On the Metaverse, Virtual Pets and Memories of Alhambra (feat. Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn)

SPARTIE-Cast with Dr. Robby Ratan

In this episode, host Robby Ratan and Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn discuss the concept of the Metaverse, the Korean Netflix original “Memories of Alhambra,” and how both relate to her 10+ years of research on virtual/mixed reality (VR/XR.)

Ahn describes her amazing research lab where she can run experiments with 10 simultaneous participants in VR, her NIH-funded research on virtual pets for well-ing, why she thinks VR gaming has not taken off but VR for business and other contexts will and how social relationships between people and artificial agents are totally fine ...no need for moral panic!

About this week's guest:
Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn is an associate professor of research methods, user experience research, communication theory and advertising and society in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She is the director of the university's Games and Virtual Environments Lab where research is conducted on the experience and effects of immersion in virtual and mixed reality environments.

Ahn is also the co-director of the Virtual Environment Room and Gaming Experience Lab. The lab started in 2019 and gives up to 20 students and faculty to engage in the virtual reality world at the same time.

About the SPARTIE Lab:

The Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab performs research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how the use of media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influences meaningful outcomes (e.g., education, health/safety, persuasion).

The SPARTIE Lab is part of the greater academic community at the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. More information on the lab's research projects, staff, and work can be found on the SPARTIE Lab website.

About the host:

Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, Ph. D., is an associate professor and AT&T Scholar at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information and is the director of the SPARTIE Lab.

He is also an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Ratan received his Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his M.A. in Communication from Stanford University, and his B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, also from Stanford University.

Dr. Ratan conducts research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., persuasion, education, health/safety). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect, media-rich transportation contexts, perceptions of media as self-representations and/or social others, avatarification for health and education, and gender stereotypes in gaming contexts.

Dr. Ratan lives near Lansing with his family. More information on his work can be found on his website.