General Ideas/Takeaways from Literature review and Winter Term

In my PhD Research I want to continue to research queer theory in regard to the transition between physical and digital realms but also incorporate VR and AR because I feel that these technologies offer even more opportunities for queer worldbuilding through methodologies of a queer digital humanities. One of the topics for this research area is the idea of queer space, as in, “what makes a space queer?” or “how could a space become queer?” Queer worldbuilding is a technique to help individuals find their identities outside of normal creation entertainment media hierarchies. The creation of these counter environments is what I am interested in. By understanding queerness on how we are oriented phenomenologically, in terms of how we are oriented towards certain objects and people virtual reality could offer “opportunities for the extension of our bodies” (Paré, 2019, p. 6). In that way, perhaps creating virtual spaces may transform how we navigate and how we are perceived in the world. Fall term I investigated the research topic, “How do queer artists use worldbuilding to create identity through the construction of virtual reality spaces.” A broad topic, it created many different subtopics as well as different methodologies with which to research the topic. Some of the methodologies used were qualitative and quantitative, such as Paré’s Queer Prolegomenon, where they researched a friend group that interacted in VR-based environments, where they engaged in two different forms of constructionist learning experiences: creating 3D sculptures of personally meaningful objects and re-creating their VR avatars in VR social media. The small group of friends in their early thirties with gender nonconforming and queer identities and life histories, an example of a qualitative methodology. These methodologies I am not as interested in as they are confining for my ideas of research, and I am more interested in the design of these virtual reality spaces. In the paper I first defined the word queer and how it relates to digital media, and then discussed various queer methodologies through Towards a Queer Digital Humanities, which included the glitch, play and the process of naming and defining. Queer artists use these methodologies to create their worlds, and discussed Zach Blas, Jacolby Satterwhite and others. Through my research I found this short paper Queer Practice as Research, although it was later in the research process, and I did not have time to investigate and incorporate into my paper fully. I want to pick up where I left off with this idea of “queer practice as research,’ through investigating queer spaces through AR.