XR-hub April 3: Story Maps in the Reality Theatre and 3D Masks of the Sierra & La Piragua Transmedia

During the XR hub on 3 April, researchers from inside and outside the UG will talk about the use of Story Maps in the Reality Theatre and the application of VR in research on indigenous communities in Columbia.

Location and time

• The XR-HUB will take place at the Smitsborg,  Nettelbosje 1, Groningen
• The meeting starts at 10.30 am and lasts until 12 noon
• After the plenary session, there will be demos of the discussed projects in the XR lab

Language: English

Sign up

You can sign up by sending an email to realitycenter rug.nl .

Program

> Welcome and introduction

> Urban Timescapes – Story Maps in het Reality Theater
Associate Professor of Ancient History Dr Christina Willamson talks about creating a story map as a final assignment. This gives students the opportunity to present their research in a scholarly way, but one that is more accessible than the traditional essay. Designing a story map encourages students to use a wide range of source material, while focusing primarily on the spatiality of their topic.

In the MA history course Urban Timescapes in the Ancient World, we took this to the next level by having students design their story map for the Reality Theatre, and present it there too. This immersive environment gave them a sense of actually being on site where they could lead an engaged audience through the landscape of their narrative. In this session we will present the general design of the project and offer a student’s perspective on the experience.

> Masks of the Sierra VR & La Piragua Transmedia: Co-Creating with Spirits, Sprites, and Stakeholders
In collaboration with the indigenous Kogi community of northern Colombia, former UG PhD candidate Andrew Tucker explores in ‘Masks of the Sierra VR’ how virtual reality can represent indigenous worlds, strengthening media sovereignty. The project developed a workflow for creating photo-realistic virtual environments of dynamic natural spaces, but ethical challenges emerged regarding the replication of sacred spaces and their interaction with spiritual cosmology.

Similarly, La Piragua Transmedia collaborates with indigenous and farming communities through XR formats, fostering participatory storytelling and community agency. Both projects emphasize the importance of ethically co-creating XR representations that respect sacred traditions and local dynamics.

New: Proof of concept

Do you have a good idea as a instructor or researcher and do you want to build an XR application together with team Visualization to strengthen your external grant application? We call this a Proof of concept (PoC). The goal is to use the PoC to test the technical uncertainty and the education/research design in a small pilot. The results will be used to apply for an external grant to start a research or education project at our university.
If you are interested, you can get more information about this new 'small call pilot' at the beginning of the XR hub meeting at April 3th. Our goal is to offer this structurally from 2026.