The Immersive Wire - 6 March 2022 (Sunday edition)

By Tom Ffiske

VR/AR and metaverse analysis every Wednesday and Sunday // 6 March 2022

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MAIN STORYPerceiving the metaverse

Let's talk about the perception of the metaverse. With any early-stage technology, there is a consistent process of educating the public on the benefits of using it. Even cloud services, which has been around for many years, is still on an education path in some sectors. But the metaverse is seeing some early hurdles, compounded by the lack of agreed-upon definition. With that said, marketingcharts.com gave some great stats on how US people see the metaverse, and it shows a level of apathy with the emerging trend. Some key highlights:- Middling familiarity: Four in ten are familiar with the metaverse, and Toluna found that over half of people over the age of 55 have never even heard of it; - Low interest: One in three are interested in shopping for real or virtual products in metaverse environments created by brands;- Tiny personal investments: Only 15% of the more than 1,200 US adults surveyed report having bought virtual goods or NFTs.The stats are not surprising. It is a new trend with a lot of noise, which enshrouds the area in dubious fog. Perhaps it's a case where constant growth and education will shape how the metaverse will be seen in the future; but in any case, fascinating to see the lack of awareness.Familiarity will improve over 2022, as more products and services are launched. But it's a timescale and roadmap dictated by the big players, so we will see what they announce over the next few years.

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Q&AStaying curious

Ruth Hill, Head of Learning Design at Bodyswaps

What is your background? I never set out to be a learning designer. It just wasn’t on my radar as a career option when I was younger. But the profession kind of picked me and I’ve been riding that wave ever since.

I’m fascinated by what makes people tick, so when I started studying psychology at A level, I was hooked. I went on to major in psychology at uni, but chose a course that combined it with communications and computing because I thought it would broaden my horizons.

That led to my first graduate role as an instructional designer. But I could see that the old text and graphic, MCQ, drag and drop format wasn’t the most engaging of experiences.

I was curious to know how technology could support learning better, so I went back to uni and did a PhD in Computer-Assisted Learning, with a focus on mathemagenic activities. Mathemagenic means ‘giving birth to learning’. And I’ve been putting what I learned into practice ever since.

What are you working on, and what’s a key learning that you’ve had from it?I’ve been working on an idea for virtual reality communication skills training that puts students in the middle of a hostage negotiation situation.

The idea is to make the simulation into a game, where learners have to demonstrate effective communication skills in order to secure the release of a group of hostages. So, for example, the first task might be to use their verbal and non-verbal skills to earn trust and build rapport with the hostage taker. The next step could be to use open questions to get them talking and then keep them talking while someone covertly calls the police. This might be followed with an exercise in listening without bias to uncover clues about the criminal’s identity… and so on.

I ran a couple of focus groups with some students at a vocational college to pitch the idea and find out what they thought about it, while a colleague ran similar sessions with students at a performing arts academy.

What I learned was that - while students at both colleges were incredibly positive about the idea - my cohort of students strongly favoured highly fictionalised, dramatic scenarios that allowed them to experience something exciting and new. But my colleague’s cohort expressed a preference for more realistic, true-to-life experiences.

All of which just drives home that first rule of learning design - know your audience!

If you had to give one piece of advice, what would you give? I would say aim to cultivate curiosity. If I hadn’t become curious about the potential of tech, my career as a learning designer almost certainly would have ended with that first job. The power of curiosity to motivate and inspire is hugely underestimated. And that doesn’t only apply to personal growth.

If you’re commissioning or designing a learning experience, be aware that people forget 50% of new information within an hour of learning it, and that goes up to 70% within 24 hours.

There’s little point in spoon feeding information to learners. But curiosity stimulates learning and enhances memory, so seek out ways to tantalise and tickle your learners’ curiosity drive. Virtual reality provides us with great opportunities to do this.

Curiosity also stimulates the release of dopamine, which promotes pleasure. So cultivate curiosity and we’ll all live a happier, more fulfilled life!

If you want to know more about Ruth Hill then click here to find out more.

Jobs boardDISTRIBUTION AND TOURING PRODUCER. Marshmallow Laser Feast is looking for someone to join our team as a Distribution & Touring Producer. You will have a desire to work at the bleeding edge of immersive storytelling and help shape how that work is distributed globally. We see the development and distribution of MLF’s own work as key to the future success of the business, a key revenue stream and integral in building global brand awareness. This new role will be a vital part of the core team that formulates and realises this ambitious vision. Learn more. RENDERING AND C++ ENGINEER, Wikitude, a Qualcomm company. Qualcomm is a company of inventors that unlocked 5G ushering in an age of rapid acceleration in connectivity. Under this dynamic umbrella, Wikitude, a Qualcomm company, shapes the future of augmented reality by empowering businesses and developers. We are looking for the XR Software Engineer Design to design, test, and implement core parts of the Wikitude XR toolkit – particularly rendering pipelines for XR systems. Do you have a high affinity for real-time rendering pipelines and optimizing code to fit 16ms (or less)? Learn more and apply! SENIOR COMPUTER SCIENCE and SOFTWARE DEVELOPER (3D, Linear Algebra, C++). MetaVRse is a web-based 3D game engine for building immersive experiences without needing to code. We are looking for a unicorn computer scientist from anywhere in the world who can help us improve the core rendering technology that will serve creators to build custom products in training, marketing, sales, retail and learning in photorealistic, real-time 3D delivered on any device in a browser. Working with our Head of R&D, you will be responsible for creating and implementing new 3D graphics solutions to push the limits of our technology stack. Solid understanding of Real-time 3D libraries (OpenGL, Vulkan), Linear Algebra, C++ and 3D rendering and game engine technologies. Apply Here.XR SOFTWARE ENGINEER NETWORKING, Wikitude, a Qualcomm company. Qualcomm is a company of inventors that unlocked 5G ushering in an age of rapid acceleration in connectivity. Under this dynamic umbrella, Wikitude, a Qualcomm company, shapes the future of augmented reality by empowering businesses and developers. We are looking for an experienced XR Software Engineer Networking to drive the architecture, development, and deployment of core parts of our XR toolkit. A successful candidate has extensive experience in multiplayer streaming and can apply it to XR experiences. Do you have a solid technical background, a passion for the XR industry, and enjoy working with engineering teams? Apply hereXR CONTENT DIRECTOR, Pixo VR. The VR marketplace is exploding, and PIXO is leading the way in on-demand generation and adoption in our industry. With our groundbreaking PIXO ApexTM platform, we provide comprehensive, end-to-end VR content, distribution, and management solutions for enterprise. PIXO VR is searching for an XR Content Director to join our team. Reporting to the COO, the Content Director will manage the overall production, procurement and growth strategy for our XR content library. Working with a team of offshore and onshore designers, engineers, artists, marketers, and 3rd party content developers, the Content Director will ensure PIXO is delivering an exceptional content experience to all our end users. Check out further details here. SDK TECHNICAL ENGINEER, Pico Interactive Europe. As SDK Technical Engineer you will be responsible for investigating/troubleshooting issues reported, and collecting/consolidating customer requirements back to the Beijing DevSupport team. Through this role you will be the technical liaison between Pico Interactive Europe customers and Pico product teams to ensure Europe region's commercial success. In Europe, Pico is one of the premier enterprise hardware companies in the rapidly growing VR market. Click here for more.TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER, Pico Interactive Europe. As Technical Project Manager you will be responsible for evaluating improvements to the devices, services, logistics, and operations to continue the high growth business of Pico Interactive Europe. In Europe, Pico is one of the premier enterprise hardware companies in the rapidly growing VR market. The Pico Europe business is responsible for all business opportunities in Europe, Israel, Russian Federation and India. Click here for more.  Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

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That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Either reply to this email, or contact tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com. Have an excellent day!