Extending Scenario Design

My fellow group members and I composed our visualisation based on a scenario of resource abundance and population uniformity. Technological and informational resources are most likely to be abundant in our future scenario based on big data trends discussed in the previous blog post. Most notably supported by Dr Jacqueline Lorber Kasunic’s lecture (Dr Kasunic, J. 2015).

This increase in technology and information leads to a more uniform population as these resources are democratised. Our ‘STEEP’ analysis revealed the ways in which this scenario would be manifested in different areas of life. For the extension of our scenario we selected the ‘social’ and ‘technological’ areas to inform our speculative object. 

Sketches of our speculative object iteration and final design .

In their journal of ‘End User Computing’ Hodkinson and Gammack write about: ‘Virtual reality, involvement and the consumer interface’ (Gammack & Hodkinson 2003). They discuss the trends of consumers in regards to purchasing and the increasing presence of technology in a transaction. Most notably, there is an increase in how important online purchasing environments have become. The suggestion is that virtual reality will be more present in online transactions. It will facilitate the simulation of the desired product. A stronger relationship will therefore be built between consumers and businesses. This idea is explored by one of the groups in Kate’s tutorial previously found at this link: https://gorffennol.wordpress.com/. In their presentation I was able to see their speculative object. It projected the possibility for consumers to experience products in virtual reality before they bought them. As opposed to the human-business relationship, our group explored the human-human relationship. Our object forces people to share their information with others using virtual reality.

In his journal titled ‘The Futurist’ Briggs writes about the importance that virtual reality will have in fields that it is not currently used (Briggs 1996). He writes about the practicality that virtual reality will provide humanity – not just entertainment value. Based on this point of view, we can deduce that the perception of virtual reality in society is likely to change. As this was written in 1996 we can observe that he was correct in his extrapolation as is evident in the utility being built by Microsoft.

The ‘Hololens’ is a product introduced to developers by Microsoft that facilitates virtual reality. The CEO of Microsoft recently claimed in regards to the company that ‘We help people get stuff done (Business Insider 2014). In the marketing material for the Hololens this idea is clear as all applications are in regards to productivity (Microsoft 2015). Shortly before his premature death, one of the software designers for the Hololens said “it wasn’t perfect but it was going to be one day” (Business Insider 2015).

The link between society and technology is evident in this interview with Vanity Fair (Vanity Fair 2015). The CEO of FaceBook, Mark Zuckerberg speaks about the decision to purchase virtual reality company Oculus – represented in the interview by Michael Abrash. The goal of FaceBook is to connect people around the world to eachother. Virtual reality is the next computing platform by which we will be able to do this according to Zuckerberg. Hence our object is taking into consideration how this platform will be manifested in the future.

(Vanity Fair 2015)

By: Mina Bassilious

References:

1. Dr Kasunic, J. 2015, ‘Lecture: Data, data, everywhere!’, UTS Online Subject 85202, PowerPoint presentation, UTS, Sydney, viewed 24 August 2015, <https://online.uts.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jsp?content_id=_1207469_1&displayName=Lecture+Recordings&course_id=_26782_1&navItem=content&href=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fblti%2FlaunchPlacement%3Fblti_placement_id%3D_24_1%26content_id%3D_1207469_1%26course_id%3D_26782_1>.
2. Gammack, J. & Hodkinson, C. 2003, ‘Virtual reality, involvement and the consumer interface’, Journal of End User Computing, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 78-96.
3. Briggs, J.C. 1996, ‘The promise of virtual reality’, The Futurist, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 13.
4. Business Insider 2014, Microsoft’s CEO Just Sent Out A Giant Manifesto To Employees About The Future Of The Company, Australia, viewed 30 October 2015, <http://www.businessinsider.com.au/microsofts-ceo-email-2014-7>.
5. Microsoft 2015, Get the Development Edition, viewed 30 October 2015, <http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us>.
6. Business Insider 2015, A designer for Microsoft’s futuristic Hololens project was killed in a hit-and-run, Australia, viewed 30 October 2015, <http://www.businessinsider.com.au/mike-ey-microsoft-hololens-designer-and-engineer-dies-in-hit-and-run-2015-3>.
7. Vanity Fair 2015, Mark Zuckerberg and Oculus’s Michael Abrash on Why Virtual Reality Is the Next Big Thing – FULL, viewed 30 October 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQaCv52DSnY>.