1. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Immersive Virtual Reality for the
First Person Experience of the News
& a bit about Stroome…
Nonny de la Peña
ImmersiveJournalism.com -
Stroome.com
USC MxR Lab
Techraking, 2012

2. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Basics
IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM is a novel way to utilize
gaming platforms and virtual environments to convey
news, documentary and non-fiction stories.
These platforms provide the user an immersive
experience that can offer unprecedented access
to the sights and sounds, and possibly feelings and
emotions that accompany the news.

3. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Basics
WHAT IS IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM?
• Immersive Journalism puts the audience at a
virtual reconstruction of the scene.
• Visual and audio material from good
“boots on the ground” and investigative
journalism work as both primary material and to
inform the reconstruction like any news
piece/documentary.
• The sense of presence that comes with
immersive virtual reality offers a visceral
experience that communicates to several
senses.

4. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
WALTER CRONKITE
Journalism has always tried to carry the reader or audience
to where the reporting is taking place, which
Martha Gellhorn called “The view from the ground.”
Consider the Cronkite series of films made
between 1953 and 1957…
“YOU ARE THERE!”

5. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
WALTER CRONKITE

6. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background Similar ideas surface in…
DOCUMENTARY GAMES

7. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:
• JFK: Reloaded

8. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:

9. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:
• JFK: Reloaded
•Kuma Wars:
John Kerry‟s Swiftboat

10. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:

11. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:
• JFK: Reloaded
•KumaWars:
John Kerry‟s Swiftboat
• 911 Survivor

12. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:
• JFK: Reloaded
•Kuma Wars
• 911 Survivor

13. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Background
DOCUMENTARY GAMES:
One of Survivor 911‟s developers, Jeff Cole,
states that:
“the game itself is not really a game at all … (it)
keeps no score or actual track of time. It is merely
a moment caught in time”
From Tracy Fullerton‟s:
Documentary Games: Putting the Player in
the Path of History

14. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
AVATAR EXPERIENCE
Informing our Efforts:
Studies providing evidence of the connection
between the sense of one‟s physical body
to the virtual one
it seems that we are hardwired to adopt
representations of ourselves as real -

15. IMMERSIVEJOURNALISM
AVATAR EXPERIENCE

16. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
CIR/Frontline World/Mother Jones
Second Life site:
CAP & TRADE

17. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Second Life site:
CAP & TRADE

18. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Second Life
site:
GONE GITMO

19. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Virtual Guantanamo Bay Prison
The documentary
“Unconstitutional”
was transformed during
a residency at BAVC:
“to translate an existing,
significant
documentary project
into digital media”

20. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Virtual Guantánamo Bay Prison
Integrated
video, audio,
scripted avatar
experiences
and live events
to engage visitors
as viewers and
active participants

21. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Virtual Guantanamo Bay Prison

22. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Virtual Guantanamo Bay Prison

23. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
How do you report on “stress positions”?

24. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
The FOIA obtained
interrogation logs
of Al Qahtani were
altered from the
passive to active
voice. For
example, „SGT R
makes the
detainee stand up
and
sit down 3 times,‟
was read as „Sit
down! Stand up!‟
in succession
three times.

25. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Powerful sense of embodiment

26. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Does this immersive journalism
experience raise questions about
journalistic integrity
due to subjectivity of experience
and editorial control?

27. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
BRITISH SOLDIERS IN IRAQ: VIDEO RELEASED
IN THE TRIAL ABOUT THE DEATH OF
BAHA MOUSA WHILE IN BRITISH CUSTODY

28. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Experiential – “Hunger in Los Angeles”

29. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Using audio captured on scene
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival

30. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Hunger in Los Angeles is set up here!
Come to my breakout session…

31. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Quick turnaround possibilities – Autodesk 123D Catch

32. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
FOV2GO - mobile

33. STROOME = COLLABORATIVE VIDEO
Edit & Remix in the cloud, allowing journalists to collaborate
from different locations around the world – coming soon in HTML5

34. IMMERSIVE JOURNALISM
Immersive Virtual Reality for the
First Person Experience of the News
& a bit about Stroome…
Nonny de la Peña
ImmersiveJournalism.com -
Stroome.com
USC MxR Lab
Techraking, 2012