So, as I’ve talked about, I haven’t been running a blog a lot recently, as a result of I’ve been so busy with my full-time paying job as an instructional librarian at my employer, the College of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Now that the annual rush of coaching a whole bunch of scholars on the right way to use the college libraries successfully and effectively has ended, my consideration turns to my different huge undertaking: specifying {hardware} and software program for a digital actuality lab, which we’re calling the XR Lab (the XR stands for eXtended Actuality, a form of umbrella time period used for digital actuality, augmented actuality, combined actuality, and what Apple is now calling spatial computing).
The aim of this lab is to supply digital actuality and augmented actuality {hardware} and software program (each VR/AR experiences and content material creation instruments) to College of Manitoba college, employees, and college students to assist their educating, studying and analysis. I’ve been engaged on this undertaking for the previous two and half years, and it’s a bizarre feeling to lastly see the computer systems faraway from the room which we now have designated as the long run dwelling of the XR Lab, in preparation for the mandatory room renovations (that are to start out quickly, and are presupposed to be accomplished by spring subsequent 12 months):
Within the meantime, I’ve been cross-training one other Libraries employees member on the {hardware} and software program which I’m proposing for the XR Lab. In different phrases, if (God forbid!) I ought to get run over by a bus, the thought is that any person will have the ability to give VR/AR demos in my place. There’s a lot of knowledge which must be shared! For instance, our final coaching session included a piece on the right way to set the right interpupillary distance (IPD) on each the Vive Professional 2 and Meta Quest 3 headsets (fortunately, the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional mechanically scans your eyes and units the IPD mechanically!).
There’s a lot of balls to juggle, and I have to confess that I usually really feel exhausted and even overwhelmed at occasions. After I come dwelling from work, the very last thing I wish to do is write a weblog put up! So my previously feverish running a blog tempo has sadly slowed to a crawl. Additionally, my blogpost viewing stats are manner, waaay down. The place I used to get 1,500 views a day, now I’m fortunate to achieve even one third of that:
Partly it’s as a result of the metaverse hype cycle has crested and crashed (and everybody has jumped on the synthetic intelligence bandwagon), and partly it’s as a result of longform blogs appear to be an more and more outdated—even quaint—technique of communication within the present short-attention-span period of Instagram photos and TikTok movies.
Which suggests I critically must pause and take into consideration what path through which I wish to take this weblog, and who I would like my viewers to be. One of many issues that I’ve all the time stated is that, in a weblog that actually has my identify within the URL, something I wish to discuss right here is on matter! Nonetheless, I’m questioning if maybe I’ve solid my web a little bit too broadly, and it could be time to slender the main focus of the RyanSchultz.com weblog considerably.
I don’t suppose that I’ll stop running a blog utterly; I nonetheless really feel the necessity to write, however I must mirror a bit on what I wish to write about, and why. I nonetheless do get a way of accomplishment once I craft a well-written weblog put up on a subject that I care about and, as all the time, I learn and respect all of the feedback and suggestions I obtain on my blogposts!
So please bear with me as I determine the place I’m going subsequent with (gestures broadly) all this.
Preferred it? Then please take into account supporting Ryan Schultz on Patreon! At the same time as little as US$1 a month unlocks unique patron advantages. Thanks!
