About

In the past five years, since the proliferation of portable head-mounted virtual and augmented reality glasses such as Google Glass, Cardboard, and Oculus Rift, the conversation about “immersive” new media has gone from video gaming platforms to mass media news and entertainment. Parsons AMT, Fashion, and The School of Design Strategies invite the Parsons community to engage in a one-day symposium in Fall of 2016 to have a robust dialogue about immersive new media technologies especially as they pertain to issues of social justice and the creation of more understanding and empathically mediated experiences. The definition of immersion has shifted from passive immersive storytelling in a dark movie theater with a bright screen and surround sound to self-directed exploration of stories in roughly six forms:

1) Virtual 3d fantasy space entirely created in the computer
2) Projected environments (caves/domes/deep space)
3) Recorded 360 surround live action video
4) Information enhanced augmented reality with mapping 3D virtual objects on physical space
5) Alternate reality spaces where technology is embedded in the environment and connect to the Internet of Things (physical computing, wearables)
6) Immersive Theater and Performance (audiences choose their own versions of the performance/ experiences)