Skip to main content
Voices of VR Podcast
  • Categories
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Patreon
Voices of VR Podcast
  • Menu

Community

293 episodes
  • Gathering (79)
  • Social VR (78)
  • Culture (51)
  • Social Change (49)
  • Metaverse (28)
  • BIPOC (23)
  • Virtual Event (20)
  • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (17)
  • Rituals (13)
  • Awards (13)
  • Politics (11)
  • Virtual Beings (8)
  • Feminism (3)
  • Community of Practice (2)
Liz Hyman moderating a group discussion about public policy during a breakout session at XR Access Symposium

#1228: XR Accessibility and Public Policy with XR Association’s Liz Hyman

by kentbyeJuly 13, 2023

Liz Hyman President and the CEO of the XR Association (XRA), which is a non-profit, industry trade association representing 47 XR companies including major players like Meta, Google, Microsoft, HTC, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Unity, and HTC...

Play episode
Screenshot of the XR Access home page that reads "A community committed to making virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (XR) accessible to people with disabilities."

#1227: Journey of Making XR Accessible with XR Access COO Dylan Fox

by kentbyeJuly 12, 2023

Dylan Fox is the Director of Operations for the XR Access Initiative, where he focuses on outreach and advocacy for making virtual and augmented reality accessible for people who have disabilities. I previously interviewed Fox for the white paper on...

Play episode
Picture of Reginé Gilbert next an image of her book that's titled "Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind"

#1224: Towards XR Accessibility Heuristics via Principles of Universal Design with Reginé Gilbert

by kentbyeJuly 12, 2023

Reginé Gilbert is the author of the book Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind, and teaches at the New York University in the Tandon School of Engineering. She has been teaching UX for nearly a decade now, and is...

Play episode
Picture of Shiri Azenkot and Dylan Fox on stage at the end of the XR Access Symposium with a slide thanking people and giving links to more info

#1222: Kickoff of XR Accessibility Series with XR Access Co-Founder Shiri Azenkot

by kentbyeJuly 12, 2023

This is the first of fifteen in a Voices of VR podcast series on XR Accessibility based upon my coverage from the XR Access Symposium 2023 that happened in New York City on June 15th and 16th. I’m kicking off my 8 hours of coverage with an...

Play episode
Picture of Wagner James Au next to his book titled "Making a Metaverse that Matters."

#1221: Wagner James Au’s Book “Making a Metaverse that Matters” Shares 20 Years of Virtual World Insights

by kentbyeJune 21, 2023

Wagner James Au‘s latest book Making a Metaverse that Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to A Virtual World Worth Fighting For releases on June 27 after the 20th anniversary of Second Life is on June 23, 2023. Au started as an embedded...

Play episode
Cover graphic and branding for the Tribeca Festival running from June 7-18, 2023

#1220: Tribeca Immersive 2023 Preview with Curator Ana Brzezińska

by kentbyeJune 7, 2023

I had a chance to speak with Tribeca Immersive curator Ana Brzezińska to break down each one of this year’s selection of 13 immersive stories. I’ll be in NYC from June 7-16th covering the festival, and so stay tuned for more coverage...

Play episode
Picture of Norman Cook's avatar riding a bomb in the sky with clouds in the background ala Dr Strangelove style. It's from FatBoy Slim's virtual concert in EngageVR

#1215: Fatboy Slim’s Groundbreaking & Trippy VR Concert on EngageXR

by kentbyeMay 30, 2023

Engage XR produced a 45-minute “Eat Sleep VR Repeat” – Immersive Metaverse Concert in collaboration with Fatboy Slim’s Norman Cook that showed in a limited screening on March 30, 2023. It was an incredibly, mind-bending and groundbreaking VR concert...

Play episode
Picture of HTC announcements happening within a virtual auditorium with dozens of avatars in the EngageVR platform

#1214: History of Engage XR’s Education & Communications Platform

by kentbyeMay 30, 2023

The Engage XR platform holds a mix of different types of gatherings in VR ranging from educational meetings, corporate communications, and virtual events and conferences. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, then HTC started holding a number of...

Play episode
Poster image of Reeducated VR story shows a top down image of an animated man with hands raised wearing handcuffs and reads "Inside Xinjiang's secret detention camps"

#1212: Breakdown of Award-Winning “Reeducated” VR Doc & Translation into Interactive Component of Yorker Article on Chinese Prison Camps

by kentbyeMay 12, 2023

The immersive documentary Reeducated won a Peabody Award as well as the Outstanding Interactive Media winner of the New Approaches category of the New & Documentary Emmy in 2022. I had a chance to record this interview with the co-directors Ben Mauk...

Play episode
Image of a giant chess board in a virtual space that shows a social media friends list on the right-hand side where you can track and join friends in virtual spaces

#1210: Adding a Social Graph to the Open Metaverse with Immers Space’s ActivityPub Integration

by kentbyeMay 4, 2023

Immers Space implements the ActivityPub open standard in order to add a federated social graph to the open Metaverse. I had a chance to try a prototype back in December 2022 where I went from a modified Mozilla Hubs WebXR space (that had the Immers...

Play episode
Flowchart from the Khronos Group showing how to get better metaverse standards sooner.

#1209: Metaverse Standards Forum Update on Working Groups & Incorporating as a Non-Profit Industry Consortium

by kentbyeApril 18, 2023

The Metaverse Standards Forum announced today that they are “incorporated as an independent non-profit industry consortium.” The Khronos Group has been financially bootstrapping the Metaverse Standards Forum’s efforts to see if there was enough...

Play episode
Branding graphic for SXSW 2023 with the dates March 10-19

#1208: 2023 SXSW Immersive Recap and Highlights with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

In my final SXSW interview, I had a chance to catch up with SXSW Immersive Programmer Blake Kammerdiener to do a retrospective look at this year’s program, some of the challenges for VR exhibition, his design intentions for how to intermingle the...

Play episode
Picture of Dennis Lisk on stage at SXSW wearing a VR headset and controlling virtual knobs as he plays a live DJ set using The District VR software.

#1206: The District VR Enables Professional DJs to Play Live Social VR Gigs without Mixer Hardware

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

Another World VR developers Ioulia Isserlis and Max Sacker thought it was a prank when German Hip Hop legend Dennis Lisk (aka Denyo) reached out via email to collaborate on developing a social VR and a completely virtualized live DJ performance...

Play episode
Screenshot of the Finding WiiLii VRChat world based upon a South Korean city with one actor avatar and three participants

#1204: Blending Open World Exploration with VR Immersive Theatre Drama with “Find WiiLii” in International Collaboration with GiiOii Immersive Studio and Ferryman Collective

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

The Ferryman Collective were back at SXSW presenting another immersive theatre piece in virtual reality, but this time they were translating an adapted a piece called Find WiiLii that was originally produced in South Korea by GiiÖii Immersive Studio...

Play episode
Screenshot of Body of Mine VR shows a person standing in front of a radiant light while surrounded by inner guts parts and bones of a giant body.

#1203: “Body of Mine VR” Uses Full-Body Tracking Embodiment to Explore Gender Dysphoria & Transgender Testimonies

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

Body of Mine VR won a special jury prize for the SXSW Immersive Competition for it’s potent use of virtual embodiment to explore gender dysphoria and testimonies from a number of different transgender folks. Director Cameron Kostopoulos leaned upon...

Play episode
Three mobile phone screenshots showing speculative future video segments from the Concensus Gentium cinematic AR piece.

#1193: Phone-based Interactive Story “Consensus Gentium” Takes Top SXSW Prize for Chilling Speculative Worldbuilding Exploring AI Bias, Surveillance, & Biometric Agency

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

Consensus Gentium is took him the Grand Jury prize for SXSW Immersive 2023, and it’s the most immersive phone-based experience that I’ve ever had. The Latin title translated means that “If everyone believes it, it must be true,” and it’s a near-term...

Play episode
Picture of the AltSpaceVR funeral and eulogy showing an AltSpaceVR avatar within a coffin. Juxtaposed next to an AltSpaceVR avatar profile pic for Athena Demos

#1192: The Last Moments of AltspaceVR, Athena Demos’ Eulogy & Retrospective Journey into Social VR

by kentbyeApril 3, 2023

AltSpaceVR closed it’s doors for the second time on March 10th, 2023 at 10:08pm, and Athena Demos was there to bear witness to it all until the very last moments. She shared an eulogy again that she had first shared during The Polys livestream, and...

Play episode
Poster for MLK: Now is the Time VR doc showing a picture of Martin Luther King over a virtual recreation of the Lincoln Monument pool with points of light representing people

#1187: “MLK: Now is the Time” Brilliantly Translates Dr. King’s Speech into Embodied Interactions & Spatial Metaphors

by kentbyeApril 2, 2023

MLK: Now is the Time was originally released on the Meta Quest platform on January 12, 2023, and was selected to show at SXSW as a part of the 2023 XR Experience Spotlight. It’s master class of immersive storytelling and a brilliant use of the...

Play episode
Image of an Chinese avatar singing a virtual concert next to a floating box hovering over a field of grass with a giant illuminated circle around it.

#1186: Chinese Ecosystem for Immersive Stories, VAST Platform, & Neo-Wulin Immersive Music Experience

by kentbyeApril 2, 2023

I had a chance to catch up with Eddie Lou, who is the Founder of Sandman Studios and Director of Sandbox Immersive Festival that’s based in China. I get an update as to what’s happening with the Chinese ecosystem for immersive stories...

Play episode
Cover image of the Existing Law and Extended Reality Symposium that happened at the Stanford Cyberpolicy Center that shows Brittan Heller wearing a PSVR 1 headset with controllers.

#1175: Highlights of Existing Law & Extended Reality Symposium at Stanford Law’s Cyberpolicy Center with Organizer Brittan Heller

by kentbyeMarch 7, 2023

There was an Existing Law and Extended Reality: A Research Symposium held at Stanford Law School on Friday, January 6th, 2023, that brought together legal scholars, industry experts, civil society researchers, and academics to look at how immersive...

Play episode
Cover of Martins & Wolfe's book titled "Metaversed: See Beyond the Hype"

#1172: “Metaversed: See Beyond the Hype” Book Interview with Luis Bravo Martins and Samantha G. Wolfe

by kentbyeFebruary 7, 2023

There's a new book about the future potentials of challenges of the Metaverse called "Metaversed: See Beyond the Hype" by Luis Bravo Martins (CMO Kit AR) and Samantha G. Wolfe (Founder of PitchFWD) that is releasing today, February 7th, 2023. It's...

Play episode
Logo for the XR for All Foundation

#1171: XR Association Updates on XR for All Foundation DEI Effort, Tech Policy, & Accessibility

by kentbyeFebruary 2, 2023

On November 1st, 2022 the XR Association (XRA) trade association for VR, AR, and Mixed Reality companies announced the formation of the XR for All Foundation at XRA’s Limitless Future Conference. The press release says, “The XR for All Foundation’s...

Play episode
Picture of the opening of the IDFA DocLab R&D Summit taken from the balcony showing a theatre full of people in the audience listening to a women on stage speaking.

#1169: IDFA DocLab Founder Caspar Sonnen Reflects on 2022 Program, Industry Trends, and Distribution Challenges

by kentbyeDecember 22, 2022

In my final interview from IDFA DocLab 2022, I had a chance to catch up with DocLab founder Caspar Sonnen to reflect on the 2022 program and the ecological points made by the piece Okawari, to comment on the “Nervous System” in this...

Play episode
Purple-tinted screen cap for "Mission 10 Hours" VR story showing an overhead shot two virtual characters in a bathroom scene.

#1167: Countering the Bystander Effect of Drug-Induced Sexual Assaults with Interactive Narrative “Missing 10 Hours VR”

by kentbyeDecember 22, 2022

Missing 10 Hours VR is an interactive immersive narrative designed to counter the bystander effect by recreating different social dynamics and peer pressure as your virtual friend attempts to spike a woman’s drink with a date rape drug GHB and then...

Play episode

#1163: Live XR Performance Experiments with ONX Studios and DocLab Motion Capture Stage at IDFA 2022

by kentbyeDecember 22, 2022

The ONX + DocLab MoCap Stage at IDFA DocLab 2022 featured a number of experimental XR performances using a high-end OptiTrack – Motion Capture System within a theatrical stage with a screen that was projecting the virtual representations. Each of...

Play episode

#1161: The Many Immersive Documentary Innovations of “In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats:” Winner of IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2022

In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is a landmark immersive documentary that seamlessly integrates so many different immersive storytelling techniques and XR modalities earning it the IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction. You’re transported back...

Play episode

#1160: Interview with MIT Co-Creation Studio’s Book Authors of “Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media with Equity and Justice”

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2022

The book Collective Wisdom: Co-creating Media for Equity and Justice by the MIT Co-Creation Studio founder Kat Cizek & MIT Open DocLab founder William Uricchio was the named as the recommended book of 2022 by IDFA. They held a launch party during...

Play episode

#1157: Capturing the Digital Culture of a Virtual Help Desk for the Elderly in “New Update Available – Version 2.1”

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2022

New Update Available – Version 2.1 is a VR installation piece that blends contemporary audio documentary recordings of computer help sessions for the elderly, but then recreates these characters in VR within a speculative future where elders...

Play episode

1156: Winner of IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award “He Fucked the Girl Out of Me” Explores Trauma in 2D Retro Game Walking Simulator

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2022

Taylor McCue’s He Fucked the Girl Out of Me (play for free on itch.io) won the IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award at DocLab 2022. It is a deeply personal story and powerful exploration of shame and trauma that uses a unique blend of retro 2D...

Play episode

#1154: Visualizing Melting Glaciers in 360 Video Story in “Once a Glacier” + Mixing Motion Capture Dance and Indigenous Poetry

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2022

Once a Glacier is a 360 video that visualizes the before and after a glacier melts over the course of a single human life time. Director Jiabao then expanded this piece as a part of a live motion capture dance performance that showed at The ONX +...

Play episode

#1153: Imagining the Future of a 15-year old in 30 years in “Horizon” One-on-One Immersive Theater Piece

by kentbyeDecember 12, 2022

Horizon is a one-on-one immersive theater piece where an audience member is asked a series of questions by a 15-year old to imagine their future 30 years from now in 2052. It ends up being a world building exercise where the audience has to create...

Play episode

#1152: Provoking Deeper Questions about the Ecological Sustainability of XR Tech with “Okawari VR”

by kentbyeDecember 12, 2022

This episode kicks off my 18-episode coverage from International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) DocLab, which features the latest innovations of immersive storytelling from the documentary community. Okawari VR is an immersive experience...

Play episode

#1151: Shooting an Immersive Doc the War on Ukraine’s Culture with NowHere Media

by kentbyeDecember 1, 2022

You Destroy. We Create: The War on Ukraine’s Culture is a 360-video documentary by NowHere Media & Meta’s VR for Good that was released on Meta Quest TV on November 30th. Shot over the course of 2 weeks and a distance of 4000 kilometers by co...

Play episode

#1150: Innerworld VR: Scaling Peer-to-Peer Counseling & Mental Health Interventions in Social VR

by kentbyeNovember 10, 2022

Noah Robinson’s Inner World launches today on the Quest Store after slowly cultivating an engaged peer-to-peer counseling community that is providing affordable mental health interventions across multiple social VR and 2D platforms on Mac, PC & iOS...

Play episode

#1149: Adding Interactivity to glTF via Node Graph-Based Extension as a Step Towards an Open Metaverse

by kentbyeNovember 9, 2022

The Khronos Group published a blog announcement on November 3rd titled, “Deliver Interactive Experiences with glTF: A Node Graph-Based Approach,” which is adding an interactive extension called KHR_Behaviors to glTF (the *.jpg format for 3D objects)...

Play episode

#1145: Wrap-up of Meta Connect with 4 Immersive Journalists: Meta Quest Pro Impressions & Meta Reality Labs Research Demos

by kentbyeOctober 16, 2022

Meta Connect happened this past week on October 11th where Meta announced the Meta Quest Pro, and also released quite a lot of interesting information about their future strategies. I participated in a panel discussion with 3 other immersive...

Play episode

#1143: VRChat World Builder Fins and his 3 Experiences in Venice Immersive 2022: “Treasure Heist,” “Magic Heist,” and “District Roboto”

by kentbyeOctober 11, 2022

VRChat world builder Fins had 3 experiences in Venice Immersive 2022 with one in competition (Treasure Heist), and two in the Worlds Gallery (Magic Heist and District Roboto). Fins comes from an illustration and concept artist background, and so...

Play episode

#1141: Venice Immersive VRChat Worlds Gallery Producer Mike Salmon on Curating the Frontiers of DIY World Building

by kentbyeOctober 11, 2022

Mike Salmon is the producer of the VRChat Worlds Gallery at Venice Immersive, which means that the scouts out potential worlds, helps track down potential events to feature, and coordinates all of the physical and virtual docents who helping to...

Play episode

#1140: “Fight Back:” Teaching Women Self-Defense Through Interactive Narrative + Hand-Tracking Challenges

by kentbyeOctober 11, 2022

Fight Back is an interactive narrative that is aiming to help teach the broad movements of self-defense to women. There were five different levels showing at Venice Immersive where you learn a new hand motion that’s detected via hand tracking. The...

Play episode

#1136: “Reimagined” Quill Anthology Animation Series Creates New Fairy Tales with Female Protagonists

by kentbyeOctober 11, 2022

Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa uses Quill to tell the fairy tale story of a young woman on a mission to find her friend, and there’s a lot of stylized camera movements that adds a cinematic quality to a spatial story that’s otherwise pretty theatrically...

Play episode

#1132: Using Group Discussions & Voting on Moral Dilemmas to Tell Buddhist Stories in “Mandala”

by kentbyeOctober 10, 2022

Mandala: A Brief Moment in Time is an immersive theater experience for 3-6 people that uses group discussions to tell different stories from Buddhism around the themes of suffering, happiness, hungry ghosts, & living the good life. There's a moral...

Play episode

#1131: Unpacking Taiwan’s Immersive Storytelling Innovations with Taiwan Creative Content Agency & Kaohsiung Film Festival

by kentbyeOctober 10, 2022

Two of my favorite experiences at Venice Immersive this year were from Taiwan, All That Remains and The Man Who Couldn't Leave, which took the top jure prize this year. Red Tail was another animated piece from Taiwan that was selected for...

Play episode

#1129: XRMust is Building the IMDB of VR & Covering the Immersive Story Industry

by kentbyeOctober 10, 2022

XRMust is part online magazine covering the immersive storytelling industry through news and interviews, but it’s in process of aggregating thousands of immersive stories into a database that have been showing on the festival circuit (with a...

Play episode

#1121: Venice Immersive 2022 Competition Recap: 30+ Reviews of Immersive Stories

by kentbyeSeptember 12, 2022

Venice Immersive 2022 featured 30 immersive stories in competition with some of the fiercest competition yet. I’m joined by Pola Weiß to break down, analyze, & critique each one of the 30 experiences in competition starting with the three winners:...

Play episode

#1120: Kevin Mack’s Procedural Worldbuilding VRChat in for Venice Immersive Competition

by kentbyeAugust 31, 2022

Kevin Mack is a virtual reality artist who creates abstract and surreal art, and his first VRChat world called NAMUANKI has been selected as one of the 30 projects in competition at Venice Immersive. You take a tour through some of his organic...

Play episode

#1119: Venice Immersive Preview with Co-Curators + Expanded VRChat World Gallery Exhibition

by kentbyeAugust 29, 2022

I get an overview of the Venice Immersive festival that's taking place from September 1st to 10th with co-curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac. There are 75 total experiences with 30 experiences in competition, 10 project in Best Of Immersive...

Play episode

#1118: Getting 4000 Users on a Single Virtual World Instance with RP1’s Network Architecture

by kentbyeAugust 29, 2022

I got a demo of RP1's single shard with 4000 users in mid-July, and then chatted with 3 team members in August to unpack their journey towards creating a scalable network architecture for the Metaverse. Their demo was built on WebXR, but it could be...

Play episode

#1117: Deconstructing “Voxels (formerly Cryptovoxels)”: Virtual Land Speculation & the Experiential Gap of Crypto-Based Metaverse Neighborhoods

by kentbyeAugust 5, 2022

Virtual land speculation within cryptocurrency-based Metaverse platforms has gone from boom to bust over the past couple of years. I sat down to do a deep dive with the Voxels platform (formerly Cryptovoxels) founder Ben Nolan to interrogate the...

Play episode

#1115: Using Multi-Sensory, AR Storytelling at the Mary Rose Cultural Heritage Museum with “Time Detectives AR”

by kentbyeJuly 25, 2022

Time Detectives AR by Picture This Productions is a site-specific AR trail experience meant to be seen at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, UK, but you can also experience it remotely as a table-top experience at home. Time Detectives AR asks...

Play episode

#1114: Capturing the Lore & Spirit of a Place with the “Living Cities” Digital Twin XR Start-Up

by kentbyeJuly 22, 2022

Living Cities is a digital twin XR startup announced on May 26th, 2022 with an article titled 'Reality is Scarce...and The Metaverse is infinitely abundant.' that shares a list of '9 principles for connecting the real & virtual.' The founders of...

Play episode
Load More
  • Listen on:
  • Apple
  • Spotify
  • Android
  • Pandora
  • iHeart Radio
  • Stitcher
  • by Email
  • RSS
Support the podcast, become a patron!
Link to Patreon Page
  • About Voices of VR
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
Link to About Page

Voices of VR is Created by Kent Bye · Copyright 2025 · All rights reserved

Voices of VR Podcast

Menu

  • Categories
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Patreon
    • Listen on:
    • Apple
    • Spotify
    • Android
    • Pandora
    • iHeart Radio
    • Stitcher
    • by Email
    • RSS
  • Share this
    FacebookXRedditEmail