AR/VR and Science communication
As a child, I remember we used to get thrilled to see colorful pictures of science books as they used to tempt us to study because colourful books were very rare those days and learning through these colourful books used to excite us to study more and more. But, the same is not the case now. We no more have black and white TVs or a scarcity of colourful images around us as we are surrounded by all types of advanced technologies. So how can we communicate science most effectively when we have can see everything on youtube or news with a click of a button. The only way we can get over is that by making people experience it.
The pandemic had a devastating impact on almost all sectors including the education, tourism sector. But the one new normal stuff that this pandemic has taught is work from home or experience from home. Due to the social distancing norms and travel restrictions in most places, how can we make children experience those museums, planetariums or zoo that we had seen live in our childhood? There is a difference between seeing the videos or experiencing those that we see? When we see we just passively experience it but when we actively take part in watching something we have a complete real-life experience of it. The only way is these technological advancements of Virtual reality and Augmented reality or a mix of both. Virtual reality is basically complete immersion of experience that shuts out the world and we can totally experience real-life events like in google cardboard or oculus rift. The other one is Augmented Reality which adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera or smartphones like a Snapchat lens. Both these medium helps us to experience reality beyond just seeing video as we actively take part in it.
As the saying goes the best learning comes by experiencing the event rather than reading or hearing about it. The AR/VR technologies can really have a strong impact on science communication as it makes them a real-life incident as per the convenience of sitting at home. This is not only exciting for school or college students but also for those who do not have a science education. Therefore, the best way we can communicate science!
