{"id":94932,"date":"2025-02-05T16:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=94932"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:00","slug":"360-degree-videos-engaging","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/360-degree-videos-engaging\/","title":{"rendered":"360-Degree Videos Are Making Social Issues and Educational Content More Engaging for Canadians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n 360-Degree Videos Are Making Social Issues and Educational Content More Engaging for Canadians\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria (Vicky) McArthur<\/a> is a professor of journalism and communication at Carleton University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Immersive film using virtual reality (VR) or 360-degree video is being used increasingly as a tool for eliciting empathy and emotional identification in fact-based stories. Unlike traditional flat film, immersive films allow viewers to look in any direction while watching the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This immersive quality is what makes these films such an intriguing medium. Nearly a decade ago, American filmmaker Chris Milk described VR as the “ultimate empathy machine”<\/a> because it can fully immerse viewers in another person’s environment and perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sentiment has been echoed by VR journalism pioneer Nonny de la Pe\u00f1a<\/a>, whose early work explored the unique storytelling characteristics<\/a> of the medium. Her first VR film, Hunger in Los Angeles<\/em><\/a>, was the first VR documentary to be showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film depicts a diabetic man collapsing outside a food bank due to low blood sugar. Viewers reported feeling a great deal of empathy for the man, with some reaching out to try and help him<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2015<\/a>, YouTube launched support for publishing and viewing 360-degree videos. Today, anyone can film and share 360-degree video content using commercially available cameras<\/a>, expanding the possibilities for storytelling and audience engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of 360-degree videos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Countless content creators, filmmakers and journalists have produced immersive content using these cameras. In 2016, for instance, CBC produced Highway of Tears<\/em><\/a>, a short 360-degree video about 16-year-old Ramona Wilson, a young Indigenous woman from the Gitxsan Nation who disappeared along Highway 16 near Prince George, B.C., in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBC has produced other 360-degree videos to highlight real-world challenges and experiences, including Ice Rescue from the Victim’s Perspective<\/em><\/a> and Accessibility Advocate Shows What It’s Like to Use a Wheelchair in Winter<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n