虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)的正面應(yīng)用案例

索爾·羅杰斯

The use cases of virtual reality （VR） expand each day. It never fails to amaze me how powerful and versatile1 the medium is.

Here are just some examples of how this immersive medium is being put to good use.

Raising donations

Inspired by the bravery and courage of the incredible children fighting cancer at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital， VR for Good2， Facebook， and St. Jude came together to create a VR experience that celebrates the real stories of survivors of childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Created by BBDO3 and developed by Flight School4， St. Jude Hall of Heroes is intended to help raise donations by giving donors the chance to see where their money goes and the people that it helps. The project uses VR as a storytelling and empathy machine.

The experience is set on floating islands， each island has towering statues （heroism in battle is traditionally marked with a statue） that represent St. Jude patients and their stories. Users can walk up to these statues and hear from the patient about his or her fight against illness.

Relieving pain during childbirth

A small study has suggested that expectant mothers who use a calming virtual reality experience during labor could see their pain levels reduced. In a half-hour test conducted by Dr. Melissa Wong， an obstetrician-gynecologist5 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles， participants were asked to score the pain level of their contractions6 on a scale of 1-10. Those who used the VR headsets with the “Labor Bliss” visualization for up to 30 minutes during contractions reported an average reduction in pain of 0.52， whereas those who didnt wear the headsets experienced a pain increase of 0.58.

While this is a small study， it does pave the way for offering the technology as an alternative to other pain relievers during childbirth.

Training for high-risk situations

Doctors and nurses in the emergency room （ER） work in a high pressure， high-stress environment， which sometimes involves making critical decisions. These emergency， low frequency， high stakes procedures are “l(fā)ife or death” cases and require a highly-skilled， highly experienced doctor. However， because of their relative rarity， the expertise7 needed is difficult to acquire.

Medical professionals have traditionally trained on mannequins8 and cadavers9， however， this method of training cannot fully replicate the other pressures that come into play10 in a real emergency. Two doctors from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles （CHLA） teamed up with AiSolve and Bioflight VR to address this issue， by creating a virtual trauma room11 that more accurately represents how real-life emergencies may play out.

Within the experience， doctors are debriefed12 by the Emergency Medical Technicians （EMTs） on the patients condition， then they have to check vital signs， assess medication and carry out the best course of action. This is all done under a time constraint—as with a real emergency—so it requires doctors to focus and keep calm under pressure. This training tool enables trainee doctors13 to prepare for the real thing， without the fear of failure and its consequences.

Educating on racial bias

REM5， a virtual reality Lab in St Louis Park， Minnesota is using the power of immersive technology to allow students， teachers， artists， and community groups explore subjects such as racial and gender bias.

Amir Berenjian， the Co-Founder of REM5， explained， “We want to use virtual reality for good. We dont ever want to view VR as a solution， but rather as a tool for this work. The real work comes when the headset comes off.”

As part of diversity and inclusion training， REM5 put around 800 Cargill employees through the New York Times 360-degree video documentary， “Traveling While Black”. The documentary gives users an immersive experience on the challenges black people in America still face to this day. Viewers are taken on an emotional journey where they meet various African Americans and hear their first-hand experiences with racism， told through interviews and poetic cinematic recreations.

Feedback from users has been very encouraging， with many noting how much more impactful it is to experience a documentary in 360-degrees， rather than simply watching it on a TV screen.

Breaking barriers in the transgender community

Authentically Us—the first documentary VR series from Facebook and Oculus—allows viewers to step into the lives of three transgender activists who are smashing glass ceilings14 and taking action to make communities safer for LGBTQ+ people15 everywhere. Users follow Aiden Crawford， Shannon Scott， and Acton Seibel in a 360-degree video as they campaign to change legislation， raise awareness， and challenge politics.

Over three episodes， viewers come face to face with the everyday challenges a transgender person faces to live free and equal， through the viewpoints of three transgender identities： transmasculine， transfeminine and gender non-binary16.

Authentically Us has， at its core， a powerful message： those who identify outside of the gender binary are everyday people who have always been a part of our communities.

虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)（VR）的應(yīng)用案例與日俱增，這種功能強(qiáng)大、用途廣泛的工具總能讓我感到驚奇。

以下介紹幾個(gè)利用這種沉浸式媒介的正面案例。

募捐

圣祖德兒童研究醫(yī)院中一群了不起的孩子在抗癌中表現(xiàn)得勇敢無(wú)畏，受此啟發(fā)，VR for Good、臉書(shū)和圣祖德醫(yī)院聯(lián)合創(chuàng)建了一款VR場(chǎng)景體驗(yàn)，歌頌這些患癌兒童及其他致命疾病幸存者的真實(shí)故事。

為了幫助募捐，由BBDO制作、Flight School開(kāi)發(fā)的名為“圣祖德英雄堂”的VR場(chǎng)景體驗(yàn)，給捐款人提供了一種途徑，讓他們能夠清楚捐款的流向和所幫助的人。該項(xiàng)目利用VR進(jìn)行故事敘述，激發(fā)人們產(chǎn)生共情。

該VR體驗(yàn)的場(chǎng)景設(shè)在浮島上，每座島上都有數(shù)座高聳的雕像（通常用來(lái)紀(jì)念戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上的英勇表現(xiàn)），代表著圣祖德醫(yī)院的患兒和他們的故事。用戶可以走近這些雕像并傾聽(tīng)他們的抗病歷程。

減輕分娩的疼痛

一項(xiàng)小型研究表明，臨產(chǎn)孕婦在分娩時(shí)使用具有鎮(zhèn)定作用的VR場(chǎng)景體驗(yàn)，可以減輕疼痛。梅利莎·王是位于洛杉磯的西達(dá)賽奈醫(yī)療中心的一名婦產(chǎn)科醫(yī)生，她組織了一項(xiàng)半小時(shí)的測(cè)驗(yàn)，其間，要求參與者對(duì)自己宮縮的疼痛程度進(jìn)行打分，分值1至10。結(jié)果顯示，在宮縮期間，佩戴配備《生產(chǎn)的幸?！房梢暬瘓?chǎng)景的VR頭盔達(dá)30分鐘的人，疼痛平均減輕了0.52，而那些未佩戴頭盔的人感受到的疼痛增加了0.58。

盡管這是一項(xiàng)小型研究，但它確實(shí)能推動(dòng)VR技術(shù)應(yīng)用于分娩，使其作為其他止痛方案的替代選擇。

針對(duì)高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)情境的培訓(xùn)

急診室的醫(yī)生和護(hù)士在高壓力、高度緊張的環(huán)境中工作，有時(shí)需要做出一些重大判斷。這些緊急、低頻、高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的手術(shù)關(guān)系生死，因此需要技術(shù)嫻熟、經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的醫(yī)生。然而，由于這類人才相對(duì)稀缺，所以所需的專業(yè)技能較難培養(yǎng)。

傳統(tǒng)上，醫(yī)學(xué)專業(yè)人員利用人體模型和尸體進(jìn)行訓(xùn)練，然而，這種訓(xùn)練方式無(wú)法完全重現(xiàn)那些在實(shí)際緊急情況中面臨的其他壓力。為了解決這一問(wèn)題，洛杉磯兒童醫(yī)院的兩位醫(yī)生與AiSolve和Bioflight VR兩家公司合作，創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)虛擬創(chuàng)傷手術(shù)室，該虛擬手術(shù)室能更準(zhǔn)確地展現(xiàn)實(shí)際緊急情況會(huì)如何發(fā)生。

在虛擬場(chǎng)景中，急救醫(yī)療技術(shù)員首先向醫(yī)生匯報(bào)患者的情況，隨后醫(yī)生需要檢查患者的生命體征、評(píng)估用藥方案并實(shí)施最佳的治療措施。同真實(shí)的急診一樣，上述所有程序都有時(shí)間限制，因此要求醫(yī)生集中注意力并能在壓力下保持鎮(zhèn)定。該培訓(xùn)工具能夠讓實(shí)習(xí)醫(yī)生為實(shí)戰(zhàn)做好準(zhǔn)備，同時(shí)不必為失敗及其后果感到懼怕。

種族歧視主題教育

REM5 VR實(shí)驗(yàn)室位于明尼蘇達(dá)州圣路易斯公園，它利用沉浸式技術(shù)，能夠讓學(xué)生、教師、藝術(shù)家和社區(qū)團(tuán)體探討種族歧視和性別偏見(jiàn)等話題。

REM5的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人阿米爾·貝雷尼安解釋說(shuō)：“我們想要將VR用在好的方面。我們并未將VR視為解決問(wèn)題的辦法，而是將其視為一個(gè)尋找解決辦法的工具。真正的工作開(kāi)始于摘下頭盔之時(shí)?！?/p>

作為多元化和包容性培訓(xùn)的一部分，REM5讓大約800名嘉吉員工體驗(yàn)了《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》參與制作的360度視頻紀(jì)錄片《身為黑人》。該紀(jì)錄片能夠讓使用者沉浸式體驗(yàn)美國(guó)黑人時(shí)至今日依然面臨的挑戰(zhàn)。通過(guò)訪談和富有詩(shī)意的電影再現(xiàn)，觀眾將踏上一段情感旅程，其間他們將遇見(jiàn)形形色色的非裔美國(guó)人，傾聽(tīng)他們關(guān)于種族歧視的切身經(jīng)歷。

觀眾的反饋令人非常振奮，許多人表示，比起單純地通過(guò)電視屏幕觀看這部紀(jì)錄片，以360度的視角親身體驗(yàn)更具沖擊力。

打破對(duì)跨性別群體的隔閡

由臉書(shū)和Oculus共同推出的首部VR系列紀(jì)錄片《真實(shí)的我們》，能夠讓觀眾走進(jìn)三個(gè)跨性別活動(dòng)者的生活。他們正打破“玻璃天花板”并采取行動(dòng)讓社區(qū)對(duì)于性少數(shù)群體來(lái)說(shuō)更為安全。當(dāng)艾登·克勞福德、香農(nóng)·斯科特和阿克頓·賽貝爾為修改立法、提高大眾意識(shí)或抗議政策而奔走時(shí)，觀眾可以在360度的視頻中緊跟他們的腳步深入體驗(yàn)。

在總共三集的《真實(shí)的我們》中，觀眾可以從三個(gè)跨性別身份（跨性男、跨性女和非二元性別）的視角，目睹一個(gè)跨性別者為了自由且平等地生活所面臨的日常挑戰(zhàn)。

《真實(shí)的我們》傳遞的強(qiáng)有力的核心主旨是：二元性別以外的人就是普通人，也向來(lái)是我們?nèi)后w的一部分。

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>