When We Die is a meditation on our own mortality and an examination on attitudes towards dying in Western Culture as told through a VR experience.

http://bit.ly/whenwedievr

Description

When We Die is a virtual-reality guided mediation and exploration of dying in western culture. The experience consists of an abstract virtual reality scene coupled with spatialized audio recordings of interviews with a physician and hospice care worker. The experience asks users to think about death in a more present and practical manner.

Classes

Hacking Story Frameworks: For Social Impact/Social Issues

'Yamammy' is a VR documentary that explores how displaced refugees navigate a world in which they possess fragmentary ethnic, religious, or national identities.

http://rebecca-ricks.com

Description

'Yamammy' is a short VR documentary that explores how displaced refugees define their identities when home is in flux. In this project, a former refugee from Sierra Leone Yamammy describes her experiences moving from Sierra Leone to Guinea to New York to a small town in Idaho and how her sense of home and identity has changed over the years. The documentary functions as a fragmentary photogrammetric portrait of Yamammy, using images and stories she describes from her memory. (Class: Hacking Story Frameworks)

Classes

Hacking Story Frameworks: For Social Impact/Social Issues

Kristofer Goldsmith was discharged from the US Army after a suicide attempt; eight years later, he's still fighting to right that wrong.

http://www.taylorcblack.com/blog/2016/12/4/bad-paper-final-documentation

Description

Bad Paper is an installation exploring the struggles of a less-than honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. In the military, an honorable discharge offers the possibility of education, health benefits, and a lifelong recognition of service. A dishonorable discharge requires court marshal and is reserved for the most serious offenses. However, there are other types of discharges that fall in-between these two, which can be given for causes ranging from minor misconduct to traumatic brain injury, mental health status changes, sexual trauma, and prior to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, being LGBT. 13% of veterans since 9/11 have received one of these types of discharges, which leaves them without vital benefits, employment options, education access, or key medical services that, for people like Kristofer Goldsmith, can mean the difference between life and death.

Bad Paper follows Kris' story, of his honorable service, traumatic experience, suicide attempt, and unceremonious “Bad Paper” discharge from the Army, in five interactive vignettes. Eight years after his discharge, Kris is still seeking justice and benefits for him and all the veterans dismissed and cut off unfairly. In Bad Paper, audiences interact with objects to hear from Kris, as well as gain extra insight from lawyers and advocates fighting to change the military standards that cause honorable service to be rewarded only with lifelong loss.

Classes

Hacking Story Frameworks: For Social Impact/Social Issues

A celebration of Queer Community on the Streets of New York.

https://village-live-map.herokuapp.com/

Description

We want to bring queer history into the present. VillageLIVE is an augmented/mixed reality experience where Nelson Sullivan’s video archive is virtually embedded into the physical space of current day New York. Alongside stories contributed by users.

Classes

Designing Meaningful Interactions, Hacking Story Frameworks: For Social Impact/Social Issues, Alt Docs: Inventing new formats for non-fiction storytelling