VR For Good

VR for Good

hosted by ITP and UNICEF Office of Innovation

4/28 1-3pm at ITP

Please join us for a panel discussion focused on the use of VR for social good: is there more to this medium than just an “empathy engine”? What will be its impact on spaces such as collaboration, education, and training? Is VR a great example how we tend to overestimate the effects of a technology in the short run and underestimate its effects in the long run? 

With the rapid pace of technological advancements and funding there seems to be speculations that VR “has arrived”, however, it will be a while (years) before VR realizes its full potential. Today it is still a peripheral for gaming, an experiment in education and an exploration in storytelling but many believe that in the long run, after web and mobile, VR will be the next computing platform. For example, the UN has been a big advocate of VR as a storytelling tool and is currently researching other use cases where this technology could be leveraged for purposes such as remote training, education and collaboration across its agencies and Country Offices. 

This event is co-hosted by ITP and the UNICEF Office of Innovation, currently collaborating on a course this Spring called Doing Good is Good Business, and is open to anyone interested in VR as well as VR for social purposes. After the panel, the floor will be open to questions from the audience. 

Panelists: 

Gabo Arora - Creative advisor on VR, UN; Founder and Creative Director, LightShed

Ingrid Kopp - Co-founder, Electric South & Senior Consultant, Tribeca Film Institute

Christopher Szymczak - UNICEF Innovation VR Lead

Claire Kearney-Volpe - Doctoral Fellow and Adjunct Faculty, NYU ABILITY Project

Crystal Butler - Researcher at NYU Game Innovation Lab 

Carmen Aguilar y Wedge - Co-Founder of Hyphen Labs

Moderator:

Sarah Rothberg - NYU Adjunct Professor, DIY-VR and Directing VR