Lecture “Immersive Communication: The Key to Metaverse” by Li Qin

Professor Li Qin from the School of Journalism and Communication Renmin University of China was invited by University of Geneva to give an online lecture on May 12, 2022: Immersive Communication: The Key to Metaverse. The lecture mainly covered the theory, practice and challenges of immersive communication.

Professor Li first explained the evolution of the concept of "immersion" through a video introducing the 8K VR adopted in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The concept of "immersion" dates back to 1975 when American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi first proposed the word "flow". Then, "immersion" in the sense of communication first appeared in virtual reality, mainly the immersion of the perception system. With the development of electronic and network technology, the concept evolves into "immersive communication" which is pervasive anywhere and everywhere.

Professor Li, through illustrations, further introduced that immersive communication is a new means of information communication, human-centered, ubiquitous, and omnipotent. It is a ubiquitous experience beyond the boundaries of time and space with the "3I" effects: invisible, intangible, and insensible. It also reconstructs the physical, spiritual, and intelligent spaces. The present, past, and future are integrated, and the virtual world and physical world coexist as integrated. Boundaries between entertainment, work, and life vanish. Immersive communication and innovative ideas are pushing human communication and society into a new era of development, the third media age.

Not only does immersive communication reconstructs the relationship between media and human being, but it is a feature of the metaverse which was another focus of the lecture. Metaverse, like a "quasi successor state to the mobile Internet", is a future connection state formed by integrating many virtual technologies under the background of the mobile Internet instead of fundamentally replacing the Internet. Therefore, the people in the Metaverse are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the metaverse.

Through discussions with professors present, including professor Tommaso Venturini of University of Geneva, professor Li concluded that metaverse would bring transformation for human beings. New technologies will spring up for metaverse production. However, we should be cautious with the challenges accompanied by metaverse. Do we really need metaverse? Can we avoid it? Will it reposition the world structure? Such questions are waiting to be solved.