Whatever’s the “next frontier,” don’t let it sneak up on you

Is virtual reality journalism’s next frontier? I don’t have the answer to this, but if it is, and you’ve read even this far, you won’t be blindsided.

Even better: Read Virtual reality is journalism’s next frontier by Erin Polgreen of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Polgreen obviously has more of an answer than I do. She points to two examples of “immersive journalism”: Harvest of Change by the Des Moines Register and Project Syria by Nonny de la Peña and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Here’s why:

Wide consumer adoption of virtual reality is now the horizon. Oculus Rift, the crowdfunded VR headset that was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in cash and stock, recently released Development Kit 2 at a price point of $350. That smaller up-front investment makes it easier than ever for developers to test virtual reality projects. The company is also taking steps towards hardware that is readily available to consumers, offering a sneak peek of the Crescent Bay prototype in September. In short, it’s time to start strategizing.

“Our reporters go to places where few venture or get inside,” says Raney Aronson-Rath, deputy executive producer at Frontline. “I’ve long held a curiosity about how we might take our viewers with us in a more visceral way, so that they can feel what it’s like to actually be there.”

I tend to be skeptical of “next frontier” predictions. That’s because I’m old enough to have lived through a lot of them in various walks of life, and few of them ever come true.

But some of them do. That’s why I pay attention to them. Sure, CD-ROM turned out not be a next big thing after all, but mobile was, and when I first heard people saying it might be, I paid attention—even though I’d once heard the same thing about CD-ROM.

How will immersive journalism affect sports coverage? No idea. But it’s better to give it a little thought now than to wake up in a couple years and realize that all the action in sports media is happening in virtual reality, and you’ve never even heard of it.