OCAD University Open Research Repository

Telling Stories in the Dark: A Feminist Thinks With Virtual Reality

Connell-Whitney, Lauren (2020) Telling Stories in the Dark: A Feminist Thinks With Virtual Reality. Masters thesis, OCAD University.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Connell-Whitney, Lauren
Abstract:

This work explores how women can share knowledge through storytelling in the virtual space using a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, to understand how spaces of quiet and being alone, like one might experience in a virtual reality headset can allow for reflective and generative knowledge sharing. Here and in a VR space I created, I share my own stories of how feminism has shaped my life, using storytelling to examine why we might place importance on personal reflection as a form of cultural growth. The VR space, Aspasias, functions as a pilot project to bring these stories into the virtual space to share them with others. Aspasias uses a rhizomatic structure as a cue to navigate through the complexity and multiplicity of knowledge that makes its way into the shape of a story. My hypothesis is that the qualities of presence and immersion in VR can enhance the telling of a story and that the use of a headset as a form of sensory concentration (or some might say, deprivation) can allow for the user to reflect on the story differently than one might in a non-virtual space. The findings of this research contribute to how we might think of VR as a space for reflective (un)learning through personal narrative and how story can make its way into the virtual commons.

Official URL: https://tellingstoriesinthedark.format.com/
Date: 3 April 2020
Uncontrolled Keywords: Virtual Reality, Feminism, Storytelling, Generativity, Personal Narrative, Rhizomatic Learning, Auto-Ethnography, Research-Creation, Feminist Entrepreneurship.
Divisions: Graduate Studies > Digital Futures
Date Deposited: 12 May 2020 03:12
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2021 21:15
URI: https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/3013

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