researcher & visual storyteller
Sustainability in 360°
#environmentalcommunications #360video #virtualreality #cinematicVR #sustainability #visitorstudy
About
Sustainable Consumption and Production in 360 Degrees (SCP in 360°) is a series of 360° videos that showcases some of the many sustainability projects of the United Nation’s One Planet Network.
I travelled to film projects on
Sustainable Food Systems in Costa Rica,
Lifestyles & Education in Armenia,
Buildings & Construction in Nepal,
Consumer Information in Chile,
Tourism in South Africa, and
Public Procurement in the Netherlands.
Here is our short 2D promotional video for an overview of the projects:
Working with the local focal points and community members, the UN team and I explored how immersive media technology could best highlight the work of the One Planet Network and communicate the importance of sustainability.
You can watch the full 360° series here or below:
The SCP in 360° series was presented at the UN Headquarters in NYC as part of the Camp One Planet exhibit at the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York City and at the 2019 UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi.
Role
360° Film Production
Collborating with the UN team, I was the director, co-producer, and videographer of the 360° videos. I managed pre-production and planning logistics, developed shot lists and interview questions, traveled to six countries to film, and led the postproduction. I also photographed and filmed in traditional video formats for social media, printed media, and archival content.
Exhibition
To share the SCP in 360° series and highlight the work of the UN One Planet Network, I worked with the UN team to co-design and project manage the 1000-sq-ft exhibit, Camp One Planet, at the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York City and at the 2019 UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi. I was on-site for these events, helping to install, run, and manage the exhibit and assisting with One Planet Network side events and meetings.
Research
I was the lead academic researcher for this project. I designed the visitor study conducted at UN events, interviewed participants, led the data analysis with two research assistants, authored the conference paper communicating the results and recommendations, and presented the research study at the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference.
Results
In the paper reporting on this work, I describe the context and production of these videos, report on the visitor study conducted during the videos’ exhibition, and discuss the specifics of using 360° video for communicating sustainability and the broader implications for other 360° video projects and sustainability-focused interactive media. In contrast to research on empathy in virtual reality, this study suggests that 360° video supports participants in feeling compassion towards the situations viewed and understanding the context and complexity of sustainability solutions.
Read More
Reese Muntean, Alissa N. Antle, and Kate Hennessy. 2020. Communicating Sustainable Consumption and Production in 360 Video. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 1259-1271). https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395460.
