It is not within my nature to shy away from questions that are uncomfortable or hard. That is the scientist in me. I have always been a supporter of extended reality technologies in learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. I have presented at many conferences across the country and out of the country on their benefits to classrooms. However, it is impossible to have a thing that benefits only. I began to wonder what downsides these technologies could have, not just on classrooms but human society at large. I become aware of a project in South Korea that reunited a mother with her dead daughter via virtual reality technology. This project was the catalyst. I wanted to know the potential benefits and potentials harms the technology could have.
This page will stand as a repository of sorts for my musings and findings on the subject.
A mother is reunited with her dead daughter in virtual reality.
This is the same team that built the project for the Korean mother. They designed an experience for a husband to dance with his dead wife.
Microsoft Research on altering human perception and behavior though virtual reality technology.
Mfon Akpan explains the benefits of incorporating virtual reality technology in the classroom.
Virtual Reality advocate and expert in its classroom use.
Researcher at Microsoft's Extended Perception Interaction and Cognition (EPIC) team.
Research Specialist at 3M working in the Mechanical Research and Perceptual Science cluster of the Corporate Research Systems Laboratory
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This is a reflection on the critique my peers offered on my research proposal. They gave me some ideas I had not considered. For example, If an individual is having a dangerous emotional experience in virtual reality how can a safety system be designed and built that can pull them out?