In the beginning of this year’s October, Newhouse hosted an event called: Running for Cover: Politics, Justice and Media in the Syrian Conflict. The focus laid at the accountability in the Syrian Conflict and the international communities’ response to its effects and challenges. Beside the podiums discussion and the presentations there was an area to experience VR at first hand.

I was helping for several hours before and during the lunch break. Many interested people came to this booth and were intrigued to try out the virtual reality glasses from Samsung Gear VR. I figured out what they were interested in and showed them different projects adjusted to their needs. Especially, during the break many people were interested in trying out this emerging technology. Everyone I talked to was more than fascinated about the glasses and were very glad to have this opportunity. I remember particularly one conversation. He is a teacher and was interested in using this technology to teach students several topics. We talked about unity and how we could use the tools to experience bullying in school and how we can prevent it with this. We could transfer information and show students the outsider perspective of this situation. Be both were fascinated from the huge impact some projects could have.

Another cool idea was the screen which showed what the user is seeing. We should definitively consider this the next time, too.

Anyways, during the event there wasn’t so much to show. Almost everyone was interested in the discussions on the stage and the booth hasn’t had so much traffic.

In conclusion, I think this booth made the Syria event even more special. If we want to do this the next time, I recommend to have less helping people during the event and more during the breaks. Also a person on the stage could generate interest in coming to the booth for more traffic.