THEMATIC CONFERENCE - IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES, AUGMENTED REALITY, VIRTUAL REALITY, CO-ORGANIZED WITH THE AFXR ASSOCIATION
Immersive technologies, augmented reality, virtual reality
Thursday 30th January : 9h30-11h00 Soufflot room
For several decades now, immersive technologies (virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality) have appeared in places of cultural and heritage mediation. 
But if so far it was more yhe work of expert or very specific and rare team, we are now, perhaps, attending the emergence of mass deployments such accessible these technologies have become.
The accessibility of “interaction devices” (VR headsets, smartphones with RA capabilities) is of course the first factor of democratization: it takes a container for a content to live.
In terms of content, the major video game engines (Unity and Unreal Engine) now offer an entire ecosystem of agencies of experience designers and other studios, the opportunity, at zero cost, to develop immersive experiences.
But it is not enough to have access to technologies to make the user experience successful, and the place or territory of mediation to claim success.
First of all, immersive technologies require a real mastery of human factors, even the understanding of the brain and the conditions associated with the emergence of the feeling of presence.
Then you have to worry about the economic models. As long as equipment dedicated to museographic experiments will not appear, such as audioguides in their time, the major cost of exploiting Virtual Reality content will remain very high, as of a dedicated mediation team.
The aim of this “masterclass” is to demystify the field of immersive technologies, to draw up a concrete state of the art of the opportunities available to cultural and heritage sites, but also, and above all, to understand stakes and embrace the perspectives.