By Jason Jerald
In the latest issue of Compass, I wrote a piece summarizing some key points from my book The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality and about how immersive virtuality (iV) technology is just now starting to find its value in business. As head-mounted displays come down in cost, any employee will have the tools to virtually teleport themselves anywhere and to work in ways and on projects that are limited only by the imagination. Clearly, this has the potential to dramatically shift the dynamics of the workplace.
In Compass, I examined some of the most immediate impacts:
- Experts will be able to easily communicate their work to others. Example: an architect can show clients spaces and vistas that don’t yet exist.
- As quality hand input is introduced, users can interact in the virtual world: no longer will there be just passive viewing, but instead interactions that are similar to real-world working techniques.
- Businesses will need to embrace a testing approach to figure out what applications are best suited to their customers’ needs and goals; while the options are nearly limitless, one size does not fit all.
Immersion is a visceral experience that cannot be described or planned with words alone, or even with pictures or video. Only by diving in can you be inspired with a vision for how to adapt the technology for a specific business or application. Read the full article in Compass now and let me know in the comments section below what you think iV can do for your company.
Jason Jerald is Co-Founder & Principal Consultant at NextGen Interactions. He also serves on advisory boards of companies focusing on VR technologies, and is Adjunct Faculty at Duke University and the Waterford Institute of Technology. Jerald has worked on more than 60 VR projects with more than 30 organizations over the past 20 years. He has authored numerous publications, most notably The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality.
