An R&D project exploring immersive storytelling experiences for young audiences.

Between 2020 and 2021 we examined if immersive tech could offer new storytelling experiences for children. As VR isn’t technically suitable for under 13’s we know that while some content made for VR is aimed at family audiences not a lot of it is specifically designed with children in mind.

When we designed the project we had anticipated running a series of short workshops with young people in order to talk with them and see how they interacted with the technology. However shortly after we received the funding the pandemic hit and we needed to change our plans. So, the young people were very excited as they were able to take the VR headsets home with them. This gave us a few new interesting opportunities and insights. It did mean that their parents were needed to help us and effectively act as research assistants for which we’re eternally grateful. Also it meant younger (and older) siblings were now inadvertently included in the research, we got to see how a family interacted with the hardware over a much longer period of time.

“The children clearly enjoyed making stories in VR, the way the format encourages storytelling by not relying on the use of written language is something that is of great value.”

DR R Parry, The University of Sheffield

The full research paper will be published soon by The University of Sheffield and when it is we will update this page.