Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Sensory Fiction - Experiments in the future of publishing

You're reading an exciting scene, you're nervous for the main character, and your chest feels tight... Wait a minute, your chest actually IS tight.

With Sensory Fiction, a new technology conceptualized and prototyped by students at MIT's Media Lab, the vest you're wearing would actually tighten around your chest - so you can feel what the character feels.

An image of a reader experiencing Sensory Fiction


Or... your character enters a volcanic tube, and the heat is intense. You start to sweat. Yup, it's the vest again, heating up and helping you experience what the character experiences.

Good idea, or bad? What do you think?

Check out the details of this possible future for publishing -- and reading -- here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

1 comment:

laurasalas said...

Huh. I'm not against stuff like this as an experience, almost like a simulation game, I guess. But what I personally really want is just books that make my heart rate speed up or make me feel the volcano's heat.