Next Steps of Innovation

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

(Photo courtesy of Cybera, and used with permission.) Merging Realities 2021 is just about to happen. Hosted by Lethbridge College, in Alberta, Canada, this free annual virtual conference is a groundbreaker. Speakers explore the latest developments in the virtual and augmented-reality fields. This year's conference, themed "Impact", will showcase different aspects of the use of these technologies in daily life. "(VR is) not just for gaming. It has many applications,"says Lethbridge College's Kris Hodgson-Bright, Kris is a faculty member in Digital Communications and Media, as well as Multimedia Production. He is also part of the organizing committee for Merging Realities. And Merging Realities is a trailblazer because, in 2018, Lethbridge College debuted it as the world's first conference hosted entirely in virtual reality. Since then, the pandemic has pushed immersive technologies to center stage. In our 2019 conversation, Kris explained that Lethbridge was planning two new certificate programs in immersive media. Those have now evolved into two intensive study programs, accessible all over the world. Kris offered an update of Lethbridge's work in immersive technologies, previewed Merging Realities 2021: Impact and discussed some of the ways he sees XR evolving to become students' future careers. On this edition of Over Coffee®, we cover: An update of Lethbridge College's two new immersive programs and the ways the faculty have put their applied research in XR to use; What attendees will experience, when they virtually attend Merging Realities: Impact; A closer look at some of the VR programs the conference will be covering; How Lethbridge College has put immersive technologies to work in different sectors; The ways in which some of the new uses are changing common perceptions of virtual reality; How to overcome the "intimidation factor" when introducing newcomers to VR; What students will experience when they enroll in one of Lethbridge College's one-year certificate immersive media programs; The career options available to students who enroll in these programs; Kris' own use of VR applications; What's next, for Merging Realities; How newcomers to XR can start using immersive environments in their fields; How Lethbridge College can help!