Summary of our online session for Building Empathy With VR

Thank you Bianca Wright, for hosting, Inside Mental Health: Building Empathy With VR, during our weekly online sessions with 30+ professionals.

The meeting began with a focus on Anagram, a creative studio specializing in immersive experience design, discussing their projects and core questions. The team then delved into the Goliath VR experience, highlighting its impact on portraying schizophrenia accurately. They explored ADHD through the mixed reality experience Impulse and discussed creating immersive mental health training tools like Inside Mental Health. Storytelling's role in mental health training was emphasized, along with challenges faced by individuals with neurodiversity in the workplace. The team also discussed starting a business, virtual reality experiences for mental health support, and multilingual content availability. Next steps include finalizing platforms, expanding storytelling impact, and connecting with medical experts and communities. The meeting concluded with plans to connect on LinkedIn for further discussions on AI-related topics.

Topics & Highlights

1. Anagram - Immersive Experience Design

• Anagram, mentioning their specialization in interactive storytelling, immersive experiences, and the founders' vision to push the documentary form into new areas.

• various immersive experiences created by Anagram, highlighting projects like 'Dawn into the Dark,' 'The Palace of The Machines,' 'The Collider,' and 'Messages to a Posthuman Earth.'

2. Discussion about Goliath VR Experience

• The team discussed the development and success of the Goliath VR experience, including its launch in 2021, the story of John's journey with schizophrenia, the positive impact of gaming on his life, the portrayal of psychosis, the awards won, and the project's global recognition.

3. Exploring ADHD through Mixed Reality

• development of the mixed reality experience Impulse that explores living with ADHD and the challenges faced by individuals with the condition.

4. Creating Immersive Mental Health Training

• Inside Mental Health, a project focused on creating immersive training tools for medical professionals to improve understanding and empathy in mental health care.

5. Use of Storytelling in Mental Health Training

• importance of storytelling in mental health training, emphasizing the role of personal narratives in fostering empathy and compassion among participants, including medical professionals and students

• The discussion included details about a pilot program at the University of West of England involving immersive mental health training for students, with plans to expand to other higher education providers and collaboration with the NHS.

• insights into the structure of the mental health training session, highlighting the importance of onboarding, reflection sessions, and creating a safe space for participants to share their experiences.

6. Virtual Reality Experience Design and Reflection Sessions

• The next steps involve finalizing the platform, launching it, conducting additional research, and looking into how experiences like Impulse can be complementary to existing tools for ADHD and other mental health issues.

7. Discussion on Impact of Storytelling on Real World

• The next steps involve focusing on sharing stories related to ADHD, particularly Jon's story, to reach more people and make a real-world impact. Emphasis is on aligning with medical experts and communities before expanding to other areas like end-of-life care.

8. Challenges Faced by Individuals with Neurodiversity in Work

• The concern raised was about the challenges faced by individuals with neurodiversity, such as ADHD and Asperger's, in the workplace, including communication difficulties, self-regulation issues, and productivity concerns. The importance of utilizing gamification and technology like AI, VR, and AR to support these individuals was discussed.

9. Challenges in Starting a Business

• concerns about the challenges of needing immediate cash flow, marketing efforts, creating business proposals, and the complexities of B2B and B2C markets in starting a business.

10. Virtual Reality Experience and Mental Health Support

• concerns about potential triggers and challenges in offering a VR experience for mental health support, emphasizing the need for thorough trigger warnings and reflection sessions to support users.

• decisions made regarding the design of the onboarding process for the VR experience, including the inclusion of trigger warnings and reflection sessions to ensure a positive user experience.

• importance of training support staff beyond doctors, such as receptionists and cleaning staff, in dealing with mental health issues, indicating a potential next step for the project.

Dr Bianca Wright appointed as Chair of VR/AR Association's Metaverse for Good Committee

We are thrilled to have Dr Bianca Wright help lead our community and chair our Metaverse for Good Committee. As part of this role, Dr Wright will host our Online Meets with guest speakers and the committee will create best practices and guidelines for our industry.

Dr Bianca Wright is passionate about investigating the possibilities, challenges and risks of new and emerging technologies including immersive: XR, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and gaming, particularly in the context of tech for good. She has led and worked on a range of projects in academia and industry, most recently focusing on immersive technologies, including the Google Digital News Initiative-funded project Playing the News VR: Coventry Blitz and the development of a unit in Tech for Good mobile app development for the Prince’s Trust.  Bianca is the Curriculum Lead: Immersive (Associate Professor - Academic) at Coventry University and leads the immersive strategy for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

An award-winning technology journalist and analyst whose work has appeared in consumer and trade magazines and websites in the US, the UK, Australia, South Africa and Europe, Bianca was first runner-up in the print business magazine category at the 2002 Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year Awards. She also won second place in the 2002 AISI Media Awards special category IDRC Award For Reporting on Research and Innovation. She has written several white papers about technology and business and has covered the technology industry for publications such as IDG Connect, CIO, and Nearshore Americas. In 2012, she was selected as one of the Top 40 Under 40 business achievers by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber. She completed the VR Mobile 360 Developer nanodegree through Udacity. Bianca's PhD focused on serious games and gamification.

“I am honoured to be joining VRARA’s Metaverse for Good committee. We all have a responsibility to build an inclusive, sustainable metaverse that serves the needs of all and works to address the very real challenges we face as a society and as a community. I look forward to working with the team and all VRARA members to help make this vision of a metaverse for good a reality.”

— Bianca Wright

The VR/AR Association welcomes Mark Silverman of the International Committee of the Red Cross as Chair for our VR for Good Committee

We are thrilled to welcome Mark Silverman as the chair for our VR for Good committee.

Mark is an advisor to the ICRC’s Director of Digital Transformation and Data (DTD), based in Palo Alto, California USA. In this capacity, he is establishing the ICRC’s presence in Silicon Valley. Previously, Mark served as Deputy Head of the ICRC’s Delegation in Myanmar, helping oversee operations providing protection and assistance to people affected by conflict and violence, and which comprised a budget of $34 million, 500 staff and 10 offices throughout the country. 

Before that, Mark was Deputy Head of the ICRC’s Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada, helping oversee detention activities in Guantanamo Bay, maintaining and developing relationships with the US Government and Congress and cooperation with the American and Canadian Red Cross Societies. He has been with the ICRC since 2007, working as a field delegate in Uganda and the Public and Congressional Affairs Coordinator in Washington. 

Before starting with the ICRC, Mark served as Military and Foreign Policy Advisor for Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, then Chairman of the Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He began working for Senator Lincoln Chafee in 1999, following service in the office of Senator John Chafee. 

Mark received his Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the George Washington University and his MA in Development Studies from Brown University.

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is invested in how to responsibly use digital technologies, including how to effectively use them to support communities experiencing conflict and violence, and how to prevent and/or mitigate the risks that technologies can bring with them.

With regard to VR/AR, we have developed a hub in Bangkok which has developed tools for both training (for instance for Red Cross staff) and for behavior change (for instance, by building empathy for those living through war).

We see both the potential and risks that VR/AR may have in situations of armed conflict. It is for this reason that I am excited to join the VR for Good Committee as a co-chair: to learn from others, share the ICRC’s experience, and to be part of a global discussion to harness the good, and prevent the harm, that VR/AR technologies may create in fragile settings.”

— Mark Silverman, International Committee of the Red Cross

ICRC joins the VR/AR Associaiton and Melissa Kiehl will Co-Chair our VR for Good Committee

We are thrilled to have Melissa Kiehl co-chair our VR for Good Committee!

Melissa has spent more than 15 years in the humanitarian sector working in program management, resource mobilization, communications and project evaluation with NGOs and UN agencies in Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Liberia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. She is currently working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which has developed an internal VR development team to create and disseminate virtual environments specific to humanitarian work.

As part of the ICRC Innovation team, Melissa serves as an advisor in the areas of Extended Reality and Strategic Foresight.

“I am delighted to join this team and this endeavor. I feel there is so much we can explore and develop in immersive environments and I am excited to see what the future can bring through VR For Good.”

— Melissa Kiehl, International Committee of the Red Cross

The World Bank and VISYON partner to bring policy change with VR!

3 Billion people live in poverty.

Fragility, conflict, and violence threaten development progress and can drive communities further into poverty.

With Climate Change, this problem is even more severe.

VRARA Members, the World Bank partnered with VRARA Member VISYON to release a VR film that lets policy makers experience these issues first hand. It is one of the most impactful pieces made by the World Bank and its purpose is to spark action.

See video and more here

The VR/AR Association appoints Jimmy Vainstein of the World Bank as Co-Chair of the committee, VR for Good

Following the successful VR/AR Global Summit, the VR/AR Association has announced a number of newly formed committees , including VR for Good, to accelerate the market’s best practices, guidelines, and standards, as well as a plan to implement projects to further explore the vast, and potentially life-changing applications that this technology can have.

In the increasingly interconnected global community, VR and AR can instigate massive change. Jimmy Vainstein of the World Bank, will co-chair our committee on VR for Good. Think Climate Change, Help end Poverty, Inequality, Education for all. VR for Good. VR for Change.

To participate in this or other Committees, see here and or email info@thevrara.com

About the VR/AR Association

The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster  collaboration between innovative companies and people in the virtual reality and augmented reality ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop  industry standards, connects member organizations and promotes the services of member companies.

Contact

Kris Kolo, Global Executive Director, VRARA

kris@thevrara.com