Leah VR Blog

Research

Book:

Future Presence: How Virtual Reality is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy and the Limits of Ordinary Life, Peter Rubin

This book Gives us a glimpse into what the future of how emerging technologies will be used. Rubin explorers How the previous ways of connecting with each other will change, and how new relationships could be formed. He talks about how VR puts you inside another world, and explores how VR tricks the mind into believing the experience is real, and how this is changing the way humans relate to themselves and others.

Peter Rubin explores how Virtual reality has evolved significantly, and how the feeling of “presence” is crucial to its development. He talk about how VR can help with stress and mindfulness, create intimacy, and transform storytelling and gaming. How Facebook is investing in VR’s potential and explores how touch lags behind other senses in VR. He also discusses the concerns about VR’s impact on pornography, and what the impact of VR and AR could mean for the future.

Interactivity

Is one of the Three Pillars of VR

Today I was sick and I missed out on my session about interactivity being one of the free pillars of virtual reality. So I’m going to watch a few videos an you know just try to get a sense of what interactivity is all about. I would say interactivity is about interacting with technology. Interactivity is humans and technology combining and integrating with each other in a way. Just being able to physically interact with technology was a big deal next step maybe mixing with technology like literally putting technology into our bodies and mixing or putting our bodies into technology Anne I feel that this really is something that has transpired t I don’t know I guess it’s goanna be like I can’t even imagine you know a mixture between a human and a robot where you  know half half And as we don’t already have the ability just like flip a hologram out of our hands with a computer you know a mobile or you know some sort of computer system that just you know seamlessly can float around you know a simulated hologram I imagine maybe that’s what will be happening next I don’t know if that is 6th generation of technology of the 7th generation of technology This is quite interesting but I might have to do some real research

Today When we looked at avatars

Questioning why do people create avatars?

maybe people feel that they can take on an become a different character and experience what

We looked at digital identity‘s which are a digital version of your expression

we also looked at digital twins which are a digital copy of you using digital technology as a medium

At this point I’ve did try to imagine these concepts an follow and understand these ideas but this is quite a complex way of thinking and would take some time for me to absorb and understandd

it feels like a riddle

 we learn a bit about what a Cyborg is – a mechanical physical identity

We look at a digital twin and compare that both a Cyborg and a digital twin blur the boundaries between humans and machines

Cyborg’s allow us to rethink the limitations of identity categories such as gender race and sexuality similar to avatar’s which create virtual identity’s that transcend the limitations of physical embodiment and allow users to experiment with different forms of self

You think about what are some of the pros and cons of this type of technology I wonder if all the lines between human and robots blur

At this point I can’t make heads or tails of some of this information so I decided to watch a YouTube video which further confuses me and is very long I reckon this is a broad subject that takes a while to learn about

Using a cell phone expands, the limitations you can not usually call someone halfway across the planet what are the pros and cons of this

Not sure if not sure why I wrote about the cell phone but personally I do think people have gone crazy with mobile phones nobody respects privacy or personal time anymore.

I think one of the cons are, that people are beginning to not only rely on phones as a method of contact but invade others time that may be planned for their self, with no understanding of others peoples routines and self time.

Having time for yourself gives one the chance to “break free from social pressures and tap into your own thoughts, feelings” Some people are living in different routines and have different morning and bedtime routines. This can cause a disturbance and destruct ones routines, in saying that there many pros to having a cell phone that expand the limitations off humans from Connecting worldwide with friends and family to contacting emergency services in urgent situations. There are definitely many positives in having a cell phone.

Donna Haraway is known for her contributions to feminist philosophy of technology and science.

A  Documentary called telling of earthly survival talks about cyborg

This is the on I attempted to with well I managed a little

Critical reflection on Frameless exhibition

Part of our virtual reality studies involves a trip to an exhibition called frame less. We arrived at the exhibition to view 4 rooms. The first room was called beyond reality Which was full of ionic artworks that explore dreams ,worlds and the surreal. We were surrounded buy these animated walls and this room was filled with a collage type of art of forest, themes, and disguised surfaces and there were mirror reflections on the floors.

I think the artist wanted the viewer to feel like they were really in the surroundings they could see and the movement of the arts to make the viewer feel like they were standing next to a moving trees or flowers. Personally it wasn‘t very immersive as it didn‘t fully submerse the viewer. I think the artist use the mirrors which were placed above and below, too create a dream like state, as it reflected you upside down or other people from weird angles, a distorted view of the environment. The mirrors on the ceiling made me feel as if there was more people in the space as someone was always reflecting into the mirrors. Thinking back to the experience I think the mirrors did give a sense of a dream like state as some dreams are often distorted in reality the mirrors did remind me of a type of dream where you just can’t quite remember where you were or maybe make out someone’s face images flashing before your eyes but you just can’t quite remember what you was dreaming about yes I think the mirrors did try to imitate that type of dreamlike state. Even though I got a sense of this dreamlike state after thinking back and analysing the environment, while I was at the exhibition I didn’t feel like it reminded me of a dream or a world. It’s pretty as it was it didn’t make me feel as if I was in a different environment it felt more like a cool hang out spot. Maybe it would have been a better experience with less people in the environment as too many viewers may cause a distraction to the sense of what the artist was trying to create. I think the mirrors Also acted as a distraction As they distracted me from the wall scenes which actually made me feel more immersed. I think the artists idea was that it would make the viewer feel connected and immersed in the experience. There were many distractions from the attraction such as areas where the surface would change reminding the viewer that they weren’t fully submersed this could be better in a virtual reality experience as it could give full coverage to the experience. 

Similar to the first room, the second room was called colour in motion. There were many animated moving designed objects. The Azure Kinect body tracking System changes the motion of the objects given us the experience of pushing the objects as we walked on them. This was very immersive as we felt like we were connecting with the objects. I also enjoyed the emerging transitions of the art pieces when changing from one piece to another. I think the artist of this exhibit wanted to make the viewers connect with the Did you all move in objects in the scene I feel that the artist pulled this off very effectively I believe this was the most enjoyable of the exhibits we view that day and the viewers became quiet a must due to the fact of feeling they were connecting with the digital heart especially on the floors this cave the viewer the feeling of kicking leaves running through a leafy forest . Surround sound also matched the scenes displayed and changed accordingly to the change.

The next room of artwork was a seamlessly floating scene all around from the floors to the to the walls,  given a the effect that the floors and walls were one surface. I think the artist wanted to make this a very immersive experience by giving a full coverage of the room and the audio to go along with the animated scenes I found some of the sound effects were too loud and dramatic.  Even though this was a fully projected space one cannot feel fully submersed with objects animated on a wall as in real life objects are everywhere so this did draw us away from the experience and feeling immersed at times  However I feel there were some moments where this exhibit in particular wet quite well where you could see shadows of other people this gave the impression of people getting washed away by the sea as their shadows would reflect low down on the walls as the animated waves moved along the scene I’m not sure if this was a lighting effect or If this was even done deliberately, for me it did add to the exhibit.