The Role Of Virtual Reality In Virtual Environments

No matter what term is used - virtual reality, augmented reality, virtual environments - this family of emerging technologies is but one of many that has gained significant attention, and as with many emerging technologies, it raises numerous questions that definitely need to be considered. While it is still relatively new, the use of it in business and professional fields, while appealing as it is, are still limited. However, it is evident that its presence and use would become more prominent in the near future, as it increasingly gains more recognition in a variety of fields and industries. In order to avoid making the topic too broad, as this technology can be explored in numerous different perspectives, its use as a new form of media will

More common views are very restrictive uses of the term, in which virtual reality systems are defined as systems that makes use of head-mounted displays, datagloves and data suits to simulate an immersive, interactive computer-generated environment. However, this is recognised as too restrictive and that there are forms of virtual and augmented reality that do not involve the head-mounted displays or total immersion, such as projection virtual reality, where virtual models are projected in a room, or desktop virtual reality, where a virtual environment is represented on a computer screen that can be perceived through special glasses. Therefore virtual reality must be seen in general terms with specific keywords, and for this reason, the definition used in this paper will be “a three-dimensional interactive computer-generated environment that incorporates a first-person perspective” (Brey, 1999). Virtual reality is present in many different professional fields such as prototyping and ergonomic testing in industrial design, design communication in architecture and urban planning, medical and surgical simulation and training in medicine, scientific visualisation and simulation in science, for data visualisation in finance, and for battlefield animation in military training. For the sake of narrowing the scope for this paper, its general use as another form of media particularly will be focused

As mentioned previously, VR technologies of different capabilities are developed for different professional fields, implying that there are different ways of interpreting and designing it. In social constructivism, interpretative flexibility is exactly this process, where these alternative interpretations generate different problems to solve (Mackenzie, 1999). Therefore, while the future is unclear to what holds for this emerging technology, it doesn't necessarily mean that it would invite neither a technological haven nor total anarchism, as it is ultimately determined by the relevant social groups and their needs. Whatever problem or issue is brought up, they are eventually solved according to the goals of the social groups. The end result of how the technology is used is then determined by the way the stakeholders use it, whether it be of beneficial or malicious reasons, as the knowledge of how to create and enhance technology, and of how to use technology is socially bound knowledge. The important question is then how exactly will power be distributed and eventually who determines authoritative control of how the content will be perceived and used (Winner,