What immersification?
We use the neologism immersification to refer to the design of immersive technologies to enhance digital media experiences. Immersive technologies broadly refer to systems that create levels of engagement beyond traditional interfaces like a computer or mobile screen. Common terms include Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and more recently eXtended Realities (XR) which is a lesser-known term that aims to be a catch-all phrase in this space.
A key reason for choosing the pseudo-word immersification is to express our intention to capture a wider span of possible technological advancements for enabling immersion, in other words, it eliminates any mental connotation with current technologies like head-mounted displays, CAVEs and even the concept of having any screens for that matter.
It is our hope that with immersification.org and the entire universe of “immersificators” out there, one day immersification will be added to the dictionary. Remember gamification? It wasn’t a word until 2011, where the adoption of its concept proliferated so widely that “gamification” got added to the Oxford dictionary.
We have started theorizing about an immersification continuum (Tan & Lim, Times Higher Ed., 2020) as a conceptual design guide when planning for the development of immersive technologies.
Our Story
Immersification is certainly not new in the industry and research, but recent evolutions have enabled this area to thrive. Whether it is 5G enabling a whole new span of mobile XR experiences, Facebook’s push for consumer VR through their cheap and portable headsets, or Apple’s leaps in consumer AR with constantly better depth cameras on their mobile devices, immersification is only getting exponentially bigger.
In SIT, immersification research has enjoyed a healthy growth along with the industry’s drive for collaborative innovation. Immersification research at SIT spans across a diverse range of applied interdisciplinary domains including transport, healthcare and manufacturing. Completed and ongoing projects include nation-wide initiatives with the InfoComm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA); as well as industry-specific collaborations, Alzheimer’s Diseases Association (ADA), Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (SMRT), HOPE Technik and Kajima Corporation.
With a thriving immersification research community in SIT, a virtual Slack community space was organically conceived in 2018.
In 2021, SIT, in collaboration with IMDA PIXEL, initiated the formalization of the community by setting up the Centre for Immersification to establish a clear mandate to push Immersification research alongside our industry partners.
immersification.org is the online presence for SIT’s Centre for Immersification.
In a nutshell, we hope to establish a community-driven effort towards driving immersification to the ☾.
We have also thought through our mandate a bit more formally based on the state-of-the-art in this space, and came up with the following vision and mission.
Vision
A leader in applied research and innovation for immersive technologies that impact society and disrupt industries.
Mission
To research and develop usable, scalable and accessible solutions to empower individuals to use and create immersive technologies.
In the Media
At SIT, Immersive Tech Is Changing How Students Learn
Taking a Dive with Immersive Technology (SIT internal access)