Immerse at IDFA
Immerse is at IDFA virtually this year and we invite you to our party in VRChat on Wednesday, November 24 from 2:30pm-5pm EST. If you have a VR headset, stop in any time to say hello. We are part of Doclab’s Messy Metaverse Party! Make sure you RSVP as space is limited for certain experiences - some of which don’t require headsets. Hope to see you there! Big thanks to the wonderful Metaverse Crew for teaming up with us and letting us party in their club space.
Check out Professor and Principal Investigator William Uricchio’s article in Immerse, “Augmentation as Public Media,”, about investigations into augmented reality, reality-based media and public space as a new site for public media. This forms the core of the focus for the second year of a two-year research initiative that MIT’s Open Documentary Lab and Co-Creation Studio are conducting together with IDFA DocLab’s Research & Development Program.
Metaverse Coverage Continues
We are continuing our coverage of the metaverse and an issue and newsletter focused on the topic will be out in December. Don’t miss the latest piece, by Dan Schindel, on whether it’s possible to design a nonviolent metaverse based on open-world combat games—and how makers and activists are subverting the assumptions of such environments.
What would you want to see in an AI Bill of Rights?
The government is calling for a new AI “bill of rights” specifically around facial recognition and other biometric tools used to identify people or assess their character. They are seeking public comments by January 15th. Send us yours and we will submit a statement from our community. It’s an opportunity to take a stand for equitable and accountable AI and against the harms and biases of unchecked AI.
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy filed a federal document to seek public comments from “ any interested stakeholders, including industry and industry association groups; civil society and advocacy groups; state, local, and tribal governments; academic researchers; technical practitioners specializing in AI and biometrics; and the general public.”
Immerse and The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture are teaming up to collect comments from our community of arts, technologists, and mediamakers to submit as a group.
Why are we relevant to this? As artists, journalists, and media-makers, we explore the creative potential of AI and critique it in our work. We already closely examine these issues both through research and practice, and in supporting AI literacy by communicating these issues to the public. We serve as an intermediary between the scientists and technologists and the public, helping members of the public better understand the implications of AI technologies and how they relate to broader efforts to capture and interpret reality. So let’s speak up!
What would you want to see in an AI Bill of Rights? What are your concerns and demands?
Send your comments to editor@immerse.news with subject line “AI Bill of Rights”, or tweet at us with the hashtag #Immerse_AI by December 15th.
Immerse is an initiative of MIT Open DocLab and Dot Connector Studio, and receives funding from Just Films | Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. The Gotham Film & Media Institute is our fiscal sponsor. Learn more here. We are committed to exploring and showcasing emerging nonfiction projects that push the boundaries of media and tackle issues of social justice — and rely on friends like you to sustain ourselves and grow. Join us by making a gift today.
Publisher: Jessica Clark (Dot Connector Studio)
Editor: Abby Sun (MIT Open Doc Lab)
Associate Editor: Carrie McLaren (Dot Connector Studio)
Editorial Collective: Sarah Wolozin (MIT Open Doc Lab), Ingrid Kopp (Electric South), Kat Cizek (MIT Open Doc Lab)
Producer: Claudia Romano (MIT Open Doc Lab)
Editorial Board:
Zeina Abi Assy, Mark Atkin (Crossover Labs) , Ruthie Doyle (Sundance Film Institute), Caspar Sonnen (IDFA DocLab), Julia Scott-Stevenson, Amelia Winger-Bearskin