Presentation given by Dan Pacheco at the 2016 International Symposium on Online Journalism as part of the Virtual Reality Journalism panel. #ISOJ

1. Virtual Reality
Storytelling

2. VR in Context
1436 – 1988: CHAPTER 1:
CHAPTER 1: ONE WAY
COMMUNICATION
From Gutenberg Press to
broadcast television.

3. VR in Context
1436 – 1988:
ONE WAY COMMUNICATION
1988-1999:
CHAPTER 2: INTERACTIVE
COMMUNICATION
Words, images, audio all together.
Interact with content.

4. VR in Context
1436 – 1988:
ONE WAY COMMUNICATION
1988-TODAY:
CHAPTER 2: INTERACTIVE
COMMUNICATION
Words, images, audio all together.
Interact with content.
CHAPTER 3?
EXPERIENTIAL
VR, AR, gaming

5. What’s so new?
Beyond the technology, what we’re doing is
fundamentally different from any media before:
• People can jump inside stories to experience them
from a first-person point of view.
• They can walk around, pick things up, and truly
interact within the story.
• “3D Consciousness Transportation.”

6. Four flavors of VR
1. BYO phone, or
“casual VR.”
Google
Cardboard

7. Four flavors of VR
2. Phone with
dedicated headset
Samsung GearVR

8. Four flavors of VR
3. Sitdown VR with
Gamepad
Oculus Rift

9. Four flavors of VR
4. Immersive
Walkaround, see
your hands.
HTC Vive

10. Four flavors of VR
BYO phone /
“casual VR.”
Phone w/
headset
Sitdown VR
with
gamepad
Immersive
walkaround with
hands
Google
Cardboard
Samsung
GearVR
Oculus Rift HTC Vive

11. But … could it be just more hype?
Let’s talk about that.

12. Gartner’s Hype Cycle
Trigger
Peak of inflated
expectations
Trough of
disillusionment
Pleateau of
productivity

13. Trigger:
1838, first
stereocard. Charles
Wheatstone in
Upstate New York.

14. 1968: “Sword of
Damocles” by MIT
professor Ivan
Sutherland.

15. 1995
Inflated expectations:
Nintendo Virtual Boy

16. Disillusionment
20 years, back in
research labs.

17. Enlightenment:
Oculus, Google
Cardboard

18. Is it for real this time?
Pawculus Rift joke: https://vimeo.com/123728069

19. “AR/VR to hit $150 Billion by 2020”

20. How I got into this
Nonny: “The Godmother of Virtual reality.”

21. My first big project
• Gannett Digital / USA
Today: Hired as a consultant
to help with emerging
technologies.
• They wanted to be first
among commercial news
orgs to try VR.

22. Two approaches
1. Virtually recreate the
scene of a story to use
as the primary
navigational aid.

23. 2. Transition into 360
videos of the same place.
(Partnership with Total
Cinema 360).
Two approaches

24. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change/
2016 Edward R. Murrow
Award Winner

25. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change/

26. Impeccable attention to detail
“Transferred reality?”

30. Teaching the next wave of producers
• In third semester of virtual reality storytelling, the
first such class in a journalism program.
• Focus is on both CGI scenes using 3D models and
360 video.
• By May, over 50 students will graduate with VR
experience. Many now want to work in VR.

33. Students are now shooting in 360

34. Examples of best
student projects can
be found at
http://bit.ly/vrhallfa
me
360 videos in
progress at
http://bit.ly/360sInP
rogress

35. Coming next: AR and “Mixed Reality”
Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap

36. Source: Magic Leap patent filing. See http://bit.ly/20N8t7W
A peek at our shared weird future

37. THANKS!
DAN PACHECO
Peter A. Horvitz Chair of Journalism Innovation,
S.I. Newhouse School, Syracuse University
Principal, FutureForecast Consulting, LLC
drpachec@syr.edu | dan@futureforecast.com | 303.465.5560 | @pachecod