Virtual Reality has sparked the interest of the United Nations as the UN is looking to leverage the potential of VR to help raise awareness of social issues that plague countries around the world.
Quite recently, the UN has launched a mobile app as part of the United Nations Virtual Reality initiative. Led by Gabo Arora, the Creative Director for the UN, this app would allow users to experience VR films that were translated from journalistic stories and charitable causes. Some of these VR films includes Clouds Over Sidra, a film which places the viewers alongside a 12-year-old girl in a Syrial refugee camp; as well as Waves of Grace, which is a film that is viewed through the eyes of an Ebola survivor in Liberia.
The UN hopes to utilise this technology as an advocacy tool for vulnerable communities across the world, allowing users around the world to experience tragedies that occur in various parts of the world without needing to leave their houses. The UN believes that these experiences would generate empathy among its users, and would thus lead to proactive actions from said users. Indeed, the mobile app that was launched recently included a “take action” button, allowing viewers to engage with said issues either through donations or offering voluntary services.
Of course, seeing as VR technology is currently still in the “early adoption” stages, it would probably take a while before this UN project would fully achieve its potential, if at all.
Source: Engadget
