Getting really into the research for AR and VR. The use of the technology in education, military and personal use. I stumbled across a paper by Event Lab, Exploring Moral Actions Using
lmmersive Virtual Reality by University of Barcelona Solene N eyret, et al. 2016, where they experimented with a bar scenario in the context of sexual harassment. The aim of the experiement was to see if people left their moral judgments in the real world once they stepped across into the Virtual world. This study intrigued me as I need the application of my app to allow for a truthful experience - people need to be able to be their authentic self in order to get the assistance they need. The conclusion was :
"Overall the results support the idea that this method could be used in a training situation to
overcome group camaraderie leading to pressure to carry out an immoral act." The AR and VR environment can to assist and help people on a number of levels, it allows for a means of escapism via gamification. With application of the VR environment in mind, I thought of a calming tool to use for anxiety - this seems both timely and much needed in this lockdown 3.0
Above is my VERY rough sketch to an idea that was prompted by class discussion. Its a VR emersive app. Where you walk virtually through a landscape - safe and warm. Full of natural things, birdsong, flowers trees, mountains and a path, along the path (the method to engage in participation) there is a 'fountain of knowledge'. The gamer looks into the pool, and decides via a colour coded system, how they feel or what they need: if they are angry, happy, sad, or fearful. This can then set up a set of positive messages or allow for external communication with professional services for example the Samaritans.
Anxiety is something I have suffered with and know how debilitating it can be - I also have helped those close to me to try and control and accept their anxious state. This app I think could be useful as a tool for people to acknowledge how they are feeling and try and do something positive about it.
I did some research into apps on the market trying to help with the same thing.
I found that the apps, were dealing with the emotions by trying to meditate, the mind shift ones are more along the lines of what I was thinking, the emersion within a virtual space does not seem to occur currently and I would like to bring these elements together.
I started to look at emersion therapy - a psychological technique that helps treat anxiety brought on by specific phobias - for example spiders. I was thinking that this type of therapy could lend itself to a virtual world, and I hope to go deeper into this.
I came across a photographer Roselena Ramistella, who was looking at emotions and refugees (https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/story/roselena-ramistella-the-warmth/) :
"The root of emotions is the same for every human being""I asked myself if emotions had a colour and if I could see them?"
Her photographs clearly show that through her conversation with people who were seeking refuge, in Italy, that there heat signatures 'tell' what they are truly feeling. The body controls itself via the hypothalamus and this can make you blush, sweat, feel cold etc. Her images made me think about the use of my App in a medical sense, where it could scan you and assess how you are feeling... could diagnose the emotion? crazy possibilities - and brought about by the thoughts of an artist.
I truly believe art and science are closer than people think, and now on the AR / VR course I feel that statement is really true through the research I am conducting.
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