Who wants to govern the metaverse?
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Who wants to govern the metaverse?

The governance of the ā€˜metaverse’, underpinned by extended reality (XR) technology, has garnered increasing attention from policymakers, industry, and regulators. Despite highly productive critiques of industrial governance practices and initiatives – such as those focused on responsible innovation and diversity, equity, and inclusion within XR – there has been limited comprehensive examination of XR governance…

ā€œMy VR does not acknowledge me as a personā€: Is the metaverse leaving disabled users behind?
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ā€œMy VR does not acknowledge me as a personā€: Is the metaverse leaving disabled users behind?

Last month, Apple revealed its long-teased Vision Pro headset, a device that uses augmented reality technology to project a digital image onto the physical world. But, Apple revealed, it won’t work — at least out of the box — if you wear glasses. Instead, you’ll need to buy inserts to attach to the device lens. Apple’s…

Expectations of privacy in public space
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Expectations of privacy in public space

AR and VR intersect (and often conflict) with expectations of privacy in public space in ways that will only become more salient over time. There is a varied and sustained engagement with the topic in the AR literature, which act as sophisticated surveillance systems. As Mark Pesce notes – ā€œ[f]ar less a new beginning than…

Work and immersive technologies
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Work and immersive technologies

Both augmented reality and virtual reality have increasingly pushed to become key players in the workplace. AR has had a much longer history within the workplace, particularly as an assistive technology in manufacturing industries. There is a body of research in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that presents experimental cases – with Funk…

The politics of space in PokƩmon Go
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The politics of space in PokƩmon Go

It’s been over 20 years since the original release of PokĆ©mon Red and Green for the Gameboy, in which players travel the virtual environment to catch virtual creatures called PokĆ©mon. Unlike the Gameboy game, where this encounter with PokĆ©mon takes place in the virtual space resembling the Japanese region of Kantō, players of PokĆ©mon Go…