(Photo : Reuters)


Journalists and researchers are currently working on integrating virtual reality with news stories to totally immerse and affect viewers.



News has often been seen in a passive manner, with readers simply looking at the facts and not understanding the gravity of certain situations.



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Nonny de la Pena, a senior researcher at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism, looks to shift the paradigm by interweaving news with gaming technology.



De la Pena wants people that read the news to react emotionally to their stories.



As an example, she says her team record sounds like that of a live bombing in Syria and reconstructs the scenes in virtual reality.



Virtual reality goggles complete the process by tracking the participant's position in the room and translating his movements into the scene. This allows viewers to engage in the news events.



Thus, for a bombing in Syria, readers were first taken around a refugee site before witnessing the bomb exploding and seeing the explosion's effects first-hand.



De la Pena said the virtual reality space allowed for readers to react emotionally with the stories.



"It's really a kind of a whole-body experience and is very unique," she said.



On the forefront of virtual reality is Oculus Rift recently bought by Facebook.



While the Oculus Rift is primarily technology made for gaming, its use expands far beyond gaming and into architecture, education, anxiety and phobia treatment, post-traumatic stress disorder and even 3D designing.



Scottish company Eyedak, Ltd and Eyedak SL are also developing a product called vrAse that rivals the Oculus Rift.



Reports said vrAse can be used for watching films, TV and playing video games.




TagsNonny de la Pena, Virtual Reality, Oculus Rift, vrAse