vrdi – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

If you happen to be in London, UK this week and you’re interested in the various applications of virtual reality (VR) outside of entertainment and videogames, then a newly formed Meetup group will be holding its second event tomorrow featuring the Open University and VRFocus’ VR Diversity Initiative (VRDI).

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The Meetup group focuses on immersive technology in education, research and training, supported by Jisc, a UK non-profit organisation specialising in digital services and solutions for Higher Education, Further Education and Skills.

Taking place tomorrow will be an event dubbed ‘VR for Good’, with the Open University discussing its Virtual Inclusion project, how it has been received at schools attempting to promote social inclusion values, as well as efforts to tackle bullying of people from different backgrounds.

VRFocus’ own Kevin Joyce will be there to talk about VRDI, our long-running initiative which began back in 2017 as a means to offer support and workshops for underrepresented groups in media and technology, including women, LGBT, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic professionals who are either considering a career in the VR space or simply want to learn more. Joyce will highlight some of the interesting training opportunities out there that attendees could benefit from to get them skilled in XR.

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Additionally, Kate Parkinson, co-founder of Also Known As, a storytelling, research and design studio that’s taking real stories and putting them in virtual worlds. She spent 15 years working as a journalist for some of the biggest news networks, covering violent conflicts from Syria and Iraq to Ukraine and the Central African Republic as a foreign correspondent.

Alongside fellow co-founder Aela Callan, Also Known As is currently working on an early prototype project called The Distance Between Us, which is being funded by Google’s Digital News Initiative and Innovate UK.

For those who would like to attend, please register your interest here. The VR for Good event will take place on Tuesday, 4th June at 6:30pm BST, finishing at 8:30 pm, located at Jisc, 15 Fetter Ln, Holborn, London, EC4A 1BW. For further updates on VRFocus’ VRDI events during the course of 2019, you know where to keep reading.

With the winter in the UK suddenly picking up a notch and bringing snow, the storm nicknamed the Beast from the East resulted to various travel disruptions for many participants. A few had to drop out or were unable to fly to the UK in time to make it, but twenty of the twenty-three participants who were selected managed to make it to Hobs Studio for the first VR Diversity Initiative of 2018.

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The participants were divided into two groups. One group focused on 360 filmmaking which was led by Alex Ruhl, where participants learned the rules of 360 filmmaking. With the help of a GoPro Fusion and a laptop, the group learned about what a virtual reality (VR) film was, what types of cameras were available to shoot on, the benefits and negatives of filming for VR and finally went outside to face the snow in order to shoot various scenes which were then analysed on Adobe Premiere and viewed on a headset.

The second group got put into six teams of two and went hands-on with VR ready laptops, most of which were provided by BlueHire Ltd. They set up a profile on Unity and learned how to get their HTC Vive or Oculus Rift ready for creating a rough VR prototype. The morning was led by workshop leaders Kaw Tun Sein and Sam Perrin, who were later joined by workshop leaders from Dream Reality Interactive (DRI) in the afternoon. These were John Foster, Lead designer at DRI, Albert Bentall, Creative Director at DRI and Anna Hollinrake, Senior artist at DRI.

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At the end of the day participants were able to try out the VR prototypes that were created during the day. Linda Mason a participant of the VR Diversity Initiative workshop said that she enjoyed being able to use the VR equipment with others: “Now I’m not afraid to get a camera – I’ve learnt the basics.”

Here is a small video showcasing the beginning of the day:

Category: vrdi

London-Based Educational Meetup to Hold Open University Event: VR for Good

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