needs to be integrated into virtual reality in a non-disruptive way in order for it to be effective.
Their parting advice is to attend Imagine Park, a convention where people can use all of the technology discussed in the talk. [/su_box]

The next speaker is Facundo Diaz, the founder and CEO of Vrtify, brings up another promising application for VR is music, specifically letting people experience concerts virtually. Diaz tells us that virtual reality is the newest evolution in music technology, after the walkman and ipod. Vrtify is using the same business model for their platform, which will allow users to both listen to and live music. He also brings up that if a concert isn’t sold out, instead of letting the extra tickets go to waste, extras can be sold to VR users who want to watch a live show from the comfort of their home.

Julian Price, the CMO of VTime, discusses the applications of social VR. VTime is the world’s first social virtual reality experience. It allows people to have up to four-person conversations with people around the world in a variety of virtual locations. It also lets people experience a virtual theater or television in a virtual room, so you can watch movies with friends and family as if they are there with you. Julian is interested in the possibilities of being connected to others with this new technology in real time.

Lastly, the group discusses the way the public can and will interact with this new technology. They make it clear that no matter how detailed their presentation was, you need to experience VR to fully understand its appeal. Every speaker agrees that, while necessary to keep the industry alive, advertising needs to be integrated into virtual reality in a non-disruptive way in order for it to be effective. Their parting advice is to attend Imagine Park, a convention where people can use all of the technology discussed in the talk.

Two Massachusetts nonprofit innovators, Northampton Community Television (NCTV) and Brookline Interactive Group (BIG), are partnering to forge new models of public media in the United States by adding Virtual Reality, or VR, into their community media toolkits.

“The age of virtual reality (VR) is here, and the technology looks poised to change the way stories are told and consumed,” reflected Al Williams, executive director at NCTV. While VR technology is in its nascent stages and still only has low levels of consumer awareness and limited access by the general public, it has been the recent talk of the technology, film, gaming, journalism and storytelling worlds.

Over the past two weeks NCTV and BIG began offering free VR demos, both for the gaming and storytelling aspects of VR, using both the Samsung and HTC VIVE headsets and controllers, which only recently shipped and are the first headsets with a volumetric design.

“It’s been incredibly insightful to watch how people use and react to this technology, and we have been documenting the reactions of some first-time users,” said Williams, who captured his mother testing out the system for the first time. “Fantastic!” she exclaimed.

Entities like the New York Times, Frontline, and Sony Playstation have been growing programs to support and develop VR content, which has the potential to be the most immersive and empathetic form of communication developed to date. Want to tell a story about a Syrian refugee camp? Experience a rare, endangered rhinoceros? Feel the movement of the ocean as dolphins swim around you? Or work with revolutionary 3D drawing tools? VR is the it technology of the day, and perhaps of the future.

But as this new technology unfolds, who will provide the public unfettered access to these powerful creative tools and assure responsible and accessible use?

With most forms of media, corporate entities have had the first access to expensive, new forms of technology, designed to reach audiences with new, captivating methods. “Unfortunately,” said Kathy Bisbee, executive director of BIG, “in the case of VR, these same corporations are going to be funding and controlling most of the early VR content, and thus are determining what kinds of content the public can create, consume and digest in this new medium. Only recently is the price of VR camera equipment becoming more affordable, and by the holidays, many families will own a VR headset. We should be mindful of this new source of screen time, and develop methodologies to think critically, use it wisely, and deconstruct these messages and a new version of ‘reality’ in a new content format that seems so convincingly real.”

Northampton High School student Zev Seltzer uses the HTC Vive.

Bisbee said that from her research and experience with the new technology, “VR can powerfully manipulate how we see the world, real or not, and it can manipulate how we make sense of it. All of the research shows that it can profoundly affect and change how we feel about others and ourselves. So there’s an incredible opportunity to impact people positively through immersive storytelling in VR, as well as an important opportunity to educate, inform and deconstruct messages and redefine our sense of reality.”

Williams added that the same accessibility issues exist for VR as have in the past for new technologies and media tools. “At best, large public gatekeepers have acted as public media institutes that act as proxies for the public, without actually providing the public access to those tools,” citing the need for public accessibility to be part of the VR conversation.

Northampton Community Television (NCTV) and Brookline Interactive Group (BIG), two community media centers in Massachusetts, are looking to change that dynamic.

Already armed with early HTC Vive VR systems to provide the public with opportunities to experience and view VR content, these media centers are aiming to understand and educate the public on the possible ramifications of media literacy in virtual reality, which they have coined “virtual literacy.” These next generation public access television nonprofits seek to educate, inform, and provide a new kind of accessibility in the newest medium now available to and by the community.

Both organizations are curating educational and experiential content to demo for free to the community, as well as developing community viewing through libraries, at senior centers, and to after school and summer programs that will provide access to local residents in western Mass and near Boston. Their centers will also begin teaching immersive storytelling in 360 video and in VR, and in late 2016 will begin offering production services, virtual literacy curriculum, classes, and access to the “virtual commons.”

“VR is the next generation of the public Commons,” said Bisbee, “VR is both a literal virtual commons that we have to ensure will be accessible to the public in VR and a real physical space at our media centers.”

In the works in 2016, the new VR-oriented community media centers are laying the groundwork for programs to support the production of experiential storytelling, immersive journalism, storytelling in games, and new forms of artistic expression in the public sphere.

“We want to ensure that the public is a partner, not just a blind virtual consumer, in this emerging communication medium by supporting virtual literacy, public access to the technology, and best practices in its use,” shared Williams about their collaborative initiative. BIG and NCTV will together roll out curriculum, public demonstrations, and production and literacy training programs throughout the summer and fall.

NCTV is currently offering public demos of the HTC Vive volumetric VR system at their facilities on Tuesdays from 6-7pm, and Wednesdays and Fridays from 2-3pm.

More info about this VR community initiative is available at: www.publicVRlab.com.

Featured image by Maurizio Pesce via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.

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