Deconstructing with Della: Will Mixed Reality help us communicate?
April 03, 2017 |
| Hugo Gernsback demonstrating his television goggles for Life Magazine in 1963. |
There was a lot of buzz around mixed reality last week. Mixed Reality (MR), the combination of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) is getting massive amounts of funding for companies like Major Leap. Aside from the obvious gaming, movie and travel possibilities for this technology, there is a fair amount of promise and speculation about how it might impact communications.
For example, will we be able to create a realistic (think Star Trek holodeck) experiences such as walking through a war torn city that will motivate us to action? The CBC has been dipping their toes into this arena with VR technology to help their viewers experience places like the Highway of Tears, the stretch of road where so many young women have gone missing.
I have eagerly longed for technological breakthroughs of this kind but have been disillusioned with actual products. All the major tech players who are in the race for the next big thing appear to be working on something in this arena. I bought a VR headset but it was felt like a souped-up version of the old View-Master - cool but not that cool. It was not comfortable to wear either. I think space movies created unrealistic expectations. By now, I thought I would be beamed up to my vacations. During our presentation training session last week one of the speakers was so enthusiastic about the future of Mixed Reality, it rekindled my interest.
So, I have checked out Major Leap and am still wondering how close we are to seeing Mixed Reality in action. To deconstruct: The company is so secretive yet they have $1.4 billion in investments. They don't really show you good examples of what could be but they have big supporters like Google. The spokespeople sound full of bafflegab to me but the techie crowd appears to be jazzed by them.
I soooo want this technology to work. I can imagine the possibilities of communicating through simulated scenarios. Many times I have wished we could get influencers and decision makers to fully experience situations from another perspective. I understand there might also be medical applications for MR - the hype reminds me of the dot.com/dot.bomb era.
They hint about wearables but swear it won't be like the disastrous Google Glasses. Whatever they come up with, it needs to look good, and feel good.
I am not yet convinced Mixed Reality is on our doorstep. It might be a bit further down the road. But, whenever they get it perfected, I will be at the front of the line.
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