Abstract:

"To revisit and recreate representations of the past to think critically about the present and, finally, to speculate on and shape the future": These are the main goals of the transdisciplinary exploratory project "Nazaré Imersiva”/ "Nazaré Immersive", in which immersive media experiences were developed and evaluated, being inspired by Nazaré - a coastal town located in central Portugal.

Based on the remediation of stereoscopic photographs of Nazaré from early XX century, the project team produced and demonstrated a package of analogue and digital materials, such as printed cards of stereoscopic photos, a 360º virtual reality (VR) video, a low-cost dome for shared VR experiences, a mobile application and a responsive website http://nazareimersiva.ulusofona.pt .
Among its major objectives, this project aimed to build bridges between the tradition of stereoscopic photography and the innovation of 360º VR videos. The main piece of content is a 5-minute 360º VR video, which can be succinctly described as a time-travel experience taking place at Nazaré, covering 200 years. The 360º VR video starts in 1920, by displaying a poetic recreation of Nazaré based on the stereoscopic photos of Álvaro Laborinho, taken from 1913 until 1930. Then, the video jumps to 2020, showing Nazaré main beach and Praia do Norte as they are today. The video finishes off in 2120 by displaying a dystopic future, in which Nazaré is overpolluted, overurbanized and overtouristified. However, the last seconds of the video present an alternative future to this dystopia, concluding with a hopeful scenario, rather than a grim scenario.

To evaluate different ways of experiencing VR - analogue and digital, individual and shared, linear and interactive - is among the specific objectives of this project. During the first public demonstration of the project, which took place in University Lusófona’s library atrium during 29 October to 4 November 2020 in the realm of the second muSEAum conference, about 120 undergraduate students from this university were asked to experience and then to evaluate this demonstration, replying to a quantitative survey online (n=112), plus providing a written report in free format (n=74).

In this paper, besides describing the project in detail, the main findings from this evaluation are to be presented, namely, the overall satisfaction with the experience, the specific evaluation of each of the main components displayed during the first demo. Also to be presented are the main themes and topics which were drawn from the comments and suggestions provided by the participants, which include technical and experiential improvements, as well as reflections on the issues raised by the project, such as pollution, climate change and touristification.

"Nazaré Imersiva”/ "Nazaré Immersive" may be considered as project that contributes towards the promotion of Nazaré’s cultural and natural heritage in an innovative way, building bridges between traditional and contemporary representation technologies. Furthermore, the project also addresses current issues such as overpollution and touristification, challenging its participants to speculate about possible scenarios for Nazaré – the same it is to say, for other similar coastal towns in Portugal – and even abroad.

Keywords:

Immersive media, virtual reality, emerging technologies, critical thinking, natural and cultural heritage.