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The Digital Human

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Aleks Krotoski explores the digital world

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The Digital Human: Series 10

The Digital Human: Series 10: Perspective

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Factual: Science & Nature

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07/11/2016

Perspective

Series 10

BBC Radio 4 - The Digital Human, Series 10, Perspective

Aleks Krotoski explores whether technology can allow us to walk in another man's shoes.

Aleks Krotoski explores life in the digital world. Aleks explores whether technology can change our perspective by allowing us to walk in another man's shoes.

The world we experience through screen based technology is two dimensional which some argue creates distance between the viewer and the viewed but can modern day virtual reality story telling using a three dimensional perspective go further than any other medium of technology to enable us to really experience the lives of others, to walk in another man's shoes? 

Vicky Sutherland is mum to eight year old Arron who suffers from autism. Vicky tries to see the world through Arron's eyes as he suffers from sensory overload but for the first time she watches a virtual reality experience produced by The National Autistic Society which shows the world from the perspective of an autistic child experiencing sensory overload. She discovers whether this gives her a new perspective into Arron's experience of the world around him. 

Imogen Blood's father John Hull lost his sight over a number of years, while she tried to understand what it was like for her father she only fully appreciated how sound became such an anchor in his world of darkness when she watched the virtual reality film Notes On Blindness: Into Darkness, which features John's use of echo location in order to navigate the world around him. 

And Aleks speaks to Gabo Arora the Director of the UN's Virtual Reality Lab who has produced several virtual reality films including Clouds Over Sidra featuring 12 years old Syrian refugee Sidra. As Sidra introduces the viewer to life in a refugee camp, Aleks questions whether these types of films reduce the distance between the viewer and the viewed, changing our perspective and increasing our empathy because we are able to walk in another person's shoes. 

Produced by Kate Bissell.

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Aleks Krotoski explores life in the digital age.

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