Rewilding with AR and VR: Facilitating Care with Photography in Physically Immersive Apps

In this dissertation I analyze two AR apps from Internet of Elephants, Safari Central and Wildeverse, and one VR app from National Geographic, National Geographic: Explore VR. These three apps use photography as the central tool for engagement, attempt to educate users, and prompt them to care about wildlife and wilderness. However, the ethical consideration of design has largely ignored representations of the environment, especially as it may intersect with facilitating care for wilderness and wildlife that is experiencing the effects of habitat destruction and environmental degradation. This project begins developing a critical discussion of how wilderness and wildlife are selectively created through CGI by asking two research questions: What kinds of relationships are facilitated between users and representations of wildlife by designing around photography in AR and VR? and How can these designs be revised or leveraged for more beneficial environmental communication through care ethics? To answer my research questions, I use methods from game studies and a methodological lens informed by care ethics, new materialism, and feminist materialism. My results show that these apps facilitate an underdeveloped researcher/subject and patron/recipient roles. In answering my second research question, I craft three approaches for applying care ethics: 1) designing based on performances, 2) modeling behavior, and 3) engaging in a reflective photographic review process. This dissertation attempts to support the rewilding of media, which helps people reconnect (rewild) with (other) forms of wildlife and wilderness

Communicating Increased Salinity in the St. Johns River

Poster presented at the 2024 DHI showcase

Wetland Walk VR: Field Ecology in Northeast Florida

Join Field Ecologists of the University of North Florida as they begin to monitor the water in swamps and marshes. In this virtual reality experience you will walk through places that are normally too dangerous or harmful to visit, learning about life in these places, how we study it, and how you may connect to it

WildAR Northeast Florida

Learn about some of the unique aspects of life in the wetlands and rivers of Northeast Florida and how we study them. In this app players see the memories of a student at the University of North Florida play out in front of them in AR. This app was created with funding the Digital Humanities Institute at the University of North Florida and informed by subject matter experts at the university

Daily Exposure to Virtual Nature Reduces Symptoms of Anxiety in College Students

Dataset and R scripts accompanying manuscript submitted to Scientific Reports by Matthew H. E. M. Browning and co-authors. Paper evaluated the impact of 3 to 4 week doses of daily virtual nature on college student's anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as ruminative thinking

Efficacy of virtual reality assisted guided imagery (VRAGI) in a home setting for pain management in patients with advanced cancer: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Patients with advanced cancer often experience high levels of debilitating pain and pain-related psychological distress. Although there is increasing evidence that non-pharmacological interventions are needed to manage their pain, pharmacologic modalities remain the preferred treatment . Guided imagery is a form of focused relaxation that helps create harmony between the mind and body and has been shown to significantly improve cancer pain. Our study presents Virtual Reality Assisted Guided Imagery (VRAGI) as a complementary treatment modality to manage chronic pain in patients with cancer. We will conduct a randomised controlled trial to test its impact on patients with advanced cancer in a home setting.Methods and analysis We will recruit 80 patients from Prisma Health, a tertiary-level healthcare centre based in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. The prospective 2×2 randomised controlled trial will randomise participants into four groups: (1) VRAGI, (2) laptop-assisted guided imagery, (3) VR (no guided imagery) and (4) laptop (no guided imagery). Patients allocated to VR groups will be trained to use a head-mounted display that immerses them in 3D audio–video content. The non-VR group will use a laptop displaying 2D video content. We will collect measures before and during the 3-week intervention as well as 3 weeks after the intervention ends. Measures will include patient-reported outcomes of pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue in addition to opioid use. The primary objective of the current study is to assess the efficacy of VRAGI on pain in the home setting. The secondary objective is to assess the efficacy of VRAGI on opioid use, anxiety, depression and fatigue.Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the Prisma Health Institutional Review Board (#Pro00114598) in November 2021. All participants enrolled in the study will provide written informed consent. Dissemination will be through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.Trial registration number NCT05348174, clinicaltrials.gov

Daily exposure to virtual nature reduces symptoms of anxiety in college students

Exposure to natural environments offers an array of mental health benefits. Virtual reality provides simulated experiences of being in nature when outdoor access is limited. Previous studies on virtual nature have focused mainly on single doses of virtual nature. The effects of repeated exposure remain poorly understood. Motivated by this gap, we studied the influence of a daily virtual nature intervention on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and an underlying cause of poor mental health: rumination. Forty college students (58% non-Hispanic White, median age = 19) were recruited from two U.S. universities and randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Over several weeks, anxious arousal (panic) and anxious apprehension (worry) decreased with virtual nature exposure. Participants identifying as women, past VR users, experienced with the outdoors, and engaged with the beauty in nature benefited particularly strongly from virtual nature. Virtual nature did not help symptoms of anhedonic depression or rumination. Further research is necessary to distinguish when and for whom virtual nature interventions impact mental health outcomes