Covid cut off the communal experience of live performance and venues have taken a battering. Let’s return and reconnect
Imagine a man at the end of his rope. Imagine someone says to him: “Here, put this virtual reality headset on; it will help you.” The software in the headset transports the man to the edge of a cliff. Near Dover maybe. The immaculately rendered landscape overwhelms his senses: the surge of the sea far below him, a boat in the distance, the vertigo. Imagine that some part of the man is healed by this immersion. He takes the headset off and returns to reality with renewed resilience and hope.
Shakespeare pulls a version of this trick on the Earl of Gloucester in King Lear. Not with VR but with words. The blinded Gloucester is made to think he’s a footstep away from oblivion – rocks beneath him, birds wheeling below. He’s taken over the edge of despair and back again. And the lesson he learns from the experience is to endure. And yes, the lesson we all learn from watching him is also to endure. But we also learn a thousand other things about ourselves, there in that audience, watching that play, at that moment.
Flinders Quarter Augmented Arts Walk is one of many attempts to revive the city’s economic hub. But is it working?
Paris has its Latin Quarter and Barcelona its Gothic Quarter, but who ever knew Melbourne had a Flinders Quarter? Running from Flinders Street to Collins, down Elizabeth and up Swanston, it takes in some of the city’s most famous laneways, including Degraves Street and Centre Place. The name’s provenance is disputed – it may or may not have come about when the area was dominated by the rag trade – but it appealed to the organisers of the Flinders Quarter Augmented Arts Walk.
Many cities have self-directed cultural tours, but the key difference here lies in that word “augmented”. A close cousin of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR) is a way of enhancing a physical object – for example, a piece of art – with digital elements accessed via technology, in this case a smart phone. All participants need do is download a free app called EyeJack, point it at the art, and watch as the work metamorphoses on the screen.
Flinders Quarter Augmented Arts Walk is one of many attempts to revive the city’s economic hub. But is it working?
Paris has its Latin Quarter and Barcelona its Gothic Quarter, but who ever knew Melbourne had a Flinders Quarter? Running from Flinders Street to Collins, down Elizabeth and up Swanston, it takes in some of the city’s most famous laneways, including Degraves Street and Centre Place. The name’s provenance is disputed – it may or may not have come about when the area was dominated by the rag trade – but it appealed to the organisers of the Flinders Quarter Augmented Arts Walk.
Many cities have self-directed cultural tours, but the key difference here lies in that word “augmented”. A close cousin of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR) is a way of enhancing a physical object – for example, a piece of art – with digital elements accessed via technology, in this case a smart phone. All participants need do is download a free app called EyeJack, point it at the art, and watch as the work metamorphoses on the screen.
The immunology professor on the personal data which will shape our future and how the pandemic has fired everyone’s interest in the immune system
Daniel M Davis is a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester. He has published over 130 academic papers and two lauded popular science books, The Compatibility Gene and The Beautiful Cure. His third, The Secret Body, describes the forthcoming revolution in human health.
As an immunologist, when you overhear conversations about antibodies or T-cells in the pub (when regulations permit), is it pleasing to you that these aspects of science have entered the public domain? Many terrible things have happened because of this pandemic, but the science of viruses and infections has come right to the foreground. As an immunologist I always thought my subject was quite important, but right now it’s become blatantly clear to everyone how critical it is to understand how the immune system works and how viruses evolve, and how infections spread between people. Without that deep understanding there wouldn’t have been progress in creating vaccines and many, many, many more people would have died.
There will be an onslaught of information as knowledge progresses; people will have difficult decisions to make
The immunology professor on the personal data which will shape our future and how the pandemic has fired everyone’s interest in the immune system
Daniel M Davis is a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester. He has published over 130 academic papers and two lauded popular science books, The Compatibility Gene and The Beautiful Cure. His third, The Secret Body, describes the forthcoming revolution in human health.
As an immunologist, when you overhear conversations about antibodies or T-cells in the pub (when regulations permit), is it pleasing to you that these aspects of science have entered the public domain? Many terrible things have happened because of this pandemic, but the science of viruses and infections has come right to the foreground. As an immunologist I always thought my subject was quite important, but right now it’s become blatantly clear to everyone how critical it is to understand how the immune system works and how viruses evolve, and how infections spread between people. Without that deep understanding there wouldn’t have been progress in creating vaccines and many, many, many more people would have died.
It’s a challenging time around the world with the ongoing global pandemic. However, if you’re feeling a bit frustrated, a new PC VR game might let you take out some of your anger in an usual way.
Corona Kombat is a new PC VR game available now on Steam, in which you’ll travel through blood vessels while shooting at the virus. While the concept might seem a bit silly, the game was actually developed by a health tech startup, Reducept, with the help of a European grant both for the game development and accompanying clinical research.
While it might be fun to take your pandemic anger out in-game by shooting at the virus, Reducept is hoping that Corona Kombat might be able help people who are struggling with negative mental health effects stemming from the pandemic, with the game pitched as being “supported by the validated effectiveness of CBT [cognitive behavioral therapy], hypnotherapy and mindfulness.”
The basic idea is to release any negative emotions toward something by performing some kind of representative physical action, even if it seems silly. In this case, by traveling through the blood stream and shooting at strands of COVID-19, Reducept is aiming to help people release some of the anger or frustration they might be feeling toward the pandemic in an amusing game.
Whether the game actually helps in that regard is a whole other matter, and will probably depend on the person playing. There’s two modes in question, a relaxing ‘resistance’ mode and a more challenging ‘willpower’ mode.
The game is available now on Steam, and looks like it only supports Oculus Rift headset at the moment, with just keyboard and mouse support for controls. If you try the game out, let us know what you think in the comments below.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has meant not only hospitals having to improve their training procedures for staff and volunteers but also care homes and whose looking after the most vulnerable. A recent study conducted as part of the UK government’s TechForce19 challenge – in collaboration with VR training solution specialist Virti – has found improvements can be made when it comes to health and safety using immersive technology.
Provided with training on hand washing, donning and doffing PPE, and responding to an unresponsive patient (including resuscitation), carers in the randomised control interventional study were split between Virti’s solution and standard training.
A pre to post-training knowledge test found that on average carers who used immersive tech saw a performance increase of 230.1% in comparison to 16.75% for the control group. The test scores also highlighted the carers understanding of infection control measures was only 16% for the control group while the intervention group hit 92%, a significant difference of 76%.
“As a surgeon, it’s critical to me that our technology is evidence-based. As we roll out a completely new way to train, we want our users and customers to continue to see this platform as effective and reliable,” said Dr Alex Young, NHS surgeon and the founder of Virti in a statement. “Ensuring our care workers have the training they need to keep themselves and their patients safe is of critical importance.”
“Our care homes have taken the brunt of the impact during the pandemic, despite heroic efforts from staff, so we must ensure they are as prepared as possible to fight a potential second wave,” Young continues. “This study is an important step forward in how we can help that happen safely and at scale. The impact of digital, immersive training when it comes to knowledge retention and in reducing anxiety is evident from the findings of this study. We hope it starts a conversation around how we can better prepare the workforce for the future and for the challenges employees in any sector face.”
TechForce19 challenge awards UK innovators grants of £25,000 GBP to test solutions which support the elderly, vulnerable and self-isolating during COVID-19. Virti has been providing its healthcare training solution since 2018 and as it continues to make advancements, VRFocus will let you know.
A flock of students stumbling after a consultant on a ward round has long been a familiar sight in hospitals. Perhaps not for much longer though – a university has pioneered the use of augmented reality to allow students to take part from home.
Imperial College has conducted what it said is the world’s first virtual ward round for medical students, which means an entire class of 350 students can watch a consultant examining patients rather than the three or four who have been able to accompany them in person.
