Virtual Reality in Los Angeles

I spent 2018 in Los Angeles doing anthropological fieldwork for my current research on virtual reality. I chose LA because I'm interested in whether the place where a technology is being developed matters. Is VR - and conversations about VR - different in LA then, say, NYC or Silicon Valley? How do places shape the story of tech? During the year, I took classes, shadowed VR work at Hollywood production companies and scrappy startups, attended events, dug through archives, and got to know LA.

(Very) preliminary thoughts on this research were published by Anthropology News in November 2018: Greetings from Silicon Beach!

Marisa Brandt and I wrote about VR Science Fiction over here.

This research was funded by an NSF Scholars Award (#1656023).