July 27, 2020 - 1:15pm PDT
RightsCon Online 2020 https://www.rightscon.org/

Mission-driven organizations rely on storytelling to convey the core of their work and to engage the public. Recently, virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree video have emerged as new media paradigm for storytelling. Although primarily associated with high-end gaming, these media tools are very effective for conveying information and participatory narratives that may otherwise be hard to access. Due to the open-source code and frameworks, and the descending costs of equipment, it is now possible to create a simple but effective experience on a limited budget.

Representatives from EFF, Earthjustice, the Center to Protect Journalists, and the Public VR Lab will share how to use these media tools to make the "invisible visible" through different technical and community engagement approaches, encouraging active dialogue with the audience around why and how VR can make sense, build power and awareness, and grow internal capacity for both large and small advocacy organizations.

We will also present how the experiences we created were accessed and responded to by participants. We will invite the audience to ask questions about how we create these experiences and will share what resources are necessary to create their own.

We will also talk about critical privacy issues with VR such as the collection of biometrics and the coming of advertising and propaganda in VR/AR, provide lessons learned, and share resources for organizations considering operationalizing VR into their outreach, community engagement and education, policy and fundraising campaigns.