SSI-VR Lab
VR/XR Design & Social Justice Applications
Black Women in Virtual Reality
Black women’s perspectives on virtual reality are missing. Our work seeks to fill this gap by examining how Black women perceive and experience VR and how their perspectives can inform VR design that is inclusive while providing opportunities for imagining novel VR environments that increase VR interest and engagement among diverse communities.
Program Objectives
Integrate psychological theories and principles related to Black women’s representation (in STEM) and Black Feminist Thought and their application to applied VR research methodology.
Design and execute a novel qualitative research study on Black women’s experiences with VR.
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Develop ideas for and build VR simulations for and by Black women (for future CS team).
Summer 2024 Student researchers:
Chloe Cole (Georgia State University) and Gabby Nash (Swarthmore College)
Faculty mentors:
Dr. Valerie Jones Taylor (Rutgers; PI) and
Dr. Danielle Dickens (Spelman College; co-PI)
(NSF funded, 2021-2026)
VERA: Virtual Experience Research Accelerator
The SSI-VR lab collaborates with researchers nationwide to build the Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA; co-PI Taylor; NSF CISE community research infrastructure grant). The objective of this $4.5 million grant is to develop research infrastructure in the form of a Mechanical Turk-like ecosystem (hardware, software, and people) that will enable members of the Virtual Reality research community to carry out human subject experiments in VR concurrently across a very large, diverse, dedicated, standing pool of VR study participants. The system will enable a reliable, efficient, turnkey mechanism for obtaining high-quality results. This collaboration with computer and cognitive scientists will transform VR research collaborations, productivity, diversity, and research integrity.
Interested in being involved? Email: vj.taylor@rutgers.edu
For more information about the team, see: https://sreal.ucf.edu/vera/
Lab Motion Capture
The SSI-VR lab uses cutting-edge motion capture equipment to collect movement to overlay onto our avatars in VR simulations. Check out a few videos from our previous work below.
Teaching VR and Social Justice
In various courses, I consider how VR/AR/XR technologies can inform, improve, and/or hinder social justice education, initiatives, and action across various domains. In one such course, The Science of VR: Empathy, Ethics, and Social Justice, students learn how virtual reality (VR) and augmented and extended reality (AR/XR) are being used to create a more empathic and socially just world. Students consider 1) the history and evolution of virtual reality in social science research, 2) the ethical challenges that VR poses in studying and engaging with “controversial” content and/or diverse populations (e.g., children, people who are incarcerated, marginalized groups), and 3) its potential for increasing (or reducing) empathy and equity in our society. From these lenses, students examine how VR technological innovations can improve humanity while also grappling with the ethical and social justice dilemmas they may pose.
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Student VR Builds
Mozilla Hubs Student VR Projects Exploring Various Social Issues