Most virtual reality headsets have one of two problems: either they are tethered to a computer, limiting the user’s mobility, or because they use smartphones, are too heavy. To combat this, Chinese hardware company Pico VR has come up with Pico Neo, a controller containing hardware to power a headset. According to The Verge, “By tethering the controller to an ultra-lightweight … Read More
Featured in Journalism.co.uk
Check it out: #STOPtrafficking2016 made it on the front page of Journalism.co.uk “Imagine you are walking down the street in Rio during the Olympic Games or in the United States, where the US presidential elections are still in full swing. You reach a billboard or a sign showing the Olympic rings or Hillary Clinton’s campaign logo, and by simply pointing your … Read More
Can VR induce empathy? Behind our work with the Tow Center at Columbia Journalism School
Can new technologies like virtual and augmented reality and 360 video induce empathy in users? That is what Empathetic Media founder Dan Archer is studying in collaboration with Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism. A first of its kind project, this research will result in an analysis of empathy and whether users can more closely relate to characters and situations in a VR … Read More
Welcoming our second student producer team
This semester we welcome a new crop of students to the Empathetic Media production team: Samantha Rohn, George DuMontier, Dresa Cockrell, and Taylor Kasper. Brittany will be staying on as an assistant producer from last semester.
Mapping hysteria: the Ebola pan(dem)ic
Although a few cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the United States, a more aggressive pandemic is taking root: hypochondria. News stories are being published from all over the United States about people who either think they have the disease, or think someone else does, and then spring into action. The media then entered a frenzy of coverage, not … Read More
Week 1 at the Reynolds Journalism Institute
I hit the ground running here in Columbia, Missouri last week. It’s always the way with a finite fellowship: even before my first day I felt like a sprinter on the starting blocks. So far so good though. I’ve mind mapped a rough layout for how I see Empathetic Media developing over the next month, as well as a few … Read More
Welcome to Empathetic Media!
This is the inaugural post for what will be a journal of EM’s development over the next year and beyond. The next year is particularly important given that it is a fellowship at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri that has enabled me to get this project off the ground.