As virtual and augmented reality grow in significance, as places of human exploration and entertainment, and indeed as products, the opportunities for those in the creative industries appear today to be infinite. After all, here is all reality augmented or all reality completely created by us—dependent on our human creative abilities, having very few limitations in design or experience.
Unlike ‘reality’ reality, virtual reality is a substantive product of the human imagination – and I use the word ‘substantive’ here ironically, of course. This is our reality, a non-reality made real by humans. Has there ever been a greater opportunity, a more spectacular platform for invention, a less restricted portal for possibility? And augmented reality – take what is real and explore it, add to it, record it, place it in a network which you control, delving in, adding to, reflecting on, and ultimately responding. Augmentation in this sense means reality creation and re-creation, by us.
Virtual and augmented realities are offering, and will offer even further and in ways we have not yet fully considered, an evolutionary condition for creatives. A condition in which what was once a matter of suspending disbelief, or accepting some things are not possible, or dividing thought and action between the physical and the psychological will no longer be a daily struggle. In that, there will be miraculous creations; but there will also be considerable challenges. For example, one way in which the imagination works, and a feature of our imaginations that is believed to empower us, is in such activities and processes as foregrounding, conjecturing, filling in gaps in observation or sensing. If that becomes less prominent because we are capable of making ‘physical’ in a virtual world things not immediately available to us, will our imaginations both provide the propulsion for an evolution and be reduced somehow in their power?.
An interesting question. Yet, the dangers of virtual and augmented reality, in any sense, seem so miniscule compared to the opportunities! Certainly it is an evolution in creative possibility; but it might well provide a revolution in the creative industries. Investment in virtual and augmented reality production is strong for that very reason. Major corporations – Microsoft, for example, Google – have already taken the VR/AR plunge. Whereas in the earlier days of AR/VR, say a decade ago, things were moving relatively slowly, today new hardware and software is emerging almost weekly. Commercial platforms for developers – such as STEAM – are supporting both large, corporate creative enterprises and individual creative industries workers to rapidly develop content and post it for sale. As with the early days of the WWW, content is currently lacking and demand for it is currently increasing at a phenomenal pace. Media industry professionals recognize this, seeing both the need and the opportunity. For example, as recently as September 2017 Hollywood heavyweight, Leonardo DiCaprio invested in a virtual reality startup called MindMaze.
As to how this all impacts on those work in creative industries teaching and research in our universities and colleges, the expectation is surely deserving of being miraculous. On this front, to offer a final brief personal story: on October 6, I launched an AR/VR studio in the college in which I work, after a summer investing in building that dedicated VR/AR suite, with additional support spaces for students and for outside companies too, and links to other rooms in our media provision. The launch event, attended by a notable group of companies in areas as varied as banking, construction, the media and retail, was a thing to behold! Firstly, companies were eager to hear from those who had AR/VR experience – so much so that they arrived at 8.00 am for a breakfast gathering. Secondly, when we broke out into teams of professionals/students (roughly equal numbers of each in 4 teams) the conversations were animated, the ideas flying at an incredible pace. By the end of the morning to say there was excitement in the air would be a huge understatement.
What there was, rather, was a realization that together – those who could explore, teach, research, and those who could implement and profit from doing so – we were about to set off into something that would alter our lives. Yes, a big statement! But in the weeks since that launch, and without much more than releasing a single news story about it, the IMAGE VR/AR Suite here at my university has already seen more visits and more speculation and more imaginative engagement than any other part of the college has seen in the past half a dozen years. It is clear now, if it wasn't already, that as virtual and augmented reality grow in significance we in higher education need to be part of it, so that our worlds, both real and virtual, are themselves augmented in positive ways by this newest and potentially most incredible of creative industries offerings.