Virtual Reality

Clouds Over Sidra and The Displaced are two virtual reality films that show the power of virtual reality as a tool of creating empathy, as well as encouraging user immersion and interactivity.

Clouds Over Sidra was a joint effort between the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which is part of the United Nations Millennium Campaign, UNICEF, and Vrse. It was directed by Gabo Arora, from the United Nations, and Chris Milk, the founder of Vrse. Clouds Over Sidra is entirely narrated by Sidra, a 12 year old girl who lives in the Za'atari refugee camp.

The Displaced is a virtual reality film that focuses on three children who all experienced some form of displacement. This experience was produced by the New York Times and Within (formally Vrse), and was co-directed by Imraan Ismail of Within and Ben C. Solomon of the New York Times, and creatively directed by Chris Milk and Jake Silverstein of the New York Times.

The Virtual Reality Experiences

Virtual reality is more than a video game or an educational, engaging film-like experience - it is also a theoretical concept.

In her 2003 book, Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, Marie-Laure Ryan explores different understandings of virtual reality with a focus on exploring the theory behind virutal reality behind immersive and interactive.

The Theory Behind Virtual Reality

THE THEORY:

Marie-Laure Ryan's Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media

Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab studies whether virtual reality can actually, scientifically, increase empathy. Since 2001, the lab has performed roughly a dozen studies using the technique of embodiment, where subjects wear body-movement sensors and headsets and watching their avatars as members of another gender or race.

The majority of studies have shown virtual reality to cause moderate increased in empathy.

Experiments about Virtual Reality and Empathy

Virtual reality is an emerging technology that is attracting a lot of attention from multiple sectors- from entertainment-focused video games companies, established technology giants, to political institutions, such as the United Nations.

A few well-known companies who are currently involved are Facebook, who have partnered with virtual reality company Oculus VR, Google, Samsung, and Sony Playstation VR.

However, there is also the focus on virtual reality that deals with humanitarian work, most typically on the situation of refugees. This is the virtual reality that has the power to create empathic reactions in people who have otherwise become desensitized to the large volume of photographs and new stories depicting human suffering.

Virtual reality has the potential to counter feelings of moral fatigue and viewer helplessness through increasing user empathy and reducing the sense of distance between the user and the subject.

The Companies and the People Involved in Virtual Reality

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THE EXPERIMENTS:

Stanford University Human Interaction Lab

THE EXPERIENCES:

Clouds Over Sidra and The Displaced

Syrian refugee children at Azraq refugee camp near Al Azraq city, Jordan on Nov. 16, 2015. Image by REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed	Anti-refugee protest
Sidra and her younger brother Sidra, a 12 year old Syrian refugee, with her younger brother in the Za'atari refugee camp. Image by Clouds Over Sidra	United Nations Symbol	A refugee child on the Hungarian border after a clash with riot police. Image by AFP/Getty Images
		The New York Times
Maram, an 8 year old refugee girl from Jordan
Chris Milk, founder of Vrse/Within and co-producer of Clouds Over Sidra and The Displaced	The Displaced, a 360 degrees film about three displaced children	Syrian refugee woman with her child
Sanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab logo	Syrian refugees in the Za'atari refugee camp	Syrian refugees on a boat. Image by Andrew Mcconnell/Panos
Within company logo