Abstract
Digital reality technologies have become a global phenomenon that attracts huge attention from researchers and practitioners around the world. ResearchandMarkets.com predicts that the global revenue for both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications will reach $94.4 billion by 2023. As an introductory chapter to the edited book volume on the global impacts of digital reality technologies, this chapter examines the current state of digital reality technologies around the world. Global, regional, and country statistics are presented to shed light on the diffusion of a variety of digital reality technologies such as augmented reality, mixed reality, and virtual reality. Potential and existing digital realty technologies around the world will be examined in greater detail to provide readers with contextual information for the remaining chapters of the book.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Immersion: As a loosely-defined psychological term, this term has been used a lot to describe a unique experience when using a media or a technology. Often affiliated with virtual reality, and other “immersive” technologies, this concept refers to users’ perceptions to feel a sense of presence in a non-physical world. This term often refers to a fully surrounded experiences when using HMD in a virtual space.
Internet of Things: Abbreviated as IoT. This term was first used by the digital innovation pioneer, Kevin Ashton, to refer to the speedy transmission of information between objects and devices using the Internet as the channel. IoT makes the most use of existing networking and computer technologies such as pervasive computing, communication technology, the internet of people, embedded devices.
Mixed Reality: Abbreviated as MR. This term sometimes refers to another term, hybrid reality. MR refers to the merger of both actual and virtual worlds to create an immersive virtual space where digital reality meets and coexists with physical objects to allow users to interact with reality-creating objects in real time.
Augmented Reality: Commonly abbreviated as AR is a technical term to refer to the technology that is able to create a completely artificial and virtual environment blending computer-generated audio, image, video, and even haptic information with the physical world in a real time. The term, augmented, refers to the technology-enabled augmentation of a user’s real and virtual world to create a new reality.
Artificial Intelligence: Also abbreviated as AI, this term refers to the ability of a computer, an IT system, or a robot to complete either ordinary or complex tasks that are previously only possible for intelligent beings (such as human beings). Some manifestations of intelligence include the ability to learn through information acquisition and interpretation, to comprehend a brand-new language, to solve problems, to reason, to develop a possible conclusion, and to generate expert insights.
Ecosystem: A biological term that describes a community of living organisms and lifeless elements such as mineral, air, water, and soil. The term has been extended to study different players in a specific system. For example, the AR and VR ecosystem is made up for different industry sectors such as software development, 360 degree video developers, arcade, agency, education, network, university, accelerator, platform, corporate lab, tech vendor, among others.
Nielsen: Refers to a global information company that measures viewing and usage behaviors of both traditional and new media (such as social media, mobile, and Internet media). Nielsen’s Total Audience Ratings has become the industry standard to measure media consumption behaviors across different devices and platforms.
Head/Helmet-Mounted Display: Also known as HMD, this term refers to the display device worn by users when they use digital reality applications to experience the virtual worlds through a small display in front of each eye. There are two types of HDM: monocular and binocular HDM, depending on if one or two displays are available to users.
Telemedicine: A two-way, interactive, and real-time communication platform that allows the patient to interact with the physician and medical practitioners to address his or her medical problems in a remote location. Digital reality technology has facilitated the communication process by immersing the doctor into a virtual environment.
Virtual Reality: Commonly abbreviated as VR is the most well-known digital reality technologies. VR is able to create an interactive and computer-generated experience by immersing users within an artificial environment where interacting with the virtual objects are accomplished through auditory, visual, and haptic inputs.
Adoption Behavior: A term that studies determinants of consumers’ decision-making process to adopt a new brand, a service, a technology. Depending on the adoption behavior model, the decision-making process usually involves the following five stages: product awareness, product interest, evaluation of alternatives, product trial, and adoption/divestment/rejection.
Digital Reality: An umbrella term to cover a set of reality-creating technologies such as augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, 360-degree video, and other emerging immersive technologies that are able to create a totally artificial virtual environment through computer-generated contents.
New Media: A term that commonly refers to ICT-enabled distribution platforms to allow content producers to disseminate messages to end-users. Some examples of new media include digital reality technology, social networking and media, consumer-generated contents, digital out-of-home (DOOH), high-definition television, Internet, mobile phone, etc.