Immersive Media & Virtual Reality Research
Does Virtual Reality impact perceptions of the news?
The Media Impact Project conducted a series of studies with partners including FRONTLINE, Emblematic, and the Huffington Post to assess the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) Journalism on audience knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
In our first two studies, we tested the role of technological platform in impacting viewer response to VR, using two Virtual Reality (VR) Journalism experiences created by PBS FRONTLINE and the pioneering immersive journalism company, Emblematic: After Solitary and Greenland Melting.
We recruited research participants, randomly assigned them to experience the stories in room-scale and/or 360 video and other platforms, and captured their overall impressions of the experience as well as any changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors through surveys and interviews. Overall, we found room-scale VR to be the most effective way to create a feeling of “being there." However, the novelty of the medium creates incentives to explore the space rather than absorb information, and provides enormous potential for distraction from complex narratives or information-dense sequences. Balancing these characteristics is the key to developing journalistic content for this medium.
Our team is currently extending this work with partners at the SURGE VR lab (Simulation User Research Game Experience) at Purdue University, led by Dr. Alesiha Hayes and the Scenario Lab, led by Dr. Patti Riley at USC, where our current study focuses on a VR experience created by the Huffington Post about neglected tropical diseases.
This work is generously funded by the Knight Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Download FRONTLINE and Emblematic's report on immersive journalism based on MIP findings here!
The Media Impact Project conducted a series of studies with partners including FRONTLINE, Emblematic, and the Huffington Post to assess the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) Journalism on audience knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
In our first two studies, we tested the role of technological platform in impacting viewer response to VR, using two Virtual Reality (VR) Journalism experiences created by PBS FRONTLINE and the pioneering immersive journalism company, Emblematic: After Solitary and Greenland Melting.
We recruited research participants, randomly assigned them to experience the stories in room-scale and/or 360 video and other platforms, and captured their overall impressions of the experience as well as any changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors through surveys and interviews. Overall, we found room-scale VR to be the most effective way to create a feeling of “being there." However, the novelty of the medium creates incentives to explore the space rather than absorb information, and provides enormous potential for distraction from complex narratives or information-dense sequences. Balancing these characteristics is the key to developing journalistic content for this medium.
Our team is currently extending this work with partners at the SURGE VR lab (Simulation User Research Game Experience) at Purdue University, led by Dr. Alesiha Hayes and the Scenario Lab, led by Dr. Patti Riley at USC, where our current study focuses on a VR experience created by the Huffington Post about neglected tropical diseases.
This work is generously funded by the Knight Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Download FRONTLINE and Emblematic's report on immersive journalism based on MIP findings here!
Blogs
Wanna Try Some VR? Here’s a Guide
Johanna Blakley
Lately I’ve been doing a bit of VR bingeing. While I’m not a binge TV viewer, I cannot get enough VR when the opportunity presents itself. Luckily, I’m based in Los Angeles, where new media experiments are all the rage, and my job takes me to exactly the kinds of conferences that showcase new experiments in the field.
As you’ve no doubt heard, VR is all the rage right now, syphoning start-up funding from what many believe are more worthy, though less glitzy, projects. Stanford’s Jeremy Bailenson has just published Experience on Demand, which catalogs the many uses for VR, mostly for training or therapy, and VR pioneer Jaron Lanier has just come out with a surprisingly optimistic book, Dawn of the New Everything. Even if you’re skeptical about VR, I strongly urge you to try it out. And not just what you can pop into your Google Cardboard. Before you completely dismiss it, you need to experience it with better hardware, such as Samsung Gear or, even better, the HTC Vive. More
Related Posts
Johanna Blakley
Lately I’ve been doing a bit of VR bingeing. While I’m not a binge TV viewer, I cannot get enough VR when the opportunity presents itself. Luckily, I’m based in Los Angeles, where new media experiments are all the rage, and my job takes me to exactly the kinds of conferences that showcase new experiments in the field.
As you’ve no doubt heard, VR is all the rage right now, syphoning start-up funding from what many believe are more worthy, though less glitzy, projects. Stanford’s Jeremy Bailenson has just published Experience on Demand, which catalogs the many uses for VR, mostly for training or therapy, and VR pioneer Jaron Lanier has just come out with a surprisingly optimistic book, Dawn of the New Everything. Even if you’re skeptical about VR, I strongly urge you to try it out. And not just what you can pop into your Google Cardboard. Before you completely dismiss it, you need to experience it with better hardware, such as Samsung Gear or, even better, the HTC Vive. More
Related Posts