Ukrainian perspectives of immersive journalism

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Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

Ukrainian perspectives of immersive journalism

Kyrylova O., Candidate of Philological Sciences (Ph. D.), Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Mass and International Communication

Kyrylova O. Ukrainian perspectives of immersive journalism

Changes in the scientific discourse regarding the definition of the concept of “immersive journalism" are considered and the main stages of the critical understanding of the phenomenon are identified. The role of the technological factor as a concept-forming element of VR-communication is studied. 360 ° videos, published on the official YouTube channels of the 1 + 1 television company and Radio Liberty Ukraine in 2015-2019, were studied using the Witmer-Singer methodology. The four groups of factors were identified that ensure the presence in a virtual environment. Several video formats were analyzed: news stories, social advertising, special projects, video broadcasts, multimedia projects, among which there is both event and author's content. It was determined that factors constantly affect each other, influencing also the main components of the VR effect - presence, involvement and immersion. Videos claiming maximum efficiency should rely on sensory and distraction factors, since the immersive complex “presence + involvement + inclusion" depends on them. In the analyzed texts, the hierarchy of factors is as follows: in the first place are the distraction factors (which makes sense), but the second place is taken by the realism factors despite the format of the text. It is emphasized that realism should come to the fore, if immersive technologies are used in creating news stories and the user is not able to control the composition. In this case, the presence is formed through the immersion in the story. Author's journalistic texts are created using the methods that allow users to influence the course of the story, propose their own chronotope and create different levels of emotional immersion through, for example, maximum involvement. World practice proves the effectiveness of this principle, but Ukrainian journalists do not use it. Sensory and control factors are usually overlooked, the attention is usually paid to the sensory modality and the anticipation of an action, which are integral elements of journalistic videos.

Key words: immersive journalism; VR content; 360 ° video; the Ukrainian media; 1 +1; Radio Liberty Ukraine.

Українські перспективи імерсивної журналістики

Кирилова О. В., кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, доцент кафедри масової та міжнародної комунікації

Дніпровський національний університет імені Олеся Гончара

Розглянуто зміни у науковому дискурсі щодо дефініції поняття «імерсивна журналістика» та визначено основні етапи критичного осмислення феномену. Вивчена роль технологічного фактору як концептотворчого чинника VR-комунікації. Досліджуючи відео-сюжети формату «відео 360 °», опубліковані на офіційних YouTube-каналах телекомпанії 1+1 та Радіо Свобода Україна у 2015-2019 рр., із застосуванням методології Уітмера - Сінгера виокремлено чотири групи факторів, що забезпечують присутність у віртуальному середовищі. Проаналізовано декілька форматів відео: новинні сюжети, соціальна реклама, спецпроєкти, відеотрансляції, мультимедійні проекти, серед яких наявні як подієвий, так і авторський контент. Визначено, що фактори постійно взаємодіють і впливають один на одного, чинячи вплив і на головні складники VR-ефекту - присутність, залученість та занурення. Сюжети, що претендують на максимальну ефективність, мають робити ставку на сенсорні фактори та фактори відволікання, бо саме від них залежить дієвість імерсивного комплексу «присутніть+залученість+зануреність». В аналізованих сюжетах ієрархія факторів виглядає наступним чином: на першому місці фактори відволікання (що є логічним), але друге місце посідають фактори реалістичності, не зважаючи на формат тексту. При цьому акцентується, що реалістичність повинна виходити на перший план, якщо імерсивні технології застосовуються при створенні новинних сюжетів, і читач не має можливості керувати композицією, присутність формується через занурення в оповідь. Авторські публіцистичні тексти створюються із застосуванням методів, що дозволяють користувачам впливати на хід оповіді, пропонувати власний хронотоп, створювати різні рівні емоційного занурення через, наприклад, максимальне залучення. Світова практика доводить ефективність даного принципу, але ним не користуються українські медійники. На сенсорні фактори та фактори керування припадає дуже мало уваги, яка здебільшого розподіляється між візуальною складовою та прогнозованістю дії, які самі по собі є невід'ємними елементами публіцистичних відеосюжетів.

Ключові слова: імерсивна журналістика; VR-контент; відео 360 °; українські медіа; 1+1; Радіо Свобода Україна.

Introduction

Problem statement. Theoreticians and practitioners of social communications have been dealing with the development of immersive journalism for quite a long time. World leading media not only have some experience in creating immersive journalism projects, but also constantly invest in technology development, offering the users updated, functionally expanded products. Immersive narrative is associated with VR modeling, engaging an audience in AR and expanding worldview capabilities through MR. The group of leaders has been formed among the content producers, as it was described in previous studies (q.v. [1]). Ukrainian media are cautious about the possibilities of immersive narrative. Today, only Radio Liberty Ukraine can be called a leader in the creation of the content. From time to time there are projects that claim to be included in the structure of immersive discourse, but there is no ground for empirical material.

Latest research works and publications analysis. A number of scientific studies regarding the specifics of immersive journalism has increased significantly during the years 2017-2020. The phenomenon is subjected to thorough analysis, involving a solid methodological apparatus. So, the works written by R. Mabrook & J. B. Singer (2019), K. Van Damme, A. All, L. De Marez & S. Van Leuven (2019) [3], S. L. Nielsen & P. Sheets (2019) [4] are interesting from the point of view of the VR content features studying [2]; the effectiveness of immersive technology in news discourse is being investigated by S. Kang, E. O'Brien, A. Villarreal, W. Lee & Ch. Mahood (2019) [5], T. Aitamurto (2019) [6]. A. Paino Ambrosio і M. I. Rodriguez Fidalgo (2019) generally announce the emergence of a new communicative model in immersive journalism [7], but it's a bit premature in our view. S. Perez- Seijo & X. Lopez-Garcia (2018) [8], E. Sirkkunen & Uskali (2019) [9], W. McDonald & B. Avieson [10] deal with VR ethical а problems. The problems of immersive text formation are explored by D. Dowling (2019) [11], A. Paino-Ambrosio & M. I. Rodriguez-Fidalgo (2019) [12], and the AP world news agency offers the media “A guide for journalist in a world of immersive 3-D content” [13].

Research methods. In the article the videos in the 360 ° video published on the official 1+1 YouTube channels and Radio Liberty Ukraine during the years 2015-2019 are analyzed. Technical assessment of immersive materials was made with the help of the vidlQ Vision for YouTube service. The data are presented as of the end of the year 2019. When analyzing the immersive component of the videos, the Whitmer - Singer method [14] was used, with the help of which it was possible to determine the degree of the user presence in the video. The identification of 4 groups of factors (control factors, sensory factors, distraction factors and realism factors) allows us to understand what possibilities a user has to influence the environment, whether their functional is clear, whether there are tools for modifying objects, how much sensory information is provided, how fully and consistently the feelings are stimulated, if it is possible to focus on VR incentives without paying attention to irritation coming from the physical environment, whether the environment produces continuous incentives connected to each other, how close the VR environment is to the real world, how intense the disorientation after returning to the real world is. In the process of initial analysis, it was determined which of the published stories have the greatest potential. According to vidlQ, the most effective of the 39 videos available on the 1+1 channel are 'The world inside out 360 °' and '360 ° main Christmas tree. Immerse yourself in the center of a bright New Year's holiday'. Among 28 stories on the Radio Liberty Ukraine channel, the leaders are 'March of Defenders of Ukraine to Independence Day' and 'Carpathian Buddhists: the way from Donbass to the mountains'. These 4 videos in 360 ° video format were analyzed with the help of the Whitmer - Singer method.

Results

The technological factor affects not only the degree of the use of immersive techniques in media production, but also the qualitative level of the analysis of the phenomenon of scientific discourse. At the initial stage of the functioning of immersive practices (1995-2014) the world scientific community has determined its conceptual apparatus, definition, methodological base, etc. F. Biocca & B. Delaney (1995), B. G. Witmet & M. S. Singer (1998), N. de la Pena (2010) D. Small (2011), R. Cruz & R. Frnandes (2011), B. van der Haak & M. Parks (2012) and others made a significant contribution to this process. They defined immersive journalism, identified its concept-forming factors, justified the feasibility of a complex of practical techniques for producing content and set certain development vectors, which proved or, on the contrary, refuted its effectiveness over time. Speaking about an immersive media activity in the first decade of the XXI century, the researchers mainly emphasized the new capabilities of the technology, its development prospects and deontological aspects of its implementation. At the stage of the active attracting of the world's leading media to the development of the immersive content (2014-2017), world scientists such as M.L. Ryan (2015), R. Aronson-Rath (2016), S. Perez-Seijo (2016), R. Hernandez (2017), A. L. S. Laws (2017) and others have determined the structure-forming components of immersive journalism, its functional specificity and methodological apparatus, the effective use of existing technologies and its commercial component. At the present stage, the number of studies on various topics of immersive media practices is growing every day. We can even talk about the appearance of certain theoretical directions of the study of this phenomenon. In 2019 F. Biocca, who is considered the founder of the theory of immersion together with D. Shin, presented the results of their research on the study of the mechanism of immersion [15]. A. Paino Ambrosio and M. I. Rodriguez Fidalgo (2019) proposed a new model of “immersive communication” and a model of “structure of immersive journalism” [7]. An overview of existing concepts, employment, opportunities and boundaries of immersive journalism was presented by A. Baia Reis and A. F. Coelho (2018) [16]. immersive journalism multimedia

The understanding of the phenomenon of “immersive journalism” is also changing. In 2010 this concept was understood as “the use of specific strategies or techniques, especially those, which were made possible by digital technologies, to create a heightened sense of life experience in the audience after the news story was published.” Such a definition is found in the “Keywords In News And Journalism Studies” glossary by B. Zelizer and S. Allan [17, p. 56-57]. The authors try to give a general interpretation that takes into account the fact that “the term refers to mundane factors such as dust, dirt or water on the camera lens, blurred focus or shake camerawork and the sound of the journalist's personal reaction to what is being recorded (such as discomfort, surprise or alarm). On the other hand, it includes devices intended to encourage audiences to interact with story elements or information in a manner that engenders a personalized perspective. The latter includes the use of digital gaming features within virtual environment, as when the visitors to an online news site are provided an opportunity to negotiate the virtual experience of being on the airplane, having crashed earlier that day. Advocates regard immersive journalism as a way to supplement traditional, objective reporting with a more subjective sense of connection, that invites empathy and understanding. Critics, by contrast, associate it with the infotainment suggesting that it offers an egocentric form of reporting that substitute the main essence by the colorful visuals” [ibid]. At the same time N. de la Pena (2010) in the large-scale collaborative study “Immersive Journalism: Immersive Virtual Reality for the First Person Experience of News” where he introduces the concept of immersive journalism, explains it as “the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories” [18].

Tab. 1. Characteristics of the 1+1, TSN and Radio Liberty Ukraine YouTube channels at the end of December 2019 (with the data obtained from open source https://socialblade.comj

Today, “immersive journalism” is a subcategory of journalism that uses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and similar technologies to provide those engaging in such technologies with a sense of being wholly engrossed in the news story, thus allowing the audience of the news to form a direct impression of the ambience of the story [1; 19; 20; 21]. Moreover, “the technological component in this case is fundamental, not only in the process of transmitting and receiving the message, but also in relation to the intrinsic characteristics of the message itself. The coding and decoding performed by the sender and the receiver are determined by the technology itself, since specific software and hardware are necessary for production and consumption and the receiver needs a display device (VR headset) to be able to decode the message ... The immersive model involves the isolation of the user with a visualization device, makes it an individual type of communication, so that the message itself stays the same” [7].

Expanding the boundaries of the study of immersive journalism has led to the unification of the concept and its attraction to the existing mass media methodology. There have appeared the researches on the immersive forms of digital journalism [22], immersive communication [23], immersive narrative [24], the implementation of immersive techniques in the transmedia space [25], the impact of immersive journalism on the content factuality [26], the analysis of trends, acquisitions and prospects of immersive multimedia [27]. The conceptualization of immersive journalism is gradually coming to a conceptual level and scientists are trying to enter it into the system of the categorical apparatus of social communications [2; 9; 15; 28].

Tab. 2. 1+1 VR projects according to vidIQ the data as of December 2019)

Today, immersive journalism is a rather promising technology, which is invested by the leading world media, and is being increasingly discussed in the scientific discourse. At the same time, Ukrainian online resources have no need to pay their attention to the 360 ° video. We see several reasons for this. Firstly, this is caused by the lack of financial opportunities for systemic production of a sufficiently valuable product. Secondly, low technical training of manufacturers makes it necessary to turn to third-party production studios like New Cave Media and Sensorama for help in preparation of important projects. Thirdly, there is the lack of optimal media approach to the process of immersive stories creation. Fourthly, there is some unwillingness of the Ukrainian audience to take full advantage of the capabilities of the immersive narrative. Thus, we can't talk about the real prospects for the development of this technology in Ukraine.

Referencies

1. Kyrylova, O. (2017) “Immersive journalism: the experience of world news sources”, Dnipropetrovsk University Bulletin: Social Comminications, 17(25), no 12, pp. 51-57. Available at: https://cct.dp.ua/index.php/journal/article/ view/104 (Accessed: 09 December 2019).

2. Mabrook, R. & Singer, J.B. (2019) “Virtual Reality, 360° Video, and Journalism Studies: Conceptual Approaches to Immersive Technologies”, Journalism Studies, 20(14), pp. 20962112. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2019.1568203].

3. Van Damme, K., All, A., De Marez, L., & Van Leuven, S. (2019) “360° Video Journalism: Experimental Study on the Effect of Immersion on News Experience and Distant Suffering”, Journalism Studies, 20(14), pp. 2053-2076, doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2018.1561208].

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5. Kang, S., O'Brien, E, Villarreal, A. Lee, W. & Mahood, Ch. (2019) “Immersive Journalism and Telepresence", Digital Journalism, 7(2), pp. 294-313, doi: 10.1080/21670811. 2018.1504624.

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