The changing face of VR: Pushing the boundaries of experience across multiple industries

Virtual reality is all about experiences––the experience of immersion, the experience of difference, the experience of the new, and the experience of experiencing. Jordan Frith and Michael Saker have curated an expansive set of use-cases through a multidisciplinary examination of VR experiences across industries. From journalism to narrative design to climate systems modeling to theatrical performance, the contributors of this collection have dived into various aspects of experiencing the virtual and critiqued what those experiences mean for our social, ethical, and environmental realities. Of note is the communal and empathic treatment of VR applications in these discussions. Readers can expect critical reviews of the VR experience for social justice, care ethics framework, and humanistic values. These reviews are eye-opening and crucial for the development of VR at a time when the virtual and the real are becoming insatiably indistinguishable.

Prof. Jason Tham

Technical Communication and Rhetoric, Department of English

Texas Tech University