We live in a day and age of communication: you can travel by plane to Europe and study abroad, mom and dad can Skype you from home while you’re sitting in a coffee shop across the ocean, and you can text/call/snapchat/Facebook message/Whatsapp/etc all your friends you left behind. It’s like you never left. Technology has connected us more than ever before. But at the same time it has distanced us. If you needed directions somewhere, you probably wouldn’t go up to a random stranger and ask them, you’d probably ask Google. When you’re bored standing in line at Starbucks, chances are you’ll scroll through Instagram instead of turn to the person next to you and start a conversation. The way that we interact with each other and how technology can influence those interactions is something that intrigues me, especially with the development of virtual reality. VR is already proving itself to be a breakthrough for gamers, bringing to life a story and environment like never before. It makes you feel like you’re actually there, wherever “there” is. But what if it were used in another way to bring people together? What if it were used to help reconnect us, bring awareness to important issues, and build compassion and empathy in each other?

HOW CAN VIRTUAL REALITY AND OTHER FORMS OF TECHNOLOGY BE USED TO MAKE PEOPLE MORE EMPATHETIC AND COMPASSIONATE? HOW CAN SHARING PEOPLE’S STORIES FOSTER A BETTER SENSE OF COMMUNITY? HOW HAS TECHNOLOGY AFFECTED HOW WE INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER?

PRECEDENTS: CHRIS MILK, HONY, THE WHITENESS PROJECT, JAUNTVOCABULARY: COMPASSION, VIRTUAL REALITY, COMMUNITY, CONVERSATION

THEORIES: EMPATHY MACHINE, COMMUNICATION, CONNECTIONEXEMPLARS: MICHELLE OBAMA 360, U2 SONG FOR SOMEONE, NYTVR

Why is it that when something is made more personal, it can be more effective? What subliminal

influences are we unaware of? How does age play a factor into all of this

and how does it affect how we respond to different changes?

LAUREN BLACKWELLDesign Studies

Graduating May 2017Capstone Research

Digital Image. Lauren Blackwell. 2016

Digital Image. http://www.maxim.com/gear/sony-playstation-vr-226-inch-virtual-reality-screen-2016-07