VR for public consumption: workshop at IEEE VR 2004

ABSTRACT

Artists and educators using immersive virtual reality are interested in creating content for the general public. Such activity has always existed alongside hard-core VR research. Publicly-accessible VR presents difficulties not faced in research with small groups of knowledgeable users or in industrial VR applications. We believe these problems must be addressed to bring VR to the public:

• Making quality VR affordable by galleries, schools, arcades, etc.
• Easy to use interfaces
• Virtual world creation by non-technologists
• Content portability

This workshop will connect researchers with those who use VR in the public realm, document what has been done to make VR fit for public consumption, and identify what still needs to be done. We envision the workshop consisting of short presentations, followed by open discussion allowing participants to network and define new plans of action.