All our readings for this week talk about decentralized storytelling, indigenous culture and the different realities, namely augmented reality (AR) & virtual reality (VR).
AR is an interactive experience of the real-world which is achieved by adding digital elements to a live view whereas VR is a complete immersion experience which shuts out the physical world.
All the projects by Amelia Winger Bearskin focus on the use of AR & VR to talk about various aspects ranging from urban planning to discussing the scope of technology. ‘Stupid Hackathon’, organized by Amelia last year, in which participants create projects that have no relevance or value, targets on critiquing the concept of ‘technological utopianism’. Some of the projects created includes a device that triggers a pee warning, chrome extension to create a browowowser for dogs, all that have no value whatsoever.
Technology is all around us. The dependence of humans on technology and whether it is human-friendly or not has always been debatable topic. According to me, it is a matter of personal choice. We make choices every day in our lives, encompassing and using technology is also a choice that one makes. Talking about technological advancements, technology grows with us every day. Technological advancements are a part of our lives. We see a new iPhone being released every year, a new Samsung Galaxy Note releasing every year, each having additional features & being more technologically advanced. Over the past few years, we have seen a substantial increase in the use of AR and VR technologies around us.
It is important that we have a full and good understanding of the uses of AR, its purpose, role, functionalities, it’s relevance in our lives to be able to fully appreciate its usefulness. Talking about the augmented reality phone app developed to enhance resident’s participation in city planning, I think it is an amazing and engaging app which would help people visualize the public proposals with more clarity for urban development in public spaces where they can simply use the app to get an overview on how the area would be modified with the proposed design changes. No one wants to look at a big complex chart which has the entire structure of the proposed designs. The people who would reside in the city wouldn’t have the exact same understanding of the proposal looking at those complex, lengthy charts as the architect who has designed them. So, having an AR app to show you the proposed future designs which would be better understood and visualized by people, is definitely an astounding approach to city/urban planning. With better understanding, more people would be able to engage in the planning process and suggest modifications. The applications of AR expand from being used by medical students to practice surgeries in a controlled environment to being used for navigational purposes.
Decentralized storytelling, a new concept which I came across in these readings, talks about storytelling in the digital age. The article explains the story of the ‘Corn Husk Woman’ as a way to teach a technology.
“Decentralized stories happen in real time because they are mapped to real life.”
Coming to the other reality, VR which is a very different experience compared to AR. Virtual reality is an immersive experience which transports the user to the world they are experiencing in VR. VR aims at generating pragmatic and realistic images, sounds and sensations that stimulate the user’s physical presence in a virtual or fictional world/environment. The future of Virtual reality is largely visualized by many as a solitary experience. According to me, yes, it is a solitary and an uninterrupted experience, but advancements can be made to try to incorporate a more social experience to it.
Chris Milk, founder and CEO of the VR company Within, called virtual reality the “ultimate empathy machine” in one of his TED talks. It is aptly pointed out that VR does stimulate a thinking process when the user experiences anything through it, but it is also true that it cannot force an individual to care against their will. Many simulations have been done to replicate the experience of various disabilities, but I feel its not possible to truly express and encounter the same feeling just through a VR experience.
“No matter how advanced virtual reality gets, it can’t make anyone care against their will.”
AR and VR have applications that enhance the way and effectiveness through which things can be approached nowadays. Be it urban planning or navigation, it does engage people in a more interactive manner, giving them more coherence of the goal.
Related links:
1. Stupid Hackathon- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/699876364/stupid-hackathon-2017
2. Sexual harassment in VR- http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/11/sexual_harassment_in_virtual_reality_is_real.html
3. After Solitary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7_YvGDh9Uc