Page 27 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

HMDs will drop as they become more widely used, due in large part to the use of simple passive HMDs that make use of smartphones.
Medicine
For years, telemedicine has been an accepted and validated way of providing treatment and follow-up to patients with different health problems. Since the launch of Web 2.0, which introduced new and more dynamic forms of interaction and collaboration among multiple users, any advances that have brought significant innovations to these fields has been taken into consideration to improve these healthcare ser- vices. The potential of interaction between the real and virtual worlds to improve the sensation of physical presence, and increase communica- tion capabilities, have rapidly made immersive technologies among those that are most imme- diately applicable to the healthcare sector.
The potential of interaction between
the real and virtual worlds improves the sensation of physical presence in immersive technologies.
Its application is expected to improve the clinical communication process, which has a favorable impact on the group processes and the cohesion of group therapies, and which fosters higher levels of interpersonal trust between therapists and patients. The range of potential applications of immersive technologies is very broad, with trends in the healthcare field moving toward im- proved automatic monitoring and tracking based on data processing that seeks patterns within the biological variables that provide evidence of health problems.
Immersive environments are revolutionizing the training of health professionals, even permitting medical students to perform surgical procedures. Image analysis and reconstruction can improve the diagnosis and treatment of injuries.
The incorporation of all information regarding the patient’s variables during the operation
by means of augmented reality, the ability
to simulate extractions or surgeries, whether invasive or not, the option of analyzing organs
or anatomical singularities with 360o vision, eliminating the blind spots from access areas, consultation and tele-collaboration of experts without the need for physical movement, are the realities with which immersive technologies are revolutionizing medicine [Bowman].
Applied to medicine, VR can improve stroke rehabilitation. For example, virtual reality technology has the potential to “deceive” stroke victims into regaining control of limbs they thought were incapacitated, and significantly speed up rehabilitation times [Dcat].
Creative Industries
Cinema
VR cinema allows the viewers to enjoy a film shown around them in 360 degrees, change
their point of view by turning, or even raising or lowering the head slightly. One cinema has al- ready opened in Melbourne with 12 comfortable swivel seats in which viewers may enjoy films shot in 360 degrees with stationary cameras [Independent]. This is a new experience in which the director may not play with the traditional single point of view provided to viewers, because it is the latter that chooses what they want to see in each scene. The challenge from an artistic perspective is therefore enormous, and this new type of cinema has yet to be discovered by both viewers and filmmakers.
VR cinema entails a complete break with the limitation of the “four walls” in which the viewer is currently enclosed, because it allows viewers to be placed “among” the characters, making them a part of the film. Viewers can abandon the normally passive role as mere observers of the action and climb into the mine trolley with
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
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Digital Trends in Culture