virtual reality - The African Mirror

Mar

2023

Walid Kilonzi is telling the African story with virtual reality

BIRD STORY AGENCY YOU find yourself on the second highest peak in eastern Kenya, in the thick of the Iveti forest, with its famed cedar and pine trees. Near the top of a rise, you come upon the famous 'miti muonza', the seven trees that have stood there for over eight decades. With a move of your head, you leave the forest and are transported to the inside of a workshop, where woodcarvers are busy at work. After appreciating the finished bags, baskets, wood, and stone carving designs on display at the over-50-year-old Wamunyu Handcrafts, you can choose to go…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

VR inspires guide to city design through eyes of a child

AFRICITIES

KIM HARRISBERG INSPIRED by a virtual reality tool that allows users to experience cities from the height of a three-year-old, a new set of guidelines aims to show how urban design can improve the health and security of vulnerable children. Bringing together practical tools and examples for urban planners and governments, the Proximity of Care Design Guide was launched this week by global design firm Arup and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, which focuses on childhood development. The guide builds on the virtual reality (VR) initiative Urban95, led by the foundation and Arup, which places users in a fictional urban…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Suited avatars and digital offices: traders and bankers embrace VR

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

ELIZABETH HOWCROFT and SAIKAT CHATTERJEE ONCE the preserve of gamers, virtual reality (VR) has been seized on by the financial sector as a way of enlivening home working for lonely traders or isolated executives and replicating real-world sales, networking or training events. With 90% of employees at some of the world's biggest financial firms now working at home due to a resurgence in coronavirus infections, more and more companies are experimenting with VR. Some practices could stick beyond the pandemic, particularly as home working becomes more widespread. At investment manager Fidelity International, executives experimented with a VR auditorium, taking questions…