VIRTUAL REALITY JOURNALISM: CHANGING THE NARRATIVES OF NEWS

2020

Journalism Practice, 2020

Virtual reality (VR) and other immersive technologies introduce new opportunities for emotionally compelling narratives and user agency. Virtually mediated environments lie at the heart of immersive journalism (IJ) experiences, foregrounding a sense of presence and bridging the connection between the user and the character. Mediated environments in VR stories provide more than a setting since the user can interact with and respond to the surroundings. Drawing on the theory of spatial narrative, documentary and cinema literature and studies on media morality, this article examines the meaning of place in VR news stories and its ability to engage the user with the story. This study contributes to the discussion of creating and communicating places in journalism studies by examining spatial storytelling in immersive news stories, which are available in the NYT VR smartphone application. This paper argues that spatial storytelling eventually affects what is experienced and how it is experienced either by demonstrating the circumstances with aesthetical elements or via the selection of spaces.

Proceedings of the 20th International Academic Mindtrek Conference, 2016

This paper presents a state-of-the-art overview on journalism and its opportunities and challenges in virtual reality. First we take a look at what kind of real-life journalistic experiments there have been made in this field so far, then we analyze the research literature on journalistic VR. The paper proceeds to discuss the emergence of virtual reality and immersive journalism explored in the latest reports in the fields of HCI and VR design. In order to analyse VR-journalism further, early draft of analysis model is being developed based on sample of three VR-productions and four VR-applications. The paper concludes to discuss the results of the analysis and outlines more advanced and interdisciplinary research approach for studying and designing journalistic VR productions.

Media Practice and Education, 2021

In 2015 The Tow Center for Journalism produced a live-motion virtual reality (VR) journalism story on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, ‘Secret Location’. They stated that this new form appeared to change how journalists must construct their stories. They also challenged the industry to explore the journalistic application of VR beyond ‘highly produced documentaries’ (Owen et al. 2015. “Virtual Reality Journalism.” Tow Centre. CJR. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/virtual_reality_journalism.php). We decided to make a short news VR film that explored the construction of this form of media and asked which narrative characteristic engaged the viewer to continue watching in a medium where the viewer was already immersed in the storyworld. Our findings suggest that even when the VR technology immerses the viewer into an illusion of presence, the traditional characteristics of narrative, character, plot, and subject remain of fundamental importance in the construction of a news sto...

Insights on Immersive Journalism (ed. Sanchez Laws), 2023

When moving the discussion from VR-based interactive fiction to non-fiction genres such as immersive journalism, several issues of critical concern come to the fore: 1) How can the informants (or, indeed, the objects) of the immersive experiences implied by 360-degree journalism be adequately protected and how can they be properly included in the projects realized in their life worlds? 2) Which implicit understandings of realism are underlying the widespread presumption of VR-promoters to be able to offer unmitigated access to the lives of others? 3) Is the triggering of emotional reactions really a task for journalists, and if yes, what are the wider implications of this for the journalistic profession? And finally, 4) how can audiences be sufficiently made aware of the manipulative nature, constructed frames, and potentially disturbing effects of the simulations they are immersed in? This chapter will unpack these questions, which continue to haunt current attempts to realize the potentials of immersive journalism. The chapter proposes how a genuinely ethical immersive journalism might look like, and how the identified severe ethical and epistemological problems can be addressed in a productive and progressive manner

This paper presents a state-of-the-art overview of journalism and its opportunities and challenges in virtual reality (VR). First, we examine what kind of real-life journalistic experiments have been made in this field thus far, and then we analyze the research literature on journalistic VR. We discuss the emergence of virtual reality and immersive journalism explored in the latest reports in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and VR design. To analyze VR journalism further, we develop an early draft of an analysis model based on sample of three VR productions and four VR applications. We conclude by discussing the results of the analysis and outline a more advanced and interdisciplinary research approach for studying and designing journalistic VR productions.

2017

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 2010

This paper introduces the concept and discusses the implications of immersive journalism, which is the production of news in a form in which people can gain firstperson experiences of the events or situation described in news stories. The fundamental idea of immersive journalism is to allow the participant, typically represented as a digital avatar, to actually enter a virtually recreated scenario representing the news story. The sense of presence obtained through an immersive system (whether a Cave or head-tracked head-mounted displays [HMD] and online virtual worlds, such as video games and online virtual worlds) affords the participant unprecedented access to the sights and sounds, and possibly feelings and emotions, that accompany the news. This paper surveys current approaches to immersive journalism and the theoretical background supporting claims regarding avatar experience in immersive systems. We also provide a specific demonstration: giving participants the experience of being in an interrogation room in an offshore prison. By both describing current approaches and demonstrating an immersive journalism experience, we open a new avenue for research into how presence can be utilized in the field of news and nonfiction.

En: COLÓN ESTÉVEZ, Ilenia y ESTEVEZ, Lisandra (eds.). Polychrome Art in the Early Modern World 1200–1800. Routledge, 2024

This paper explores the significance of color in Spanish eighteenth‑century sculpture, focusing on the oeuvre of Pedro Duque Cornejo (1678–1757). Arguably the most important late eighteenth‑century artist in Andalusia, he mainly worked as a sculptor and arquitecto de retablos, designing and carving altarpieces among Seville, Granada, and Córdoba. Like his aunt Luisa Roldán, he received the title of “Escultor de cámara” (royal sculptor) to Queen Isabella Farnese, wife of Philip V. His long and prolific career provides several case studies which reveal the complexities involved in polychroming sculpture. Although Duque Cornejo was also a painter, the author shows how many of his wooden sculptures were colored by specialized painters called doradores and estofadores. Taking this into account, a large part of his output should be reclassified as works of joint authorship, works resulting from collaborations between at least two artists. No less important, however, were the wishes of the patrons in determining the conditions and completion of polychromy. Turning to documentary evidence, visual examination, and scientific analysis, he demonstrates how the interplay between sculptors, painters, and patrons could lead to notably different results, thus explaining the varied finish and quality his polychrome sculptures present.