ANN ARBOR–Students can now immerse themselves in their studies through the power of virtual reality. ProQuest, the Ann Arbor-based information provider, announced the launch of virtual reality and 360-degree viewing functionality for select videos on the ProQuest search platform, as well as in ProQuest One Academic and on the newly redesigned Alexander Street video interface.
ProQuest officials said it’s the first academic streaming video platform to offer VR and 360-degree video.
Using technology from renowned multimedia companies like Within and CNN, these films are shot with omnidirectional cameras. When played on a laptop, they appear panoramic, giving the viewer full control of the playback angle. When played on a mobile phone with VR goggles like Google Cardboard or Daydream, they create a fully immersive experience that places the viewer in the scene.
“The need for varied content in academia, including video, is growing rapidly – and ProQuest is thrilled to be the first academic streaming video platform to provide VR and 360 video technology to the market,” said David Parker, senior director of product management at ProQuest. “The interactive experience these videos create will allow students to not just learn about a concept, but to feel like they’re experiencing it first-hand.”
VR and 360-degree viewing is available for a growing number of of documentary films. You can preview the new technology on your computer or phone with clips from Hello, Robot, A Story of a Doctor, Global Warming: Arctic Melt and Step into Infinity, with many more to come soon.
More at www.proquest.com.
ProQuest curates six centuries of content–the world’s largest collection of journals, ebooks, primary sources, dissertations, news and video–and builds workflow systems to help libraries acquire and grow collections. ProQuest products and services are used in academic, K-12, public, corporate and government libraries in 150 countries.
Along with its companies and affiliates Ex Libris, Alexander Street and Bowker, ProQuest helps its customers achieve better research, better learning and better insights.
