WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:18.190 35C3 preroll music 00:00:18.190 --> 00:00:23.810 Herald Angel: Judith Okonkwo is a technology ex-evangelist, a business 00:00:23.810 --> 00:00:33.600 psychologist and a co-founder of "We will lead Africa". In 2016 Judith set Imisi 3D 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:39.870 creation lab, which is building the ecosystem of extended reality technologies 00:00:39.870 --> 00:00:49.950 in Lagos, Nigeria. So, please welcome Judith. And let's have her talk. 00:00:49.950 --> 00:00:53.340 Judith Okonkwo: Thank you. Thank you very much! 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.600 applause 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.890 JO: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you all for coming today. I am going to talk 00:01:00.890 --> 00:01:06.650 to you a little bit about the work that we're doing in Lagos, Nigeria. Just 00:01:06.650 --> 00:01:12.560 generally about that and then about some specific projects that we've been involved in. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.220 So usually, when I'm speaking, people say: Wow, you're doing virtual reality in 00:01:17.220 --> 00:01:22.671 Nigeria? How come? Why? How did you even think of starting that there? Let me tell 00:01:22.671 --> 00:01:29.730 you a little bit about that journey. Now, I don't know if many people here have been 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:34.130 to Nigeria, but just to give you some context: it's a country in the western 00:01:34.130 --> 00:01:39.770 part of Africa. Right now and the population is estimated to be about 190 00:01:39.770 --> 00:01:46.070 million people. So, there are a lot of us. The projection is that by 2050 though, we 00:01:46.070 --> 00:01:50.850 will be the third most populous country in the world, right. Third after China first, 00:01:50.850 --> 00:01:55.100 and India second. It's also a country of lots of different cultures and lots of 00:01:55.100 --> 00:02:03.710 different languages. At last count there are well over 200 of these. Very diverse. 00:02:03.710 --> 00:02:11.940 So, in terms of VR, we started a creation lab there in Lagos called Imisi 3D. Imisi 00:02:11.940 --> 00:02:18.400 is a Yoruba word and Yoruba is the language of the Yoruba people who you find 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.483 in the southwestern part of Nigeria. The word means 'inspiration'. We started out 00:02:23.483 --> 00:02:31.940 really small. We, well basically I, got a computer, a VR ready computer, a few 00:02:31.940 --> 00:02:38.590 headsets, a few books on virtual reality and set up in one of the leading hubs in 00:02:38.590 --> 00:02:41.910 Lagos, called the Co-Creation hub. So basically, that's what it was. 00:02:41.910 --> 00:02:46.940 That was the start. A desk in a corner where we said: Hey, if you're even 00:02:46.940 --> 00:02:51.700 remotely curious about this technology, if you want to know what's possible with it, 00:02:51.700 --> 00:02:56.440 then come on down. Because as you probably remember, in 2016, a lot of people were 00:02:56.440 --> 00:03:01.080 saying: This is the year of virtual reality. There was a lot of expectation 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.770 that it would come into its own in some way and there was a lot of excitement 00:03:04.770 --> 00:03:11.520 about it and we felt that that was a story that we needed to be a part of as well for 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:19.129 a number of reasons that I'll explore. So, in Nigeria if you think about the country 00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:27.520 say 5, 10 years ago, certainly we weren't on the, you know, on the global map for 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:34.290 being creators. We were in some fields. So, for example you would always be able 00:03:34.290 --> 00:03:40.010 to mention super talented Nigerian Authors for example. But when it came to 00:03:40.010 --> 00:03:46.060 technology I don't think we were being thought of as creators a lot. Even though 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:49.520 a lot of creativity was happening, even though a lot of innovation was happening 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:54.640 in the country. And there's been a real drive, a real need, to shift that 00:03:54.640 --> 00:03:59.480 narrative from one of consumption, where we're just a market where electronics 00:03:59.480 --> 00:04:04.500 technology is being sold, to one where we are actually adopting these technologies 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:10.019 and using them for our own purposes. Making them work for us as well. So, being 00:04:10.019 --> 00:04:18.579 able to move that needle from consumption to creation. Back to the start. We began 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:23.520 on the first week of July in 2016 and that first week we had a virtual reality 00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:28.530 showcase. This is a picture from the event. We asked people to come, you know, 00:04:28.530 --> 00:04:32.110 if you're curious, if you've never tried it before. If you're wondering what this 00:04:32.110 --> 00:04:36.729 word that everybody's been talking about is. And that day, over the course of about 00:04:36.729 --> 00:04:45.250 five hours, we had about 100 people come down to try out VR, talk about VR, find 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:49.900 out what the possibilities might be with this technology, figure out if it's for 00:04:49.900 --> 00:04:55.470 them. And what's really interesting for me personally is that, back then in 2016, 00:04:55.470 --> 00:05:04.810 that summer when we had people come into our space, probably 90 percent of them had 00:05:04.810 --> 00:05:11.150 never tried out virtual reality before. They maybe heard about it, might have seen 00:05:11.150 --> 00:05:15.060 a Google Cardboard, but you know, they didn't really know what it was. Today when 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:19.310 I have events like this, at least half of the people coming in, at the very least 00:05:19.310 --> 00:05:24.500 half, would have tried out VR. So, it's just great to see even with time and with 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:30.449 activity, how things can change. But on this day in 2016 we had people come in 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:34.729 and, you know, they were challenged to think about what is possible with this 00:05:34.729 --> 00:05:38.140 technology. But then it seemed like a lot of talk. You know, you come in, you put on 00:05:38.140 --> 00:05:43.210 a few headsets, you try the Samsung Gear VR, you maybe try a Google Cardboard, you 00:05:43.210 --> 00:05:47.100 start to talk. But then what next? And that's something that we really wanted to 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:53.389 make different. You know, let it not just be talk. We wanted people to know that 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:57.550 these were technology that they should use to create as well. So we decided to have a 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:03.479 hackathon. Then, when it held in November 2016, it was the first virtual reality 00:06:03.479 --> 00:06:08.520 hackathon in Nigeria. And promoting the belief that we have, that these 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:13.400 technologies are actually tools, that we can use to create solutions, we challenged 00:06:13.400 --> 00:06:19.665 the participants to think about creating solutions for either education, healthcare 00:06:19.665 --> 00:06:25.110 or tourism. Now we chose these particular sectors because, we'd recognize that these 00:06:25.110 --> 00:06:29.090 are areas in which there was quite a bit of scope for immediate significant impact 00:06:29.090 --> 00:06:36.800 from a place like Nigeria. And here's what came out of it. In the picture there you 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.380 can see what was the leading hack by the winning team. It was a product that they 00:06:42.380 --> 00:06:49.090 called "learn" but actually spelt L E V R N and it's an experience square, as you 00:06:49.090 --> 00:06:54.300 can see there's a leap motion attached to a Samsung Gear VR. And it allows you to 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:58.380 learn how to code using hand based gestures. So it's really exciting to see 00:06:58.380 --> 00:07:02.360 people thinking about how they could push the boundary beyond what was even just 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:06.610 traditionally possible with the gear VR as it was then. And to start thinking 00:07:06.610 --> 00:07:10.410 creatively about how you might use these technologies and tools to learn. 00:07:10.410 --> 00:07:16.150 Especially, you know, in disciplines that were always challenged about how best we 00:07:16.150 --> 00:07:26.530 can get people to learn and move with the times. OK. So, I've got a few numbers up 00:07:26.530 --> 00:07:30.199 on the screen. I wonder if anybody knows what they might refer to? 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:35.300 silence 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:45.850 JO: Anybody? No? Okay. So the first one, 263 Million, is a number from UNICEF from 00:07:45.850 --> 00:07:51.470 2014. And then, that was the estimate about the number of children who were out 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:58.800 of school in the world. The second number, 13.2 Million, is a number out of school 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:04.789 children in just Nigeria. And that final number, 1 Billion., that's a number of 00:08:04.789 --> 00:08:09.970 children in the world who don't really have access to good quality education. You 00:08:09.970 --> 00:08:14.039 might wonder why have these numbers up right now. And that's because I believe 00:08:14.039 --> 00:08:19.130 that virtual reality is something that we can use to tackle these kind of 00:08:19.130 --> 00:08:26.733 statistics. One of the things that we're exploring in Lagos, is looking at VR for 00:08:26.733 --> 00:08:33.639 schools. Now certainly back in 2016 when we were starting out, quite a lot of the 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:39.750 attention with VR was being put into sectors like gaming and entertainment. But 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:44.179 as I mentioned, we we've been wanting to shift the needle to to other sectors to 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:52.569 see ways in which we can adapt and use it. And I think that actually VR, despite the, 00:08:52.569 --> 00:08:58.360 you know, the common perception that it's perhaps elitist, perhaps expensive, in its 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:04.600 low cost form could actually be a solution for education. And this is how it might 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:10.200 work. Imagine if we took low cost VR, something as simple say as a Google 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:16.110 Cardboard, mobile phones, and we all know the story of mobile phone penetration 00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:22.019 increasing daily in Africa across the continent, solar portables because in some 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:28.649 places electricity from the grid is not reliable. And with that you have a device, 00:09:28.649 --> 00:09:32.300 that once you have the right content available for it, is an all in one 00:09:32.300 --> 00:09:36.809 learning solution that's fairly portable and can be deployed really just about 00:09:36.809 --> 00:09:42.759 anywhere. Now for me, this is one of the super exciting possibilities with a 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:51.880 technology like virtual reality, that we can go into schools, or even the 13.2 00:09:51.880 --> 00:09:56.139 million out of school children, go to them and give them a device with the right 00:09:56.139 --> 00:09:59.639 content that will allow them to start learning. And learning in ways that were 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:04.649 not possible because, if you were to go to a traditional public school, I mentioned 00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:09.450 we are 190+ Million people, the infrastructure is challenged in terms of 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:13.790 trying to deal with that number, and you'll easily have classrooms with over 00:10:13.790 --> 00:10:18.660 100 children in them. Which means, that you're very limited in terms of the 00:10:18.660 --> 00:10:23.299 interaction that's possible between student and teacher, and also with the 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:29.429 amount of infrastructure that you can provide. But as you know with VR, whether 00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:33.990 it's a virtual lab where they can do experiments, whether it's the opportunity 00:10:33.990 --> 00:10:39.989 to visit the pyramids in Egypt or even to explore the solar system, all of a sudden 00:10:39.989 --> 00:10:45.230 opportunities and experiences that would not be available even if, you know, we 00:10:45.230 --> 00:10:49.259 suddenly kind of like diverted our whole budget to education, are now possible and 00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:57.579 I think that's really exciting. And that's just a picture from one of the schools 00:10:57.579 --> 00:11:02.449 where we have been going in to explore using virtual reality to supplement the 00:11:02.449 --> 00:11:09.149 curriculum for education. Education is one possibility, but something else that also 00:11:09.149 --> 00:11:15.680 excites me about these technologies and what is possible, is when it comes to art 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:24.290 and culture. This past week one of the leading African philosophers, a Nigerian 00:11:24.290 --> 00:11:31.129 woman called Sophia Oluwole, died and she was a very, very big supporter, promoter 00:11:31.129 --> 00:11:38.819 of African culture, of Nigerian culture and of dipping into your heritage to take 00:11:38.819 --> 00:11:43.449 that what was useful there and bring it and use it to help to define the life that 00:11:43.449 --> 00:11:46.400 you're living today and the one you want to create for the future. And I 00:11:46.400 --> 00:11:51.360 particularly like this, that you know, from one of her papers where she says it's 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.540 up to us and she was really calling out to everyone to discover and promote a 00:11:54.540 --> 00:12:00.290 reliable African intellectual atmosphere based on narratives presented in the truth 00:12:00.290 --> 00:12:05.569 of their language and authenticity. And I bring this up now because I think that 00:12:05.569 --> 00:12:13.249 that is something else that this technology enables us to, in a sense, 00:12:13.249 --> 00:12:19.970 convey our reality and tell stories and the truth of our language and authenticity. 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:25.559 And I want to tell you about two projects that relate to that. The first is one that 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:30.100 brings Nigeria and Switzerland together. So, earlier this year I was approached by 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:36.230 a team around the IAF festival in Switzerland. It's a festival that is 00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:41.369 focused on contemporary African art predominantly photography and it's held in 00:12:41.369 --> 00:12:49.929 Basel each year. Now each year, along with photographies that are exhibited, they add 00:12:49.929 --> 00:12:56.629 an element of contemporary art. This year it happend to be virtual reality. And for 00:12:56.629 --> 00:13:05.736 that, they said: Well, what would it be like if we were to juxtapose living in 00:13:05.736 --> 00:13:11.531 Switzerland - take a city, Basel - and in an African country Nigeria. Let's take a 00:13:11.531 --> 00:13:19.859 city, Lagos. What would that look like. So, what we created was something called 00:13:19.859 --> 00:13:27.600 Reality Check. It was a very simple VR experience actually. But one with a lot of 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:36.365 potential and possibility. What we did was map out a number of locations. So, we took 00:13:36.365 --> 00:13:38.930 traditional places that you would visit. If you've been to Brasel you know it's 00:13:38.930 --> 00:13:44.800 quite compact, and it's really easy to walk around the center of the town. And we 00:13:44.800 --> 00:13:54.480 took places like a church, a shopping mall, a school and map these, and then wanted 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:59.459 to do the same in Lagos. Now Lagos is quite widespread. So we chose a particular 00:13:59.459 --> 00:14:06.249 neighborhood, Yaba, and then did the same. We went to a church for example and 00:14:06.249 --> 00:14:12.860 captured the space with 360 video. And what was then possible was that, when you 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:20.550 came to this festival in Switzerland, you could go on a walking tour of the city. 00:14:20.550 --> 00:14:29.480 But alongside that tour of Basel you could also have one of Lagos. So, you could walk 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:36.139 to the church in Basel, seen in the picture there. And while there, you would 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:44.339 then have an experience of a church in Lagos. We have, you know, over the course 00:14:44.339 --> 00:14:50.009 of the week that I spent there with them a whole series of people come round to come 00:14:50.009 --> 00:14:56.639 and figure out what it might be like, to step into a space in Lagos, Nigeria if 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.209 only for a few minutes. Now each of the videos was really short and just about two 00:15:01.209 --> 00:15:07.629 minutes and I'm actually going to play one for you to see. But what was exciting for 00:15:07.629 --> 00:15:12.889 the people who tried it out, from what they said back to us, was just being able 00:15:12.889 --> 00:15:19.749 to shift your reality in a way that, as we know, is not possible with traditional 00:15:19.749 --> 00:15:26.319 media, not with the books you read, not with the videos you watch in 2D. Well, let 00:15:26.319 --> 00:15:36.769 me show you one. So here we are. This is the church in Lagos. 00:15:36.769 --> 00:15:48.019 JO mumbling Let's just get that... voices in the background of the video 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:55.993 JO: And what we did is, during a weekday we were able to go in. Where the camera is 00:15:55.993 --> 00:16:02.939 positioned, is up where the choir traditionally sits on Sunday. And it 00:16:02.939 --> 00:16:06.470 happened to be a day when - it's a Catholic church by the way - they were 00:16:06.470 --> 00:16:14.160 getting ready, I believe it was a benediction service, so you can hear he 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:19.529 has some of that going on down there. Here we are now in the (???) ave. 00:16:19.529 --> 00:17:10.646 voices in the background of the video 00:17:10.646 --> 00:17:12.998 JO: And so this video is much like the 00:17:12.998 --> 00:17:18.949 others. They were all roughly two minutes. The camera was stationary. And what we 00:17:18.949 --> 00:17:22.350 wanted to create was just the impression that, much like you were doing if you were 00:17:22.350 --> 00:17:26.880 doing the walking tour, where you'd get to a location and stand and look around. That 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:32.539 you have that same experience in Lagos that you walked into, you know, the 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:36.159 location in question. You stood at a spot and you were able to look around and 00:17:36.159 --> 00:17:42.080 observe what was going on for a minute or two. 00:17:42.080 --> 00:18:12.416 Video is still playing, no sound other than the voices in the background 00:18:12.416 --> 00:18:41.800 JO: Just give me a second. OK. 00:18:41.800 --> 00:18:47.800 And that experience that I just showed in the church was also done in locations like a 00:18:47.800 --> 00:18:57.880 university, a school, a library in Lagos, a bank, a Medical Center. So, just little 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:03.230 vignettes if you will, of life, everyday life in the city that you're able to 00:19:03.230 --> 00:19:08.380 share. And we're hoping to do the flip later on, where in Lagos you will then be 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:14.860 able to have the 360 experiences of these locations in Basel for people who are in 00:19:14.860 --> 00:19:22.220 Lagos. So, moving on and exploring art and culture. I have this other quote that I'm 00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:28.789 sure a lot of people have seen around quite a bit. And I first encountered it in 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:34.269 one of Chinua Achebe's novels. It says: There is that great proverb - that until 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:38.890 the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify 00:19:38.890 --> 00:19:44.170 the hunter. And of course you know, we know how this applies in lots of ways. We 00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:49.010 talk about the way, you know, history might have been told. History as we know 00:19:49.010 --> 00:19:56.220 it traditionally, might be repurposed if it's taught from another perspective for 00:19:56.220 --> 00:20:01.759 people around the world. But storytelling I think, is particularly important with 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:08.299 360. And what was exciting for me as well earlier this year is, when we had a member 00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:15.110 of our community, the Imisi 3Dcommunity in Lagos, actually go and shoot what was the 00:20:15.110 --> 00:20:21.640 first 360 documentary. And this is just a short, about four or five minutes long. 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:26.370 But it's the first Nigerian made 360 documentary in one of the internally 00:20:26.370 --> 00:20:30.560 displaced people camps that we have in the north eastern part of the country in 00:20:30.560 --> 00:20:39.659 Maiduguri. And this short documentary in Bakassi actually tells a story of a boy 00:20:39.659 --> 00:20:44.570 called Modu, who is an insurgency orphan. He's about eleven years old, but he has 00:20:44.570 --> 00:20:50.690 lost his father to the issues with Boko Haram in the north eastern part of the 00:20:50.690 --> 00:20:57.230 country. And his mother as well. So, he lived with his grandmother in an IDP camp 00:20:57.230 --> 00:21:04.410 and you know, was someone who, through whose eyes we could start to understand 00:21:04.410 --> 00:21:09.620 what it really means to be in that space, to understand that tragedy a little bit 00:21:09.620 --> 00:21:18.320 more. We had a screening for this documentary in Lagos in November, but even 00:21:18.320 --> 00:21:22.889 before that, I think what's really compelling is that we have had people who 00:21:22.889 --> 00:21:28.210 had even been to IDP camps in the Northeast and other parts of Nigeria. And 00:21:28.210 --> 00:21:33.179 when they came and they experienced "In Bakassi" what they would say is: This is 00:21:33.179 --> 00:21:39.130 even more real than being there. Now, at face value you might think: Well, what are 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:42.871 they talking about? And when they broke it down, what they were telling us was, that 00:21:42.871 --> 00:21:47.190 when you are actually there in the camps, you're overwhelmed by all that's going on. 00:21:47.190 --> 00:21:53.769 There's so much activity, so much noise, so much jostling, that you are not really 00:21:53.769 --> 00:21:59.879 able to process what's happening around you. But when you have the experience in 00:21:59.879 --> 00:22:07.440 VR like this, through a 360 video, you're then really sensitive and focused on the 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:13.639 experience as it is, on the story that you're hearing, in this case Modu's. So I 00:22:13.639 --> 00:22:18.580 am going to just play a little bit from the screening, not the documentary itself, 00:22:18.580 --> 00:22:27.049 for you to see what it was like sharing that work with people in Lagos. 00:22:27.049 --> 00:22:49.809 music 00:22:49.809 --> 00:22:56.983 Toks Bakare: My experience watching the documentary was intensely moving. I think 00:22:56.983 --> 00:23:03.294 because I had a phenomenally different experience watching it in VR. There's the 00:23:03.294 --> 00:23:09.380 ability to look all around you and really feel like you are immersed in the scene. I 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:16.663 felt like I was in the camp and almost going through what the little boy is going 00:23:16.663 --> 00:23:20.269 through. So that, that was an interesting feeling that was different from watching a 00:23:20.269 --> 00:23:23.964 regular film. 00:23:23.964 --> 00:23:33.080 music 00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:41.389 JO: OK. So, I've talked a little bit about some of the projects that we've done or 00:23:41.389 --> 00:23:47.470 been involved in in this phase with art and culture, looking at things, like telling 00:23:47.470 --> 00:23:54.200 360 stories or being able to share reality across different geographies. I want to 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:58.029 talk a little bit more now about kind of like the future and where we see ourselves 00:23:58.029 --> 00:24:03.840 going. I have the words "bright future" there because I think we all agree that 00:24:03.840 --> 00:24:09.710 these technologies hold a lot of promise. But there are particular challenges for us 00:24:09.710 --> 00:24:13.220 in a place like Nigeria, and one of them is, you know, even just access to the 00:24:13.220 --> 00:24:20.059 hardware. So one of the things that we are exploring is, what would it be like if we 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:26.879 were able to, you know, actually deal with that obstacle. What if we created a VR 00:24:26.879 --> 00:24:32.498 headset that was purpose built for our locale. An all in one solar powered VR 00:24:32.498 --> 00:24:38.732 headset. One that's me with locally sourced materials. How would that change 00:24:38.732 --> 00:24:44.077 things? Is that something that we are trying to do a design challenge around. We 00:24:44.077 --> 00:24:49.659 started one last year but tried to do it virtually. We'll be looking at in the new 00:24:49.659 --> 00:24:55.172 year having a team come into work on this and attempt to build one. Now if we can do 00:24:55.172 --> 00:25:00.220 that, it becomes really exciting for us because yes, we have platforms like 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:05.350 YouTube where you can share 360 content, and Vimeo, and others. But not a lot of 00:25:05.350 --> 00:25:09.919 people have access to headsets and other elements of the technology and we can 00:25:09.919 --> 00:25:17.289 start to do something about that actively. So looking at ways in which we can build 00:25:17.289 --> 00:25:21.789 and, you know, do R&D to suit our purposes it's something that's very big 00:25:21.789 --> 00:25:28.279 for us. We are also working really hard to build a community of content creators. 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:33.309 People who will work with these technologies, the people who will create 00:25:33.309 --> 00:25:37.805 the educational content that will make VR for schools a reality in a country like 00:25:37.805 --> 00:25:43.710 Nigeria. For that we have started to hold community meet ups. They've been running 00:25:43.710 --> 00:25:49.779 for over a year now. We have the very first one at the Google office in Lagos 00:25:49.779 --> 00:25:55.770 and have since, you know, had the community grow with people coming from all 00:25:55.770 --> 00:26:02.559 sorts of different sectors. From the arts, you know, from technology, people from 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:08.049 business as well who are even looking at the opportunities to commercialize the 00:26:08.049 --> 00:26:11.730 technology locally. And we're excited about what's possible when all of these 00:26:11.730 --> 00:26:19.029 people come together. We're also trying to connect communities across Africa because 00:26:19.029 --> 00:26:23.779 we know that it's one thing to try and build communities locally and grow 00:26:23.779 --> 00:26:28.179 expertise there. But if we're joined up together across the continent a lot more 00:26:28.179 --> 00:26:33.659 will be possible a lot quicker. Earlier this year we held what was at that time 00:26:33.659 --> 00:26:38.510 the largest VR event on the continent, where we had a Hackathon happen 00:26:38.510 --> 00:26:44.980 simultaneously across seven countries. We had over 35 teams take part and the 00:26:44.980 --> 00:26:51.919 overall winning team was a team of three females from Egypt. And much like that 00:26:51.919 --> 00:26:57.990 first one that I mentioned in 2016 where we said create for education, or health 00:26:57.990 --> 00:27:01.700 care or tourism, we asked the teams to do the same. So, create for education, health 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:07.429 care, tourism. However this time we added the environment, it happened around Earth 00:27:07.429 --> 00:27:14.360 Day, and also social justice. The winning team created an experience that allows you 00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:18.620 to learn about how to take care of the environment. And it was built for the HTC 00:27:18.620 --> 00:27:26.740 Vive. We also have a growing community that is online on Facebook. They come from 00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:31.940 over 20 different African countries. It's over 900 strong and growing every day. 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:35.549 We're really excited about the possibilities as we all come together and 00:27:35.549 --> 00:27:41.889 start to figure out how we can work and create. We believe collaboration is our 00:27:41.889 --> 00:27:48.149 future, whether it's across these African countries or further across the world, the 00:27:48.149 --> 00:27:53.110 work that we did with Switzerland, whether it's being here and connecting with you 00:27:53.110 --> 00:28:01.190 all. But we know that together we can do so much more. I usually end my talks with 00:28:01.190 --> 00:28:06.519 this challenge to people particularly when I'm talking about using the technologies 00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:13.369 for the first time. Very, very excited to know that the future is ours to create and 00:28:13.369 --> 00:28:20.010 with things like VR and AR, solutions created in a way that maybe we're not yet 00:28:20.010 --> 00:28:26.899 imagining but perhaps we should. So what will you do? I want to leave you with one 00:28:26.899 --> 00:28:39.710 last video that shows what it's like in the lab. 00:28:39.710 --> 00:29:39.940 music 00:29:39.940 --> 00:29:51.265 JO: Thank you. applause 00:29:51.265 --> 00:29:55.389 Herald: Thank you very much. We have time for Q&A. There are two microphones 00:29:55.389 --> 00:29:58.830 here in the room. One in the middle, microphone number 2, and one out to the 00:29:58.830 --> 00:30:02.491 side, microphone number 1. And there might also be questions from the Internet. So 00:30:02.491 --> 00:30:07.029 please come up and we have already question from microphone number 2. 00:30:07.029 --> 00:30:13.275 Microphone 2: Hello. So, thanks for the presentation. There is a concept that, I 00:30:13.275 --> 00:30:17.906 don't know how valid it is, but the Innovator's Dilemma. Basically, if you are 00:30:17.906 --> 00:30:22.625 already in a comfortable spot, you're not going to push yourself too much, either in 00:30:22.625 --> 00:30:28.440 your community or your company. You have either a new player, that is going to make 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:32.220 something radical and is going to challenge you to make yourself better. And 00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:39.110 there was some discussion on this based on the how for example maybe you not need the 00:30:39.110 --> 00:30:46.139 big DSL or fiber infrastructure to just just use 3G or 4G and in some community 00:30:46.139 --> 00:30:50.265 with other infrastructure maybe for example you do mobile payments, like in 00:30:50.265 --> 00:30:59.059 China. Could this kind of useage of your free education be an equivalent of this, 00:30:59.059 --> 00:31:03.549 that maybe the classroom as we have now is pretty good? But if you were so 00:31:03.549 --> 00:31:09.009 challenged, that you need to go much further. Would it be like new oppurtunity 00:31:09.009 --> 00:31:14.759 to use much better way to do it. JO: So thank you for the question. Yes, 00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:22.470 actually I think it might be. And you know you gave some examples about how leapfrogs 00:31:22.470 --> 00:31:27.200 have happened in other parts of the world apart from the West, just because they 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:31.669 have accessed technology at a time that's later than the West, and so they've been 00:31:31.669 --> 00:31:39.960 able to kind of like evolve in a way that doesn't have to be anchored in the legacy. 00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:44.000 You know, the history of the technology and how it actually grew. I think the same 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:50.889 is true for for technology like VR being used for education. And I think that 00:31:50.889 --> 00:31:54.620 because, you know the public schools I mentioned, where you might easily have 00:31:54.620 --> 00:32:00.960 over 100 kids in a classroom, you'll be in a space that is not like the modern 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:05.740 classroom in a private school in Lagos or you know or one in the West. It's not 00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:09.480 like, you know ,where you have maybe a one to 20 or one to 10 you know teacher 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:15.300 student ratio. It won't have all of the infrastructure that aids learning as we 00:32:15.300 --> 00:32:20.440 know it today. So, you are then challenged to think really creatively about what you 00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:26.460 might do with with VR, what you might do with whatever tool is brought to you. And 00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:32.330 that's why you know worth thinking about the low cost, you know, VR that might be 00:32:32.330 --> 00:32:36.759 mobile device driven or something powered in a similar way, because we know one of 00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:41.080 the challenges will be power, you know, as we know it. Because from the grid there, 00:32:41.080 --> 00:32:45.320 it's a challenge. And I think as you start to innovate around those realities and 00:32:45.320 --> 00:32:51.059 create them, yes, we will be able to leapfrog and potentially redefine what 00:32:51.059 --> 00:32:54.029 education looks like, certainly in that space. 00:32:54.029 --> 00:32:57.200 Herald: We have question for microphone number one. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:01.989 Microphone 1: Thank you very much for your presentation. I have read a number of 00:33:01.989 --> 00:33:07.669 studies where people have found that, if young children spend too much time in VR, 00:33:07.669 --> 00:33:11.830 if they're very young, it has a problem with their cognitive development. And I'm 00:33:11.830 --> 00:33:17.860 wondering if you're thinking about a sort of scaled approach at what age people are 00:33:17.860 --> 00:33:21.279 working with regular computer graphics and then how they engage with VR. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.480 JO: Absolutely Microphone 1: Get a good education. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:30.200 JO: Thank you very much. Yes. So for the work that we're doing at the moment with 00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:36.100 VR for schools, where working with children who are in secondary school. So 00:33:36.100 --> 00:33:42.019 those are children who are typically from 12 years up and we're very conscious, that 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:47.710 there has been some information about the you know side effects of VR. But there's 00:33:47.710 --> 00:33:51.140 not enough data yet. And so we're consciously studying, as we're going 00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:55.999 along. We're about to start a formal pilot in one of these schools, where we will 00:33:55.999 --> 00:34:00.419 actually have a researcher who's working on the ground and documenting as we go on. 00:34:00.419 --> 00:34:06.869 We by default are limiting, you know, time in VR, because we know, just from what we 00:34:06.869 --> 00:34:10.649 know generally about screens and eyes, that it won't be great to have extended 00:34:10.649 --> 00:34:13.819 periods. But we're actively learning as well. 00:34:13.819 --> 00:34:17.429 Herald: We have another question from Microphone number 1. 00:34:17.429 --> 00:34:21.480 Microphone number 1: I see that you are working with unity alert. 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:28.810 But I was wondering if you're also working with the more open standard of web VR? 00:34:28.810 --> 00:34:35.191 JO: We haven't yet worked with web VR. But that is something that we are about to 00:34:35.191 --> 00:34:40.970 start exploring in the New Year. Herald: We have a question from microphone 00:34:40.970 --> 00:34:44.099 number two. Microphone number 2: Hi Judith, thank you for 00:34:44.099 --> 00:34:50.049 your talk again. I found it very interesting and inspiring that you've 00:34:50.049 --> 00:34:57.129 presented the second talk where VR was considered like an interesting or an 00:34:57.129 --> 00:35:05.869 important tool to create new narratives maybe in a rather or historically rather 00:35:05.869 --> 00:35:12.790 oral based history culture or narration culture and to use it for alternative 00:35:12.790 --> 00:35:19.000 narrations and create the new historian as you say it like the maybe the non colonial 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:25.099 historian if you want. And so I also wondered as I saw also in your 00:35:25.099 --> 00:35:29.180 presentation and this is also my perspective as I have been working a lot 00:35:29.180 --> 00:35:33.359 with Goethe Institute and have once worked in Kenya with Goethe Institute and I 00:35:33.359 --> 00:35:38.930 notice that like the sort of still the Western platforms and of course the 00:35:38.930 --> 00:35:45.900 institutions with money are kind of the only places and spaces where these things 00:35:45.900 --> 00:35:52.390 especially the technological things can happen due to money reasons, are the only 00:35:52.390 --> 00:35:57.150 spaces that exist basically. For example in Nairobi it was like this space that 00:35:57.150 --> 00:36:01.869 could be used by artists. There's some other spaces in Nairobi but still it felt 00:36:01.869 --> 00:36:08.109 like this strong like power maybe even more infrastructural power that's there 00:36:08.109 --> 00:36:14.560 and you've used the Google space and I saw the Facebook logo and certificate. So I 00:36:14.560 --> 00:36:18.410 wonder is this anything you feel doubts about? Or do you just think, ok we'll take 00:36:18.410 --> 00:36:25.380 their money and that's cool? JO: Great question, thank you. It's 00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:29.390 interesting that you ask because for me personally one of a kind of like the 00:36:29.390 --> 00:36:36.420 buggers for me is that a lot of the major tech companies, in my opinion they don't 00:36:36.420 --> 00:36:42.490 see, they don't see African countries as a real VR market. And you know you can see 00:36:42.490 --> 00:36:45.990 that just by the fact that their products aren't even accessible there. You know, 00:36:45.990 --> 00:36:55.700 they are not available. That said you know I think that I talked about collaboration 00:36:55.700 --> 00:37:01.490 a lot. I think that the way forward is for us all to work together. They already have 00:37:01.490 --> 00:37:06.859 done you know a ton of work in terms of what is possible with the technology and 00:37:06.859 --> 00:37:12.119 even what will be possible in the future. Just by virtue of their R&D budgets 00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:18.730 and what's possible. So I very much want as we grow that we are working with them 00:37:18.730 --> 00:37:26.650 and not apart from them in any way. But alongside that, I am very very concerned 00:37:26.650 --> 00:37:31.480 about as you know developing as ourselves and creating as ourselves you know if it 00:37:31.480 --> 00:37:35.900 goes like truth and authenticity that Sofia was talking about that we have our 00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:43.480 own voice and we can do it without being obliged to any one party. In that vein for 00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:47.970 example the lab that we set up one of the reasons was because we knew that access 00:37:47.970 --> 00:37:51.960 was difficult. We know that the equipment is relatively expensive. Things like that, 00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:56.040 particularly given the purchasing power of the naira. So we wanted to create a space 00:37:56.040 --> 00:37:59.309 where, if you wanted to do VR, or you wanted to create you could actually come 00:37:59.309 --> 00:38:02.530 in and use the equipment and we provide that and city and we'll be doing that in 00:38:02.530 --> 00:38:07.030 more states across Nigeria. But I think its initiatives like that locally that 00:38:07.030 --> 00:38:11.800 will make sure that even as we partner we can be true to ourselves. 00:38:11.800 --> 00:38:16.040 Herald: We have a question from microphone number one. 00:38:16.040 --> 00:38:21.070 Microphone number 1: Thank you for your talk. I'm sorry if you already covered 00:38:21.070 --> 00:38:28.160 this aspect. I came a bit late, but I want to ask about if you are working towards 00:38:28.160 --> 00:38:33.740 minimizing the digital divide. How? What are your effords about closing this. I 00:38:33.740 --> 00:38:37.901 understand that the project this is new, but your long term vision, how does that 00:38:37.901 --> 00:38:44.950 help to empower the rural population also? JO: Yeah. Thank you. That's a great 00:38:44.950 --> 00:38:49.530 question. Actually one of the things that drove the creation of the lab in 2016 was 00:38:49.530 --> 00:38:57.560 even recognition of that digital divide. By that time I just spent about two years 00:38:57.560 --> 00:39:03.230 in Lagos working within the tech sector and just being able to kind of like tap 00:39:03.230 --> 00:39:09.130 into the talent that was there and see what was possible. And I'd seen what you 00:39:09.130 --> 00:39:13.970 know young people were able to do there with traditional technology, you know, 00:39:13.970 --> 00:39:18.490 with software development and all of that. So I knew that in terms of you know a 00:39:18.490 --> 00:39:23.450 potential it was there in kind of like limitless way but the challenge is always 00:39:23.450 --> 00:39:27.460 of course access to to the resources to opportunity and things like that and 00:39:27.460 --> 00:39:31.329 that's what we try to do which is why that element of community is so important for 00:39:31.329 --> 00:39:39.099 us. We we provide access to equipment and resources in the lab. We also hold those 00:39:39.099 --> 00:39:43.270 community gathering so that people can start to network with each other and 00:39:43.270 --> 00:39:50.350 collaborate together. We also look for ways to support learning and growth and we 00:39:50.350 --> 00:39:56.430 do that by either holding activities or sometimes doing things like offering 00:39:56.430 --> 00:40:00.220 scholarships for audacities virtual reality nano degree, but we're very very 00:40:00.220 --> 00:40:04.780 particular about you know talent and expertise being available kind of like 00:40:04.780 --> 00:40:08.760 locally and in country because that's critical. That's why I don't know if you 00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:13.470 were here when we were talking about Amber Cassady 360 documentary. But for me what's 00:40:13.470 --> 00:40:18.910 really exciting is that you know a Nigerian filmmaker will go acquire those 00:40:18.910 --> 00:40:22.830 skills and be able to be the one to make that in Nigeria because of course there 00:40:22.830 --> 00:40:27.710 have been other 360 documentaries made by say Al Jazeera for example you know and 00:40:27.710 --> 00:40:32.680 other media houses but of course they'll be bringing their teams in to do that. So 00:40:32.680 --> 00:40:36.320 yes very very conscious of trying to to narrow that. 00:40:36.320 --> 00:40:41.170 Herald: We have two questions at microphone Number one. Let's see. First one. 00:40:41.170 --> 00:40:43.400 Microphone number 1: First of all thank 00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:49.406 you Judith for this great presentation. Very short question and specific question. 00:40:49.406 --> 00:40:56.029 When it comes to VR in education there is one major problem in my eyes. I don't know 00:40:56.029 --> 00:41:03.160 if you can answer this questions, but there is no real business lobby for that 00:41:03.160 --> 00:41:10.150 right now. And when it comes to integrate VR content into educational program there 00:41:10.150 --> 00:41:15.960 is one major hurdle which is how to integrate that into the official program. 00:41:15.960 --> 00:41:21.690 Which content can be transformed into VR content? Are you working closely with 00:41:21.690 --> 00:41:32.117 regular let's say official education authorities? Is any board like trying to 00:41:32.117 --> 00:41:37.347 identify which content and how to integrate it progressively into your 00:41:37.347 --> 00:41:44.490 curriculums? Are you thinking about that? Because there is some nice attempt like in 00:41:44.490 --> 00:41:52.120 Egypt, in China to do that, but one of the major hurdle is, it is really hard to 00:41:52.120 --> 00:41:57.584 integrate it one time into the official curriculums. So how do you identify the 00:41:57.584 --> 00:42:02.159 content and how it is working with the officials? 00:42:02.159 --> 00:42:07.210 JO: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Really great question. Yes. I mean all of the 00:42:07.210 --> 00:42:13.270 things that you've just mentioned very very real issues for us. When we wanted to 00:42:13.270 --> 00:42:17.230 start doing the VR for schools project the first thing that we actually had to do was 00:42:17.230 --> 00:42:21.670 approach the education authorities in the local area where we are the district 00:42:21.670 --> 00:42:25.450 office for education. So we had to bring them on board really quickly because we 00:42:25.450 --> 00:42:31.141 even need their permission to be able to go into a school and work. Beyond that we 00:42:31.141 --> 00:42:36.230 also decided to hold things like VR for education roundtables where we would bring 00:42:36.230 --> 00:42:40.960 together different stakeholders. So, these would be people from both the local 00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:46.700 governments from both secondary and tertiary education. And looking at both 00:42:46.700 --> 00:42:51.230 students faculty and sometimes even parents because we very much wanted people 00:42:51.230 --> 00:42:55.200 to come together to help us cocreate what a viable solution would be. And a lot of 00:42:55.200 --> 00:42:59.299 what you mentioned I mean that's what the teachers were saying. How exactly does 00:42:59.299 --> 00:43:03.369 this actually work? You know with the lesson you know, do you in the middle of a 00:43:03.369 --> 00:43:10.280 lecture put on the headset. You know what makes sense. So, so far we've been doing 00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:14.160 the VR sessions and special sessions that are carved out from the school time where 00:43:14.160 --> 00:43:18.480 we go and see we're coming to do a session with you. Going into the New Year though 00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:22.700 where we're going to actually start a formal pilot in a school. We're setting up 00:43:22.700 --> 00:43:27.570 a lab in the school and we're going to have somebody who's, you know there with 00:43:27.570 --> 00:43:32.069 them, so that we can start to work with the teachers to see how we can make VR 00:43:32.069 --> 00:43:38.730 learning an element of the traditional kind of like classroom plan. So, I say to 00:43:38.730 --> 00:43:43.860 people imagine what it used to be like when you would schedule a video as part of 00:43:43.860 --> 00:43:48.589 a lesson. What if instead of the whole class is going to watch a video. 00:43:48.589 --> 00:43:52.930 Instead they were going to go and have a VR experience as the content and the 00:43:52.930 --> 00:43:57.180 challenge around that and what's appropriate to create. And that's really 00:43:57.180 --> 00:44:02.339 interesting, something that we've been trying to tackle. When we first started to 00:44:02.339 --> 00:44:07.140 explore this. We were quite constrained in terms of resources so we were just 00:44:07.140 --> 00:44:11.400 curating what was actually already available and matching it to the national 00:44:11.400 --> 00:44:16.960 curriculum for the junior secondary school. So, we have some content that we 00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:20.339 have seen can match to some of the learning outcomes that are there at the 00:44:20.339 --> 00:44:24.400 moment. But we know that we do have to create custom content. We particularly 00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:29.000 have to create content that is much more accessible for people locally both in 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:35.210 terms of language and in terms of kind of the visuals that they are accessing there. 00:44:35.210 --> 00:44:39.089 We are working with a major education publisher as well in Nigeria. And of course 00:44:39.089 --> 00:44:43.059 they have the expertise having created quite a few of the textbooks that are in schools 00:44:43.059 --> 00:44:48.070 currently to help us figure that out as well as collaborating with teachers in the 00:44:48.070 --> 00:44:51.819 pilot school. Herald: And please don't be shy if you 00:44:51.819 --> 00:44:54.990 have any questions please come up to the microphones and share them with all of us. 00:44:54.990 --> 00:45:00.420 We have time enough for quite a few more questions. A question from mic number two! 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:04.640 Microphone number 2: Yes. Thank you Judith for taking on the journey. I have a 00:45:04.640 --> 00:45:09.599 different question but also missed the first minutes of your talk. As I see your 00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:14.599 talk here also a contribution from the Global South enriching us hopefully with 00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:21.020 your cultural perspective and my question is: Do you think that this technology 00:45:21.020 --> 00:45:27.870 could help us to bridge cultural understanding. Does it support empathy to 00:45:27.870 --> 00:45:32.990 get more of a picture. Well the trouble from a Western perspective is that you 00:45:32.990 --> 00:45:37.240 know the African countries exporting poverty that's not a major good selling 00:45:37.240 --> 00:45:42.079 good. But there is other elements that might enrich or you might have to hack 00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:46.190 into our minds. My question is: Do you think this technology can actually help to 00:45:46.190 --> 00:45:51.900 support people understanding other cultures better? Or is this for the moment 00:45:51.900 --> 00:46:01.420 more an experimental thing within your control as cultural context to do your own 00:46:01.420 --> 00:46:06.950 educational or other purposes? JO: Thank you for that question. Yes 00:46:06.950 --> 00:46:12.750 actually I do think that it will help us start to understand and experience other 00:46:12.750 --> 00:46:22.010 cultures better and even experience empathy. And I say this because even just 00:46:22.010 --> 00:46:26.530 you know when we first started the lab in 2016. So, a challenge for Nigerians you 00:46:26.530 --> 00:46:29.559 might not know but one major challenge that people have when they want to travel 00:46:29.559 --> 00:46:35.250 is getting visas. Yeah the stories you hear about visa refusals can be quite 00:46:35.250 --> 00:46:40.910 heartbreaking. But people were put on their VR headset and sit in a chair and if 00:46:40.910 --> 00:46:46.309 you know with Oculus you have this option under Oculus 360 photos of explore the 00:46:46.309 --> 00:46:51.349 world. So, you can go to basically any country and people would do that. They 00:46:51.349 --> 00:46:55.339 choose a country and go. And one thing everybody would say is you mean I can 00:46:55.339 --> 00:47:00.000 travel and I don't even need to get a visa. That's the first thing that really 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:05.559 kind of like got people so curious and so engaged and I think that cuts across 00:47:05.559 --> 00:47:11.760 regardless of who you are or where you're from. Nigeria is not a known tourist 00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:16.339 destination right now but there is actually quite a lot to see in the 00:47:16.339 --> 00:47:24.320 country. And most people don't realize [name of region] the south of the country has possibly the 00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:28.570 greatest diversity when it comes to butterflies in the world. So, some things 00:47:28.570 --> 00:47:35.450 like that are not known and are not explored per se because it's not on the global map 00:47:35.450 --> 00:47:40.329 for tourism. But these are things that we can then start to experience via virtual 00:47:40.329 --> 00:47:43.960 reality and that's looking at an angle like tourism. I mean we can take it right 00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:50.829 down to the everyday to people's lives and stories. Much like, I think we've seen in 00:47:50.829 --> 00:47:56.080 a sense with YouTube and what bloggers have been able to create. But in a much 00:47:56.080 --> 00:48:02.079 more personal way now with with VR 360 that you can actually, say, step into my 00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:05.280 home, step into my life and I think we'll start to see more of those stories as we 00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:09.789 go on. Herald: We have about 15 minutes left and 00:48:09.789 --> 00:48:13.583 we have a question from mic number two. Microphone number 2: All right. Thanks for 00:48:13.583 --> 00:48:19.330 the talk. Maybe learning is not a privilege only to young people or did you 00:48:19.330 --> 00:48:25.170 consider teaching also older people or people from other areas? And also are you 00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:30.441 reachable outside Facebook? Do you have some webpage or something else? 00:48:30.441 --> 00:48:37.849 JO: Yes. So to address the last part first: Yes absolutely outside Facebook. 00:48:37.849 --> 00:48:43.320 So, if you do social media we are on Twitter as a Imisi 3D and Instagram as 00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:50.510 Imisi 3D as well. We have a website imisi3d.com and you can also e-mail us at 00:48:50.510 --> 00:48:57.039 hello@imisi3d.com. In terms of reaching people beyond young people: Yes, that is 00:48:57.039 --> 00:49:01.930 that's very very important to us even as we reach things like say VR for schools 00:49:01.930 --> 00:49:05.940 targeting students. We know that that is not possible if adoption doesn't happen 00:49:05.940 --> 00:49:09.829 across the board. We need the older people, we need teachers, we need 00:49:09.829 --> 00:49:15.501 principals to take it on board as well and want to work with the technology. So, we 00:49:15.501 --> 00:49:20.770 embrace all. I mean the targeted project might look like it is very student and 00:49:20.770 --> 00:49:24.690 young people focused but we work across the board because we recognize 00:49:24.690 --> 00:49:29.510 stakeholders in all demographics. Herald: Two questions at mic number one 00:49:29.510 --> 00:49:32.900 let's start with the first one. Microphone number 1: Thank you Judith for 00:49:32.900 --> 00:49:38.920 the fantastic presentation. I was wondering about, I've never heard I think 00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:46.289 VR and communal efforts and collective working together in such a beautiful way 00:49:46.289 --> 00:49:52.180 because in the global north I think VR is in a lot of cases in the framework of 00:49:52.180 --> 00:49:57.780 hyper individualized even isolated non- social as in such an activity. So, I think 00:49:57.780 --> 00:50:03.839 this was a brilliant new way of seeing that potential. I would be very interested 00:50:03.839 --> 00:50:10.309 in how you see that's kind of maybe a difference. Yeah and if you think a lot 00:50:10.309 --> 00:50:18.309 about this isolation part as well. JO: Yeah. So thank you. I mean I really 00:50:18.309 --> 00:50:23.410 believe that collaboration is the way forward. I think particularly in a place 00:50:23.410 --> 00:50:29.550 like Nigeria, a place where you're already resource challenged. I think if you saw 00:50:29.550 --> 00:50:33.849 the divisions early then there are too many problems. And I think given the scope 00:50:33.849 --> 00:50:38.329 of these technologies we haven't even begun to approach the boundaries of where 00:50:38.329 --> 00:50:43.279 they will be, where there's so much left to discover and explore that we must come 00:50:43.279 --> 00:50:48.980 together to challenge ourselves and work together and push boundaries. And that is 00:50:48.980 --> 00:50:56.400 enough scope for everybody to get involved. Yeah, I see the individualism 00:50:56.400 --> 00:51:02.710 that you talk about in other parts. I mean when I was first starting out one of the 00:51:02.710 --> 00:51:07.220 challenges for me was just even the multiple platforms that exist and the fact 00:51:07.220 --> 00:51:12.369 that things are gonna be unified in one way that we could all tap into. I hope it 00:51:12.369 --> 00:51:18.329 will change. But you know don't hold out too much but I think where we can work and 00:51:18.329 --> 00:51:22.200 where we can actually impact stuff and effect change the way that we believe it 00:51:22.200 --> 00:51:26.700 should be then we must. Herald: One more question from microphone 00:51:26.700 --> 00:51:28.890 number one. Microphone number 1: Thank you also from 00:51:28.890 --> 00:51:36.131 my side for you talk. I do have a question more like personally. What was for you, 00:51:36.131 --> 00:51:42.500 since you started two years ago with this journey on VR in Nigeria. What was 00:51:42.500 --> 00:51:47.660 for you the most surprising thing in this journey. 00:51:47.660 --> 00:51:55.349 JO: The most surprising thing I have never been asked that question so I'm pausing for a 00:51:55.349 --> 00:52:05.880 moment to think. Actually, so maybe not surprising in the traditional sense but 00:52:05.880 --> 00:52:14.730 like a couple of months after I started I was at an event where Y-Combinator had 00:52:14.730 --> 00:52:18.589 come to Nigeria. This was in September of 2016. So it was a year where quite a few 00:52:18.589 --> 00:52:23.630 people were interested in what was going on in Lagos. So Y-Combinator had come to 00:52:23.630 --> 00:52:28.279 Nigeria for the first time. And in one of the business schools they were having a 00:52:28.279 --> 00:52:32.150 talk, a session and I was in the audience and I just happened to look down on the 00:52:32.150 --> 00:52:39.549 road below me. There were two young men and they had a phone and they were 00:52:39.549 --> 00:52:50.059 actually watching like a 360 video on it. And stereoscopic the screen was split and I was amazed. I 00:52:50.059 --> 00:52:54.770 talked to them and I said "What are you doing?" And they're like "Oh, we're 00:52:54.770 --> 00:52:58.721 watching this." I'm like: "Do you have a headset?" "No" "Have you ever put it in a 00:52:58.721 --> 00:53:04.150 headset?" No, they hadn't. So luckily at that event I had a stand and the 00:53:04.150 --> 00:53:07.839 exhibition space and I said well during the break come down and we'll put it in a 00:53:07.839 --> 00:53:12.690 headset for you so you can actually see it the way it was intended. And so during the 00:53:12.690 --> 00:53:16.869 break they came. They did that, they were completely "wow". They after that went on 00:53:16.869 --> 00:53:22.660 and bought a VR headset. But for me why that stands out is because we started the 00:53:22.660 --> 00:53:27.750 lab because we felt like we must do this. This is time with these technologies if we 00:53:27.750 --> 00:53:31.700 want to be part of the story we get involved now. And I think that was a 00:53:31.700 --> 00:53:37.340 beautiful example of the reality of that. Herald: And please don't hesitate. If 00:53:37.340 --> 00:53:40.539 you're sitting in your chair thinking I have something to ask but I'm not quite 00:53:40.539 --> 00:53:44.109 sure if there'll be time, there is time for another few questions. So, please get 00:53:44.109 --> 00:53:47.420 up behind the microphones if there is something you want to know. We have 00:53:47.420 --> 00:53:49.630 another question from microphone number two. 00:53:49.630 --> 00:53:56.260 Microphone number 2: Thanks for the day. You mentioned during one of the answers 00:53:56.260 --> 00:54:03.630 that one of the key indicator you crossed were the schools basically is the ratio of 00:54:03.630 --> 00:54:10.380 the student pretty true or better. And then I'm wondering if let's say imagine 00:54:10.380 --> 00:54:15.330 managing a school and I'm considering your as a solution, I have to consider my cost 00:54:15.330 --> 00:54:21.690 to go through what I get out of those solution. So, which indicator is 00:54:21.690 --> 00:54:31.500 traditionally used in education system. Which would VR in the classroom improve the 00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:38.600 most? JO: Thank you. So for the VR for schools 00:54:38.600 --> 00:54:42.440 part that I've talked about where we're actually targeting public schools. The 00:54:42.440 --> 00:54:48.210 real target that we want to address with that is learning outcomes. We want to 00:54:48.210 --> 00:54:52.760 significantly improve learning outcomes with virtual reality. And do this in a way 00:54:52.760 --> 00:55:00.200 where what children are not learning about computers from a book of just from hearing 00:55:00.200 --> 00:55:04.190 the teacher talk about it but they can actually see one in that sort of thing. If 00:55:04.190 --> 00:55:08.299 you want operate it where they are learning about different experiments not 00:55:08.299 --> 00:55:13.680 just by hearing it spoken about but by actually being able to do it in a sense in 00:55:13.680 --> 00:55:17.590 that virtual space. So, it's really learning outcomes that is the key 00:55:17.590 --> 00:55:24.639 indicator for us when it comes to the returns that we hope to see. But I think 00:55:24.639 --> 00:55:32.750 that we will see depending on kind of like what school sector we're looking at that 00:55:32.750 --> 00:55:38.980 change a little bit. So in the public schools I think that it'll be easy to go 00:55:38.980 --> 00:55:44.720 in there and work targeting just learning outcomes. When we go to the private 00:55:44.720 --> 00:55:49.230 schools with a lot more resources than it'll be more new ones there because 00:55:49.230 --> 00:55:55.030 there'll be scope to do more things. For example we will have schools where they 00:55:55.030 --> 00:56:00.750 can afford to set up labs to actually create virtual reality. And for them some 00:56:00.750 --> 00:56:04.670 of the indicators that they might be looking at are technical expertise in 00:56:04.670 --> 00:56:10.859 these students that sort of thing. Herald: And if we don't have any more questions I 00:56:10.859 --> 00:56:13.600 think we should all thank Judith for an excellent talk! 00:56:13.600 --> 00:56:17.585 JO: Thank you! applause 00:56:17.585 --> 00:56:23.430 35C3 postroll music 00:56:23.430 --> 00:56:41.000 Subtitles created by c3subtitles.de in the year 2020. Join, and help us!