Polaris: A Community VR

The night sky, the backdrop to which humans have always set their gaze in search of meaning and guidance, is reimagined as an interactive virtual reality platform designed to connect people with their communities, values, and ideas. Users can seek out opportunities to serve, education on ideas and initiatives for change, and can also find information on services available should they need assistance themselves as constellations reveal relevant information.

School of Continuing and Professional Studies | Sustainable Design
Student: Johanna Stokes
Faculty: Kat Choate
A simplistic, black-and-white illustration of the night sky that is representative of the virtual reality experience described in this design. Multiple stars, galaxies, and comets and other formations are depicted that would not normally be seen together, as this imagery is meant to be visual representation of data and information. The illustration is from the perspective of the user overlooking a field ringed with hills, furnished with a blanket and a chair for comfortable viewing of the night sky.
A black and white illustration of a night sky over a field.
The night sky, the backdrop to which humans have always set their gaze in search of meaning and guidance, is reimagined as an interactive virtual reality platform designed to connect people with their communities, values, and ideas.
This diagram displays how the information on how to interpret the information written in the night sky. Small stars, indicated as "Individuals" and "Ideas" can become constellations representing "Group/Community" or "Plan/Concept" as an initiative grows (indicated by an arrow). The constellation can become a galaxy representing a "Global Organization" or "Initiative" with further interaction and organizing from the users. "Engagement builds luminosity" indicates that smaller celestial formations grow brighter and larger as more users interact with that idea or group.
A legend describing what the different celestial formations represent.
Individuals, initiatives, and ideas that have the most engagement appear brighter in the sky, forming larger constellations with the more people and resources they attract. Visualizing opportunities in this way allows users to take ownership of the outcomes in their communities, driving change in accordance with collective values.
A black and white illustration of the night sky, this time depicting an example of the information that can be displayed in the stars. "Community Volunteering", "Disaster Relief", "Environmental Conservation", and "Mental Health Services" are concepts written adjacent to different formations in the sky, indicating to the user (who is this time depicted in the foreground) some of the many topics they can explore in the VR platform. To the left of the user is another star-like illustration, meant to represent the virtual assistant Polaris, to whom the user can give verbal commands to adjust the night sky to view relevant information on a topic. The user is depicted giving the verbal command "I would like to help". To the right of the illustration of the night sky is another visual representation of what the user would see, constellation highlighting "Community Volunteering": multiple stars of various sizes indicate "Community values and priorites", "Local opportunities", "Events at city this weekend" and "How to start....", giving an example of what a user might see with this inquiry.
Polaris is a glowing assistant that responds to verbal requests for information by rotating the sky to reveal relevant constellations. As the user narrows down topics of interest, constellations become more detailed, revealing related content to explore. Users can seek out opportunities to serve, educate on ideas and initiatives for change, and find information on services available should they need assistance.
he black and white illustration of the night sky is once again displayed, this time highlighting the blanket and chair in the foreground, with the mountains in the distance. It is meant to describe the setting in which a user could make themselves comfortable to simply observe the night sky, without needing to directly interact with the virtual platform
Users also have the option not to interact, to observe the night sky simply. Shooting stars, which represent other users interacting with the platform, can be a source of inspiration and comfort to the observer – watching their community reach out to help and be helped
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