Abstract
As journalists experiment with developing immersive journalism—first-person, interactive experiences of news events—guidelines are needed to help bridge a disconnect between the requirements of journalism and the capabilities of emerging technologies. Many journalists need to better understand the fundamental concepts of immersion and the capabilities and limitations of common immersive technologies. Similarly, developers of immersive journalism works need to know the fundamentals that define journalistic professionalism and excellence and the key requirements of various types of journalistic stories. To address these gaps, we have developed FIJI—a Framework for the Immersion-Journalism Intersection. In FIJI, we have identified four domains of knowledge that intersect to define the key requirements of immersive journalism: the fundamentals of immersion, common immersive technologies, the fundamentals of journalism, and the major types of journalistic stories. Based on these key requirements, we have formally defined four types of immersive journalism that are appropriate for public dissemination. In this paper, we discuss the history of immersive journalism, present the four domains and key intersection of FIJI, and provide a number of guidelines for journalists new to creating immersive experiences.
Highlights
The concept of immersive journalism was introduced by de la Peña et al (2010) as “the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories.” To accomplish this, de la Peña et al (2010) used virtual reality (VR) technologies, such as head-worn displays (HWDs; Cakmakci and Rolland, 2006), to allow people to enter virtual worlds and scenarios representing actual news stories
The framework that we present in this article is intended to inform and help journalists take steps toward better immersive journalism practices
As explained in the introduction, we developed FIJI to help journalists better understand the fundamentals of immersion and common immersive technologies and to help developers better understand the fundamentals of journalism and types of journalistic stories
Summary
The concept of immersive journalism was introduced by de la Peña et al (2010) as “the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories.” To accomplish this, de la Peña et al (2010) used virtual reality (VR) technologies, such as head-worn displays (HWDs; Cakmakci and Rolland, 2006), to allow people to enter virtual worlds and scenarios representing actual news stories. Much before, in the 1990s, Biocca and Levy (1995) discussed the possibilities of employing VR devices for journalistic purposes They believed VR would enable journalists to move steadily closer to fulfilling “the oldest dream of the journalist, to conquer time and space” by creating “a sense on the part of audiences of being present at distant, newsworthy locations and events.”. In addition to immersing the audience in the visuals of the news story’s location, de la Peña et al (2010) contended that it is even more important that the audience member’s “actual body has transformed, becoming a central part of the news story itself.” To accomplish this, they tracked the head rotations of the user and applied those same rotations to the head of a virtual avatar resembling a Guantanamo Bay detainee, which could be seen from both a first-person perspective and a third-person perspective, thanks to a virtual mirror. We provide several design guidelines for both journalists and developers to follow to create better immersive journalism works and present four case studies that demonstrate the four types of immersive journalism
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