Chapter 2 — What do we mean by XR

XR is a term that is more commonly being used to describe the emerging field of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Immersive Performance and the Metaverse.

XR also has several different meanings in this emerging field, it is often cited to mean Cross Realities (Ziker, Truman, Dodds 2021) or Extended Reality (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9328440 )

The author will be using the terminology to imply Extended Realities (xxxx 20??) as this best sits within the field of immersive arts in which this PhD sits within.

This chapter will give a brief overview of the history of XR looking at its evolution, and where it sits within the emerging web3 area of computer science.

The author will also explore and argue how XR is also the intersection between Computer Science as a field of study and that of artist led practice such as performance in theatre, film and the arts — this argument is important for those that perhaps follow up on some of the work presented in this thesis and find themselves placed between the two camps of Computer Science and the Arts and Humanities department, both with their own distinctive ways of working.

This will allow me to also place the reader into the twin mindset required to explore this thesis, that of the technically minded Computer scientist and that of the boho creative artist.

We will observe how XR has become a cultural disrupter and affected the music industry.

XR refers to technologies and applications that involve combinations of mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and virtual worlds (VWs) or the Metaverse.

These are technologies that connect computer technology (such as informational overlays) to the physical world for the purposes of augmenting or extending experiences beyond the real, either by immersing you in a video game like environment which persuades your brain that this is reality and therefore real by creating total immersion, or by acting as a head up display, sharing graphical information which could be passive or interactive.

(Source https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/47325/9783030589486.pdf?sequence=1#page=69 )

MR — Mixed reality refers to a blend of technologies used to influence the human perception of an experience.

Via a head mounted display, with or without additional motion sensors, body tracking, and eye tracking interplay with overlaid technology to give a rich and full version of reality displayed to the user. For example, technology could add sound or additional graphics to an experience in real time. Examples include the Magic Leap One and Microsoft HoloLens 2.0. MR and XR are often used interchangeably.

Augmented Reality

AR — Via a head mounted display Augmented reality refers to technology systems that overlay information onto the real world, but the technology might not allow for real-time feedback.

As such, AR experiences can move or animate, but they might not interact with changes in depth of view or external light conditions. Currently, AR is considered the first generation of the newer and more interactive MR experiences.

AR is also now a common tool in Tik Tok content production and is the main form of media manipulation for Snap Chat users and Instagram to add filters to their images

Give examples that the reader can check out good AR

Virtual Reality

VR — Virtual reality, as a technological product, traces its history to approximately 1960 and tends to encompass user experiences that are visually and auditorily different from the real world.

Indeed, the real world is often blocked from interacting with the virtual one. Headsets, headphones, haptics, and haptic clothing might purposely cut off all input except that which is virtual. In general, VR is a widely recognizable term, often found in gaming and workplace training.

Leading social music based virtual reality spaces we will explore are VRchat, Altspace and Horizon by Meta formally Facebook.

Give examples of some virtual reality the reader can try.

Virtual Worlds

VW — Virtual worlds are frequently considered a subset of VR with the difference that VWs are inherently social and collaborative; VWs frequently contain multiple simultaneous users, while VRs are often solo experiences. Another discrimination between virtual reality and virtual worlds is the persistence of the virtual space. VR tends to be episodic, with the learner in the virtual experience for a few minutes and the reality created within the experience ends when the learner experience ends. VWs are persistent in that the worlds continue to exist on computer servers whether or not there are active avatars within the virtual space (Bell 2008).

Give examples of some virtual worlds the reader can visit

The Metaverse

Term from Snow crash — blah blah… Cathy Hackl quote and Meta press release, and lots claiming to be — Epic games CEO says it best.

https://markashmorefrsa.medium.com/metaverse-research-25-10-21-b5b91375a695

My Summary from 22/3

An easy example is how smart phone mobile technology, gives 24/7 almost free (phone / wifi required) to an endless digital space — web 2.0 — XR devices allow this connectivity for the ‘hardcore user’ to immerse themselves in this space XR is the bridge to this — but what is on the other side of this bridge, in my opinion for the past 6 years its been a hotchpot of different games, platforms and experiences — but now the industry is maturing — this can be evidence with the ‘metaverse’ being bannered about — so we are seeing a consolidation of the industry — Facebook rebrand, Microsoft buying activation, Epic Games and Tennent etc — but

The issue with XR is, that it was to be everything for everyone — it needs to understand its market how ever big or small and develop the tools for this space…

Horizon (Meta) has 200,000 users and VRchat has 1 million users

which is why platforms like VRchat, coupled with an Oculus 2 headset is a fringe player — but actually getting more right than the major players.

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Research + Reading

Abstract:

The intersection between music and Extended Reality (XR) has grown significantly over the past twenty years, amounting to an established area of research today. The use of XR technologies represents a fundamental paradigm shift for various musical contexts as they disrupt traditional notions of musical interaction by enabling performers and audiences to interact musically with virtual objects, agents, and environments. This article both surveys and expands upon the knowledge accumulated in existing research in this area to build a foundation for future works that bring together Music and XR. To this end, we created a freely available dataset of 260 publications in this space and conducted an in-depth analysis covering 199 works in the last decade. We conducted this analysis using a list of conceptual dimensions belonging to technical, artistic, perceptual and methodological domains. This review of the literature is complemented with a set of interviews with domain experts with the goal of establishing a definition for the emergent field of Musical XR, i.e., the field of music in Extended Realities. Based on the results of the conducted review, a research agenda for the field is proposed.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9328440 (199 sources on XR and Music published in 2021)