[Metaverse x Academia] Virtual Academic Conference 2021 Report

I infiltrated the metaverse academic event, "Virtual Academic Conference 2021"! I gave a presentation and provided a full live broadcast. While poster sessions with avatars might seem surreal at first glance, the "spatiality" of the metaverse accelerates discussions, revealing how the metaverse can be utilized for academia.

Virtual Academic Conference 2021

The "Virtual Academic Conference" is an initiative to "promote value creation in VR spaces from an academic perspective through academic presentations and exchanges in VR." It was held on December 18, 2021, featuring presentations on cluster and poster sessions in VRChat. It is a place for free discussion in the virtual world, ranging from medical students and university researchers to VTubers like myself. I presented the "VR Census" and also provided a live broadcast of the poster session as a VTuber.

A look at the poster session

Isn't it interesting to see beautiful girls and cats having serious discussions in front of posters!?

However, as you can see from the posters, the discussions were quite serious.
When presenters and attendees share a space in the metaverse, active discussions emerge, and unexpected ideas are born one after another.

This is a phenomenon that simply cannot be realized through presentations on a screen via Zoom. The sense of distance created by the space gradually narrows through the medium of interest and discussion, and the heat of collaboration rising is something unique to VR!
(You can get a feel for the atmosphere, so please watch the archive, even if just for a little bit.)

Isiria-san's "VR Training Program for Endoscopic Surgery"

I'd like to introduce just one poster presentation that left an impression on me.

The presentation by Isiria-san, a medical student hooked on VR, "Examination and Prototyping of a Non-Face-to-Face Medical Training System Using Commercial VR Equipment" was excellent. When you hear "VR training program for endoscopic surgery," it sounds like something common, but it was amazing that she actually created a training program on the Quest 2, conducted practical training, quantified the results for skill acquisition rates, and compiled a solid report.

To be honest, I had quite a few doubts about whether this kind of VR training program was actually effective, so I was moved to see the results summarized.

The reason for choosing endoscopic surgery as the theme was simply because it is a surgery that is easy to reproduce at this point in time, and I was very convinced by the idea that they want to incorporate VR training into all surgeries eventually.

Ishiria, your presentation was great, but your avatar being the "Rod of Asclepius" (a symbol of medical ethics) is truly amazing.

Ishiria's thoughts"The experience of receiving rapid-fire questions in a VR space was truly stimulating... how should I put it, it felt like collecting only the crust of a melon pan from a real-life academic conference! I hope the Virtual Academic Conference continues to spread!"

Nemu x Mila: "Social VR Census 2021"

I, along with anthropologist Mila, conducted a large-scale survey to clarify the actual living conditions of users in the metaverse, and we also announced the results of the "Social VR Census 2021".

We received many questions and opinions, and ideas for further analysis and future surveys have come to mind, so I would like to incorporate them into our future activities.

Thank you very much for attending and for your opinions and questions!

Complete Live Broadcast of Poster Sessions

We broadcasted the poster sessions live in their entirety. I went around to the presentations I was interested in as I pleased and had free-form discussions. At the end, there is also my own presentation. The archive is here.

Chapters have been added so you can watch only the parts you like.

• 00:00 Opening

• 07:15 Consideration of Generalizable Voice Changer Settings Based on Sexual Dimorphism in Vocal Cord and Vocal Tract Structure - Rinoa Suzukake (A1-29)

• 25:47 Prototyping a VR Space for Enhancing Higher Education in the Field of Earth Sciences - sai (B1-30)

• 38:33 WebXR Pseudo-haptics: Pseudo-haptic Experience in Virtual Spaces on the Web - Kenichi Ito, The University of Tokyo (A2-5)

• 48:02 Smash Stress!: Enhancement of Catharsis Effect through Destruction Accompanied by Visualization of Words and Haptic Presentation (2nd Report) - Taiki Takami, The University of Electro-Communications (B2-26)

• 59:26 A Survey on Tribology (Friction, Wear, and Lubrication) Research up to the 1940s - Hinoride (A3-11)

• 1:04:02 Can Laplace's Demon Predict Chemical Reactions? - Saku Asa-zakura (A3-13)

• 1:07:05 Interface Pattern Formation in Quantum Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability - Keiazu (A3-34)

• 1:13:00 Tribology up to the 1940s (Second Round)

• 1:29:43 Ishiria: Examination and Prototyping of a Non-Face-to-Face Medical Training System Using Commercial VR Equipment (B4-9)

• 1:45:21 Utilization of Eye-Tracker Equipped HMDs in the Rehabilitation Field - Ume-kenkyusei (B4-12)

• 1:56:37 An Example of Construction Using ICT Networks in Bridge Repair Work - Dechidechi (B4-21)

• 2:01:50 Social VR Census 2021 - Nemu & Mila (B5-15)
  2:34:13 Survey on the Reality of Phantom Sense (VR Sensation) - Nemu & Mila (B6-16)

• 3:05:45 Group Photo