It seems that VR, or Virtual Reality, is all around us (pun intended). When the local Cracker Barrel is selling VR goggles for your smartphone, it's time to take notice. Are we simply experiencing a new technology fad? Will those goggles find a place next to my Zip Drive and MiniDisc player? Or is this new form of video going to catch on? Perhaps the biggest question: Is this something that the church needs to take seriously?
In case you are not familiar, 360 video is accomplished by mounting cameras in a circle and shooting video. The video is “stitched” together with software and the finished product is normally loaded to a web site to be viewed with special goggles. Recently, cameras and stitching have gotten more affordable and accessible. The video can be delivered on the YouTube 360 channel. Smartphones can be used as a viewer using a simple cardboard device.
I've been doing research on this explosion of 360 video and I am fairly certain that this new way of experiencing video is not going away. When you see Fox Sports, the NBA and Netflix producing regular weekly net-casts using VR, something is going on. When production is going beyond Silicon Valley to major Hollywood studios, and when the USA Today and the New York Times are featuring news gathered in this medium, it is time to take notice.
Where are We Headed?
It's always good to understand the past when we see something that promises to take us into the future. Over the long term, the church has done fairly well with mass media and communications. Think about the origins of the printing press. Wasn't Gutenberg's intent to produce the Bible? We saw great preachers take to the airwaves at the advent of both radio and television. Since the early days of motion pictures, producers have brought Biblical images to the silver screen. Today, just about every church has a web site and most have a method of delivering sermons either by audio or video. While not usually on the bleeding edge, it is clear that the church has adopted technology in significant way.
One VR expert I spoke with from Nokia, says that VR today is just like movies of the past. When people first saw the film of a train coming at them, they would jump out of the way. That may seem comical in our culture. However it's no different than when a person puts on VR headset for the first time, and ducks away from the images. That, too, will seem funny in a few decades.
This expert adds that we are not seeing the next jump in video technology, like SD to HD. He believes that 360 video is something totally different. In the same way theater is different from pictures and moving pictures is different from television. Perhaps, as VR progresses, our televisions will become like our radios today. We will simply use the screen as background, and VR will be the primary source of information and entertainment.
The leader in VR technology for the New York Times told me that they view their “Daily 360” as the next step in the photograph. Old newspapers came to life when photos were added. They see the VR pieces that they produce as the same jump in electronic news gathering. (An outstanding example of this in a short 360 documentary called “The Fight for Fallujah”. The Times sent a VR camera with one of their embedded reporters to Iraq and created a truly unique perspective on the conflict?)
Everyone I spoke with about 360 video indicated that we are really at the leading edge of this new concept. Many say that we are missing the “new language” for the medium. For example, how do directors get the viewer to look where they want them to and not miss part of the action? Currently we are used to looking at the rectangular screen and, whether we know it or not, understand the “language.” As the technology progresses, new methods will emerge.
Cut Off From Reality
Perhaps the larger issue for the church market is the question of connectedness. Doesn't wearing VR goggles naturally cut us off from the people around us? The answer from one expert might surprise you. Jeremy Bailenson is the founding director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. He has been studying the physiological and psychological effects of VR on human behavior for decades, and produced hundreds of pages of research. Bailenson says, “The beauty of networked VR is that it allows people to share a common experience. Our work has demonstrated that shared virtual reality can cause people to gain empathy for one another."
In other words, it helps people connect when they share a VR experience. Bailenson's research would indicate that people feel more like they've had a “real” experience after viewing VR versus watching the simple rectangular image. Perhaps this is because we are so accustomed to video that we really connect in a deeper way to 360 images.
Bailenson's findings should give us some ideas about better connecting with people using this technology. For example, webcasting church services may actually drive people closer to a church body. A recent survey indicates that people like to view a worship service on line before they come in person. Should that experience be a 360 video?
Another use could be with missionary videos. If a VR camera could be taken to the field, would church members better connect to that African orphanage or South American outreach? Would that build deeper empathy and engagement for the cause?
What if parents could take a virtual tour of your church's nursery or kid's classroom? That might make them feel better about leaving their little ones. Does the youth group need a VR video of there gathering? Would more young people attend if they were first connected virtually?
The possibilities are great but, at the moment, it seems there are more questions than answers. Instead of throwing 360 video aside and labeling it as a gimmick, we need to think of the tool that is right in front of us. It might be the time for new Gutenberg moment. We may very well be looking at a new mass media format that can be used to connect people to the Gospel. Let's see if virtual reality can help change a person's spiritual reality.
