Reimagining Reality - Oct. 10, 2023

00:53:56
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI9ygEwkEjQ

摘要

TLDRIn this ASU Master Class, moderated by Amelia Gracia, renowned filmmaker and professor Nick Polarski delves into the realm of world building through game engines, specifically focusing on extended reality technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. His lecture titled "Reimagining Reality: World Building in Game Engines to Prototype Our Futures" highlights how these technologies can be employed to reconstruct narratives and address critical societal issues such as poverty and historical trauma. Polarski discusses the concept of world building, which involves creating immersive digital environments that allow for the exploration and rehearsal of future realities. This technique can assist in bridging the gap between our digital and physical spaces by facilitating interactive storytelling and policy discussions. He references figures like Augusto Boal to emphasize using interactive theater as a rehearsal space for future decisions. Polarski’s projects include collaboration with the community of Brownsville, Brooklyn, where virtual reality was utilized to project a new narrative, aiming to change the community’s reputation and impacting city policy. Additionally, his educational program "Make Game, Save the Planet" empowers young individuals to use game engines to tackle future challenges such as climate change.

心得

  • 🎥 Nick Polarski uses game engines for storytelling and policy change.
  • 🌍 World building involves creating digital environments to explore futures.
  • 🔍 XR technology includes VR, AR, and MR, reshaping media and storytelling.
  • 🏙️ A key project in Brownsville, Brooklyn uses VR for community mapping.
  • 🎭 References to Augusto Boal underline interactive theater's impact.
  • 💡 Focus on bridging digital and physical communities through narrative.
  • 🔗 Emphasizes localizing data and narrative storytelling.
  • 📚 Offers educational programs to empower youth with these technologies.
  • 🤝 Projects aim to address societal issues like poverty and trauma.
  • ✨ Virtual environments can influence real-world policy changes.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The ASU Master Class introduces its lecture series focused on bringing Arizona State University's expertise to the audience, with support from Sintana Education and Spanish translation available. The session features a 30-minute presentation by filmmaker and professor Nick Polarski, followed by audience questions.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Nick Polarski discusses the concept of 'world building' using XR technology, such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, to transform our understanding of space and community. The discussion centers on how digital spaces affect physical spaces, using data as a narrative to impact societal ideologies and our interaction with our built environment.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Nick emphasizes the integration of data with community spaces, arguing for localized systems to manage data rather than letting major tech companies dominate. The idea is to use digital networks to link physical realities, communities, and dreams, employing emerging technologies to reshape policy and the built environment.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Nick explores using historical theater methods by practitioners like Augusto Boal to engage communities in dialogue and rehearse new social realities through interactive and playful virtual spaces. He aims to employ these methods for meaningful conversations across various divides through structured dialogue.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    He gives an example of using extended reality to explore conflicts and differing perspectives within communities, such as a project in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Here, technology facilitates community-driven change by mapping narratives and influencing city policies through VR-based community engagement.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Nick describes a different process of storytelling in immersive environments, focusing on building worlds rather than linear narratives. This approach allows for continuous evolution and modular design of virtual spaces that can adapt through community input and evolution of ideas.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    A VR project in Brownsville acts as a case study, showing how virtual neighborhoods were built to allow storytelling from residents and create dialogue around community identities and policy. This project influenced local government policies, demonstrating the power of VR in tangible community impact.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Nick highlights another project using VR to model future cities in response to climate change, involving young people in creating game prototypes that present various futures based on today's decisions. This approach educates and involves youth in shaping policy discussions on environmental issues.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    In response to questions, Nick outlines inspirations for his work, emphasizing the need for broader applications of mixed and virtual realities in addressing societal issues beyond current uses like dating apps. He sees it as essential for participating in future societal frameworks and opportunities.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:53:56

    The lecture concludes with a Q&A session discussing the democratization of VR technology, its potential impact on various sectors, including education and biomedical fields, and ways to protect users' data. Nick stresses the importance of accessibility and ethical considerations in technology development.

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思维导图

视频问答

  • What is the ASU Master Class?

    The ASU Master Class is an online series bringing researchers and professors from Arizona State University to discuss various topics.

  • Who is Nick Polarski?

    Nick Polarski is a renowned filmmaker and professor known for his work in reimagining reality through storytelling and game engines.

  • How long is the ASU Master Class lecture?

    The lecture lasts for one hour, with a 30-minute presentation followed by audience questions.

  • What is world building according to Nick Polarski?

    World building involves creating immersive digital environments to explore and possibly reshape our futures through storytelling.

  • What technologies does Nick Polarski focus on?

    Nick focuses on immersive media, specifically XR technology, which includes virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality.

  • What is the primary focus of Nick Polarski's lecture?

    His lecture focuses on using game engines and immersive technologies to prototype future realities and influence policy.

  • Why are emerging technologies important in Nick Polarski's work?

    They are used to explore interactions between digital and physical realities, shaping community understanding and policies.

  • What does XR technology stand for?

    XR stands for Extended Reality, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).

  • What was a key project discussed by Nick Polarski during the lecture?

    Nick discussed a VR project in Brownsville, Brooklyn, used to map community histories and influence city policies.

  • What is the aim of the project in Brownsville, Brooklyn?

    The project aims to use virtual reality to reshape the community's narrative and influence policy changes.

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  • 00:00:00
    thank you so much for joining us in this
  • 00:00:04
    ASU master
  • 00:00:06
    class this lecture will be presented in
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    English with Spanish translation on a
  • 00:00:12
    separate Channel if you prefer to hear
  • 00:00:14
    this presentation in Spanish please
  • 00:00:17
    select the audio option
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    below
  • 00:00:34
    okay
  • 00:00:35
    then all right everybody we will go
  • 00:00:38
    ahead and get
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    started welcome to everyone joining us
  • 00:00:42
    for the ASU Master Class my name is
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    Amelia Gracia and I will be the
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    moderator for this lecture I will be
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    conducting this session in English but
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    we've also arranged for Spanish
  • 00:00:52
    translation if you'd prefer to listen in
  • 00:00:55
    Spanish please click the globe icon on
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    the bottom of your screen before I
  • 00:01:00
    introduce Our Guest lecture let me
  • 00:01:02
    explain what the ASU master class is the
  • 00:01:05
    ASU master class is an online series
  • 00:01:09
    that brings researchers and professors
  • 00:01:11
    from around Arizona State University to
  • 00:01:13
    you today's master class is the first of
  • 00:01:16
    three lectures scheduled for this year
  • 00:01:19
    I'm delighted to have you all with us
  • 00:01:21
    today and I hope you'll continue to join
  • 00:01:23
    us for the upcoming lectures we're
  • 00:01:25
    fortunate to have the generous
  • 00:01:27
    sponsorship of sintana education for
  • 00:01:30
    these master classes and I extend my
  • 00:01:33
    heartfelt thanks to sintana for their
  • 00:01:37
    support also a big thank you
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    to providing Spanish translation for
  • 00:01:44
    today's lecture this master class will
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    last for one
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    hour Nick will present for about 30
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    minutes and then we will take questions
  • 00:01:55
    from the audience please write your
  • 00:01:58
    questions in the Q and a box and I will
  • 00:02:02
    watch for your questions and to ask Nick
  • 00:02:05
    I will ask as many questions as we have
  • 00:02:08
    time for we are recording this lecture
  • 00:02:11
    and will'll make the recording available
  • 00:02:12
    to your professors
  • 00:02:16
    afterwards
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    today we are honored to have the
  • 00:02:20
    renowned filmmaker and
  • 00:02:23
    Professor Nick polarski speaking on the
  • 00:02:26
    topic of reimagining reality world
  • 00:02:29
    building in game engines to prototype
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    our futures in his storytelling Nick
  • 00:02:36
    polarski tackles important issues
  • 00:02:38
    related to historical poverty and Trauma
  • 00:02:41
    based on class he's been recognized as
  • 00:02:45
    one of filmmaker Magazine's 25 new faces
  • 00:02:48
    of Cinema and his work is highly
  • 00:02:51
    regarded by mit's co-creation
  • 00:02:55
    Studio Nick it's a privilege to hear
  • 00:02:58
    from you today and I will turn the rest
  • 00:03:00
    of the time over to
  • 00:03:03
    you fantastic it's a a pleasure to be on
  • 00:03:08
    this uh and to there's a there's a large
  • 00:03:11
    group today uh heard it's over 100
  • 00:03:14
    people um and I want to take a moment to
  • 00:03:19
    to kind of think through that as as an
  • 00:03:22
    idea there's a hundred of Us coming from
  • 00:03:24
    all over the globe having a
  • 00:03:26
    conversation uh this was 50 years ago at
  • 00:03:31
    this speed in which we're doing it would
  • 00:03:33
    have never been an option and because of
  • 00:03:35
    that we have so much ahead of us so I'm
  • 00:03:38
    going to pull up my uh my slide share my
  • 00:03:41
    screen and pull up my slides uh very
  • 00:03:43
    quickly uh for
  • 00:03:45
    everybody um and then we
  • 00:03:50
    will begin you give me two
  • 00:03:56
    seconds
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    here
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    I think we have everything can you all
  • 00:04:02
    can you see uh just the title screen
  • 00:04:05
    yeah wonderful okay so uh hi it's a
  • 00:04:10
    pleasure to be with all of you um today
  • 00:04:13
    and we're going to be talking about
  • 00:04:14
    reimaging reality and this concept
  • 00:04:16
    called World building what is World
  • 00:04:17
    building we kind of throw this out it's
  • 00:04:21
    building a world we're always building a
  • 00:04:23
    world we always have built worlds and uh
  • 00:04:26
    as a
  • 00:04:27
    species uh this has been our main
  • 00:04:30
    priority to build the places around us
  • 00:04:33
    hopefully for the better um I'm an
  • 00:04:36
    associate professor at Arizona State uh
  • 00:04:38
    and I focus on immersive media and uh
  • 00:04:42
    that immersive media is XR technology if
  • 00:04:45
    you all haven't heard the term XR
  • 00:04:48
    technology uh it means extended reality
  • 00:04:51
    and extended reality is primarily three
  • 00:04:55
    different things virtual reality which I
  • 00:04:57
    think a lot of us know from the headset
  • 00:05:00
    augmented reality which is some form of
  • 00:05:03
    computation is uh between us and the
  • 00:05:06
    world and it's mediating that in some
  • 00:05:08
    way shape or form and mixed reality
  • 00:05:11
    which means that the virtualness of
  • 00:05:15
    emerging Technologies mix with the
  • 00:05:18
    physical spaces that are around us now
  • 00:05:20
    we don't really have many examples of
  • 00:05:22
    that functioning that's probably where
  • 00:05:24
    we're going to be going that we won't
  • 00:05:26
    have VR goggles we won't have our phones
  • 00:05:29
    we walk through cities and those cities
  • 00:05:31
    will have our stories our histories our
  • 00:05:34
    geographies our information all
  • 00:05:36
    projected around us in real time that's
  • 00:05:39
    what I think most Scholars right now are
  • 00:05:42
    are thinking uh the the current path is
  • 00:05:45
    forward so with this at hand we have to
  • 00:05:49
    really understand something and ask this
  • 00:05:52
    question is how is our digital
  • 00:05:55
    understanding of space and community
  • 00:05:58
    reformatting our physical understanding
  • 00:06:01
    of space and
  • 00:06:03
    community and uh first for this we have
  • 00:06:06
    to turn to this idea that data is
  • 00:06:10
    narrative um back in the previous
  • 00:06:14
    Industrial Revolution there was a very
  • 00:06:16
    famous philosopher hre leeva he was also
  • 00:06:18
    a sociologist and he posited this and I
  • 00:06:20
    think it's a really interesting concept
  • 00:06:23
    that the built environment around us our
  • 00:06:25
    cities our buildings our streets our
  • 00:06:28
    extension of our ideology they are the
  • 00:06:32
    way in which we interpret the world and
  • 00:06:33
    we build the world around us and then
  • 00:06:36
    it's kind of a feedback loop for levra
  • 00:06:39
    his idea here is that our spaces
  • 00:06:41
    influence us and we INF influence our
  • 00:06:43
    spaces but we're kind of bound to the
  • 00:06:45
    historical space that predate us uh
  • 00:06:49
    before we're born into this world and
  • 00:06:53
    now that we're kind of turning into the
  • 00:06:55
    world where everything is a point of
  • 00:06:57
    data it has metadata it's uh traded it's
  • 00:07:03
    commodified exists on your internet
  • 00:07:05
    searches our data is telling these very
  • 00:07:09
    narratives about
  • 00:07:11
    ourselves uh it is changing the way we
  • 00:07:14
    view the world the way that our politics
  • 00:07:16
    work uh the way that everything how we
  • 00:07:20
    constitute reality as human beings is
  • 00:07:23
    being shaped by our computational
  • 00:07:27
    devices and so what we need to think
  • 00:07:30
    about in this is how do we live through
  • 00:07:33
    these realities how do we optimize them
  • 00:07:36
    so we're not just technical uh uh
  • 00:07:40
    Technical determinists and we're not uh
  • 00:07:42
    we don't become uh uh children to our
  • 00:07:46
    our devices that we actually utilize
  • 00:07:48
    them in ways to shape the world around
  • 00:07:51
    us and the question that we have to
  • 00:07:54
    think about here is where is the
  • 00:07:57
    integration uh there are massive
  • 00:08:00
    articulations of data um that are
  • 00:08:02
    happening that aren't at the community
  • 00:08:04
    level they're imbalanced and primarily
  • 00:08:07
    put in major tech companies uh and this
  • 00:08:11
    data is being negotiated and traded and
  • 00:08:13
    and and
  • 00:08:15
    commodified but we need to think about
  • 00:08:17
    these as localized systems and the
  • 00:08:20
    question is is how do we use this
  • 00:08:22
    emerging technology to create lines and
  • 00:08:25
    links between our physical reality our
  • 00:08:30
    dreams uh and our communities and these
  • 00:08:33
    digital networks can do something in
  • 00:08:36
    order uh to change and shape it and
  • 00:08:38
    today I'm going to go through two
  • 00:08:40
    examples of of I think uh some of the
  • 00:08:42
    work that I've been working on on on how
  • 00:08:44
    we're able to to to use these
  • 00:08:46
    Technologies uh to change things like
  • 00:08:49
    policy uh in our in our uh built
  • 00:08:53
    environment so the emerging technologies
  • 00:08:56
    that we have um uh are uh are
  • 00:09:00
    reconstituting our body's
  • 00:09:03
    relationship with space um think about
  • 00:09:07
    you know your every day uh you probably
  • 00:09:09
    if you're lost you pull out your phone
  • 00:09:11
    and you go to Google Maps and you see
  • 00:09:13
    the world through your phone Etc so our
  • 00:09:16
    bodies in every way shape or form even
  • 00:09:18
    probably three minutes before you logged
  • 00:09:21
    on to this lecture you tapped uh your
  • 00:09:23
    pocket and you looked for your phone uh
  • 00:09:26
    our bodies are beginning to use devices
  • 00:09:29
    as such um in order to navigate the
  • 00:09:32
    world more efficiently more effectively
  • 00:09:35
    so the question then
  • 00:09:37
    becomes how might we use different
  • 00:09:42
    methods that have existed in the past
  • 00:09:44
    how do we utilize those methods uh in
  • 00:09:47
    order to create some sort of interactive
  • 00:09:51
    place that we can play through what our
  • 00:09:53
    future might
  • 00:09:54
    be um and uh for a long time I've spent
  • 00:10:00
    times uh exploring how we might
  • 00:10:03
    facilitate this process um how we might
  • 00:10:06
    use these Technologies but not just use
  • 00:10:08
    them as new look back at the the
  • 00:10:11
    technology of the body and look back at
  • 00:10:14
    uh some of the greats who used kind of
  • 00:10:17
    play before there were video games
  • 00:10:19
    before there was virtual reality systems
  • 00:10:22
    um in order to Think Through how we can
  • 00:10:24
    have conversations different uh our
  • 00:10:26
    spaces are are post human right they're
  • 00:10:30
    not fully human um and we need to think
  • 00:10:33
    about how to integrate and merge our
  • 00:10:35
    embodied practices that we learned over
  • 00:10:37
    hundreds of years uh into um uh our this
  • 00:10:43
    computational form so we can rehearse
  • 00:10:45
    new realities and extended reality is a
  • 00:10:48
    perfect um uh place for
  • 00:10:51
    this so I want to turn to three
  • 00:10:54
    practitioners that you probably should
  • 00:10:56
    be thinking about if this is something
  • 00:10:58
    that's interesting the three that have
  • 00:11:01
    done this in the theater world that we
  • 00:11:02
    might be able to look at as we shape our
  • 00:11:05
    playfulness and our digital spaces are
  • 00:11:07
    are these three uh uh bre Augusto Bal
  • 00:11:12
    and SEMA gley and what these three
  • 00:11:15
    practitioners have in common is they
  • 00:11:18
    thought about how you can utilize
  • 00:11:20
    interactive theater as a way to
  • 00:11:25
    rehearse uh new ideas that might happen
  • 00:11:28
    so let me give you an example it's a
  • 00:11:29
    dialectical process if you have a
  • 00:11:32
    problem that with somebody and that
  • 00:11:35
    problem is incommensurate what likely
  • 00:11:37
    happens is we argue back and forth
  • 00:11:39
    someone gives up someone wins someone
  • 00:11:42
    fights with somebody someone uh we move
  • 00:11:44
    on we get angry Etc and what these
  • 00:11:47
    practitioners were certainly interested
  • 00:11:49
    in particularly in the
  • 00:11:52
    mid-century uh uh uh uh the um were they
  • 00:11:56
    were interested primarily in how do we
  • 00:11:58
    use use different metrics of play in
  • 00:12:01
    order to maybe not get bristly in order
  • 00:12:04
    to enter into a world where instead of
  • 00:12:07
    having arguments we're having structured
  • 00:12:10
    conversations that lead us to new
  • 00:12:12
    Futures and this is something that I'm
  • 00:12:15
    really really interested in for everyone
  • 00:12:17
    how do we do this um particularly in
  • 00:12:20
    South America uh uh Augusto Bal in Latin
  • 00:12:24
    America this is you probably know the
  • 00:12:26
    name Augusto Bal has a tremendous amount
  • 00:12:29
    of theater exercises to do it um so as
  • 00:12:32
    an artist and as a director uh I've been
  • 00:12:35
    very interested in utilizing these
  • 00:12:37
    theatrical spaces and crafting and as a
  • 00:12:41
    new form of generative narrative making
  • 00:12:44
    so instead of Simply uh just using
  • 00:12:47
    virtual reality to look around in 360
  • 00:12:49
    how do we actually gamify that process
  • 00:12:53
    in order to have structured
  • 00:12:55
    conversations across borders uh across
  • 00:12:59
    classes genders uh across uh uh
  • 00:13:03
    geographies continents uh how do we
  • 00:13:06
    actually begin to utilize this as a way
  • 00:13:10
    to build the new narratives of our
  • 00:13:12
    future and what we have to think about
  • 00:13:14
    is where do we go from here and this is
  • 00:13:17
    a really really interesting question we
  • 00:13:20
    can take this space that is virtual
  • 00:13:22
    reality augmented reality mixed reality
  • 00:13:26
    and we can just instantiate the same
  • 00:13:28
    methods that we've used in every other
  • 00:13:30
    point of media so take film for instance
  • 00:13:34
    film functions usually as such I sit and
  • 00:13:38
    I watch the film and someone tells my
  • 00:13:40
    their opinion of the world and they tell
  • 00:13:43
    me a narrative and at the end of that
  • 00:13:44
    film I either agree or disagree and have
  • 00:13:47
    a conversation with a friend and that's
  • 00:13:49
    a very important experience but these
  • 00:13:52
    new different te technologies that we
  • 00:13:54
    have now allow us to tell a story have a
  • 00:13:57
    conversation and have breakpoints
  • 00:13:59
    and then go along a different line or
  • 00:14:00
    move to a different idea or rehearse a
  • 00:14:04
    different threat um so in in my case as
  • 00:14:08
    as a maker um I'm gonna go through two
  • 00:14:11
    projects now uh the first uh which was
  • 00:14:15
    one uh that we generated in uh
  • 00:14:18
    Brownsville Brooklyn um and we did so to
  • 00:14:22
    to cognitively remap how we thought
  • 00:14:26
    about this space um um uh through uh
  • 00:14:30
    using uh uh these Technologies so uh
  • 00:14:35
    over the past year we've been utilizing
  • 00:14:37
    and taking these three thinkers and
  • 00:14:39
    moving them into a practice-based
  • 00:14:41
    solution to use this uh I'm going to
  • 00:14:44
    tell you about Brownsville Brooklyn if
  • 00:14:46
    you've never been there um we've worked
  • 00:14:48
    for the past 10 years with this
  • 00:14:49
    wonderful amazing community and uh our
  • 00:14:53
    our our work kind of developing and
  • 00:14:55
    doing community involvement working with
  • 00:14:57
    virtual reality has led
  • 00:14:59
    led us to partnering with the center for
  • 00:15:01
    court Innovation there um and we're
  • 00:15:05
    looking at how uh this technology uh can
  • 00:15:07
    be supported Community
  • 00:15:10
    initiatives um so Brownsville Brooklyn
  • 00:15:13
    uh I'm going to give you a little bit of
  • 00:15:14
    History uh of Brownsville Brooklyn
  • 00:15:17
    Brownsville Brooklyn uh is uh uh known
  • 00:15:20
    known for being born in tenement from
  • 00:15:22
    its earliest history it was known as a
  • 00:15:25
    waste disposal site for the City of New
  • 00:15:27
    York due to explosive population growth
  • 00:15:30
    and makeshift ten uh tenement housing by
  • 00:15:34
    1932 Brownsville Brooklyn was officially
  • 00:15:37
    designated by the city a slum that term
  • 00:15:41
    is very loaded and uh it has a lot of
  • 00:15:44
    painful history associated with it but
  • 00:15:46
    this was the official term in
  • 00:15:48
    1932 in 1950 there was severe redlining
  • 00:15:52
    uh in New York City that separated uh
  • 00:15:54
    various communities based off of race uh
  • 00:15:57
    into uh a uh uh smaller Pockets um by
  • 00:16:02
    1961 Brownsville was known as one the
  • 00:16:06
    the poorest neighborhood in New York
  • 00:16:07
    City due to Historic uh
  • 00:16:10
    institutionalized racial uh politics
  • 00:16:13
    discriminatory housing practices uh
  • 00:16:16
    structural disinvestment in the
  • 00:16:18
    community and what was left by simply
  • 00:16:22
    the city of New York neglecting this
  • 00:16:24
    site uh was the largest concentration of
  • 00:16:27
    public housing with without um uh an
  • 00:16:30
    economy to support that
  • 00:16:33
    population uh this marginalization
  • 00:16:35
    continued through the 70s and 80s making
  • 00:16:37
    Brownsville one of the most um sadly one
  • 00:16:40
    of the most violent neighborhoods in New
  • 00:16:42
    York City however um uh uh in the 70s
  • 00:16:46
    and 80s it was full of Rich history and
  • 00:16:50
    culture um so that is only part of the
  • 00:16:53
    story of this this community that I've
  • 00:16:55
    really grown to love um in the 80s and
  • 00:16:58
    the 90s uh Brownsville uh was a chief
  • 00:17:01
    Target of overp policing and quotas and
  • 00:17:03
    tough on crime policies uh making uh
  • 00:17:06
    Brownsville one of the most incarcerated
  • 00:17:09
    uh neighborhoods in New York uh and the
  • 00:17:11
    residents due to this kind of historic
  • 00:17:14
    dis uh uh marginalization and
  • 00:17:18
    disinvestment uh grew to an area where
  • 00:17:20
    the conflict existed so much that people
  • 00:17:24
    and residents could literally not walk
  • 00:17:27
    across the lines
  • 00:17:29
    of their Community this is a part of a
  • 00:17:31
    mapping project that we did that you see
  • 00:17:33
    uh currently um uh many of of of the
  • 00:17:37
    people who are in this one square mile
  • 00:17:40
    uh uh are incarcerated at one of the
  • 00:17:43
    largest rates uh in the country for
  • 00:17:47
    neighborhood so um we kind of were
  • 00:17:53
    handed uh this and and I had worked with
  • 00:17:55
    the center for cord Innovation and I had
  • 00:17:57
    deep ties in the community working with
  • 00:17:59
    them and this work certainly is not mine
  • 00:18:01
    it's the
  • 00:18:03
    communities um and the community was
  • 00:18:07
    really sick of this Narrative of this
  • 00:18:09
    narrative that had to do with crime had
  • 00:18:12
    to do with poverty and and the community
  • 00:18:14
    is just a wonderful uh group of of folks
  • 00:18:18
    who have experienced a tremendous amount
  • 00:18:20
    of hardship um and uh wanted to think
  • 00:18:24
    about how to rethink what the reality of
  • 00:18:27
    this space was
  • 00:18:29
    um so uh I had worked for years uh with
  • 00:18:32
    with the community members and we all
  • 00:18:35
    began to think about using virtual
  • 00:18:37
    reality and creating a tech lab and
  • 00:18:39
    creating a virtual reality documentary
  • 00:18:42
    that allows players from both sides of a
  • 00:18:46
    conflict to explore the histories the
  • 00:18:48
    stories the dreams of the communities
  • 00:18:50
    and the
  • 00:18:52
    residents uh and so we began to do that
  • 00:18:55
    uh we got to the city to pay uh Court
  • 00:18:57
    involveed youth with for an internal uh
  • 00:19:00
    alternate to incarceration program and
  • 00:19:03
    the idea was to use this to shape the
  • 00:19:06
    future in which the residents of
  • 00:19:09
    Brownsville wanted to see uh so we built
  • 00:19:11
    computers and then we built the
  • 00:19:13
    neighborhoods in virtual reality uh and
  • 00:19:17
    we worked with the city and we brought
  • 00:19:20
    these virtual reality renderings uh to
  • 00:19:23
    um U the mayor's office and uh the young
  • 00:19:27
    people who were working working with
  • 00:19:28
    showed what this world uh would be could
  • 00:19:32
    be is and should be uh in the process uh
  • 00:19:37
    we ended up mapping one of the largest
  • 00:19:40
    uh VR oral histories of its kind with
  • 00:19:43
    stories from all of these different
  • 00:19:45
    residents and choices that you need to
  • 00:19:47
    make in order to kind of rehearse this
  • 00:19:49
    new reality now this is very different
  • 00:19:52
    how we built it from traditional film
  • 00:19:54
    design which you start with a storyboard
  • 00:19:57
    you have pre PR visualization artist
  • 00:19:59
    creation is a figure uh from appic games
  • 00:20:02
    lighting uh assembly and then you finish
  • 00:20:05
    the project uh what we've even what this
  • 00:20:09
    technology requires you to do is you
  • 00:20:11
    need to think about it as a modular
  • 00:20:13
    design You're Building worlds you're not
  • 00:20:15
    necessarily Building stories so you're
  • 00:20:17
    building worlds for stories to happen
  • 00:20:20
    and when you come through this you have
  • 00:20:22
    a cyclical process when you're building
  • 00:20:24
    in this where you always have to
  • 00:20:26
    question so if you build a building you
  • 00:20:28
    want the building to move and you need
  • 00:20:30
    it to change you can have Community
  • 00:20:32
    conversations to build these new
  • 00:20:34
    realities and over a number of years
  • 00:20:37
    what we did uh I'll play this right now
  • 00:20:39
    we're having some problems with sound so
  • 00:20:41
    I hope uh that you're you can just see
  • 00:20:43
    what we ended up
  • 00:20:45
    building what we ended up doing uh as a
  • 00:20:48
    group uh you'd hear music and such now
  • 00:20:51
    but I'll play this now is is is creating
  • 00:20:54
    a virtual groundsill uh for people to go
  • 00:20:59
    through um and you can see the lab that
  • 00:21:02
    we built I'll fast forward a little bit
  • 00:21:04
    into here play a little for
  • 00:21:14
    you um you can see this and you kind of
  • 00:21:18
    walk through the world um uh rayquan
  • 00:21:21
    Graham who I worked with on this is
  • 00:21:23
    narrating this and you can walk into
  • 00:21:25
    these virtual reality spaces you can
  • 00:21:28
    meet with people who we scanned uh uh
  • 00:21:31
    using 360 cameras uh and enter into
  • 00:21:34
    their spaces have conversations have
  • 00:21:37
    discussions in the way maybe we're
  • 00:21:38
    having a dis one-way discussion right
  • 00:21:40
    now but a two-way discussion that we're
  • 00:21:42
    going to have a little bit later um in
  • 00:21:45
    actually the physical spaces of other
  • 00:21:47
    people's uh rooms so we're able to
  • 00:21:49
    structure conversations in new novel and
  • 00:21:54
    different ways as you can see on on the
  • 00:21:55
    right hand side you can ask the person a
  • 00:21:57
    question question you can answer things
  • 00:21:59
    we solve problems that way so as we kind
  • 00:22:03
    of created or built through and you get
  • 00:22:05
    to move through and see all of these
  • 00:22:08
    different spaces we move to the next
  • 00:22:09
    slide uh you're able to meet uh The
  • 00:22:13
    Beautiful People of the community you're
  • 00:22:15
    able to have conversations and then
  • 00:22:17
    you're able to connect and Link with
  • 00:22:20
    people that you might have not been able
  • 00:22:22
    to and the process here is we wanted to
  • 00:22:24
    rehearse this idea of reality in the
  • 00:22:28
    game you play as a photojournalist
  • 00:22:30
    documenting Brownsville uh that is very
  • 00:22:33
    differently portrayed in media you make
  • 00:22:34
    good choices you make bad choices Etc um
  • 00:22:38
    and the idea behind this is that we're
  • 00:22:41
    interested in using these theater
  • 00:22:43
    exercises to create policy changes to
  • 00:22:46
    create shifts in ideas to uh create an
  • 00:22:49
    abstract poetic C City Symphony of the
  • 00:22:53
    emotions of living in this complex way
  • 00:22:56
    that aren't necessarily showed elsewhere
  • 00:22:59
    and through the process of doing so um
  • 00:23:02
    we were able actually to show a new
  • 00:23:05
    architecture for the community to the
  • 00:23:08
    the the city government um and we ended
  • 00:23:11
    up uh publishing a paper with the city
  • 00:23:14
    of New York uh where uh we use this
  • 00:23:18
    technology uh in order to make policy
  • 00:23:21
    decisions uh and and trying try to shape
  • 00:23:24
    uh the way that the City Works so a lot
  • 00:23:27
    of what happens and the conversation
  • 00:23:29
    that happened in this VR uh uh um uh lab
  • 00:23:33
    uh and and experiment that we did um
  • 00:23:35
    actually ended up making it all the way
  • 00:23:37
    to City policy um we are also uh using
  • 00:23:42
    this now uh this model of building the
  • 00:23:46
    realities of the future that we want uh
  • 00:23:49
    is uh we're thinking about how do we do
  • 00:23:51
    this with things like uh climate uh
  • 00:23:54
    issues and climate change and we
  • 00:23:57
    launched a program here at ASU called
  • 00:23:59
    make gam save the planets uh that tries
  • 00:24:02
    to teach these game engines uh to young
  • 00:24:04
    people so we're teaching them to 15 16
  • 00:24:07
    17 and 18 year olds in order for them to
  • 00:24:11
    bring these ideas to City makers to say
  • 00:24:14
    listen we're going to be affected by
  • 00:24:16
    climate change more than maybe someone
  • 00:24:18
    who's 60 because we are gonna likely
  • 00:24:20
    statistically live longer on this Earth
  • 00:24:23
    uh we're going to build what we think is
  • 00:24:25
    the city of the future um and we're
  • 00:24:28
    going to build the problems if you we
  • 00:24:31
    think you don't do uh what we would like
  • 00:24:33
    you to do um so we're working uh with
  • 00:24:36
    the National Science Foundation uh to uh
  • 00:24:38
    work with middle and high school
  • 00:24:40
    students um to think about Equitable
  • 00:24:44
    research practices and young people
  • 00:24:46
    instantiating themselves into government
  • 00:24:50
    um so we've launched a number of
  • 00:24:51
    community events uh all the young people
  • 00:24:54
    are doing everything right we're really
  • 00:24:55
    just teaching the tools um and
  • 00:24:58
    organizing uh uh a interactive
  • 00:25:00
    presentation um uh of their game that
  • 00:25:03
    they have created um this is kind of uh
  • 00:25:07
    what they they have been working on um
  • 00:25:09
    and the idea is uh we're working with
  • 00:25:11
    them to develop and test a narrative uh
  • 00:25:15
    XR create these game prototypes uh for
  • 00:25:19
    policy makers community members and
  • 00:25:21
    young people to play through uh a
  • 00:25:23
    version of the future um so in this
  • 00:25:26
    program we're really trying to think
  • 00:25:28
    about how we can reshape or use the
  • 00:25:31
    tools of virtual reality to have
  • 00:25:33
    conversations about climate change uh to
  • 00:25:36
    advance storytelling uh to facilitate
  • 00:25:38
    game design and then to think about this
  • 00:25:41
    concept of science uh engagement in
  • 00:25:43
    communication so how do you actually
  • 00:25:46
    communicate complex scientific ideas or
  • 00:25:49
    policies that surround drought uh using
  • 00:25:52
    these virtual areas and what the young
  • 00:25:54
    people decided to do and this is uh I'm
  • 00:25:56
    really uh happy with uh kind of what
  • 00:25:59
    they've been creating um at the end of
  • 00:26:01
    their first uh project year they
  • 00:26:02
    developed a game concept they built a
  • 00:26:04
    world so here's a world an image of the
  • 00:26:07
    world that you see um uh uh the years
  • 00:26:10
    2145 after it's it's a set in the future
  • 00:26:14
    2175 uh after years of drought water is
  • 00:26:17
    incredibly valued as a commodity and
  • 00:26:19
    each day you must complete challenges
  • 00:26:21
    while keeping your water balance above
  • 00:26:23
    zero um so it it is a a conservation
  • 00:26:26
    game uh and you can use legacy points uh
  • 00:26:29
    to make good environmental or bad
  • 00:26:31
    environmental decisions which unlocks
  • 00:26:33
    other areas to play and what they've
  • 00:26:35
    created is really a complex
  • 00:26:38
    geography uh where uh they're kind of
  • 00:26:41
    thinking about 175 years in the future
  • 00:26:43
    if we keep our same policies um and what
  • 00:26:46
    that might look like how there might be
  • 00:26:48
    uh different so they're using World
  • 00:26:50
    building to think about how there's
  • 00:26:52
    might be different class divisions how
  • 00:26:54
    there might be different economies that
  • 00:26:56
    arise how our life life will be uh if we
  • 00:26:59
    don't address the issues that are in
  • 00:27:01
    front of us um and they've created
  • 00:27:03
    characters here are kind of all of these
  • 00:27:06
    ideas um uh uh who are really kind of
  • 00:27:09
    Designing these Futures and they're
  • 00:27:11
    playing through these Futures and and
  • 00:27:13
    and they're stumbling also through these
  • 00:27:15
    Futures which I think is really
  • 00:27:17
    important to think about because um we
  • 00:27:19
    need to uh rehearse uh before usually we
  • 00:27:22
    make these decisions I'm not going to
  • 00:27:24
    play this video because we don't have
  • 00:27:25
    sound uh but the out outcome is a is a
  • 00:27:29
    full-fledged uh video game uh and
  • 00:27:32
    virtual reality experience uh in which
  • 00:27:35
    uh you uh have to think about water in
  • 00:27:37
    different ways
  • 00:27:40
    um so all of that to say is uh the goal
  • 00:27:45
    of our work and the goal that I think we
  • 00:27:47
    should be thinking about when we're
  • 00:27:48
    using these Technologies is how do we
  • 00:27:51
    use them to uh think through the future
  • 00:27:54
    not just create a metaverse right not
  • 00:27:56
    just create a digital twin of what we
  • 00:27:59
    have now how do we actually use the
  • 00:28:02
    creativity the Poetics of these
  • 00:28:04
    Technologies uh in order to create what
  • 00:28:07
    we call a citizen designer yourself
  • 00:28:10
    designing the future you want to live in
  • 00:28:13
    uh and that's the goal uh with our work
  • 00:28:15
    and um uh what we're interested in and
  • 00:28:18
    I'm actually really interested in your
  • 00:28:20
    comments so I'd like to to take the rest
  • 00:28:22
    of the time to answer any questions you
  • 00:28:25
    may have um and thank you
  • 00:28:34
    all okay thank you thank you so
  • 00:28:38
    much Nicholas well um we are now
  • 00:28:41
    inviting you all to put your questions
  • 00:28:44
    in the
  • 00:28:50
    Q&A yes um and well I I don't see any
  • 00:28:54
    questions here yet I will help get a
  • 00:28:56
    couple of questions
  • 00:28:57
    started to maybe Inspire everybody and
  • 00:29:01
    to ask some more
  • 00:29:04
    questions um so Nick how what what was
  • 00:29:09
    your primary source of inspiration when
  • 00:29:12
    you decided to investigate this topic
  • 00:29:16
    further yeah I think that we need to
  • 00:29:19
    think about using these Technologies are
  • 00:29:21
    here and there will be here like mixed
  • 00:29:23
    reality augmented reality what uh
  • 00:29:26
    virtual reality and I think that there's
  • 00:29:28
    like a growing dissatisfaction that I
  • 00:29:30
    think we all have so like if we think
  • 00:29:31
    about like the most popular uh
  • 00:29:33
    applications that we use they tend to be
  • 00:29:34
    like dating apps or like uh uh like
  • 00:29:37
    little personal assistant things and I
  • 00:29:40
    think that we can dream a lot larger uh
  • 00:29:42
    when we think about utilizing this
  • 00:29:43
    technology we need to think about
  • 00:29:45
    changing the very structures that kind
  • 00:29:46
    of aggravate Us in general um so uh
  • 00:29:49
    maybe the the main thing is is is you
  • 00:29:52
    know what are what is the thing that's
  • 00:29:53
    aggravating you the most and then how
  • 00:29:54
    can you know this is something that's
  • 00:29:56
    really really interesting
  • 00:29:57
    uh we're entering into kind of a new
  • 00:30:00
    phase uh uh in this this new Industrial
  • 00:30:03
    Revolution that we're all experiencing
  • 00:30:05
    where we um if you looked during kind of
  • 00:30:09
    the time of the printing press the last
  • 00:30:11
    and like the mass uh uh
  • 00:30:14
    dist if you couldn't read and you
  • 00:30:17
    couldn't write you were
  • 00:30:18
    illiterate and uh I think over the next
  • 00:30:22
    20 years we're going to be entering into
  • 00:30:24
    that for these virtual forms if you're
  • 00:30:27
    not making uh and you're not doing in
  • 00:30:30
    the next maybe 20 years uh you might be
  • 00:30:33
    uh this this is a literacy issue so
  • 00:30:36
    unless we're able to use and utilize
  • 00:30:38
    these Technologies in order to have
  • 00:30:39
    these conversations in the future um it
  • 00:30:43
    is very likely that that people uh uh
  • 00:30:45
    will be will will further distance kind
  • 00:30:48
    of the the poverty Gap that exists sadly
  • 00:30:51
    and and that um I think we should all
  • 00:30:53
    maybe work towards making these these
  • 00:30:56
    Technologies more egalitarian and using
  • 00:30:58
    them for the communities um who who need
  • 00:31:02
    uh uh the the most um uh more resources
  • 00:31:07
    in
  • 00:31:10
    general wonderful thank you so
  • 00:31:13
    much um I will move on to our next
  • 00:31:17
    question um one of our participants
  • 00:31:20
    asked I wonder what are the top three to
  • 00:31:22
    five knowledge Source sources
  • 00:31:24
    recommendations like books websites or
  • 00:31:26
    courses to start understanding and
  • 00:31:28
    eventually Implement game engines
  • 00:31:30
    specifically for physical activities
  • 00:31:33
    yeah this is a wonderful question David
  • 00:31:35
    so um in terms of the ways that I would
  • 00:31:38
    learn this you know this is cuttingedge
  • 00:31:40
    technology uh there are ways that this
  • 00:31:42
    is being offered I mean ASU offers um
  • 00:31:45
    how to kind of learn these Technologies
  • 00:31:48
    in
  • 00:31:50
    general two primary engines that you
  • 00:31:52
    make these Technologies in the first is
  • 00:31:55
    something called the Unreal Engine
  • 00:31:57
    uh uh and unreal is you can go to like
  • 00:32:00
    unreal uh learning um uh and they have a
  • 00:32:04
    really excellent manual on how to do
  • 00:32:06
    these and then the other is Unity um
  • 00:32:08
    both of them have creative forms and
  • 00:32:11
    groups so if you don't want to use kind
  • 00:32:13
    of the traditional like you know go and
  • 00:32:16
    take classes in that way uh there is
  • 00:32:19
    that is a really really those are two
  • 00:32:20
    really really great resources um a lot
  • 00:32:23
    also is happening on uh uh Discord so
  • 00:32:26
    there's a lot lot of really great
  • 00:32:27
    resources um unreal has a really great
  • 00:32:30
    Discord called unreal Slackers uh that
  • 00:32:33
    uh is a bunch of folks who are really
  • 00:32:36
    interested in cutting an technology and
  • 00:32:38
    having conversations about it um so this
  • 00:32:40
    is a relatively small community um I
  • 00:32:43
    would say that it's not unlikely that
  • 00:32:45
    like if you don't know somebody who's in
  • 00:32:47
    it you know someone who knows someone
  • 00:32:49
    there's only a couple uh distances
  • 00:32:51
    between who's who's working in this and
  • 00:32:53
    so the more that you become part of this
  • 00:32:56
    kind of emerging community I think the
  • 00:32:57
    more you're going to learn I hope that
  • 00:32:58
    answers your question but yes um uh you
  • 00:33:01
    know this is a digital community that
  • 00:33:02
    happens globally I will say today I was
  • 00:33:05
    in a conversation I work in a in a small
  • 00:33:07
    team my team is divided across uh uh
  • 00:33:10
    Germany um the United States uh and uh
  • 00:33:15
    Chile um and we are working at all times
  • 00:33:19
    so that the it is a very small community
  • 00:33:21
    it is a global Community it's a
  • 00:33:22
    community of people who really care and
  • 00:33:24
    work
  • 00:33:25
    together
  • 00:33:28
    fantastic answer thank you so much Nick
  • 00:33:31
    we move on to the next
  • 00:33:34
    question what's the difference in these
  • 00:33:36
    immersive worlds that you're talking
  • 00:33:38
    about and the
  • 00:33:40
    metaverse yeah so this is a big
  • 00:33:42
    political thing that I have and and I
  • 00:33:45
    I'll be very I might this this answer is
  • 00:33:48
    not going to be the answer I think that
  • 00:33:50
    that that most people like uh but this
  • 00:33:52
    is my own political stance is my thought
  • 00:33:56
    is that the meta verse as it exists we
  • 00:33:58
    have to maybe question this because it's
  • 00:34:01
    owned by a single
  • 00:34:02
    company and the question that I have is
  • 00:34:06
    it's a Facebook product right so if all
  • 00:34:09
    of Commons happens through the metaverse
  • 00:34:12
    that's owned by Facebook it gets a cut
  • 00:34:15
    of all of our
  • 00:34:17
    societies and there's a problem with
  • 00:34:19
    that at least to me um because uh I like
  • 00:34:23
    uh going uh down the street and being
  • 00:34:26
    able to know you know the person who
  • 00:34:28
    works uh at a bakery or the person who
  • 00:34:32
    um uh um you know uh has a small
  • 00:34:35
    business or or even a larger business
  • 00:34:37
    like a grocery store um but the metor is
  • 00:34:40
    a space that is is by I think Mark
  • 00:34:45
    Zuckerberg is really trying to to to
  • 00:34:48
    take all of community Commons and put it
  • 00:34:50
    online there are multiple metaverses
  • 00:34:52
    though uh and those are owned currently
  • 00:34:54
    by multiple individuals in until we kind
  • 00:34:57
    of have those connected um I advocate
  • 00:35:00
    for something very different uh which is
  • 00:35:03
    there's no reason why you can't create
  • 00:35:05
    your own metaverse right and why your
  • 00:35:08
    community can't create your own
  • 00:35:10
    metaverse because I don't know where you
  • 00:35:11
    live in this world but statistically you
  • 00:35:13
    probably don't uh uh live in Silicon
  • 00:35:16
    Valley um so why would you let Silicon
  • 00:35:19
    Valley design your community uh and the
  • 00:35:22
    conversations and the economies that
  • 00:35:23
    happen in it and we can do this through
  • 00:35:25
    those two uh
  • 00:35:27
    uh engines game engines that I mentioned
  • 00:35:29
    to you unreal
  • 00:35:31
    and and unity and you can build these
  • 00:35:34
    digital environments for yourself but
  • 00:35:36
    the metaverse as it exists simply is is
  • 00:35:39
    is it's a service that we all use it's a
  • 00:35:42
    digital service and a digital comments
  • 00:35:44
    um yeah but there will be multiple
  • 00:35:47
    Microsoft has one
  • 00:35:50
    Etc excellent answer thank you so much
  • 00:35:53
    Nick um our next question how was the
  • 00:35:56
    store storytelling process with the
  • 00:35:59
    community yeah so the storytelling
  • 00:36:01
    process is is one that we're really
  • 00:36:03
    interested in and so this is what I'm
  • 00:36:05
    interested in in these Technologies is
  • 00:36:07
    the storytelling process isn't just like
  • 00:36:09
    writing a script right like doing the
  • 00:36:11
    script and having it there's two things
  • 00:36:13
    that happen in Virtual augmented reality
  • 00:36:16
    storytelling that I think is really cool
  • 00:36:18
    the first is that you're not just like
  • 00:36:20
    telling someone a story right you're
  • 00:36:23
    really engaging in a dialogue so think
  • 00:36:26
    about the way that this just worked I
  • 00:36:28
    just like told you a long story you sat
  • 00:36:31
    you listened to it you're like ah I got
  • 00:36:32
    bored I I agree with this this thing's
  • 00:36:35
    interesting and you just sit and you
  • 00:36:37
    wait but but the storytelling process
  • 00:36:40
    for us is dynamic right it's always you
  • 00:36:43
    make something you play through it you
  • 00:36:46
    see what works and doesn't you throw out
  • 00:36:48
    what doesn't work you use what works and
  • 00:36:50
    then you do level two and level three
  • 00:36:52
    and level four and you keep building and
  • 00:36:55
    rehearsing what you want until you
  • 00:36:57
    actually have something that you're
  • 00:36:59
    every Everybody in the room is proud
  • 00:37:05
    of but then again just really quick two
  • 00:37:07
    resources uh
  • 00:37:10
    uh a lot of the storytelling process in
  • 00:37:12
    the methodology is borrowed that I that
  • 00:37:14
    I think is really really important to
  • 00:37:15
    think about um I would look at the
  • 00:37:17
    theater exercises of Augusto Bal they're
  • 00:37:20
    remarkable for being able to prototype
  • 00:37:24
    these wonderful thank you that brings us
  • 00:37:28
    to our next question has there been any
  • 00:37:31
    specific pop culture inspiration into
  • 00:37:33
    the idea or ideas of this project like
  • 00:37:36
    inspiration from movies or games or
  • 00:37:39
    anime oh yeah and I think that's
  • 00:37:41
    something that's really really cool
  • 00:37:43
    right because like you know if you think
  • 00:37:46
    about a lot of digital culture um uh
  • 00:37:49
    there
  • 00:37:50
    there pop virtual reality culture is is
  • 00:37:54
    pretty small so like we don't have have
  • 00:37:56
    many makers and there's actually a lot
  • 00:37:58
    of beauty because of that so you get all
  • 00:38:00
    of these like pop uh uh projects that
  • 00:38:03
    kind of come up and and they happen all
  • 00:38:05
    over the world because they're they're
  • 00:38:07
    the makers are from all over the world
  • 00:38:09
    so we're very small community in general
  • 00:38:11
    but we're growing like exponentially
  • 00:38:12
    it's it's it's insane I've been doing
  • 00:38:14
    this for for I've been working in
  • 00:38:16
    virtual reality for 17 years um so you
  • 00:38:19
    know like 17 years ago like that the
  • 00:38:21
    community was small but now it's like
  • 00:38:23
    Global and and it's it's really fun and
  • 00:38:26
    and yeah think we're all inspired by
  • 00:38:28
    like all of these pot culture things
  • 00:38:30
    that are happening and the cool thing
  • 00:38:32
    about it it's their trade they're
  • 00:38:33
    accessible they happen I was listening
  • 00:38:36
    um there's a a amazing researcher who
  • 00:38:38
    works in in the lab that I co-direct
  • 00:38:41
    here at ASU and uh uh we were like
  • 00:38:44
    implementing in our animations today
  • 00:38:46
    they're they're uh from from India and
  • 00:38:49
    they brought this like really awesome uh
  • 00:38:52
    uh reference from Indian PP culture and
  • 00:38:55
    we were like okay let's like fabricate
  • 00:38:56
    that design and these engines are so
  • 00:38:58
    fast uh and they're so efficient that
  • 00:39:01
    like back in the day when I had to do
  • 00:39:03
    like hand animation or or use something
  • 00:39:05
    like Adobe it would take me days to get
  • 00:39:08
    something these are so fast and fluid
  • 00:39:12
    these engines that we can prototype that
  • 00:39:14
    pop culture reference in a matter of two
  • 00:39:16
    hours and then play with it in virtual
  • 00:39:18
    reality it's really
  • 00:39:22
    cool fascinating thank you um our next
  • 00:39:27
    question is which um
  • 00:39:36
    what
  • 00:39:41
    seal
  • 00:39:45
    exam
  • 00:39:47
    um I actually you cut out very briefly
  • 00:39:51
    so would you mind restating the question
  • 00:39:53
    oh I'm so sorry yes yes I will restate
  • 00:39:56
    the question I'm so sorry um which which
  • 00:39:59
    sector of the economy would benefit most
  • 00:40:02
    from this and can you give an example in
  • 00:40:05
    a Latin American context yeah so I mean
  • 00:40:08
    maybe I can talk about the sectors of
  • 00:40:10
    the economy that I'm interested in so in
  • 00:40:12
    Brownsville we didn't show you one of
  • 00:40:14
    the the the pieces in Brownsville but
  • 00:40:16
    I'll give you that as an example so
  • 00:40:18
    Brownsville uh had a lot of economic
  • 00:40:20
    marginalization that occurred that we
  • 00:40:22
    talked about and uh one of the young uh
  • 00:40:25
    uh folks who we were working with his
  • 00:40:27
    name is John amazing amazing young man
  • 00:40:30
    uh was was worried he couldn't get a
  • 00:40:34
    loan uh to to start a business so what
  • 00:40:37
    we did is we launched his shop over
  • 00:40:39
    virtual reality or augmented reality and
  • 00:40:41
    you could take out your phone and you
  • 00:40:43
    could scan a QR code and you could see
  • 00:40:45
    his shop in in augmented reality and you
  • 00:40:47
    could purchase something and that put a
  • 00:40:50
    lot of money into small business owners
  • 00:40:52
    small business owners are one of them
  • 00:40:54
    right because you can create your shops
  • 00:40:55
    without having to have have a brick and
  • 00:40:56
    mortar um but larger sections of the
  • 00:40:59
    economy I think if we talk about those
  • 00:41:00
    these is like biomedical is incredibly
  • 00:41:04
    you know being able to to view the body
  • 00:41:07
    uh in 3D forms for virtual surgeries or
  • 00:41:10
    or those type of things kind of thinking
  • 00:41:12
    about uh virtual reality for for
  • 00:41:14
    biomedical um uh Commons is certainly
  • 00:41:18
    one of them uh training is one of them
  • 00:41:21
    that I'm really really interested in
  • 00:41:22
    right so how do you train somebody on a
  • 00:41:24
    complex and adaptive system um so like
  • 00:41:26
    large Machinery because sometimes like a
  • 00:41:28
    large Machinery uh piece like a
  • 00:41:31
    semiconductor think about how much time
  • 00:41:35
    and money is lost if you're not training
  • 00:41:38
    if you have to use this the the the
  • 00:41:40
    machine to train on it's hundreds of
  • 00:41:43
    thousands of dollars uh to to do a
  • 00:41:45
    training session so if you virtualize
  • 00:41:47
    that that's one thing there I cannot
  • 00:41:50
    imagine one section of the economy that
  • 00:41:54
    will not be touched by this in the next
  • 00:41:55
    20 years it's it's improbable education
  • 00:41:58
    space um uh I know at ASU we're we're
  • 00:42:01
    actually doing education in virtual
  • 00:42:04
    reality and we're seeing that actually
  • 00:42:07
    it's it's increases uh learning so I I
  • 00:42:10
    really I really don't see any ways and
  • 00:42:12
    with the emergence you see a large
  • 00:42:14
    company such as as Apple creating their
  • 00:42:16
    new spatial Computing device uh their
  • 00:42:19
    headset um this is going to reformat I
  • 00:42:22
    think what what people uh use to to
  • 00:42:25
    communicate
  • 00:42:40
    so fantastic thank you so much um all
  • 00:42:45
    right so that leads us to our next
  • 00:42:47
    question um what technology do you use
  • 00:42:50
    and is it scalable for the
  • 00:42:53
    world yeah so what technology do I
  • 00:42:56
    personally use I personally develop in
  • 00:42:58
    in so there's so I think that there's a
  • 00:43:01
    couple things one is that if you want to
  • 00:43:03
    get into this you probably need a
  • 00:43:04
    Windows uh computer and you probably
  • 00:43:07
    need a dis decent graphics card um if
  • 00:43:11
    you're developing uh for like you can
  • 00:43:14
    and and you would be using the engines
  • 00:43:16
    uh unreal uh or uh Unity you can go to
  • 00:43:20
    their websites you can download these
  • 00:43:21
    for free and play with these tools
  • 00:43:23
    they're completely free and as long as
  • 00:43:25
    you have F of enough Graphics uh
  • 00:43:27
    processor uh or GPU uh you should be
  • 00:43:31
    able to run this so the question is is
  • 00:43:33
    it scalable and the answer is totally
  • 00:43:35
    scale here's the reason if I'm
  • 00:43:38
    developing maybe say on a $3,000
  • 00:43:41
    computer which is a luxury so I view
  • 00:43:43
    this that I have a $33,000 computer as
  • 00:43:45
    luxury um I've been doing this for a
  • 00:43:48
    long time so I have a $3,000 computer
  • 00:43:50
    it's what I do my research on but I
  • 00:43:53
    could easily do it with a $1,500
  • 00:43:55
    computer or a thousand computer um you
  • 00:43:58
    probably can't do so with that but then
  • 00:44:00
    once you develop in these game engines
  • 00:44:02
    you can take the one piece and you can
  • 00:44:04
    Port it out to the phone you can Port it
  • 00:44:06
    out to the to uh Xbox you can Port it
  • 00:44:09
    out to PlayStation you can Port it out
  • 00:44:11
    to Oculus Rift you can Port it out so so
  • 00:44:14
    once you create your base project you
  • 00:44:16
    can send it to all of these other areas
  • 00:44:19
    so it becomes infinitely reproducible
  • 00:44:21
    and scalable so you can create one
  • 00:44:24
    product and then do it across multiple
  • 00:44:26
    platforms so this is we're working right
  • 00:44:28
    now on a pro subject that has to do with
  • 00:44:30
    oncology and and how people uh deal with
  • 00:44:33
    the effects of cancer and we know that
  • 00:44:36
    some people will be using their phones
  • 00:44:38
    some people will be using virtual
  • 00:44:39
    reality headsets some people will be
  • 00:44:41
    using the internet uh and their desktops
  • 00:44:44
    and so we know that there's patients
  • 00:44:47
    from all over the Spectrum and what we
  • 00:44:48
    can do is we can in these engines create
  • 00:44:50
    a central program and then create uh um
  • 00:44:53
    uh various tendrils and of course takes
  • 00:44:56
    a little bit more develop but not much
  • 00:44:58
    and you can you can do it across
  • 00:45:03
    platforms fantastic thank you so much
  • 00:45:06
    our next question is how could we
  • 00:45:09
    develop and Implement measures to
  • 00:45:12
    increase accessibility to this
  • 00:45:14
    technology in V vulnerable regions or
  • 00:45:17
    communities yeah I know this is an
  • 00:45:21
    anonymous attendee that that wrote this
  • 00:45:23
    but I think this is probably the most
  • 00:45:24
    important question that it's going to
  • 00:45:26
    asked tonight um this is something that
  • 00:45:28
    keeps me up at night um because I see
  • 00:45:31
    something happening and a shift in the
  • 00:45:33
    economies and it's our
  • 00:45:35
    responsibility uh as people on this call
  • 00:45:37
    or as makers or people who view
  • 00:45:39
    ourselves as technologists uh in order
  • 00:45:42
    to not um uh take the resource that is
  • 00:45:45
    technology and use it to just promote
  • 00:45:47
    ourselves um and these things are very
  • 00:45:52
    easily taught uh uh they they take a
  • 00:45:55
    little a little bit of time to start on
  • 00:45:57
    the onboarding process and they're
  • 00:45:58
    difficult at the beginning but I have
  • 00:46:00
    worked with communities uh my whole uh
  • 00:46:04
    uh career uh that are communities that
  • 00:46:07
    are the majority of people are living
  • 00:46:09
    below the poverty level and so uh and uh
  • 00:46:12
    a lot of folks um have had uh uh not the
  • 00:46:18
    luxury of I think the formal education
  • 00:46:21
    um that the majority of people who are
  • 00:46:23
    on a university Zoom call uh on an on a
  • 00:46:27
    morning or an evening have and uh uh
  • 00:46:31
    they are able to I think change
  • 00:46:33
    paradigms using these Technologies
  • 00:46:35
    because they're they're usable um so I
  • 00:46:38
    think that that is how we need to think
  • 00:46:40
    about it every technological development
  • 00:46:43
    process we should probably think about
  • 00:46:45
    ways in which uh we can connect with and
  • 00:46:48
    co-create with communities um in order
  • 00:46:51
    uh to uh uh to to kind of change things
  • 00:46:54
    so if if a Community is vulnerable uh I
  • 00:46:57
    think that this these Technologies can
  • 00:46:59
    be used utilized and learned to create
  • 00:47:02
    economies in those areas and uh that's
  • 00:47:05
    my goal uh is to say listen um uh this
  • 00:47:10
    technology can easily be used at MIT or
  • 00:47:13
    ASU or some other uh University or can
  • 00:47:17
    be used uh you know in in the
  • 00:47:20
    neighborhood uh that that uh uh that
  • 00:47:23
    needs it most I don't think the barrier
  • 00:47:25
    to entry is
  • 00:47:28
    Extreme thank you so much Nick um well
  • 00:47:32
    our next question is um hello my name is
  • 00:47:36
    Alex I'm a student um from video game
  • 00:47:39
    development major at U um and that's
  • 00:47:46
    theara I think and do you think that the
  • 00:47:50
    virtual world would affect uh some jobs
  • 00:47:53
    or even the human body and my gosh um
  • 00:47:58
    yes I want to just go back because I did
  • 00:48:01
    say that there is not a barrier to the
  • 00:48:03
    last question then I'll answer this one
  • 00:48:05
    there is not a barrier to entry I think
  • 00:48:06
    it an important question needs a little
  • 00:48:08
    more time um the one thing that that we
  • 00:48:10
    have a responsibility of doing as makers
  • 00:48:12
    is making sure that people have access
  • 00:48:13
    to the tech um so if you are writing for
  • 00:48:16
    a grant or if you're trying to develop a
  • 00:48:18
    project please I ask that you line item
  • 00:48:21
    some of that budget to go to communities
  • 00:48:23
    to have access to to the technologies
  • 00:48:26
    that might not have those I think it's
  • 00:48:27
    our ethical responsibility um so back to
  • 00:48:30
    this this question about video game
  • 00:48:32
    developer and how these are going to be
  • 00:48:34
    affecting some of our jobs in our human
  • 00:48:36
    bodies yes of course um I think that
  • 00:48:38
    this is going to to radically reshape
  • 00:48:41
    the ways that the economy works and
  • 00:48:43
    functions um I think that uh we are
  • 00:48:47
    going to I mean with the emergence of AI
  • 00:48:49
    That's that's happening um I don't think
  • 00:48:51
    AI is necessarily going to take all our
  • 00:48:53
    jobs but it certainly is going to change
  • 00:48:55
    all of our jobs um uh it's going to make
  • 00:48:58
    some of our jobs easier it's going to
  • 00:48:59
    make some of our jobs harder um and it's
  • 00:49:01
    going to change our relationship to our
  • 00:49:03
    computer and when you say about the
  • 00:49:06
    human body I think a lot of people are
  • 00:49:07
    really kind of don't like these
  • 00:49:09
    Technologies like virtual reality or
  • 00:49:11
    augment your mixed reality what I say to
  • 00:49:13
    you is like uh how long do you stay take
  • 00:49:16
    and how long are you on this each day
  • 00:49:19
    and do you really think that human
  • 00:49:21
    beings evolved for us to have
  • 00:49:23
    conversations like this the answer is
  • 00:49:26
    clearly no and so we can use human
  • 00:49:30
    computer interfaces in ways that can
  • 00:49:34
    capture the way we feel when we hug
  • 00:49:36
    somebody or having a conversation
  • 00:49:39
    upright for for for jop Pete to to to be
  • 00:49:44
    able to have a conversation with someone
  • 00:49:45
    sitting up like this then like this
  • 00:49:47
    certainly is going to change the body I
  • 00:49:49
    also think that with uh biometric data
  • 00:49:52
    uh that is being kind of ascertained by
  • 00:49:54
    things such as our watches
  • 00:49:56
    uh such as our smart devices that we're
  • 00:49:58
    going to learn a lot more about our
  • 00:50:00
    system and we're going to be able to I I
  • 00:50:03
    imagine a future like this I wake up in
  • 00:50:06
    the morning I open my fridge my fridge
  • 00:50:11
    analizes exactly what is in it and what
  • 00:50:14
    I can make for my breakfast uh and uh my
  • 00:50:19
    Biometrics tell me that I have
  • 00:50:21
    insufficiencies and maybe iron so it's
  • 00:50:23
    telling me Oh gosh like maybe you want
  • 00:50:25
    to have a little bit of
  • 00:50:28
    cilantro over or a little bit of uh uh
  • 00:50:31
    uh milk uh it will tell you and so this
  • 00:50:35
    is actually going to change our
  • 00:50:36
    relationship I think to our health and
  • 00:50:38
    this is something that I'm really really
  • 00:50:40
    uh looking forward to and of course
  • 00:50:42
    there are pitfalls in that right how do
  • 00:50:44
    you govern that data how do you make
  • 00:50:46
    sure that you're secure with that data
  • 00:50:47
    that's very important and needs to be
  • 00:50:49
    solved but it will integrate with our
  • 00:50:50
    everyday
  • 00:50:54
    lives
  • 00:50:56
    thank you so much
  • 00:50:57
    Nicholas um our last qu I only have time
  • 00:51:00
    for you to answer one more question here
  • 00:51:03
    so um can you share this Virtual Worlds
  • 00:51:07
    with another with other users if you can
  • 00:51:11
    how is the safety of these users who
  • 00:51:13
    enter these virtual world worlds ensured
  • 00:51:15
    so how do you ensure the safety of these
  • 00:51:17
    users and with their personal
  • 00:51:19
    information for
  • 00:51:21
    example yeah so this is something that's
  • 00:51:24
    really really important and ask can you
  • 00:51:26
    share uh these Virtual Worlds with other
  • 00:51:29
    users I the work the work that I make or
  • 00:51:32
    made for using virtual worlds for small
  • 00:51:34
    communities so we view ourselves as like
  • 00:51:36
    making the spoke worlds that are only
  • 00:51:39
    within the conversations of those
  • 00:51:41
    communities because a lot of things can
  • 00:51:42
    become
  • 00:51:43
    decontextualized and so we're very very
  • 00:51:46
    interested in data and rawness and
  • 00:51:48
    stories right so if you're telling a
  • 00:51:50
    story about your life and that all of
  • 00:51:52
    our lives are raw in some way shape or
  • 00:51:54
    form or vulnerable able and we don't
  • 00:51:56
    want to maybe tell some things but we
  • 00:51:58
    want to open up to our community in ways
  • 00:52:00
    that maybe I wouldn't open up to someone
  • 00:52:01
    I've never met or someone doesn't live
  • 00:52:03
    in my geography or understand the
  • 00:52:05
    problems that I'm going through so we
  • 00:52:06
    keep all of our systems closed um for
  • 00:52:09
    that reason and that's something that
  • 00:52:11
    I'm advocating For You know the
  • 00:52:12
    metaverse can be this great grand thing
  • 00:52:14
    that connects the world and I think that
  • 00:52:15
    there's a lot of really really uh uh uh
  • 00:52:18
    there's there's a lot of importance in
  • 00:52:20
    that um I think that that we have a
  • 00:52:22
    globally a lot more uh that is similar
  • 00:52:24
    about us then is different and uh to be
  • 00:52:27
    able to to see the humanity and have
  • 00:52:29
    conversations across uh cultures and
  • 00:52:32
    borders and and and time even uh that
  • 00:52:35
    that's that's something that's really
  • 00:52:36
    important but there's also an importance
  • 00:52:38
    of a community being able to keep its
  • 00:52:40
    own autonomy in its conversation and so
  • 00:52:43
    that's where we focus our time so for
  • 00:52:46
    instance uh we're working with uh right
  • 00:52:48
    now with cancer survivors uh and you can
  • 00:52:52
    think about like if that data if if kind
  • 00:52:55
    of an insurance company knew that
  • 00:52:57
    someone had was diagnosed with cancer
  • 00:52:59
    there might be some implications to that
  • 00:53:01
    so we keep that very very closed we have
  • 00:53:03
    those conversations and also it's a
  • 00:53:06
    vulnerable space and so those cancer
  • 00:53:08
    survivors can have conversations about
  • 00:53:11
    their treatment um and their post-
  • 00:53:13
    treatment in that space um and and uh
  • 00:53:17
    feel safe um there are other ways of
  • 00:53:22
    doing it um and uh there's a lot and
  • 00:53:25
    this is a burgeoning part of this field
  • 00:53:28
    and if you are interested in uh extended
  • 00:53:30
    reality security uh there there will be
  • 00:53:33
    jobs for you for the next you know
  • 00:53:35
    hundred years it is it is something that
  • 00:53:38
    we're thinking about all of the time and
  • 00:53:39
    there's micro ways of doing it but I
  • 00:53:42
    that that would take an entire three
  • 00:53:44
    hours to to even begin to to to talk
  • 00:53:47
    about
  • 00:53:50
    yeah well thank you so much Dr Nicholas
  • 00:53:53
    POI for such an engaging lect sure
标签
  • ASU Master Class
  • Nick Polarski
  • World Building
  • Game Engines
  • Immersive Media
  • Virtual Reality
  • Augmented Reality
  • Mixed Reality
  • Community Projects
  • Digital Storytelling