... virtual reality Nonny de la Peña University of Southern California Sundance empathy machine ...

... Chapter 4 narrates the history of VR, explaining how it shifted from a technology that, in the 1980s and 1990s, promised freedom from one’s body to today’s fantasy of embodying another. Central to this reconceptualization of VR is the work of LA-based immersive journalist Nonny de la Peña, who...

... Nonny de la Peña, who translated research out of the academic laboratory and offered Hollywood filmmakers a glimpse of VR’s narrative potential. LA-centered institutions, including the University of Southern California and the Sundance Institute, played significant roles in VR’s development prior...