Today we begin a series of interviews with some prestigious speakers at the next edition of BTO.
What we propose below is a conversation with Dr. Stephen Hicks, Co-founder of OxSight, entrepreneur in augmented reality technologies, and Oxford neuroscientist in human perception.
The interview concerns the topic of “Digital Innovation” and was edited by Giulia Eremita.
Virtual reality is an illusion. It is a particular type of illusion where the body feels transported to a new location. Modern VR technologies rely on wide fields of view to create this illusion. This has the effect of stimulating our balance system, which creates a very strong immersive experience. However, there is a downside. Vision is an analytical sense. Intellectually we may feel that we are inside a VR environment, but rarely do we have fundamental emotional experiences that would make us truly believe we are there. Emotional experiences are an essential part of real-world travel which make us return time and time again.
We have asked Dr Stephen Hicks, Entrepreneur in Augmented Reality technologies and Oxford neuroscientist in human perception, to answer to some basic questions on why VR technologies often fail and how to make virtual experience more believable, especially in Tourism.
What are the ingredients for creating a highly engaging and authentic experience when visiting a place in VR or in Metaverse?
Immersive sensory experiences are obviously very important, and rich spatial audio is vital for convincing a person that a virtual environment is alive. However, creators need to focus on convincing the heart that the experience is real. This means that you must focus on experiences that engage us on an emotional level. This means stimulating our limbic system, which is where we process emotions like wonder, love and fear. Creating experiences with strong emotional components for the user, will engage them on a deep and authentic level and give them an experience that they will remember and recommend.
How mature is technology to generate all this?
We have everything we need right now. It comes down to storytelling. Compelling emotion-led stories are necessary to draw users in. Without the stories, our brains treat the experience intellectually.
How does/will the travel industry benefit from this technology?
What are the core experiences that people look for in travel? Is it freedom, escape, novelty, feeling special, feeling anxious and excited, being short on time? Tap into these feelings and craft stories to explore and enhance the essential emotions associated with travel. This will give people authentic and meaningful experiences while they travel virtually.
Stephen Hicks is a futurist with a decade of experience at the University of Oxford researching: visual perception, AI and augmented reality. He works at the intersection of neuroscience, computer vision and wearable technologies and has founded two tech startups in this space. He is the author of over 50 peer reviewed publications and ten patents and his work in cybernetics and vision has been recognized with a number of high profile awards including the Google Global Impact Challenge and the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation.
(LinkedIn, articolo sul sito dell’Università di Oxford)
Join BTO – Be Travel Onlife – this year in Florence from November 29th to 30th, listen to Dr. Stephen Hicks live and learn the essential ingredients of how to make a metaverse experience more authentic.
