Immersive Realities Reading Group
The realms of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Digital Twins, and related technological advancements are not mere fantasies. Recent applications and other manifestations have the potential to change the realities of people across diverse contexts. Whether in the workplace, public spaces, or even our private lives, these technologies bring new dimensions to our existence. Our cross-disciplinary group delves into the intricacies of these technologies and the ways people interact with them, exploring devices, infrastructure, applications, and use cases that are shaping how we perceive reality. We are examining this dynamic evolution, focusing on experiences and the far-reaching effects these technologies facilitate.
We believe in studying the broader social, political, and legal implications to shape trajectories of immersive technologies and foster their sustainable and human-centric development. It's not just about advancement; it's about paving the way responsibly and for the good of society.
We are joining forces with stakeholders in the immersive technology ecosystem, including public and private organisations as well as user communities and civil society, thereby fostering critical and constructive dialogue and partnerships.
Project Head: Sofie Schönborn
Status: ongoing
Activities
Monthly internal meetings of the working group with invited guests
- Events and workshops for invited stakeholders and/or the public (e.g. Global Governance of the Metaverse Workshop at Konrad Adenauer Foundation Future Lab November 2023; Multi-stakeholder Exploratory Workshop in February 2023; the Thursday Mixer event series in cooperation with the WEF Global Shapers “Immersive Realities Chronicles”)
- Outreach and active engagement at external events in the XR community ecosystem
Projects & Outputs
- Joint projects of working group members (e.g., “De-mystifying AI - Using conversational agents to explain how conversational agents work” starting in January 2024)
- Written outputs such as workshop and event reports, thought pieces from working group sessions, and blog posts
- Insights on individual research of working group members in different formats
Find more information on the Immersive Realities Working Group here.