{"id":346,"date":"2023-10-02T09:02:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T09:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lu-digitaldigest\/?p=346"},"modified":"2023-10-02T09:02:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T09:02:11","slug":"semi-immersive-decision-theatre-what-is-it-and-how-can-i-get-involved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lu-digitaldigest\/2023\/10\/02\/semi-immersive-decision-theatre-what-is-it-and-how-can-i-get-involved\/","title":{"rendered":"Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre: What is it and how can I get involved?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Oliver Fitton<\/a>, Lecturer in Criminology.<\/p>\n

In October 2022, Lancaster University announced<\/a> a multi-million pound investment in new teaching facilities, supported by funding from the Office for Students. This includes a new Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre, currently under construction on A floor in Charles Carter. But what is a Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre and what opportunities does it create?<\/p>\n

The Decision Theatre concept is not new. Arizona State University developed theirs<\/a> nearly 20 years ago. Since then, other universities, training centres, and corporations have built their own. All Decision Theatres are dedicated spaces in which groups of people can collaboratively work through complex problems supported by data visualisation technology. Decision Theatres could be used as command centres during genuine crises with real life data being streamed into the room live. More often, Decision Theatres are supported by educators who develop scenarios specifically designed to train decision makers in crisis management and leadership.<\/p>\n

An example might be useful. In response to a major incident, it is important that the emergency services can work together. Police, fire and rescue, ambulance, the armed forces, search and rescue, mountain rescue, coast guard, RNLI (the list goes on\u2026), each have their own processes, data streams, communication channels, even jargon that other organisations cannot interface with. To deal with this the UK developed a protocol (JESIP<\/a>) under which major incidents could be coordinated. To be effective in applying this protocol in a disaster situation the organisations need training and exercising. This is where a Decision Theatre comes into its own. Educators can create a complex scenario that unfolds over hours or even days. Decision makers from each emergency service can sit together in the Decision Theatre, see all the data that they would have available to them, and collaborate with their opposite numbers from other services. The participants can be monitored from an adjoining control room, allowing for two-way interaction between educators and participants. Learning from this kind of scenario improves collaboration, identifies issues within the protocol, and gives decision makers experience of life like, time sensitive decision making.<\/p>\n

Decision Theatres can be used for much smaller scale teaching too. Any situation in which learners are given a scenario and asked to make decisions could be enriched. Having the facilitator out of the way in a control room may change group dynamics. The ability to monitor the room using video and audio feeds and supply information via digital displays opens new possibilities for engaging learners. In addition to teaching, the space could be used by researchers for monitoring group dynamics or decision making.<\/p>\n

At Lancaster University we are taking the Decision Theatre concept a step further. We want to make the experience a little more immersive. One of the unique aspects of Decision Theatres is their ability to dynamically display data. An immersive environment such as a CAVE<\/a> takes immersion to an extreme, turning walls, floors and ceilings into surface on which a dynamic environment is projected. One can be transported to a forest, the top of a mountain, the bottom of the sea or anywhere else your imagination (and graphics design budget) could come up with. The problem with a CAVE is that they are difficult to do well at high resolution and applications of low-resolution CAVEs have been shown to be limited.<\/p>\n

Lancaster University\u2019s Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre aims to take the best elements of these applications to create a decision space that better immerses learners\/research participants.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The space will consist of two former seminar rooms in the Charles Carter building. It will feature high resolution digital screens that encompass 270 degrees of the room \u2013 three out of four walls will be floor to ceiling narrow bezel digital displays. The display walls will be able to simultaneously show data from multiple sources and participants will be able to take control and display data that they bring with them. There will also be movable furniture, a storage room, a control room with two-way audio, and video feeds from cameras in the theatre. In addition to this and leaning into the desire to give participants new ways to be immersed in visualised data, the room will have access to Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to allow participants to explore 3D environments, 360 video, and more.<\/p>\n

When one considers the underlying technology that Lancaster University\u2019s Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre is going to contain it becomes an incredibly exciting space for teaching, learning, research, engagement, and experimentation. Computer scientists will be able to see their code laid out across three walls. Data engineers will be able to take in and explore complex models at a new scale. Engineers and architects will be able create digital environments and explore them collaboratively. Ecologists will be able to explore the depths of the oceans. Literature students will be able to design an play room-scale games. We\u2019ll be able to explore Victorian London in Minecraft, search digital crime scenes, carry out Social Work scenarios across multiple environments (a home, a school, family court). All these examples are applications currently under development at Lancaster University and there are many more.<\/p>\n

As with all new technologies there are going to be challenges. Accessibility and inclusion is a challenge. The space has been designed with minimising these issues in mind and the Inclusive Learning Network is actively involved in the development of the space. Creating content for the space is non-trivial. Some applications will be plug and play while others will require long development timelines and support from technical staff. The Innovation Team in ISS are supporting this work and looking for staff with innovative ideas.<\/p>\n

So how can you get involved? While funded specifically to help meet the demand to educate the next generation of computer science and cyber security specialists, the Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre is available to all departments for teaching, research, and engagement uses. If you think you could use the space, whether you have the germ of an idea or a well-developed use case, get in touch with Oliver Fitton (o.fitton@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a>) for more information and to find out how the University is supporting staff to use the space. You can also join our dedicated Teams Channel<\/a> for updates. The channel currently has more than 40 members sharing ideas and collaborating on uses for the space.<\/p>\n

Lancaster University\u2019s Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre is due to open in the early Summer Term 2024.<\/p>\n

Written by Oliver Fitton<\/a>, Lecturer in Criminology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Oliver Fitton, Lecturer in Criminology. In October 2022, Lancaster University announced a multi-million pound investment in new teaching facilities, supported by funding from the Office for Students. This includes a new Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre, currently under construction on A floor in Charles Carter. But what is a Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre and what opportunities … Continue reading Semi-Immersive Decision Theatre: What is it and how can I get involved?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[20,19],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pedagogy","tag-interactive","tag-teaching-tool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lu-digitaldigest\/2023\/06\/16\/dlt-event3\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":0},"title":"DLT Event#3","author":"Elizabeth Walkden","date":"June 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Our next sharing practice event will take place on the afternoon of\u00a0Monday 17th July\u00a02023. 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