Neetu Sajan 

DIGF 3009: Atelier 4

Part 1 – Readings Reflection (When Creators Meet the Metaverse)

I read the paper When Creators Meet the Metaverse for the reading reflection. 

At a high level, the essay speaks to the emergence of digital technologies like the metaverse and their effect and relevance in creative spaces. The article delves into a comprehensive survey of the intersection between the metaverse and computational arts as a whole by examining spaces like virtual photography, cinematic stimulation, calligraphy, poetry, and musical and auditory meta creation. The reading then discusses the collaborative roles that can be achieved with the collaboration of humans and technology as well the social and societal implications the technology may have such as democratization, digital privacy, and technological infrastructure to name a few. Finally, these pieces are connected back to AR and VR in the context of virtual creativity and brainstorming. 

The article begins by speaking about the opportunities that have been created by our radical shift into digitalization. COVID has been a huge factor in this acceleration of globalizing spaces within the interweb that pushes creative practices. I found this interesting because what was considered art was often pre-defined in the past and often technology did not make that list. Traditional mediums were given precedence in regard to what was showcased in galleries and such. The acceptance of digital art began to slowly occur in the 1970s, but even then not as widely as it is today. The past two years I have to agree were a large part in pushing the envelope digitally mostly because of necessity. The article further speaks to the virtual art in section 1.2. NFTs and StyleGan often come under scrutiny due to the notion of copywriting. A lot of the comments around the use of style transfer are that it detracts from the original artist and leads to unoriginality. Although this sentiment is true in many regards, the other perspective is that the style itself must be firstly created in order for it to be generated. We are referencing an artist’s original style to create work. Style transfer can be applied to leverage these styles to create even more complex, layered artwork. I think this shift in the mindset of accepting the reality of tech should occur in order for these technologies to advance even further. It was also very interesting to read about the advancements in AI and deep learning in spaces of text. As the article mentioned, it's easier to demonstrate and directly relate these concepts visually through images and videos; because of this, I was not aware of the advancements within the writing sphere. I specifically thought the advancements in GanWriting, ScrabbleGAN, ECA-GAN, etc. to be very interesting. The application of this technology can be used for a myriad of things and will be interesting how it will be utilized in the future. 

Reading about the innovation that is occurring within the metaverse space is thrilling, but at the same time can be daunting. We are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the capabilities and applications of this work. This is extremely exciting because there are endless possibilities in terms of applications but at the same time, it's scary because of the misapplication and social implications it can have. As someone interested in UX design, the rate of emerging tech is something that I am nervous about because more times than not there is not a lot of research and design that goes into the product from a social perspective. What I mean by this is that these technologies are most often built from a business mindset of making money and the implications of the tech are neglected. As an artist and creator myself, these are very interesting spaces that I think will see enormous evolution in the coming years.

This article had a huge impact on my understanding of the metaverse quite honestly. Like most people, my perception of the metaverse was mostly limited to 3D spaces and interaction, but I was surprised to see the mass applications of the metaverse that can be applied outside of that. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed both readings we were assigned and I will most definitely be referring to them again. 

Part 2 – Explorations/ Reflection

For the exploration section of this intensive, I selected A-frames as my exploration subject. My motivation for selecting it was to explore Web VR. As someone who is new to the Metaverse and VR as a whole, I was curious to explore Web VR specifically because due to it’s accessibility. Personally, I do not own a headset and I know most people do not either so I thought would be not only useful, but interesting to dive into how Aframes can be utilized in the context of the Metaverse. Moreover, I wanted to research how it can be implemented as well as how it will impact the future of VR. For this, I researched current and future applications of VR and how the future will look with these technologies.I did some experimentation with the code browsers. I used codepen to create the environment.  

​​https://aframe.io/docs/1.3.0/introduction/

https://codepen.io/neetusajan/pen/VwyJGGp

I experimented with some environments in Codepen and explored the idea of implementing it into VR.

https://codepen.io/YusukeNakaya/pen/OGwmOV

I was specifically interested in exploring interactive VR through Aframes. This would be interesting to transfer to interactive VR or AR. through prior research, I know that VR specifically is booming within the education space and I thought it would be interesting to implement Web VR within that space through interactive learning. In addition to experimenting with technology, I also did some research on the future of VR and where it’s headed. According to Michael Cole, the way we work, shop, and enjoy content will drastically change with the advent of VR. The main issue was the accessibility factor in accessing the technology. VR as a concept has existed for years now, but the technology required to give access to the average use was not available until recently. Some of the industries that VR has started to grow in are architecture and real estate. This could entail a video or image that shows property and would be a virtual walkthrough on your phone. Aframes can be used for this as shown below. We have seen technology itself emerge within the VR space for a while now, what we are lacking is the ability to interact with the technology and begin using it in day to day life.These are some examples that I referenced in looking at Aframes that replicate a virtual environment.

https://aframe.io/examples/showcase/sky/

https://aframe.io/examples/showcase/360-video/

Some of the applications of VR that we will see in the future and are already imminent include the learning and education space, the automotive industry, healthcare, and finally retail, marketing, and hospitality. I personally think we will see some big innovations within the healthcare industry and it will revolutionize the way the healthcare systems function. Not only will this technology change the way the system currently works but it has the capability of supplying for human errors and ultimately saving lives. 

As far the future of the Metaverse, 

Part 3: Reflection

What I knew of the Metaverse prior to the intensive was very cursory. I understood that it was a virtual world that connected people through avatars and characters. I also knew that you would need VR devices such as Oculus headsets to enjoy the full experience. I also considered the possibilities of how the metaverse will be implemented to an extent in the future and the social effects of it. Most of my knowledge was at a high level and I did not understand the mechanisms of the functionality in detail. My goal going into the intensive was to focus on

After this intensive, I not only learned about the further application of the metaverse but also learned about the backend of how it’s developed and deployed. Further understanding the vision of the metaverse ecosystem also provided a comprehensive understanding of how the various aspects of the ecosystem align. On the other hand, understanding the technology aspects and all the components that go into creating the metaverse space was equally interesting.

I am personally curious to see how the metaverse will affect society from a physiological perspective. In the past couple of years, we’ve already seen the effect technology has had on individuals, especially the youth. I’m curious how this will transition with the boom of the Metaverse. As someone interested in UX, I’m also interested in examining the Metaverse through the perspective of user experience. 

References

¨Lee, L. H., Braud, T., Zhou, P., Wang, L., Xu, D., Lin, Z., ... & Hui, P. (2021). The Hitchhiker’s

Guide to the MetaverseLinks to an external site..

¨Lee, L. H., Lin, Z., Hu, R., Gong, Z., Kumar, A., Li, T., ... & Hui, P. (2021). When Creators

Meet the Metaverse: A Survey on Computational ArtsLinks to an externalsite.. arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.13486.

Cole, Michael. “WebVR and the Future of Edge Computing.” Toptal,

https://www.toptal.com/virtual-reality/webvr-and-edge-computing. Accessed 3 May 2022.