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This is funky; it’s a little silly goofy to me that something as mundane-seeming as the weather report is going to be coming from an augmented and virtual reality technology-driven studio, but I guess why not. It’s interesting to me how the world keeps moving forward, which feels like an odd statement but it’s just cool that we are at a point where we can just make our weather reports come from an augmented and virtual reality technology-driven studio for fun. This article made me think of the occasional “blooper”-like videos out there of the weather people presenting the weather and then someone from offscreen says something funny and the presenter laughs, or the presenter accidentally says a word really wrong and everyone in the studio can be heard laughing, or other moments that are accidents but make the weather broadcasting people seem more human and less perfect. I feel like those moments make the world feel like a bit of a smaller place in a nice way and remind us that we’re all humans and even the weather broadcaster makes mistakes and “breaks character” sometimes. I wonder if ultimately we won’t have a weather broadcaster at all and will instead just have an entirely virtual weather program with no humans; for some reason that’s a little sad to think about to me (though I know it’s not super related to the article but this got me thinking).
So CBS is launching an AR/VR studio. That’s funky. It can be fun I guess but like what for. I think it is super cool, I mean virtual reality is super fun, but why for the news and weather. However, the pictures look super sick and trippy. So I would definitely partake in viewing this through a virtual reality medium. There is currently a virtual reality CBS news studio in Chicago that recently opened on October 1st, and there is one in Colorado that is on the way to opening soon. I take back what I said earlier this is actually super cool ad fascinating. These stations are specifically for broadcasting the weather and the other locations of these virtual reality studios are; CBS Philadelphia, CBS Denver, CBS New York, and CBS Bay Area, which have already introduced this approach in their markets. These already exists however but are the same type of virtual reality weather studio. CBS Chicago’s space is over 1,100 square feet of floor area and reaches 16 feet tall. This is crazy cool!
It is fascinating to watch frameworks that have driven countless games be used to further TV and News broadcasts. The integration of this technology does drive up the production value of their show. The “limitless” ability to throw the newscaster in any environment is a powerful tool limited only by the company's budget to hire designers to build new spaces for the programs. Seeing powerful technology like this being adapted to tv and news is cool but also brings up feelings of the broadcaster performing in a weird liminal space that exists and also does not. With AI being able to generate not quite right pictures and videos (that look real but have wrong or missing details), I wonder how that will affect the perception of society to younger generations. Even without technology the world is washed or purified of details that a small group of people do not want others to see. From historical texts, inadequate or twisted public schooling, and now carefully crafted news stations, what is being crafted for the younger generation? It is very creepy to see the videos of newscasters across the nation being fed from the same script rolling on the teleprompter…
CBS Chicago is now at the vanguard of using augmented/virtual reality technology to convey the weather forecast, which I think is a pretty cool effort (though not the peak of potential for either kind of technology, frankly). Meteorology isn’t what I think of when I think of new uses of artificial intelligence. Still, it certainly makes sense, and I believe that it’s a great field to explore - one that can be formed responsibly and with workers in mind. The ‘weather sphere’ is CBS Chicgago’s space to explore over 1100 square feet of floor space, 16 feet tall. That’s pretty expansive, and could help people visualize just how bad certain life-threatening conditions can be - which could persuade people to abide by evacuations, possibly saving lives. As the article describes, it also doesn’t have to convey only the largest events and can help people with their day-to-day lives and weather-related preparations.
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