When COVID19 shut down the workplace, there were people fortunate enough to have a job that allowed them to work from home. This represented the largest confirmatino of the viability of remote work for modern jobs in history, and it's reasonable to assume that remote work will continue to grow after the pandemic has subsided.
However, there is a downside to remote work: the workplace forms a significant part of our socialising, collaborative learning, and networking from day to day. There is always instant messaging and video conferencing for communication with coworkers, but they aren't as effective for facilitating spontaneous interactions which could lead to a more meaningful outcome than strictly business matters
A Potential Solution
In order to merge the collaborative potential of an office with the flexibility of remote work, I think we should explore ways to simluate the office environment in one's room. The goal would be to allow a remote worker to "log in" to an office remotely in such a way that they see and hear a simulated office around them along with their coworkers or immediate team members.
Mixed Reality?
Currently, there are mixed reality headsets such as Microsoft's Hololens which can overlay virtual projections on top of the real world by using Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping (SLAM) with a visor. This has the potential to simulate the presence of virtual objects in one's room. However, I think that there are two downsides. Firstly, it is not enjoyable to wear a bulky contraption on one's head. Secondly, it is not enough to recieve sensory input from the virtual world, it is also necessary to output oneself into the virtual world to acheive an two-way social interaction.
VR for Virtual Room
To address the shortcomings of relying on a headset, I'm exploring ways to simulate the VR experience without using a headset. Over the following posts, I'll explain what I learn and whether it's effective.