“To help shape the future of communication and storytelling” – Chip Giller, Amy Seidenwurm (Agog)

We recently had the chance to explore the remarkable work being done at Agog, the immersive media institute for social good founded by Wendy Schmidt and Chip Giller. Agog is on a mission to revolutionize communications, while providing support to those currently working in or aspiring to join the immersive media field.

Co-founder and Executive Director Chip Giller, along with Chief of Programs and Strategy Amy Seidenwurm, guided us through the institute’s visionary goals and introduced us to its latest release, See Your Brand in 3D, a spatial branding guide designed to provide “valuable insights and best practices for organizations to harness the power of extended reality (XR) technologies”.

Cover: Exploring XR with Agog @ Rise Summit

Discovering Agog:  the immersive media institute for social good

Chip Giller – Agog is an immersive media institute and philanthropic initiative dedicated to helping people use extended reality to imagine and create a better world. To be agog means to be filled with wonder, excitement, and awe – feelings that guide our work and mission.

C. G. – We don’t want to be unrealistically optimistic, but so much storytelling in the social impact space centers on problems, and our focus is on bringing solutions to the forefront. We want to leave people truly agog at the possibilities of a better world.

C. G. – For this reason, we approach our work in three different ways. First, we act as a hub, a network that connects people with specific skills who want to deepen their knowledge with others who have expertise in different aspects of using XR. Our goal is to be the connective tissue that links these innovators.

C. G. – Second, we are fortunate to be able to offer grants –philanthropic financial resources – to nonprofits. And increasingly, we’re building pathways to provide technical support to NGOs interested in exploring this field.

C. G. – Finally, we focus on sharing what we’re learning as the field develops. An example of this is our See Your Brand in 3D guide, in which we open source, if you will, what we learned in the process of developing our own brand and website, which we wanted to be spatial from the get-go and accessible in different forms of XR.

C. G. – We see immersive media as a transformative leap in communications – a shift as significant as the move from radio to TV, or from TV to the Internet. We believe this shift will introduce an entirely new wave of communication possibilities. And what excites us most about immersive media is its experiential nature.

C. G. – Amy led the VR for Good program at Meta for nearly seven years, and we feel fortunate to have someone with her extensive experience, wisdom, and ambition guiding our programs and strategy. On the other side, I, as a journalist, have spent my career reporting, editing, and using facts to inform people, particularly on issues like climate change. 

C. G. – Unfortunately, in the United States and elsewhere, journalism is facing an existential challenge as facts aren’t always valued or recognized. Meanwhile, humanity is grappling with complex challenges. But this is where immersive media offers something unique. Because it’s experiential and visceral, it allows people to feel and to become informed in this way: you can enter an XR narrative that lets you step into another person’s shoes, experiencing life from their perspective, which can be incredibly impactful. Or, through social VR platforms, you can share a common experience with others – visiting a virtual representation of a distant or remote location on the globe, for example, alongside people who are sharing that moment with you.

C. G. – While we can’t predict exactly how these tools will evolve in the next five or ten years, we’re committed to nurturing and supporting the people who are pioneering these possibilities.

Challenges of the current immersive ecosystem

Amy Seidenwurm – Every time I attend a gathering of the XR community, the question of distribution inevitably arises. Where, beyond the festival circuit, can this work be showcased, and how can creators earn a living from it? There are many potential answers to these questions, and we’re committed to exploring several of them in the years to come. For example, we’re considering public spaces, such as museums, libraries, schools, and other civic institutions, where this kind of work can be shared, and also collaborating with creators to make their experiences more transportable, allowing them to be showcased in a wider range of venues.

A. S. – Currently, much of this important work is showcased exclusively at festivals or in specific venues, but there’s no place to access it afterward. We need to find ways to keep these vital projects alive. This is one of the challenges we’re focusing on.

A. S. – Additionally, while this is a new field, some of our team members, including myself, have been part of this burgeoning community for nearly a decade, so we have valuable insights to share. I’ve produced numerous pieces and seen people make the same mistakes over and over again. How can we provide wisdom to the community about best practices? This includes everything, from creating immersive experiences to running impactful campaigns to spur change in the world to  securing funding.

A. S. – Furthermore, traditionally, leadership in this space has been dominated by for-profit organizations focused on specific hardware or software interests. What we truly need now is leadership that is free from the pursuit of monetary gain, allowing for a more collaborative and inclusive approach to the future of immersive media.

C. G. – It’s absolutely true that many of the most powerful VR experiences are currently only available at festivals. However, we see a tremendous opportunity with WebXR, among other tools, to help democratize this form of communication.

C. G. – If you visit our website now using an Apple Vision Pro or a Quest device, you can immerse yourself in a three-dimensional experience right there on the site. But even without a headset, you can explore it using just an Android-powered phone and experience it through augmented reality!

C. G. – We really believe that the field will undergo significant changes in the coming years, making these experiences much more widely accessible. We want to support the development of impactful experiences in more public spaces. Accessing these tools will become increasingly easier through the web and the Internet as well, eliminating the need to download apps or rely on specialized devices to enjoy immersive content.

A. S. – Chip touched on something crucial about distribution: the hardware is still generally hard to access and isn’t available in every country. But people still need to experience something immersive before they’ll want to invest in a headset! So, finding ways to offer an exciting experience without requiring the hardware will be essential for getting people to evangelize this technology.

Support impactful immersive projects with strong social relevance

A. S. – With Anagram and IMPULSE, we funded an impact campaign focused on increasing understanding of ADHD.

A. S. – Impulse is an immersive experience that lets participants step into the shoes of someone with ADHD, aiming to demystify what having ADHD is truly like. Our investment will help bring this experience to schools, to the friends and families of those with ADHD, and to peers, parents, and others who want a deeper understanding of the condition. Beyond that, Anagram is also doing incredible work with the medical and mental health fields. But our specific campaign, in partnership with Anagram and Games for Change, is focused on reaching students, parents, and educators.

A. S. – With LIVING WITH THE SNOW LEOPARDS by NowHere we are taking a similar approach as an impact initiative. They’re being forward-thinking by developing assets for outreach while still in production. Often, creators finish an experience and only then ask, “What’s next? How do we get this out into the world?” In this case, though, they’re already planning effective ways to share the story and engage audiences. This approach will not only strengthen the project but also expand its reach beyond the festival circuit, connecting with people who might not typically encounter it.

A. S. – We’ve also supported FORAGER by Winslow Porter and Elie Zananiri. They needed to update FORAGER to work with current software, add new features, enhance the spores with high-resolution details, and generally take advantage of the Quest 3. Agog assisted with that.

A. S. – We’re also very focused on amplifying Indigenous and Black creators’ stories in XR. Much of our upcoming grants will actually go toward supporting these communities. 

A. S. – You may have heard of KINFOLK, for example: Idris Brewster and his organization are creating AR monuments in New York City that celebrate Black and Indigenous heroes. Through these monuments, viewers can discover and learn about the remarkable contributions of these people throughout history. We are helping Kinfolk to expand to other regions of the country and to activate community members to contribute to the platform.

C. G. – Many monuments in the U.S. celebrate, in essence, colonization;  Kinfolk serves as a vital tool for surfacing truths from the past and highlighting stories that have often been overlooked. 

C. G. – Similarly, we’ve supported a group in California called OUR WORLDS, which is working on a comparable program to share Indigenous histories, focusing on Native American narratives from various regions across the country.

A. S. – The goal is to engage more people in the creator community so that their work can reach a wider audience. Kinfolk will feature an artist program aimed at training designers, artists, and leaders within the Black community to create their own monuments. Similarly, Our Worlds is collaborating with Indigenous influencers to establish geolocated records of the people who came before us on this land, allowing users to learn about their languages and culture through video snippets and artifacts.

C. G. – We’ve also supported a project called WHOSE FUTURE?, which aims to train kids associated with the Boys and Girls Club in Harlem, New York City. These young people might not otherwise have access to these tools;the program focuses on equipping them from the start – while they’re still in high school – with the skills to create in these spaces. The goal is to ensure that their visions for the future and their ideas for using these tools are represented.

C. G. – Similarly, we sponsored the Reality Hack at MIT in Boston last year and will do so again this year. This event brings together hundreds of people from around the world, who form teams of five to create projects using these tools. We have also made an award for the team whose work has the highest impact. Last year, there was a strong emphasis on tools that facilitate shared experiences, reflecting the potential for shared presence in XR. 

C. G. – So, some of our grant funding has gone toward supporting immersive experiences, while other funds have focused on building the field and bringing in diverse voices that might not otherwise have the opportunity to participate, ensuring their perspectives are heard and represented.

Challenges of building a spatial website: the origins of the guide

A. S. – We didn’t initially plan to create our See Your Brand in 3D guide when we set out to establish a spatial brand, but the process of hatching such a brand turned out to be quite challenging. We realized that since we had gone through this struggle, we should share our insights on what to avoid and what ultimately worked for us. 

A. S. – We were fortunate to have some inspiring partners on this project, including Upstatement, an exceptional web design firm, and 14 Islands, which specialize in spatial web and branding. They didn’t know each other before we connected them, but together we started discovering many things through a process of trial and error.

A. S. – What excites me the most is that we initially thought we were designing everything for VR headsets, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked just on a phone in AR. It became clear that we didn’t need any special technology to achieve the desired effect. I might be a bit biased, having worked for a VR company for a long time, but even I hadn’t fully considered all the possibilities we could explore!

C. G. – We wanted for our website to be, to some extent, spatial-first, incorporating an immersive layer from the outset. It’s interesting to note that while most websites today are designed with responsiveness in mind — accommodating users coming from a desktop, or tablet, or phone – in the near future, I believe, all websites will need to include a spatial layer as well. Our website can detect when a user is accessing it with a headset, and so it provides a different experience compared to when someone visits from a desktop. However, even if you’re not using an XR device, you can still engage with a simulation of that three-dimensional experience.

C. G. – To echo what Amy was saying, it was indeed a challenging moment. Building the website required us to combine the expertise of an excellent traditional web development firm with those who have spatial knowledge. In our guide, we highlight the importance of partnerships and collaborative learning. We gained valuable insights throughout this process, and we recognized that sharing this knowledge is a core value of our organization. We aim to open-source as much of our learning as possible. 

C. G. – Before long, many other organizations will be curious about how to integrate a spatial layer into their own websites and this guide could serve as a first step to facilitate this goal.

A. S. – Our goal is to give everyone a glimpse of what immersive experiences are like and to bring everyone along on this journey.

Dreaming of new possibilities for the world of communication

A. S. – I would love to see some of the same quality of storytelling that we’re fortunate to experience at festivals represented through a WebXR experience, perhaps as soon as next year. This approach would also make our field much more inclusive. While the technology isn’t quite there yet, the only way to advance it is for people to start experimenting with these tools.

C. G. – Yes! Currently in daily life, we’re all hunched over our phones, which isn’t a healthy way to use our bodies. We believe that screens will eventually move upward, and as an organization, we hope to play a role in that transition. 

C. G. – While Agog is full of great ambition – hubris even – we genuinely aspire to transform the field so that more people consider how these tools can contribute to a better world, one that is more empathetic, inclusive, and responsive to social issues like climate change. We envision using these tools to help people grasp the opportunities ahead and empower them to build something different. a better, more just world. Ambitiously, we hope to help shape the entire field of communications and this new field of storytelling.

A. S. – Agog is experiencing rapid growth, and we’re looking to hire for a couple of positions. If any of this resonates with you, we’d love for you to join our team! Lastly, I want to share how proud we are that our website has been nominated for three Anthem Awards, which celebrates mission-driven work from organizations worldwide. The nominations fall under three categories in the Responsible Technology – Community Engagement voice: one for Branded Content, one for Digital & Innovative Experiences, and one for Partnerships. Being so new and already in the running for an award is incredibly exciting for us – it’s truly thrilling!