Recreation of 1920s Harlem https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/the-man-who-rebuilt-1920s-harlem-in-virtual-reality/396089/

Project Empathy https://www.projectempathyvr.com/#new-page

To confirm, both Cebe and I have uploaded our articles and discussion questions for Week 10.

I wonder what Sonya Rappaport would have done with VR if she lived to work with it. Reminds me of her work Digital Mudra. While it's not AR or VR, there is some overlap related to gesture and "trans-cultural meanings" http://www.sonyarapoport.org/portfolio/digital-mudra/

A lot to discuss! Specifically, Andersen's idea of "diversity without oppression" when representing different ethnic groups, etc. Looking forward to talking more about this topic.

Ha! @Alicia, prescient of you to include this. Enjoyed this very much and well connected to the argument of empathy I brought up in a previous comment. This statement, in particular, struck me, "Empathy is biased: people tend to feel for those who look like themselves. It is limited in scope, often focusing attention on the one at the expense of the many, or on short-term rather than long-term consequences."

It's always tough imagining these experiences since they are so tactile and embodied, but this was an excellent piece to read. I enjoyed the references to Alan Kaprow and Augusto Boal’s work. For some strange reason, when Sutherland referenced mirror neurons, I automatically thought of the phenomenon of phantom limb(s). I know it's a relatively disparate connection, but just giving impressions of what struck me. The section titled "Empathy & Presence in VR artwork" was particularly enlightening for me.

I don't think we have the language (all down to semantics as well) to discuss VR/spherical video as a mode of shifting feelings and emotions resulting in being/becoming more empathetic. I feel there is a different word that should be used since it is still being explored (side note: an effective longitudinal trial takes 3-5 years (and that is short!) to consider the long term effects).

This is great piece to pair with the discussion on empathy and VR or spherical video. There seems to be a duality when we think of embodiment in the real world versus the digital/virtual world. Fascinating to think about how the psychology of something like power poses (legitimate or not) make us move our bodies in virtual space.

Great reminders of why play is crucial for decompressing (especially as graduate students). But what I found most compelling in the piece was this line in particular, "for our earliest ancestors, play wasn’t just about adding fun to their lives, it may have been a way of keeping the peace, which was critical for survival." This statement could have been expanded upon a bit more, to be honest.

Great suggestions for kids' games related to building social skills, but I wish it was a bit more expansive (i.e., heavily focused on the quintessential holidays not necessarily celebrated by everyone), but it was helpful in providing a basic set up for DIY games.

While I knew some of the games mentioned in the article, the overall piece reminded me of the multi-faceted and powerful nature of autobiographical prose. The question that comes up for me is how an interactive format/medium changes the genre of creative non-fiction (or first person POV) writing. Since the article was written in 2016, I imagine the number of these games have doubled and with platforms such as Klynt and Gamemaker, there are tons more options for a sub-genre or entirely different genre, perhaps.