Reality Hack for Public Health

The Huffington Post
Davar Ardalan



We are reporting from Canberra, Australia where together with journalism technologist Ben Kreimer, we’re producing a ‘Reality Hack’ exploring the utility of 360° video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) in the service of development and public health.

We’ve invited a small, curated group of thought leaders from key industries, academia and government to join us at the innovationXchange, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s development innovation hub. By the end of today, we hope to have several project ideas, with opportunities and challenges for each. These ideas should explore how emerging technologies can:

• Drive impactful storytelling that raises worldwide awareness around food and nutrition challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.
• Invigorate local social campaigns that impact nutrition and development outcomes in communities with challenging public health needs.

The day’s key takeaways will be published in a wiki and curated in a blog post, so that they may inspire and inform further innovation. We will also share posts and videos on Facebook. The hashtag for the event is: #LAUNCHRealityHack.

After the hack event in Canberra, together with colleagues Roxann Stafford and Elyssa Dole, we will travel to Timor-Leste to help a variety of innovators and entrepreneurs throughout the region further develop their ideas around food and nutrition. Session participants will also be invited to attend a workshop to learn about storytelling tools, including how to capture and publish 360 video content.

Through this local project we hope to increase public health and nutrition awareness in Timor-Leste through 360°/VR/AR content production and explore ways to democratize 360°/VR/AR, by delivering tools and content to a larger group of people, regardless of local infrastructure and economy.