Megan Smith

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at University of British Columbia - Okanagan

While global leaders in Virtual Reality (VR) simulation maintain a strong presence in use-of-force scenarios, their VR systems are consumer-oriented. This leads to compromises that lack crucial qualities such as appropriate pistol weights and missing magazine clips, which military personnel train to recognize and control through muscle memory. Usin...

Virtual reality is an embodied medium. It extends reality by altering the perception of the bodily senses. However, many virtual reality experiences ignore the body, attempting to leave it behind upon entering the virtual space. As virtual reality is experienced through the body, the conflict between mediated and unmediated senses splits the self b...

Over two years, artist and researcher Dr. Megan Smith cycled through image tile after image tile of the Google Street View platform, physically working her way across 6300 km of highway-redefining what the great Canadian road trip can be. Starting out with a goal to network a stationary bike with the internet, along the way she dropped into an othe...

In this paper we present a collection of virtual interfaces used to augment a MIDI keyboard synchronized in physical and virtual space. Several virtual interfaces are developed and evaluated. Some utilize the tactility offered by the keyboard's surface, while others rely on the improved presence offered by the keyboard. An evaluation of these virtu...

As virtual reality gains popularity, technology which better integrates the user’s physical experience in the virtual environment is needed. Researchers have shown that by including real physical objects to interact with, the experience can be made significantly more convincing and user-friendly. To explore physically connecting the user to the vir...

As virtual reality gains popularity, technology which better integrates the user's physical experience in the virtual environment is needed. Researchers have shown that by including real physical objects to interact with, the experience can be made significantly more convincing and user-friendly. To explore physically connecting the user to the vir...

The Mixed Reality MIDI Keyboard is a prototype designed to augment virtual reality experiences through the inclusion of a physical interface which aligns the user's senses with the virtual environment. It also serves as a platform on which the uses of virtual reality in music interaction and art installations can be experimented with. The main prob...