ABSTRACT
Imagine this scenario: you have just been sent on a mission to a remote location. Elections in your home country will take place soon, you need to cast your vote in a few weeks, and you are still undecided about who to vote for. You scroll through the newsfeed in your mobile trying to find out more, but there is too much information … it all seems somewhat haphazard, a confusing melange in an endless stream of news. Now imagine that you could go back home to meet the candidate you are interested in, and perhaps even ask that candidate some hard questions face to face. Or that you could go to your own community and feel what the election mood is in the streets, go to election events and talk to people you trust, and meet representatives that can explain their party policies in more detail. What if a journalist approached you with an immersive journalism device that would let you do just that: be virtually transported from your remote location to an election rally at home? This device, the journalist tells you, could help you gain a broader understanding, more engagement and even increased empathy for the people affected by a news event (de la Peña et al. 2010). You would have “unprecedented access,” “a more faithful duplication of real events,” and “a uniquely different level of understanding” that was higher than that of the printed word (de la Peña et al. 2010). Wouldn’t that be fantastic?
