VR Project

Meeting of the Minds: An interdisciplinary perspective

In October of 2016, our team of Social Workers from Columbia University and a team of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) specialists from Stanford met in California to imagine what role VR could potentially play in expanding individuals understanding of racism. The interdisciplinary nature of this project has been at the center of all of our work.

smiling team members pose for photo.

Content Development:

user suited in VR gear.

Our team spent months, researching, brainstorming, and learning from each other. Developing impactful and meaningful content for the VR experience has been of utmost importance. Our team ultimately drew from hundreds of sources, including previously created VR content, published research, twitter, blogs, podcasts, and our team’s personal experience with race.

A few sources we consulted include:

  • After Trayvon: Black Boys Speak: An inspiring and emotionally gripping public conversation in Brooklyn, amongst 9 Black and Latino boys ages 10-17. "After Trayvon" brings together these young boys to discuss Trayvon Martin, their own feelings of vulnerability and fear, education, leadership, violence in all forms, and history as they understand it.
  • Whiteness Project: An interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, understand and experience their race
  • Life Cycles of Inequality: A Colorline Series on Black Men A monthly series exploring the ways in which injustice impacts every stage of black male life.

Bringing the Content to Life (Storyboard Photos)

Before we could create our final product we created multiple forms of storyboards, in order to envision how we wanted the final VR experience to progress.

smiling team members pose for photo.

Moving Toward A Virtual Reality Our team is now in the process of working with a CGI team that will bring our carefully crafted material to life.