Michelle Cortese’s Keynote

Leaving Flatland: Strategies, Frameworks and Materials for Creating Augmented and Virtual Reality Experiences

This presentation compiles a decade's worth of strategies and subject-matter that have proven successful in teaching augmented, virtual and extended reality (AR, VR, XR) concepts and practices. The methodologies in this talk have been successfully applied: in academia at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications program (in the form of a 14-week graduate class); in the tech industry at Meta Reality Labs' Metaverse department (in the form of an internal upskilling program); and in summary form at various conferences. The material argues that to build and use XR experiences, it’s not enough to learn the hard skills—it’s also our responsibility to prime ourselves for the human impact of the medium. As a means to develop XR experiences that are both enjoyable and accountable, this learning approach proposes we borrow structures and principles from Hedonomics, a branch of ergonomic science that facilitates pleasurable human-technology interaction. Through the Hedonomic Pyramid, we’re able to section our thinking off into regions (Safety, Function, Usability, Pleasure and Individuation) and map out industry-tested XR concepts for each. The result is a hierarchical checklist of proven principles, specifications and practices built to serve as a quickstart guide for implementing inclusive and holistic XR interfaces and systems. 

About Michelle Cortese

Michelle Cortese is an XR design director, educator and author. She splits her professional time between Metaverse design leadership at Meta Reality Labs and teaching VR design at NYU. Her work explores immersive interaction systems; the ethical implications of embodied technology on end users; and the transmutation of human expression across new technologies and formats.

Michelle has authored AR and VR design research published via Bloomsbury, Meta, IEEE, OneZero, MIT's Immerse Journal and more; she has also exhibited work at CES, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, and Sundance.

More information about Michelle can be found on her site at https://www.ellecor.com/.

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