Postcards from the Metaverse: An Introduction to the Immersive Internet

Abstract

The internet is by now a stable foundation underpinning many aspects of daily life in the developed world. It has evolved to become central to the ways in which we experience others and ourselves as well as the way we interact with all manner of cultural, social, economic, and political processes. As we have adapted to, or been born with, the internet, we have become more and more immersed and enmeshed in the information and interactions the technology allows us to create, share, and view. To date the internet has mainly taken the form of a text-based, two-dimensional medium with the odd splattering of images, videos, and sound. It has largely been a curated space — a set of spaces designed for us to be attracted to and sometimes even to contribute a little to. The internet has permeated our lives, at best as an engaging and fascinating resource and at worst as a strangling cage of processed information.