News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Six Tennessee Tech students created a reality in which you step into scenes from war hero Sargent Alvin C. York’s world.
Tech students spent six months on a capstone project in cooperation with Alvin C. York State Park. Professor Bill Eberle said Park Ranger David Brady had brought the project idea to them.
“We had done a project with him the previous year,” Eberle said. “He was really the one who came up with the idea. He said look we have this park named after this famous hero. Movies were made about him. And so we decided that’s something we should tap into.”
Eberle said the virtual reality (VR) experience has advantages over the physical space of museums and memorials. He said in a physical room you often catch a glimpse of modern day out of the corner of your eye.
Eberle said VR places you in a scene where the outside world can not intrude. Both visual and sound cues are generated by the VR equipment, and you are completely immersed in another place.
“Obviously if I’m looking at a recreated trench in a physical museum and I can see a my car out of the corner of my eye, that affects my experience,” Eberle said.
Eberle said another advantage of VR is the scene is not limited by a physical enclosure like a typical museum. He said the project used scenes from the Carolina hills for a boot camp, and another scene was European streets.
“In VR we can go on forever in European streets. But in a physical museum you are limited by space and expense,” Eberle said.
Eberle said VR exhibits could allow Tennessee parks, museums and educational institutions to offer a richer experience. He said that a framework like the one built for the WWI exhibit can be used with other time periods and places, such as a WWII exhibit.
