In 2015 and 2016, we saw news organizations interested in new impactful ways of telling stories take on the virtual reality challenge to create good content. Anyone who has experienced virtual reality in an Oculus, Samsung Gear, HTC Vive, or even a Google Cardboard headset understands the allure. With its 360° views, stereoscopic depth, and, in some cases, the ability to change in real time based on the users’ actions, it creates an unparalleled sense of “being there.” Before VR, you watched a journalist explore a place. In virtual reality, you explore the place. With a range of content from a solitary confinement prison cell to data visualizations, viewers can gather information in entirely new ways.
But the most known virtual reality technology has many challenges for any journalist trying to reach audiences and for many journalists wanting to create it. People’s lack of access to headsets is the most familiar and glaring issue and Google Cardboard is part of the solution, but it offers a limited immersive experience. VR content creators must choose which headsets can work with their content and adapt it for each headset. Another hindrance is that VR content must be downloaded and installed, requiring an extra step. And finally, creating VR experiences beyond 360° video requires a specific skillset that few people have.
But what if VR experiences could be made and experienced directly on the web, a platform where billions of people create and consume content every day. A platform where people already are. Or another way to put it is what if the web could be experienced through VR. It is possible. It exists. It is called WebVR.
WebVR is a JavaScript API that allows you to create VR on the web with web technologies such as Three.js and on top of WebGL, an open source language to create 3D environments. WebVR works across most devices, ranging from your desktop to your mobile phone and on most existing headsets. It even allows you to connect your devices for a multiuser and social experience. One VR project could be experienced on any VR headset but also as a 3D experience on your computer or mobile phone.
This is good news for journalists working with VR: Billions can access their content, not millions. Existing digital teams in news organizations or anyone who has web development skills can make VR. If you don’t have a headset, you can still see the content — WebVR content lives on the web.
WebVR is rapidly evolving. VR and web developers are now working together to develop tools, make it more compatible with video and game engines such as Unity and fix bugs. It already works much better than most people realize. Here are some examples and there will be many more as more people become aware of WebVR. It doesn’t have the marketing campaign that other VR technologies have, but I anticipate many more journalists will integrate it into their storytelling repertoire this coming year.
3D and virtual reality have come and gone before. There are certainly plenty of VR skeptics. But with the convergence of VR and the open Web, VR seems poised to stay.
Special thanks to Brian Chirls, Cindy Bishop, and Brett Gaylor for their input.
Sarah Wolozin is director of the MIT Open Documentary Lab.
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Tim Herrera The safe space of service journalism
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Zizi Papacharissi Distracted journalism looks in the mirror
Jonathan Stray A boom in responsible conservative media
Sarah Wolozin Virtual reality on the open web
Matt Karolian AI improves publishing
Mandy Velez The audience is the source and the story
Peter Sterne A dangerous anti-press mix
Amy Webb Journalism as a service
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Sydette Harry Facing journalism’s history
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Sara M. Watson There is no neutral interface
Carrie Brown-Smith We won’t do enough
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Scott Dodd Nonprofits team up for impact
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Michael Oreskes Reversing the erosion of democracy
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Robert Hernandez History will exclude you, again
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Amie Ferris-Rotman Вслед за Россией
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Rachel Schallom Stop flying over the flyover states
Lee Glendinning A call for great editing
Maria Bustillos “It’s true — I saw it on Facebook”
Melody Kramer Radically rethinking design
David Chavern Fake news gets solved
Erin Millar The bottom falls out of Canadian media
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Ken Schwencke Disaggregation and collection
Ariane Bernard Better data about your users
Nushin Rashidian A rise in high-price, high-value subscriptions
Matt Waite The people running the media are the problem
Katie Zhu The year of minority media
Dan Colarusso Let’s make live video we can love
M. Scott Havens Quality advertising to pair with quality content
Errin Haines Chaos or community?
Juan Luis Sánchez Your predictions are our present
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen News after advertising may look like news before advertising
Emily Goligoski Incorporating audience feedback at scale
Umbreen Bhatti A sense of journalists’ humanity
Swati Sharma Failing diversity is failing journalism
Erin Pettigrew A year of reflection in tech
Juliette De Maeyer and Dominique Trudel A rebirth of populist journalism
Javaun Moradi What can we own?
Ray Soto VR moves from experiments to immersion
Tanya Cordrey The resurgence of reach
Alexis Lloyd Public trust for private realities
Libby Bawcombe Kids board the podcast train
Anita Zielina The sales funnel reaches (and changes) the newsroom
Lam Thuy Vo The primary source in the age of mechanical multiplication
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Alberto Cairo Communicating uncertainty to our readers
Rachel Sklar Women are going to get loud
Sarah Marshall Focusing on the why of the click
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Caitlin Thompson High touch, high value
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Sam Ford The year we talk about our awful metrics
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Taylor Lorenz “Selfie journalism” becomes a thing
Andrew Haeg The year of listening
Jim Friedlich A banner year for venture philanthropy
Tracie Powell Building reader relationships
David Skok What lies beyond paywalls
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Truthiness in private spaces
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Corey Ford The year of the rebelpreneur
Christopher Meighan Unlocking a deeper mobile experience
Liz Danzico The triumph of the small
David Weigel A test for online speech
Carla Zanoni Prioritizing emotional health
Jeremy Barr A terrible year for Tiers B through D
Almar Latour Thanks, #fakenews
Laura Walker Authentic voices, not fake news
Richard Tofel The country doesn’t trust us — but they do believe us
Adam Thomas The coming collaboration across Europe
Dan Gillmor Fix the demand side of news too
Ashley C. Woods Local journalism will fight a new fight
Jonathan Hunt Measurement companies get with the times
Gabriel Snyder The aberration of 20th-century journalism
Rebekah Monson Journalism is community-as-a-service
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Cindy Royal Preparing the digital educator-scholar hybrid
Claire Wardle Verification takes center stage
Andrew Losowsky Building our own communities
Jon Slade Trusted news, at a premium
Renée Kaplan Pure reach has reached its limit
Molly de Aguiar Philanthropists galvanize around news
Tressie McMillan Cottom A path through the media’s coming legitimacy crisis
Francesco Marconi The year of augmented writing
Joanne Lipman The year of the drone, really
Pablo Boczkowski Fake news and the future of journalism
Kathleen Kingsbury Print as a premium offering
Samantha Barry Messaging apps go mainstream
Mathew Ingram The Faustian Facebook dance continues
Asma Khalid The year of the newsy podcast
Elizabeth Jensen Trust depends on the details
Megan H. Chan Cultural reporting goes mainstream
S.P. Sullivan Baking transparency into our routines
Geetika Rudra Journalism is community
Ole Reißmann Un-faking the news
Tim Griggs The year we stop taking sides
Hillary Frey Forests need to burn to regrow
Andrew Ramsammy Rise of the rebel journalist
Mary Walter-Brown Getting comfortable asking for money
Ryan McCarthy Platforms grow up or grow more toxic