Introduction to Issue 2
Katerina Girginova & Katie Rawson
Welcome to the second issue of the Social Grammars of Virtuality! This is a yearly report, dedicated to tracking and critically analyzing developments in extended reality (comprising augmented, mixed, and virtual reality) research. We examine a wide range of academic publications and have a vested interest in pursuing advancements in the social sciences and ways of knowing rooted in communication and media studies—areas we argue are fundamental for extended reality (XR) knowledge building, yet underrepresented in existing work.
In this issue readers will find a knowledge mapping of all of the available peer-reviewed XR publications in English in 2023 (that’s a total of 8,906 papers – an ambitious number for the most avid reader, even when using ChatGPT). The knowledge mapping examines the geographies of knowledge production, key topics of inquiry, publication outlets, and funding, and provides a high-level summary of research trends. This is followed by chapters providing a deeper dive into the theories, technologies, methodologies, and language found in XR research in 2023. The report concludes with an overview of commercial innovation throughout 2023—an examination of important developments in technology that often trickle down into future academic work.
Two new developments in our report this year include the ability to compare findings with those from the previous year, 2022, and a focus on the intersections between XR and artificial intelligence (AI). Many of the chapters comparatively mention trends found in the literature in 2022, and highlight dis/continuities between the years. It is our hope that as we continue to publish these reports, yearly trends will become more pronounced and opportunities for research will become easier to identify. In addition, given the recent explosion of publicly available, generative AI tools, this issue took special interest in how and to what degree AI featured within XR research in 2023. So, each of our contributors was tasked with noting the presence—or lack thereof—of AI in their specific chapter.
Key Findings:
- 1. Social science publications (those examining the various social contexts and impacts of XR adoption) accounted for just over 11% of the total output of XR research in 2023 and saw the largest growth across all research disciplines from last year.
- 2. Augmented reality research also saw significant growth in 2023, more closely mirroring market trends globally where AR remains the most popular medium of use in 2023 with some projected 1.4 billion active mobile user devices[1] as compared to 21.8 million virtual reality headsets.[2]
- 4. Education, including classroom learning and specific task training, remains the most prolific area of social science research. It is also one of the top areas of research within the context of other disciplines, such as healthcare.
- 5. Meta is losing market share, and a plethora of new and specialized software and hardware XR tools—including those supported by AI—are rapidly emerging.
Recommendations for XR researchers and practitioners:
- Theory building around XR is limited but new theories may not always be necessary. A closer look into existing work in virtual worlds or the arts—two areas with longstanding traditions of research into virtuality—may provide fruitful ground and synergies for new work.
- XR research—and now its interconnections with AI—remains a national-level priority topic with global opportunities in funding. Subsequently, those seeking funding may wish to look more broadly.
- The most prolific areas of XR research remain rooted in healthcare and computing but there is ample room for collaboration with adjacent fields, as evidenced by the presence of topics like education and training across all contexts.
The chapters in this report may be read individually, for those with a particular focus in XR work, or they may be read sequentially to give a broader overview of the research efforts underway. The report remains a free, quality resource to the academic and practitioner community interested in the field, and it is available in English and Spanish. We hope that this report presents a valuable step toward bringing communication and, broadly speaking, social science voices to the fore of XR conversations in society—and to do so in an accessible way. We view our work as a conversation with XR researchers globally. We hope that you enjoy reading it and that you get in touch to continue that conversation.
Author Biographies
Dr. Katerina Girginova is Co-Editor of the Social Grammars of Virtuality and Co-Founder/Director of the Annenberg Extended Reality (AER) Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She writes about the logics of how global media, audiences, bodies, and events migrate into various virtual realms. Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Katerina worked in a number of media organizations and enjoys combining creative and critical perspectives in media production.
Dr. Katie Rawson is Senior Director of Library Services and Operations and Co-Director of Media and Information Technology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. She’s held positions in digital scholarship, learning innovation, and publishing. She has published on data curation, academic collaboration, computational methods, and food culture. Whether studying data models or short-order cooks, her research focuses on ways of knowing.
Dr. Maxwell Foxman is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Game Studies at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication. His research focuses on how games and play impact non-game media and affiliated industries, including journalism, e-sports, and XR. Foxman is the co-author of Mainstreaming and Game Journalism (MIT Press) with David B. Nieborg. His research has appeared in New Media & Society, Social Media + Society, and Digital Journalism, among other outlets.
Dr. Jeffrey Vadala is a researcher in the field of neuroaesthetics and anthropology, focusing on how architecture shapes human experience and cognition. Through the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and artificial intelligence (AI), he studies how humans create and experience space and place. As the director of the Penn Neurology VR Laboratory, Dr. Vadala teaches and leads projects that integrate VR, AR, and AI to study how humans perceive and respond to different architectural environments.
Kyle Cassidy is Co-Founder/Director of the Annenberg Extended Reality (AER) Lab at the University of Pennsylvania and has been writing about technology since the early 1990’s. He has authored a number of books about computer science and has been a contributing editor to Videomaker Magazine for two decades. He’s won four Keystone Journalism Awards and in 2020 he won the University of Pennsylvania’s Model of Excellence award for his work in virtual reality.
Dr. Waseq Rahman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Design and Journalism at Creighton University. He is primarily interested in media entertainment. His research focuses on the use of games and gaming spectatorship in strategic communication contexts from a media psychological perspective.
Shane Burrell is a PhD student in Game Studies at the School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon. Shane’s research is on the relationship users of virtual reality have with their virtual characters. Shane investigates this through the critical and post-positivist lens, using mixed methods and grounded approaches. Shane’s research focuses on the uses of innovative technologies and media while examining this through the media psychology paradigm.
Note: Special thanks to all of our reviewers for their time and thoughts on this issue.
Figure from Statista Reports: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098630/global-mobile-augmented-reality-ar-users/↑
Figure from Statista Reports: https://www-statista-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/forecasts/1331896/vr-headset-sales-volume-worldwide↑