Re-Emergence of Virtual Reality

Leighton Evans is Senior Lecturer in Media Theory at Swansea University. He is the author of Locative Social Media: Place in the Digital Age (Palgrave, 2015) and co-author of Location-based Social Media: Space, Time and Identity (Palgrave, 2017).

"In this field-defining, lucidly written book, Leighton Evans draws an authentic, cutting-edge picture of VR experientiality in contrast with other immersive media and opens our eyes to the changes in immersive opportunities afforded by contemporary consumer VR. He presents us with a thoroughly researched genealogy of VR, identifying the specific media-historical moment that has brought about its re-emergence and blending scholarly rigor with refreshing episodes of personal storytelling. The book compellingly embeds its subject matter in the history of digital media more generally, viewed through a sharp, critical lens that reminds us about the commercial dictates under which our hypermediated selves and our technological extensions operate."-- Astrid Ensslin, University of Alberta, Canada

• 1. Introduction 2. The History of VR 3. The VR Business Model 4. VR Worlds, Utopias, and Dystopias 5. Materiality: The Reality and Necessity of the Material Base of VR 6. The Cultural Impact of VR 7. VR Futures: Where We Will Go in the Virtual World