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Did you know that more people play video games than watch television, listen to the radio or go to movies combined? Just like television and the internet before it, immersive media is revolutionizing the world of communication — and in more fields than just gaming.

“Organizations have an unprecedented capacity to engage audiences in unique and experiential ways unlike what traditional media is capable of,” said Daniel Pimentel, assistant professor of immersive psychology at the UO School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC). “Beyond the novelty factor, these technologies, when judiciously and strategically used, can create a meaningful impact on how audiences think, feel and behave.”

That’s why the business world needs communication strategists who understand the potential that comes with immersive media, Web3 and the metaverse.

Immersive media, which includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) — also known as extended reality (XR) — are proliferating in ways that communication professionals can’t ignore. Here are answers to five questions about how an Immersive Media Communication Master's (IMC) can supercharge your career.

1. How will this master’s program help me stay up to date with emerging technology?

The technology of immersive media is changing quickly, but coursework in the IMC program will provide a strong foundation in the basic vocabulary and use of the technologies. More importantly, you’ll know how to stay up to date.

This fully online program will immerse you in the virtual world, helping you gain competency and expertise through daily practice.

Businesses and nonprofits are using virtual spaces to gather their audiences, charting a new way of building community. Using AR, VR or XR in these virtual spaces offers expansive advertising, marketing and public relations opportunities. An IMC master’s provides the skills to think about how and when to employ immersive media strategically.

Coursework is grounded in solid communication skills, such as identifying and understanding your audience and telling a compelling story that meets your audience where they are. You will get real-life practice in combining technology and communication skills to create content for virtual spaces and understand the psychology that influences how and when users engage with immersive technology.

2. What job opportunities are available in AR, VR and XR?

Technologies can come and go in a heartbeat without a strategy for their use. As industries scramble to create spaces for their brands in the virtual world, many move too quickly to think strategically about what to do once they get there. A communication leader with an IMC Master’s can help companies or organizations chart a strategy for bringing their audience along. An IMC degree prepares you for a job as a brand strategist, content creator, technology entrepreneur or chief Web3 officer.

Consider the opportunities you can bring to your employer. Virtual spaces open a new world that is growing by leaps and bounds, whether it is product or brand placement in popular games like Helldivers or Astro Bot or the technology to see that sofa in your very own living room before deciding whether to purchase it.

“The industry needs people who understand how to translate traditional communication skills for XR,” says founding IMC Director Donna Davis. “Our alums are also discovering jobs we couldn’t even imagine would exist.”

For example, Davis said, one alum of the program developed an AI embodied agent trained in the entire U.S. tax code. He is working with investors to take the virtual agent to the masses with another alum who is now working as a visual designer for a pioneering tech company.

3. How can an immersive media strategy help strategists attract new audiences?

The basics of communication still apply in the virtual world: Know your audience and bring them into your world. Consider Nike and Roblox’s collaboration to create NIKELAND. The game brings Nike fans to the brand’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, and asks them to integrate physical activity while their avatar high jumps and runs on a virtual track. The digital showroom lets visitors outfit their NIKELAND avatar with Nike gear. Nike’s online presence, which includes Roblox, has generated more sales than the brand’s walk-in stores.

How do you develop an inviting virtual space that attracts a diverse audience? How do you get them to bring their friends? An IMC master’s will prepare you to guide an immersive media strategy, firmly putting the brand’s audience and use case at the center of design and development.

4. How will the IMC master’s degree connect me with industry pioneers?

Imagine spending hours each week with senior researchers from Meta or Google. These are the professionals teaching classes in the IMC program. You’ll get a peek inside some of the most innovative and successful tech companies around. You’ll hear about their journeys, including their challenges and successes. Their experience can better prepare you for a career in a rapidly changing industry.

In addition to technology entrepreneurs, you can network with experienced faculty and alums working in immersive media. IMC students also have the opportunity to attend the Augmented World Expo, where they can engage with industry leaders or meet technology developers.

5. How can I use AR and VR to educate others?

While you may be working in the virtual world, that work can be about creating a better world IRL. Some IMC students created an immersive media project for the aid agency Hope for Haiti. Another group of students created an AR experience for the UO Portland campus, educating people about the land it is on.

The virtual world can be home to an international audience, meaning there is immense potential to shape the future using immersive technology.

“We must keep humanity at the center of what we do,” Davis said. “Sometimes technology is the right way to tell a story, and sometimes it’s not. But when it is, our students will know how to make it work.”

–By Jennifer Snelling

Jennifer Snelling is a Eugene-based education journalist. She graduated from the SOJC with a master’s degree in journalism in 2001.