There have been many tropes this year in blogs and the media, particularly ones about it being a time to reset things. Last night I got a chance to do something as a virtual avatar that has not been done before and has the potential to completely reset how research is done…
We’re the research partner on The Fabric of Reality, a new concept in virtual fashion shows, which Verizon Media, RYOT, Kaleidoscope, Museum of Other Realities and the London College of Fashion collaborated on. As featured in HuffPost, VR will transform next-gen fashion shows and it was a great project to be involved in. Myself and a number of others attended the ‘private view’ last night as avatars in virtual reality and were able to talk and interact with each other.
As a researcher this allowed me to hold a conversation with a virtual research group with all of us as avatars in a VR space. I had set my expectations at about the level of it being like a conference call or telephone interview, but it was so much more. We all appeared as virtual avatars to each other, that were quite basic, floating bodies with arms controlled by the handsets and heads tracked with our headsets. You obviously could not see people’s expressions etc however it was still surprising how expressive it all felt.
Firstly, we all stood around in a circle, talking like you would in any situation, and as one person spoke you could see the others looking at them, and see heads nodding, tilting to one side in contemplation, and in some cases looking away at other things going on. As people spoke their arms moved around, pointing and gesticulating as they spoke. If they pointed, we all looked around to what they were pointing at. People engaged in all the correct social conduct of speaking in turn and having side chats etc. We all acted as if we were in a space together, and even though we were all slightly cartoonish avatars, the head and hand movement gave a surprisingly large amount away about how people felt. Far more than I had expected.
Of course, one of the key advantages of this, as we found out last night, is that it really was research without boundaries. I was able to speak to people in Paris, Kentucky, Vancouver as well as the UK… all at once! And through our avatars we were able to interact and get a sense of how each other felt just as if we were together in the room. I’ve been an advocate for immersive technology (virtual reality and augmented reality) for some time but this really did exceed my expectations. It really showed how this technology can stretch the possibilities for research, gaining multicultural views in one group at one time, assessing how ideas translate and getting truly global perspectives on issues.
We know that technological advances are just around the corner that will further enhance this. Face tracking is already here – with avatars being able to smile and express themselves so you can see expressions and mouth movements – and as VR headsets decrease in size and processing power increases it may not be too far away until we are sitting in a virtual space with head mounted glasses where, not only will we be able to see each other, but also any environment we want to. We can potentially run global car clinics, where people can stand around and chat about what they are looking at, explore new retail concepts, new medical equipment or house designs without ever having to leave home. The possibilities are endless.
As far as we know, this was the first virtual research session ever carried out with avatar respondents. Last night my small cohort of respondents perhaps did something that some day will become one of those ‘new normal’ things. It’s guaranteed the conversations will be just as insightful and, as they were last night, quite literally animated.
Dr Ali Goode, Cognitive Scientist, Gorilla in the room.
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