Suggestion

The holodeck is real! How will it change journalism?

This is for a Interactive in the category for a Beginner audience.

The way people access, interact with and publish information is quickly evolving beyond merely viewing and swiping words on a screen. A new wave of environmentally-responsive devices like the Kinect and Oculus Rift make it possible to move through, and even into, information spaces by using subtle gestures of the fingers, hands, head or entire body.

What does this mean for journalism and storytelling? See how journalists, technologists and academic researchers are using these technologies to create immersive experiences that are inspired by science fiction, but are usable now for just a few hundred dollars. Participants will also get the opportunity to create stories that they can experience themselves – in most cases with little or no coding required.

The session will include quick presentations from three organizations that are actively working on immersive and body-responsive projects.
* Dan Pacheco and Lorne Covington will demonstrate an interactive gesture wall that lets people “Tony Stark” news sites by turning a projector surface into something like a touch screen. They will also demonstrate how the Oculus Rift and Kinect sensors can be combined with wireless video to allow people to walk through a room and see an entirely different environment rendered by the Unity 3D gaming engine.
* Nonny de la Peña, now an AP-Google fellow, will discuss and demonstrate her latest experiments with immersive journalism to help people understand the plight of Syrian refugees.
* Steven Amy King will show how he’s using the Kinect and WebGL to create gesture-driven news interfaces.

In addition to the panel, we would like to be able to work with people who are interested in this space to build their own immersive environments and, more importantly, create their own immersive stories. Perhaps this would work as a different session or interactive space in the Midway. (We feel split between the “Solve” and “Make” categories).

How does your submission contribute to the diversity of the conference?

This session includes more than just journalists and includes technologists and academics. It also has etchnic and gender diversity (a woman and two hispanics).

What will your audience have gained by the time your session is over?

Suggested Speakers

Dan Pacheco | @pachecod

Lorne Covington | @noirflux

Nonny de la Peña | @nonnydlp

Steven A King

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