[Our friend, colleague and ISPR co-founder Jonathan Freeman and his firm i2 media research led the production of a new free report for those creating VR/AR content, based on many years of research on presence and presence-evoking technologies. See the bottom of this short story about it from Goldsmiths, University of London for the link to download the report. –Matthew]
Catapulting immersive industry into the spotlight
Bodies, Minds, Society, Psychology
By Pete Wilton
Published on 28 Jun 2018
A Goldsmiths, University of London spin-off firm has produced a new report, working with Nesta and the Digital Catapult, aimed at those creating virtual and augmented reality content.
The report was one of three launched today (28 June 2018) at the Digital Catapult innovation centre. Across the three reports, contributing companies included Limina Immersive, Opposable Group and Tech Spark, and Nesta and spin-off firm i2 media research limited.
The reports include guidance to British companies working in the immersive sector on how they can keep producing world class content and stay healthy in the emerging market for virtual and augmented reality.
The reports feature a number of case studies, interviews with top UK immersive content makers from different industry sectors, and insights from lab trials. i2 media led the analysis and reporting in its collaborative project with Nesta and the Digital Catapult and ran focus groups and lab trials of room-scale virtual reality content in its facilities at Goldsmiths.
Outputs from the project include a toolkit for evaluating the impact of immersive content experiences on audiences. The toolkit is based in large part on i2 media’s 20 years of research focused on immersive user experience, and is complemented by Nesta’s expertise on measuring cultural and economic value in the creative industries and the Digital Catapult’s expertise and networks in the field of immersive.
Jonathan Freeman, founder of i2 media research and Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths University of London, said: “My team’s research on immersive user experience is internationally recognised, with our 2001 measure of presence in immersive media experiences licensed to over 600 labs worldwide – and cited over 850 times in the literature. It is particularly exciting to see our research being so relevant now to the immersive media and content industries, especially as immersive is one of the priority foci of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
“Our collaboration with Nesta and Digital Catapult on this project has been great fun and very productive and I am excited that our work together will maximise the impact of our original research in supporting the creation of more impactful immersive experiences by the UK immersive industry.”