Expedition-XR is an international team of 3 women, passionate about using the power of VR for immersive and experiential education.
They came together to create this experience as a submission for the SDG for the Metaverse Global Competition.
Why ExpeditionXR?
Expedition means both a ‘purposeful journey’ and to expedite – speed up. XR is the term used for ‘Extended Realities’ – a group term of which Virtual Reality (VR) is one. This experience seeks to leverage the power of immersion, presence and storytelling in VR to take the participant on a journey of learning, awareness & empathy which, while short, is both vivid and impactful.
Acknowledgements
SDG for Metaverse Competition
This global competition was launched in February 2022 after being announced at the United Nations ITU Digital Transformation Summit on February 28. Participants from around the world have been encouraged to compete to create an immersive, experiential, and interactive Metaverse environment in virtual reality (VR) to bring awareness and education to the United Nations’ 17 SDGs (Sustainability Development Goals).
This experience focuses on SDG #14 ‘Life Below Water’.
Exponential Destiny
Exponential Destiny is an educational non-profit founded and run primarily by young entrepreneurs from under-resourced communities who have been up/re-skilled into Virtual Reality (VR) and Metaverse design professionals. They have launched this educational competition with collaboration and support from the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) – the United Nations specialized agency formed to deliver on the promise of the digital economy.
United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs)
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) comprise a comprehensive collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly. They reflect the fact that these are global issues which require a global solution and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030 Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals – United Nations Sustainable Development
UN Sustainability Goal (SDG) #14 is ‘Life Below Water‘
The goal of Life Below Water is ‘To Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’. Goal 14 is about conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources. Healthy oceans and seas are essential to human existence and life on Earth. They cover 70 per cent of the planet and provide food, energy and water. The ocean absorbs around one quarter of the world’s annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, thereby mitigating climate change and alleviating its impacts. It is essential to conserve and sustainably use them. Yet, human activity is endangering the oceans and seas – the planet’s largest ecosystem – and affecting the livelihoods of billions of people.
EngageXR
The experience has been created on the Engage Platform. Engage is ‘The Professional Metaverse & Spatial Computing Platform for Enterprise & Education’. We chose Engage because of the vast range of tools, techniques and features available on the platform to facilitate the collaboration on, and creation of, the experience. We gratefully thank the EngageXR Team for their support during the competition preparation.
VictoryXR
Some IFX (digital assets) from the VictoryXR library have been used within the experience. ExpeditionXR is appreciative of VXR for their support relating to these during the competition preparation.
Educators in VR (EDVR)
Our team learnt about the competition when it was promoted within EDVR, where we also met each other. We are very grateful for the exciting opportunity that this led to.
© 2024 Expedition-XR