Immersive Storytelling as a Technology, a Practice, and an Experience

Abstract

This thematic issue explores the transformative potential and challenges of immersive storytelling through extended technologies. While these technologies have been hailed as potential “empathy machines” that will encourage perspective-taking and understanding of others, they have also been critiqued for being distracting or engaging in identity tourism. Essays in this collection further demonstrated the complexities of extended reality storytelling. Collectively, these essays reflect ongoing dialogues about the efficacy of extended reality in conveying meaningful narratives, urging a nuanced understanding of technology’s role in storytelling. This collection serves as a catalyst for future explorations into where and how to craft immersive narratives for impact.

Keywords

• augmented reality
• empathy
• extended reality
• participatory design
• virtual reality