Executive summary
Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse and spatial computing. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:
Top stories: I am getting suck of these VR images.
Study: A VR study found that participants subconsciously followed the gaze of both human and robot avatars toward posters in a virtual university corridor, even when the gaze held no relevance to their task, indicating automatic gaze-following in semi-public settings.
This week’s stories: The Light Rail Safety and Standards Board and KeolisAmey Metrolink are funding a VR initiative in Greater Manchester schools to address verbal and physical assaults on tramway staff through immersive safety education.
Seeing Florence + The Machine on Tuesday. Hopefully the dog days are over?
Main story
I am getting sick of these VR images.
You know exactly the image I’m talking about. Someone gawping, mouth agape as wide as the Cave of Wonders, with a silicon headcrab stuck to their head. They’re looking at something I assume would be incredible and lovely, but we as viewers can’t see it unless there is this blended reality-esque background that showcases the colours, lighting, and visuals they are observing. It looks… off.
I’ve never been a fan of these marketing VR images. In fact, I feel like they have been a detriment to the way headsets have been sold. In 2024, most Brits thought that VR headsets were not cool. I wonder why.
This week’s stories
Hove Museum of Creativity is hosting Double Act, a virtual reality experience by Jess Starns that explores the early British film pioneers George Albert Smith and Laura Eugenia Bayley through immersive recreations of Edwardian cinema and studio life.
The Light Rail Safety and Standards Board and KeolisAmey Metrolink are funding a VR initiative in Greater Manchester schools to address verbal and physical assaults on tramway staff through immersive safety education.
St Leonards filmmaker Andrew Kötting is presenting The Tell Tale Rooms Redux, a critically acclaimed VR experience blending surreal, hyper-real environments with immersive storytelling, at Hastings Arts Forum from 18 February to 1 March.
Stephen Arnold Music has created a historically detailed soundtrack for Histovery’s touring augmented reality exhibition American Revolution – The Augmented Experience.
UC Davis researchers are using VR technology at Eskaton Village to conduct quick, interactive eye exams for seniors, with the system assessing visual acuity, color and shape perception, and pupil responses while transmitting results directly to ophthalmologists.
Note: The Immersive Wire is run by Tom Ffiske, who also works at Accenture. The contents of the newsletter should not be regarded as Accenture’s views.
All spelling mistakes are deliberate, actually.
