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MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR AND CLIMATE LEADER CHIP GILLER AND PHILANTHROPIST WENDY SCHMIDT LAUNCH AGOG, AN IMMERSIVE MEDIA INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL GOODNew Organization Will Help People Use XR to Imagine and Build a Better World AUSTIN, Texas, March 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Chip Giller and Wendy Schmidt announced today the launch of Agog: The Immersive Media Institute—a groundbreaking initiative at the intersection of technology, communications, and social impact. Agog, a philanthropic organization, will help creators and nonprofit leaders harness the power of extended reality (XR) technologies to spur positive social transformation, opening new avenues for empathy, understanding, and activism. Chip Giller, known for his trailblazing work in journalism as the founder of the climate media organization Grist, and Wendy Schmidt, a visionary philanthropist and investor who has spent nearly two decades working to make the world healthy, resilient and secure, are joining forces to bring their shared passion for innovation and social change to the forefront of the immersive media landscape. Immersive media and XR—including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and other emerging technologies—go beyond traditional forms of storytelling by putting users into the action, engaging their senses and fostering connection with others and with the natural world. Agog will serve as a hub for collaboration, cultivating partnerships among XR creators and nonprofit leaders, and providing resources to envision new forms of communication and turn them into reality. As immersive media enter the mainstream, Agog aims to help people use leading-edge XR to imagine and build a more just, sustainable world, addressing pressing global challenges and nurturing a deeper sense of empathy and interconnectedness. "As crazy as it sounds, these new technologies can help people feel and experience what is and what was—but also what could be," said Chip Giller, Agog co-founder and executive director. "Too often, storytelling focuses only on problems. We want to lift up the very real possibilities of building a better, more just world, and are agog about the power of XR to inspire action." Co-founder Wendy Schmidt said, "Few people forget the first time they experience XR and are transported to another place or walk in someone else's shoes—Agog's name comes from this sense of awe and wonder. Agog creates extended reality, but it could just as easily be called empathic reality. Immersing people into new experiences, alongside those who live them, has the potential to dramatically transform our relationships with each other, and with our planet." Agog advisors include immersive media thought leaders and technologists like JaredCheshire, Courtney Cogburn, Nonny de la Peña, Loren Hammonds, Amy Seidenwurm, and John Vechey. Key focus areas of Agog include:
Early examples of Agog's work include support for:
Agog invites nonprofit leaders, XR creators, and others excited by its vision to visit agog.org to learn more and to join its community of makers and doers. Agog is also on BlueSky, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads. About Agog: The Immersive Media Institute View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/media-entrepreneur-and-climate-leader-chip-giller-and-philanthropist-wendy-schmidt-launch-agog-an-immersive-media-institute-for-social-good-302084801.html SOURCE Agog |