Immersive Media: Emerging Approaches to the Experience Economy

A special issue of Journalism and Media (ISSN 2673-5172).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 15781

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
Interests: storytelling; immersive media; digital narratives

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Guest Editor
Department of Interactive Arts and Media, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL 60647, USA
Interests: immersive media; ethics; UX design; interactive storytelling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Immersive media have again captured the imagination and interest of industry and academia. As a result, scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines are now experimenting with augmented, mixed, and virtual reality technologies to create new forms of expression.

Immersive Media encompass new modes of representation that include augmented, mixed, and virtual reality experiences. Immersive media also include projection mapping installations, escape rooms, and dramatic performances. According to Jay Bolter and his colleagues, immersive media “place themselves between us and our perception of the everyday world, and in this sense, they redefine reality itself.”

Joseph Pine and James Gilmore coined the term, "Experience Economy" to describe a commercial relationship that focuses on the creation of fulfilling experiential moments for consumers. Immersive media are seen as integral to the emerging experiential market for cultural experiences. The experiential market has grown considerably across all industries including, arts, entertainment, gaming, theatre, cultural heritage, education, music, and performance.

We invite scholars across disciplines to explore how immersive media is impacting their research and practice as part of this new experience economy. We welcome submissions and are considering the full range of areas of interest including, but not limited to;

  • Different forms of real-time storytelling and immersive performance.
  • Approaches to interactivity in virtual and augmented reality storytelling.
  • Narrative forms including fiction, non-fiction, and interactive narratives.
  • The importance of choice and dramatic agency in virtual environments.
  • Theoretical implications of immersive storytelling compared with traditional forms.
  • The emergence of new spaces and the augmentation of space.
  • Gatekeepers of immersive media experiences and BIPOC voices.
  • The role of the audience considering active participants, agency, or observer.
  • The ethical considerations for both the audience and the creators.
  • Accessibility and the digital divide in the immersive landscape.
  • User-generated content as both active and passive data sources.
  • Behaviour of users/participants/avatars in immersive spaces.
  • Innovations in interaction and user experience design for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality.
  • AI and interactive and immersive storytelling.
  • New models for relationships between creators and users of immersive media.
  • Cultural labour practices and the production of experiences in immersive media.
  • Sonic arts, music, and performance with immersive media.
  • The potentiality of NFTs within the virtual space.
  • New critical and theoretical perspectives specifically for immersive media.
  • How immersive media are transforming cultural and media experiences.

Dr. Sarah Jones
Dr. Joshua A Fisher
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • augmented reality
  • virtual reality
  • mixed reality
  • digital storytelling
  • interactive non-fiction
  • immersive media
  • metaverse
  • design
  • ethics
  • new media literacies

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 905 KiB  
Article
Sentiment and Storytelling: What Affect User Experience and Communication Effectiveness in Virtual Environments?
by Shuran Yang
Journal. Media 2023, 4(1), 30-41; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia4010003 - 26 Dec 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3443 | Correction
Abstract
The use of virtual reality (VR) storytelling in cultural communication is increasing and has found its way into the journalism, tourism, museum, and exhibition industries. Earlier studies have examined VR storytelling to improve user experience (UX). However, there is still insufficient research on [...] Read more.
The use of virtual reality (VR) storytelling in cultural communication is increasing and has found its way into the journalism, tourism, museum, and exhibition industries. Earlier studies have examined VR storytelling to improve user experience (UX). However, there is still insufficient research on UX and communication effectiveness in an immersive virtual environment (IVE) in storytelling involving different sentiments. In this study, participants watched positive and negative news stories in three IVEs: 2D video, 360-degree video via mobile devices, and 360-degree video with a VR headset. The predictor variables of enjoyment and the impact of presence, flow, understanding, empathy, credibility, and enjoyment across the stories in IVEs were analyzed. Two models were constructed based on positive and negative stories. The findings show that predictor variables make different contributions to VR storytelling with different sentiments. The conclusions support IVE production in journalism based on sentiment to further improve UX and enhance communication effectiveness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immersive Media: Emerging Approaches to the Experience Economy)
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21 pages, 407 KiB  
Article
Journalistic Quality Criteria under the Magnifying Glass: A Content Analysis of the Winning Stories of World Press Photo Foundation’s Digital Storytelling Contest
by Rosanna Planer, Alexander Godulla, Daniel Seibert and Patrick Pietsch
Journal. Media 2022, 3(4), 594-614; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia3040040 - 22 Sep 2022
Viewed by 2349
Abstract
This study explores aspects of journalistic quality in complex digital stories. Based on a tailored overview of the potentials of online journalism and digital long form stories for journalistic quality, all available award-winning stories of the subcategory Interactive of the World Press Photo’s [...] Read more.
This study explores aspects of journalistic quality in complex digital stories. Based on a tailored overview of the potentials of online journalism and digital long form stories for journalistic quality, all available award-winning stories of the subcategory Interactive of the World Press Photo’s Digital Storytelling Contest from 2011 to 2021 (n = 31) are examined according to their structure and journalistic quality criteria using Grounded Theory. The findings add to the long and ongoing research history in journalism and communication studies on the question of what journalistic quality entails and can be used as a basis for further analyses focusing on the technological and structural nature of digital stories and high-quality journalism. The analysis revealed a differentiation between linear stories and chapter stories with linear elements. While a multimedia nature, continuous text and video content prevailed in both forms, they differed in terms of their complexity as well as certain expressions of quality criteria. Gamification and immersion emerged as new yet debatable aspects of journalistic quality in digital stories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immersive Media: Emerging Approaches to the Experience Economy)
18 pages, 366 KiB  
Article
Immersive Journalism: Advantages, Disadvantages and Challenges from the Perspective of Experts
by Susana Herrera Damas and María José Benítez de Gracia
Journal. Media 2022, 3(2), 330-347; https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia3020024 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8160
Abstract
The aim of this text is to analyze the future of immersive journalism from the perspective of experts now, in a moment when the initial experimental stage seems to have passed given the smaller number of pieces being today produced by leading media. [...] Read more.
The aim of this text is to analyze the future of immersive journalism from the perspective of experts now, in a moment when the initial experimental stage seems to have passed given the smaller number of pieces being today produced by leading media. To do this, we conducted two focus groups with 15 international leaders in the field, including both professional and academic points of view. We asked them about the main strengths, weaknesses, challenges and how to overcome them so that immersive journalism has continuity in the future. The results reveal few differences between the views of academics and practitioners, especially regarding the strengths and weaknesses of this new narrative, which is as versatile as it is complex. Most of them agree that immersive journalism is still in its experimentation stage regarding its production, although there is a positive perspective regarding the sustainability of this format in the near future. Both groups agree on the need to continue testing to understand this new narrative language and insist on the need to introduce this knowledge into journalism schools, both theoretically and practically. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immersive Media: Emerging Approaches to the Experience Economy)
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