This essay has been writen as an assignment for the course ISKM09 Librarian English (Angličtina pro informační studia a knihovnictví).
Lischer-Katz, Z. (2020). Archiving experience: an exploration of the challenges of preserving virtual reality. Records Management Journal, 30(2), 253–274. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj-09-2019-0054
This paper deals with the issue of archiving virtual reality with practices of digital curation. The emphasis is put on the current practices we can use to preserve the experience of virtual reality for the future.
In the past we have seen how thanks to new technology humankind found new ways to preserve knowledge for future generations. The question of knowledge preservation, which was solved by the invention of libraries and archives, is still present in the contemporary world, concerning our new technologies like virtual reality (VR). My goal in the following essay is to take a closer look at the issue of VR preservation through the lens of digital curation practices.
We must consider VR as a combination of both hardware and software technology and files, allowing users to experience 3D representations of the world (Lischer-Katz, Z., 2020). The process of preservation of VR thus must consider all of those parts, even though Lischer-Katz (2020) argues that the most pressing issue is to preserve the files. The typical librarian method we can use for VR files is the migration, which means that we change files into another type of file so new technology may open this file.
Even though file preservation might be the most important issue, we must consider changes of file with the emphasis on the newest hardware – which means mostly the headset and its controllers. Each new generation of VR hardware is aiming to develop a better way in which the user is able to move in the virtual environment and each program is heavily bound to the controllers which are available to its developer.
In the question of user motion we must think about motion sickness connected to VR, which might become an issue while migrating files for the newest hardware.
I have found interesting that the debate over VR brought another question about recorded knowledge (Lischer-Katz, Z., 2020):
“Looking to VR can help us rethink how records are experienced, not just as intellectual content to be processed, but materials that users actively engage with.”
VR as a technology is heavily bound to experience, as Lischer-Katz (2020) claims. We experience virtual reality throughout technology and the experience can be equally universal and shared as well as deeply personal. We can see many educational programs and materials in VR as well as video games in the format of virtual reality. The task of preserving the experience is crucial.
Even if VR will not become the most important technology of the 21st century, we must take care of its preservation for future generations, as the previous guarded their knowledge for us, because knowledge is the key to the future.
References
Lischer-Katz, Z. (2020). Archiving experience: an exploration of the challenges of preserving virtual reality. Records Management Journal, 30(2), 253–274. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj-09-2019-0054
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