Using Virtual Reality for outreachWelcome to the VR time-travel machine!

In our session we explored the wonders of Virtual Reality as the emerging next-gen social communication technology.

Our participants benefited from the wonders of the WebXR technology that allows the experience of VR to be delivered via a Web-browser on any device: PC, Mac a smartphone or tablet. The participants were provided with a link to follow to embark on our VR adventure.

We invited our participants to start our journey in the ancient groves and forests of Connemara in the West of Ireland. Here after short briefing and tutorial we started a treasure-hunt game. The participants moved around the virtual world looking for specific items. 

After our journey was completed we travelled into the future and enter into VR-Museum of Computers and Communications at Insight, DSI, NUI Galway where our guides  provided a short tour of computing inside our Virtual Museum. The session finished with participants exploring the VR worlds in group or on their own.

Facilitators:

Brendan Smith is a Science and Technology learning advocate, with extensive experience of delivering educational programmes in Ireland, Africa and the Middle East.

Brendan is Education and Public Engagement Officer of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at NUI Galway, recognised as a world leader in web science research. Brendan is a long-time committee member of the Galway Science and Technology Forum; and co-founder of the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland. In 2015, he was appointed the first lead mentor and course content developer of the SAP-coordinated Africa Code Week that, partnered with UNESCO, Irish Aid and Google, in 2019 introduced 3.85 million young people and teachers across 37 countries to coding.

Dr. Lukasz Porwol is the E-Gov Deputy Unit Leader at the Insight, NUIG. His research focuses on leveraging digital technologies such as social media, Virtual Reality, AI and Open Data to support effective communication, in the context of e- Participation, e-Gov and Media Convergence. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from NUI Galway, an MSc in CS and an Eng degree in IT from Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. Lukasz has over 11 years’ experience in working and coordinating work in various European Commission funded research and innovation projects in the domain of e- Participation, Open Data and Cloud Computing. Currently, he is the coordinator of EC - funded CSA in the area of Social Media and Media Convergence – COMPACT. Recently Lukasz has been selected for an EC-funded VR & AI research expedition to the USA as part of the Next Generation Internet Explorers programme. He has been a board member and the secretary at Digital Government Society, California, USA. He is a registered ODI (Open Data Institute, London) trainer and official Medley (Elsevier) Advisor. Moreover, Lukasz was one of the founding members of the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland Ltd.