 Hi everyone, welcome to the VR for first-timers workshop presented by the media creation lab team My name is Tim and I'll be your host today So here's an overview of the workshop. It has two parts. The first part is an introduction to VR looking at definitions and the history of VR as well as different types of experiences and Presenting applications and future considerations second part is introduction to the August quest product line specifically the quest in quest two Outlines the strategies to mitigate and avoid motion sickness, which is a common outcome Then I will show you how to put on the headset and use the controllers And I'll describe the guardian feature And then from there, I will guide you through a not interactive activity that we've chosen and then a interactive An interactive activity that we've chosen and you can experience those vicariously If you don't have a headset And then I'll just pose a few questions to consider at the end So introduction to VR What is virtual reality? So here is a precise definition courtesy of Miriam Webster It's an artificial environment that is experienced through sensory stimuli such as sights and sounds Provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment So I like this definition. It's very apt, but for the purpose of this workshop, I'd like to broaden the definition based on this more precise one So this broader definition is an artificial and usually ad hoc environment That is experienced through sensory stimuli such as sights and sounds and which facilitates an intended experience So you might have noticed that this broader definition excludes the computer aspect and that's deliberate because um, if you think about it VR technologies Is a fairly new way of something doing something very old that something is Storytelling or in a larger sense displaced communication Storytelling is a fundamental and unique activity to humans. It's something that only we can do and Regardless of whether it's presented through VR or some other medium storytelling and displaced communication He's intended to put the listener or the viewer or the reader or the player In a different place with respect to time and space So in other words, VR and its technology is contemporary, but its underlying intent is ancient So with this broader view of VR technology You can appreciate and recognize that it's the culmination of hundreds of years of related innovations and advancements So most people they probably Place the origin of VR in the mid to late 80s That's when the term virtual reality is coined 1987 By jaren lannier the co-founder Of the company that makes this vpl data glove He and his company partnered with nasa and they in turn develop the first complete VR system that resembles the one That people imagine when I think of VR so head not to display with handheld notion controls Some people might place the origin of VR earlier to the 60s in which There's a handful of pioneers who recognize the potential for computing technology and they Not only articulate those visions, but they also develop it so things like human computer interaction and The possibility of realistic computer generated visuals They emerge in the form of the first head mounted display And 3d models that are used for example in the Apollo space program Even though these developments are very primitive by today's standards they kind of Set the groundwork with VR But of course these advancements don't happen in a vacuum. They owe their Development to prior developments in the second world war in early cold war some flight simulators that combined physical mock-ups and pre computing technologies as well as Very basic light board displays to track aircraft And these advancements in turn owe their development to pre computing innovations like panorama paintings in the late 1700s Those are a genre of painting that Present canvases Uncurved and wide surfaces that and they're painted in such a way as to resemble The real view of the landscape and then Half a century after that there's a stereoscope that's invented and stereoscope is a device That presents slightly different image Slightly slightly different images to each eye And that's noteworthy because every VR headset Past and present is essentially a stereoscope including the one that I'm Wearing right now. So what you're seeing right now is The imagery from one of the lenses because this headset doesn't have the processing power to show and combine the imagery from both lenses and then also A century after that there's vidorama aka sinorama and that's used in flight sims early flight sims is basically system of Presenting multiple Projections from different projection tractors that show slightly different images on a curved screen so all these advancements kind of lead us up to today and In the prior decade We see advancements in the entertainment industry Video games like doom and ever quest online They show the viability and the desirability For people to cooperate compete or just coexist in online persistent environments and As well during this decade there is continued use in the science and military sectors But definitely Around this time probably to the mid to late 80s to the early 90s That's when VR kind of sees its first boom bust Right, so it really kicks off in the mid 80s, but by the Late 90s It kind of fizzles out that's kind of leads us to The post millennium era So in the 2000s we do game companies release products that use motion sensing technology that's present in VR headset today Even though interest in VR has mostly been dormant In 2012 Palmer Lucky releases the Oculus Rift After gaining public attention It's available on Kickstarter. It becomes so popular that Facebook Acquires Oculus and It's kind of where we are today. I would say we're in this second boom recently Facebook rebranded as meta to signal their intent to focus on VR and VR adjacent technologies and whether this second boom continues to Gain momentum or whether it just tapers off. That's something that we'll have to wait and see So in terms of labeling VR experiences not all VR experiences are equal So people tend to label or categorize them based on their perceived levels of immersion and interactivity and I say perceived because Immersiveness is entirely subjective It's uh if the term is somewhat presumptuous just because somebody calls An app or device or system immersive doesn't necessarily mean that you or I will find it immersive That concept this construct is really the results of design factors and user factors So user factors would include things like The users experiences and expectations and attributes and situations And design factors include various things, but the two most prominent ones are the extents of Being there the illusion of being there also knows tell a presence And the other main design related factor would be the extent of interactivity or agency within that virtual world So generally speaking the systems that Get the label as being highly immersive are ones that Evolve head-mounted displays that show fairly realistic 3d visuals And those systems also tend to have ocean controls that allow for immediate and obvious actions Especially the kind that resemble actions in real life But again as always just remember Immersiveness is subjective In terms of context scope Here's a set of terms That you might or might not have heard or seen VR of course is an all-digital interaction There's no perception of the real world as part of the intended experience That's in contrast to AR or augmented reality Those types of applications are Based in the real world and there are Are non interactive usually non interactive digital elements that exist kind of In between the user and the real world There's mixed reality or mr That involve interaction with both physical and digital elements Can't really think of any mr experiences, but generally in theory they would Include systems that Might allow you to use a VR system and an AR system at the same time or switch between the two XR or extended reality is a fairly new term It's an umbrella term that encompasses these three types of technologies And you kind of think of these three as Existing on a continuum. So on the one end of the scale you've got AR Which is reality based and then on the other end of the scale you've got VR, which is The opposite virtuality based as some people might say then in the middle you've got mr And of course another term that you've probably seen or heard a lot recently is metaverse In most contexts it's used as a general synonym for cyberspace, which is essentially A persistent environment that's online and separate from the real world Unlike The internet for example, there's really no one singular meta metaverse The reality in practice it's more like Multiple metaverses that might or might not be connected. So some people might say the metaverse as though there's one Metaverse, but that is really not the case So just kind of to demonstrate illustrate The immersiveness the subjectivity subjectivity of immersiveness and interactivity here's a set for VR and VR jason experiences you can kind of take a look at them and see How interactive and how immersive they might be to you Again, it might be hard to imagine if you've never experienced any or some of these Experiences just kind of look at them briefly. So think of playing a traditional video game on a tv with a controller How immersive and interactive you think it would be to you? Another example would be using a vehicle simulator that uses physical controls like the One you see here, but does not involve a head-mounted display. How immersive Interactive do you think it would be to you? another example Still would be viewing a movie within a head-mounted display with surround sound How immersive do you think it might be? And in terms of interactivity probably low regardless of the movie Another example yet would be Playing a game within a head-mounted display with motion controls that mimic real life actions How immersive do you think you would find that experience? and how interactive Would be it would seem to you So again just to reiterate that point immersiveness varies from one person to the next Like the immersiveness of any given experience depends Partly on the design of that product as I mentioned but also on you the end user And before we continue I'd like you to take a moment. Just think Do you know of any VR applications in your field work or study? And if you don't know of any applications, can you imagine any potential or future applications? You can pause This presentation and think about it even discuss with your neighbors if you'd like Now a moment. Okay Let's move on and here are some actual present day applications. So vocational training VR has a long history of being used for military training Especially vehicle training like planes, helicopters, tanks Um, but it's also used in the civilian world like vocational like excuse me skilled trades Even walmart for example uses VR headsets to train their associates in the field of health and wellness um training surgeons Also being used as a therapeutic tool For patients and also as a psychological counseling tool for patients as well In terms of education, there's uh, you'll probably find many examples of VR being used at Different levels of education. So at York for example last semester in upper year biochemistry course used VR for a set of assignments that involved Um, examining molecules in 3D And also for example the multimedia language center has experimented with apps for teaching and learning Uh, languages in different environments And also enterprises that involve physical spaces. So real estate, architecture, interior design Those fields are using VR technology. That's actually a really good application Of that technology But with any type of device product technology as a whole you don't just want to consume it You want to interrogate it think about the biases that might be inherent to the people Like to the product because of the people who designed it think about the consequences positive negative neutral Ones that people are either overlooking or ones that people are down playing because maybe that's um detrimental to their Cause company whatever um Think of what people Say about the technology and then think about what you say. So even though you might read about how VR technology um Is potentially a very lucrative discipline and how X trillion dollars will be spent by the year whatever That's of right now. VR technology is not commercially viable might have heard or read about meta's financial losses in the past year because of Their investment in VR technology You might hear and read about people saying how products like the quests and quests to are affordable They might be affordable to some people, but they won't be affordable to everybody Of course and in terms of accessibility For people persons who have disabilities VR technology In its current state is not Particularly accessible or adaptable like the designers of VR experiences assume that everybody has two arms and two hands is able to move Their hands and figures that they have the strength to Dawn ahead not to display and they can move their heads And they can see and hear It's interesting to note that as VR technology advances And more companies invest in the technology when they present their products They tend to present to them more as tools for productivity as opposed to toys for recreation But the irony is that by moving away from that toy aspect, they're kind of overlooking The advancements that are happening in the gaming industry Over the past few years. So look at microsoft and sony releasing adaptive controllers that people can use to Customize based on their particular needs. You've got video games that Release with an impressive set of adaptive and accessibility options and grassroots movements that Provide resources free resources to developers of Gaming products to make them accessible. There's nothing like that in the VR world right now And in terms of privacy and security issues for any type of technology that involves Interactivity and interconnectivity. There's always the prospect of Hacking as Some researchers at records have already found out and in some countries jurisdictions. There's already government and government oversight and legislative committees that are looking at xr But with the potential the positive potential as well as maybe the pitfalls of those products Just definitely be mindful of the good and bad of any technology