{"id":1630,"date":"2018-02-23T14:01:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T13:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2021-12-21T10:20:19","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T09:20:19","slug":"what-is-virtual-reality-uses-for-society-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/2018\/02\/23\/what-is-virtual-reality-uses-for-society-and-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: What is Virtual Reality? Uses for Society and Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Virtual Reality? Uses for Society and Culture<\/h1>\n

Is virtual reality just a buzzword, or can it do more for society? Does it revolutionize human interaction by using illusory spaces to invoke empathy? Or does it just play with our emotions? Do we lose ourselves in virtual worlds to escape reality? What exactly is virtual reality? In this column, Dr. Tanja Praske explains some of the terminology associated with the technology and outlines where virtual reality has potential uses in culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is Virtual Reality? Meaning, Hybrid Forms, and History<\/h3>\n

When discussing virtual reality, other related terms such as \u2018augmented reality\u2019 and \u2018mixed reality\u2019 soon crop up. What do they mean? The term \u2018virtual reality\u2019 first appeared in 1982 in Judas Mandala, a science-fiction novel by the Australian writer Damien Francis Broderick. It entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1987. According to the current definition in the economics reference work, Gablers Wirtschaftslexikon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018Virtual Reality is a computer-generated \u201creality\u201d that uses images, often accompanied by sound. It is created using big screens, in special rooms (CAVE), or via a head-mounted display (HMD). Mixed Reality can either mean an expanded, \u201cAugmented\u201d Reality, which requires AR glasses to be both relayed and experienced, or alternatively refers to \u201cvirtuality\u201d, in the sense of an experience that retains a connection to reality.\u2019<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u2018mixed reality\u2019 first appeared in 1994 in a paper co-authored by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kushino<\/a>, a concept that Andreas Floemer<\/a> summarizes as follows: \u2018In highly simplified terms, [MR] refers to the inclusion of all possible forms of reality \u2013 from the completely real to the completely virtual. All these different worlds are interconnected on what is known as the \u201cVirtual Continuum\u201d\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Virtual reality is not a contemporary invention: its precursors can be seen in the 19th century stereoscope or stereograph<\/a>, the \u2018Kaiserpanorama\u2019 (an example of which is displayed in the DHM\u2019s permanent exhibition), Morton Heilig\u2019s \u2018Sensorama\u2019 (1962), \u2018The Sword of Damocles\u2019 (the first HMD virtual reality experience, created in 1968), and Nintendo\u2019s biggest ever flop, the \u2018Virtual Boy\u2019 (1995). You can find out more about the technology\u2019s development in the VRS\u2019s history of virtual reality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Stereoscope

Stereoscope ‚LZ 126‘, 1920\/1936 \u00a9 DHM<\/p><\/div>\n

VR has a variety of applications<\/a> in industry, medicine, tourism, air and space travel, education \u2013 even at the theatre, where it can bring together gaming and culture. In a TED Talk entitled \u2018The Future of Virtual Reality\u2019, Phil Kauffold demonstrates the capabilities and potential benefits of VR technology.<\/p>\n

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