Thanks for coming.
In the spirit of what Dutch thinker Geert Lovink calls “theory on the run,” this thesis is a “living entity, a set of proposals, preliminary propositions and applied knowledge collected in a time of intense social technological acceleration" [1]. I could not have said it better myself. This website has been in the works for more than a year, running as fast as it could to keep up with the breakneck pace of extended reality's evolution and the treadmill of news. I collected bits of information and moments of inspiration everywhere I went: from the FAMU Studio in Prague, to the RLab in Brooklyn, keynote speeches at Oculus Connect 6, seminars in dark mahogany classrooms at Brown, viewings in my VR headset, and countless hours of surfing the web. I was lucky to have wonderful conversations with friends, family, professors, and XR influencers who are actively shaping the future that this thesis explores. But now, the thesis is stopping in its tracks, pausing at a moment — April 2020 — when XR technologies are emerging, changing American journalistic practice, and thus reconfiguring public spheres.
This website gathers together a wide variety of concepts: everything from mixed reality ethics to political theory of public realms. You also probably noticed that it is filled to the brim with citations ranging from Shoshana Zuboff to Peter Dahlgren...academics and creators from disciplines all tangentially related to "Sharing an Extended Reality." If nothing else, this thesis invites brilliant thinkers, who would have never hung out otherwise, to a dinner party [2]. As the author, I mediate their all-night conversation, trying my best to keep everybody on track. Rather than recount a transcript of everything we discussed, below, I visualize the thinkers and concepts that are conversing in the pages of this website. For a breath of fresh analog air (and an exclusive peek at my 3rd grade-level handwriting) double click on each image to enlarge it.
To this foundation of influences, I added countless more articles about XR technology and a slate of immersive journalism case studies. Of course, the conversation transpired on my terms, so my own value system has colored the dialogue. And like most undergraduate students, my values are still evolving. I try to balance between simultaneous inclinations toward the techno-utopian embrace of XR and a neo-Luddite rejection of it altogether. This perpetual balancing act has rendered me a technorealist. I only recently discovered this wonderfully accurate term, which exists at the middle ground between the utopian and dystopian potentialities of technology. As the site technorealism.org elucidates, "Technorealism demands that we think critically about the role that tools and interfaces play in human evolution and everyday life...we anticipate mixed blessings from today's emerging technologies, and expect to forever be on guard for unexpected consequences -- which must be addressed by thoughtful design and appropriate use" [3]. Technorealists like me are technology "critics," in it for the same reasons as food, art, or literary critics. "Our goal is neither to champion nor dismiss technology, but rather to understand it and apply it in a manner more consistent with basic human values" [4].
I have compiled "Sharing an Extended Reality" so that you and I might better understand the stakes of XR's development, and work together to direct it to fostering a sense of shared reality. Whether you are reading this as a consumer, immersive creator, journalist, technologist, or just a really supportive friend, this message applies to you: We need to think critically and act swiftly to insulate extended reality from being the latest conquest of the attention economy. The technology is here, and it's not going anywhere: remember how Mark Zuckerberg declared "THE TIME IS NOW" for the next computing platform to make its way into public life. We still don't know what that XR's integration with our daily life might look like... and this thesis springs from that fertile ground of uncertainty.
This website consistently juxtaposes the utopian and dystopian potentialities of XR-mediated public spheres, anticipating the mixed blessings of the emerging technology. XR journalism might exacerbate the challenges of filter bubbles and fake news: as Chapter 1 discussed, AR and VR can be isolating and are capable of digital fabrication so convincing that people might internalize immersive experiences as real. This possibility prompted Chapter 2 to focus on leveraging AR and VR's distinct media logics to assuage these endemic problems in journalism. Chapter 3 outlined how spatial computing infrastructure might entrench the power structures of the contemporary Internet, resulting in Keiichi Matsuda's HYPER-REALITY of atomized individuals, gamified life, and targeted advertising [5]. But I contend that rapid action toward an Open AR Cloud can still stitch an ethical, interoperable, privacy-focused, and rights-protecting spatial web. Somewhere between the utopia underlined in Facebook's LiveMaps project and the dystopia depicted Matsuda's HYPER-REALITY lies a technorealist middle ground we can all work towards. Chapter 4 attempted to map that middle ground, articulating how XR journalism, layered on top of ethical spatial computing infrastructure, can configure immersive public spheres in which we all want to participate.
Immersive public spheres are still just a figment of my imagination — but in early 2020, the world has gotten a sneak peek as to what they might look like. As I write in April 2020, the world is reckoning with the COVID-19 crisis. How could I not mention it? Since mid-March, every resident in the United States has been obligated to quarantine in their homes. Physical public places are shut down, in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The crisis is the ultimate common world problem — it impacts everybody, albeit at very different scales. In a time of mandatory social distancing, digital media are the only things keeping us connected; Zoom video conferences, FaceTime calls, and social media communication are in charge of mediating our public spheres. The crisis has made people more dependent than ever on publicly relevant journalism: it's how you hear about the closing of parks, the warnings of government officials, and the hopes for a cure and some semblance of normalcy. There is some information relevant to smaller sub-publics, such as the municipal and state rules that pertain to your community. And there are counter-publics who reject it altogether. Now more than ever, the news media are working to hold together our public spheres—we cannot afford massive confusion about the severity of the crisis. That's why the news media blasts out the messages of 6+ feet social distancing and the importance of wearing a mask.
The news media are turning to AR and VR to report on the mounting crisis. USA Today released an interactive AR simulation of social distancing; you place a low poly 3D environment on your table and are prompted with questions about how you would navigate away from others to reduce risk [6] The New York Times published an AR experience to visualize the importance of 6+ feet of social distancing — they render 3D data to show that you might need 10+ feet of space to protect yourself from a stranger's cough [7]. My friend at FXG in China, Nikk Mitchell, has been releasing 360 video content since the beginning of their quarantine in February to document just how empty public spaces are [8]. And a mentor of mine, Henry Keyser from Yahoo News, has published a couple of WebXR experiences: one visualizes reported cases of the virus on an AR globe and the other demonstrates what a COVID test entails [9].
USA Today's Flatten the Curve **AR experience.
The New York Times 3-D simulation of social distancing.
*Yahoo News'*s WebXR experience of the COVID-19 case map, which is consistently updated.
FXG, an XR production company in Hangzhou, produced this 360 video from the ground in China.
FXG, an XR production company in Hangzhou, produced this 360 video from the ground in China.
The spread and containment of the coronavirus, in many ways, is a story about spaces: both empty public spaces and the space between you and others. And that's why why USA Today, The New York Times, Yahoo News, and FXG are turning to XR to report on the crisis. VR makes us feel present in places as remote as Hangzhou, reminding us of the global scope of the problem beyond our immediate lived experience. AR visualizes spatial information about the virus to make sure we know best practices when we leave the house. XR is serving its function in public spheres, relying on its unique media logic to contribute to the messaging of COVID-19 and help keep everybody accountable to one another.
No one knows when this crisis will come to an end. It has ruined so many lives, cancelled countless experiences, and destabilized our fundamental systems. I don't mean to find a silver lining in the category of XR, but it is certainly reassuring to see AR and VR making us feel more connected to each other in the time we need it most. Snapchat and the World Health Organization partnered on a money-tracked AR filter to encourage donations to fight the pandemic (right) [10]. Those with VR headsets are convening in Social VR, feeling the company of others from the privacy of their home. Businesses are looking into AR and holographic telepresence to facilitate with remote work. It is indeed a time of intense social technological change — I am fortunate to be able to study the moment and ask questions that others don't have the time or bandwidth to address.
Snapchat/WHO filter, photo from The Verge.
The topic of "Sharing an Extended Reality" is open-ended, undetermined, and impressionable. I hope you leave this conversation with more questions than answers and with more optimism than despair. Many questions still remain in my mind. Here are just a few:
These questions and many more are the fodder for future work on this topic. If the size of this website is any indication, the integration of XR journalism in public spheres is a gigantic topic... I am just beginning to grasp the contours of it. "Sharing an Extended Reality" provides a sturdy foundation of background knowledge so bystanders and stakeholders alike are aware of the divergent potentialities of this technology. They say a senior thesis like this is the culmination of one's undergraduate studies. Although this is true, it implies a sense of closure. This topic is still wide open: if the Valley's move-fast-and-break-things motto is any indication, theorists will have to run an all out sprint to keep up. Let's start running now —the long pursuit of a shared extended reality is just beginning.
GIF made from screen recording of the long running scene in Forrest Gump.
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