In June we were delighted to be one of the recipients of the Innovation in Development Reporting grants from the European Journalism Center in Maastricht to use a combination of comics and 360 video to offer an immersive window into the lives of families based in Gawair, a slum north of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been increasingly plagued by floods, tornados … Read More
This week in VR/AR: Dreaming, touching and education
This past week, there have been a series of tech developments in virtual and augmented reality. For one, Nikon took a step into the VR space with its new KeyMission series of cameras. In addition to the GoPro-like KeyMission 170 and KeyMission 80 chest camera, the KeyMission 360 is a strong new competitor for action. In addition to shooting 360 video … Read More
2nd anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting
Last week on August 9 was the second anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. This launched protests in Ferguson that eventually developed into the Black Lives Matter movement, which now fights for the lives of black people around the country. Following Brown’s death, in 2014, … Read More
Can VR induce empathy? Behind our work with the Tow Center at Columbia Journalism School
Can new technologies like virtual and augmented reality and 360 video induce empathy in users? That is what Empathetic Media founder Dan Archer is studying in collaboration with Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism. A first of its kind project, this research will result in an analysis of empathy and whether users can more closely relate to characters and situations in a VR … Read More
360 film highlights the beautiful effects of protecting ecosystems
While we previously wrote about how virtual reality (VR) is being used to shed light on parts of the world that are being negatively affected by climate change and human intervention, this recent piece for Conservation International proves that VR can also be used to show how people are working to rebuild ecosystems. The Bird’s Head Seascape surrounding Papua New Guinea in … Read More