360 Degree Video is an immersive video format consisting of a video – or series of images – mapped to a portion of a sphere that allows viewing in multiple directions from a fixed central point.The mapping is usually carried out using equirectangular projection, where the horizontal coordinate is simply longitude, and the vertical coordinate […]
3D Spatial Audio
3D Spatial Audio delivers a fully immersive soundscape that is responsive to a visual field. When you move your head in one direction or another, the audio changes to reflect that movement. Unlike stereo audio, the sound is locked in space rather than to your head. This allows you to move around the room and […]
5G
What is 5G? The term “5G” refers to the 5th generation mobile network and a new global wireless standard, designed to virtually connect every machine, object, and device together, potentially including humans via a brain computing interface (BCI).As the latest in wireless technology, 5G delivers higher peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network […]
6G
The term “6G” refers to the sixth-generation wireless network and is the successor to 5G cellular technology. With 6G, networks will use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. Both humans and machines will be the primary users of 6G and 6G will be characterized by the provision […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The EU AI Act (draft) proposes a definition in Article 3(1):‘Artificial Intelligence system’ (AI system) means software that is developed with one or more of the techniques and approaches listed in Annex I and can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, generate outputs such as content, predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing the environments they […]
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality (AR) overlays digitally-created content on top of the user’s real-world environment, viewed through a device (such as a smartphone) that incorporates real-time inputs to create an enhanced version of reality.Digital and virtual objects (e.g., graphics, sounds) are superimposed on an existing environment to create an AR experience. […]
Biometric data
Biometric data, as defined in Article 4(14) of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): “‘biometric data’ means personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics of a natural person, which allows or confirms the unique identification of that natural person, such as facial images or dactyloscopic data.” Examples of […]
Biometric Tracking
Biometric Tracking goes beyond just how one moves, coordinates, and uses their body in immersive environments.It complements the XR technology by monitoring and feeding back the user’s heart rate, respiration rate, pulse oximetry, and blood pressure. In traditional XR systems, tracking is used to provide a more immersed experience, ranging from head position and angle, […]
Biometrically-Inferred Data (BID)
Biometrically-inferred data is a collection of datasets resulting from information inferred from behavioral, physical, and psychological biometric identification techniques, and other nonverbal communication methods. Prime examples of biometric identification techniques that potentially contribute to BID are: Additional information on “Biometrically Inferred Data” related research can be found in the following research articles: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.11971.pdfhttps://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/special-category-data/what-is-special-category-datahttps://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-42504-3_15https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/our-work/programmes/biometrics […]
Brain-computer interface (BCI)
Sometimes called neural-control interface (NCI), mind-machine interface (MMI), direct neural interface (DNI), or brain-machine interface (BMI), a brain-computer interface is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or wired brain and an external device. A BCI allows for bidirectional information flow. BCIs are often in service of researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive […]
CCPA
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state-wide data privacy law that gives California residents more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them. This landmark law secures new privacy rights for California consumers, including: The right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and how it is […]
COPPA
The Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act, more commonly known as COPPA, is a law dealing with how websites, apps, and other online operators collect data and personal information from kids under 13. Among its several requirements, COPPA states that tech companies making apps, websites, and online tools for kids under 13 must: provide notice […]
Data Breach
A data breach is a security or privacy incident leading to the accidental destruction, loss, or alteration of information or the unauthorized disclosure or access to that information. Data breaches can hurt businesses and consumers in various ways. Breaches can be a costly expense for companies, requiring time and resources to identify and remedy, and […]
Data Processing
Data processing is “the collection and manipulation of items of data to produce meaningful information.”. It includes converting raw data to machine-readable form; the flow of data through the CPU and memory to output devices; and formatting or transformation of output. Any use of computers to perform defined operations on data can be included under […]
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is a process to help organizations identify and minimize the data protection risks of a project.GDPR mandates DPIAs for “a type of processing, in particular using new technologies and taking into account the nature, scope, context, and purposes of the processing, is likely to result in a high risk […]
Decentralized Ledger Technologies(DLTs)
According to International Telecommunication Unit(ITU), “Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), the most prominent implementation of which is Blockchain, enables large groups of nodes in the distributed ledger networks to reach agreement and record information without the need for a central authority.“ A distributed ledger is a type of ledger that is shared, replicated, and synchronized in […]
Degrees of Freedom (DoF)
Degrees of Freedom (DoF) describes the position and orientation of an object in space. DoF is defined by three components of translation and three components of rotation. An experience with three degrees of freedom (3DoF) is one which allows for: Swiveling left and right (yawing); Tilting forward and backward (pitching); Pivoting side to side (rolling). […]
Digital Twin
A digital twin is a virtual model of a physical (or “real-world”) asset, such as a process, product, service, or an individual. This pairing of the virtual and physical worlds allows us to simulate, analyze, control, improve, and predict the behavior and the issues of a system. As strategic components of the so-called Industry 4.0, […]
Edge Computing
The word “edge” here means literal geographic distribution. Edge computing is a distributed computing framework that brings enterprise applications closer to data sources such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices or local edge servers. This proximity to data at its source leads to faster insights, improved response times, and better bandwidth availability. […]
Extended Reality (XR)
Extended Reality (XR) is a fusion of all the realities – including Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) – which consists of technology-mediated experiences enabled via a wide spectrum of hardware and software, including sensory interfaces, applications, and infrastructures. XR is often referred to as immersive video content, enhanced media experiences, […]
Eye-tracking
Eye-tracking enables software to capture which way the user’s eyes are looking and respond accordingly. Light from infrared cameras is directed toward the participant’s pupils, causing reflections in both the pupil and the cornea. These reflections, otherwise known as pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR), can provide information about the movement and direction of the eyes. […]
FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The rule applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights concerning their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student […]
Field of View (FOV)
Field of View (FOV) defines an observable area or the range of vision seen via an XR device such as HMD when the user is static within a given XR environment. The standard human FOV is approximately 200 degrees, but in the immersive experience it may vary.A higher FOV contributes to a more immersive feeling. […]
Framework
A framework is a set of decisions, directives, codes of conduct, regulatory policies, guidelines recommendations, procedures, and practice directives (whether or not having the force of law).A privacy framework is needed for immersive technologies to mitigate privacy risks to individuals and organizations and promote trust within the Spatial Computing and XR ecosystems. […]
Full-body tracking
Full-body tracking is the process of tracing the humanlike movements of the virtual subject within immersive environments. The location coordinates of moving objects are recorded in real-time via head-mounted displays (HMDs) and multiple motion controller peripherals to fully capture the movement of the entire body of the subject and represent them and their movements inside […]
Gaze
By using eye-tracking technology, one can track the direction (ray) where the user is looking in the virtual scene as well as potentially attribute the emotional response, such as increased heart rate, dilated pupils, or triggering a variety of human emotions. […]
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive privacy law that has become a model for privacy and data governance legislation worldwide. Though enacted by the European Union (EU), it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU. The regulation came into effect […]
Geolocation
The geolocation defines a high-level interface to location information associated only with the device hosting the implementation, such as latitude and longitude. It allows the user to provide their location to applications if they so desire. For privacy reasons, oftentimes, the user is asked for permission to report location information. […]
Geospatial Data
Data about objects, events, or phenomena that have a location on the Earth’s surface or any other planet in the galaxy (including the space stations). The location may be static in the short-term (e.g., the site of a road, an earthquake event, children living in poverty), or dynamic (e.g., a moving vehicle or pedestrian, the […]
Haptics
Haptics is a mechanism or technology used for tactile feedback to enhance the experience of interacting with onscreen interfaces via vibration, touch, or force feedback. While an HMD can create a virtual sense of sight and sound, haptic controllers create a virtual sense of touch. […]
Head Mounted Display (HMD)
Head Mounted Display (HMD) usually refers to a device with a small display such as projection technology integrated into eyeglasses or mounted on a helmet or hat. It’s typically in the form of goggles or a headset, standalone or combined with a mobile phone (Gear VR). […]
Head tracking
Head tracking refers to software detection and response to the movement of the user’s head. Typically, it’s used to move the images being displayed so that they match the position of the head. Most XR headsets have some form of head tracking in order to adjust their visual output to the user’s point of view.Orientation […]
Immersive Technology
Immersive Technology is any technology that extends reality to create presence and immersion through visual, auditory, and sensory information using various hardware, software, and emerging technology applications. Context: Presence. Presence refers to the feeling of being present or physically located within a digital environment. By simulating realistic sensory experiences and enabling participants to interact with […]
Inside-Out tracking
Inside-Out tracking is a method of positional tracking commonly used in XR technologies, specifically for tracking the position of head-mounted displays (HMDs) and motion controller accessories. It differentiates itself from outside-in tracking by the location of the cameras or other sensors that are used to determine the object’s position in space.For inside-out positional tracking, the […]
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system that aims to connect people to people (P2P), people to machine (P2M), and machine to machine (M2M) through an interconnected, heterogeneous platform for devices and systems. The IoT has allowed devices, people, and technologies to interact with each other and process millions of terabytes of data for […]
Mixed Reality (MR)
Mixed Reality (MR) seamlessly blends the user’s real-world environment with digitally-created content, where both environments can coexist and interact with each other. In MR, the virtual objects behave in all aspects as if they are present in the real world, e.g., they are occluded by physical objects, their lighting is consistent with the actual light […]
Natural Authentication
Natural Authentication is the process of establishing whether someone or something is, who they say they are without any explicit action or conscious intervention. The entire process of authentication is seamless and the process happens in the back end without any deliberate involvement. This could be achieved by analyzing various data points such as Gait, […]
NIST Privacy Framework
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Privacy Framework: A Tool for Improving Privacy through Enterprise Risk Management is a voluntary tool intended to help organizations identify and manage privacy risk so that they can build innovative products and services while protecting individuals’ privacy. The XRSI Privacy Framework was inspired by the approach taken […]
Opt-in versus Opt-out
Opting in means that a user will take an affirmative action to offer their consent, whereas opting out means a user will take action to withdraw their consent. […]
Outside-In tracking
Outside-In tracking is a form of positional tracking where fi ed external sensors placed around the viewer are used to determine the position of the headset and any associated tracked peripherals. Various methods of tracking can be used, including, but not limited to, optical and infra-red. […]
Personal Data
Personal Data, as defined in Article 4 of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), means “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, […]
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) includes: any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, or biometric records; any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.” Examples […]
Positional Tracking
Positional Tracking is a technology that allows a device to estimate its position relative to the environment around it. It uses a combination of hardware and software to achieve the detection of its absolute position. Positional tracking is an essential technology for XR, making it possible to track movement with six degrees of freedom (6DOF). […]
Privacy Compliance
Privacy Compliance is a company’s accordance with established personal information protection guidelines, specifications, or legislation. […]
Spatial Audio
In general, the term “spatial audio” describes the process of recreating the impression of a real or imagined sound environment, including perceived spatial information such as the location of objects and the spatial qualities of room acoustics. Often, the term also describes what is not mono, or monaural (i.e., emanating from one channel). Stereo audio […]
Spatial Computing
Spatial Computing is an umbrella term referring to the type of interaction we have with reality more than a specific technology. The definition puts function over form, as it relates to the use of the space around us as a medium to interact with technology. Spatial Computing defines a human-machine interaction in which the machine […]
The Metaverse
XRSI defines the Metaverse as “A network of interconnected virtual worlds with the following key characteristics: Presence, Persistence, Immersion and Interoperability. Metaverse is the next iteration of the internet enabled by several converging technologies such as Extended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence(AI), Decentralized Ledger Technologies(DLTs), neuro-technologies, optics, bio-sensing technologies, robotics, improved computer graphics, hardware, and network […]
The XRSI Privacy & Safety Framework
The XRSI Privacy & Safety Framework, also known as the XRSI Framework is a free, globally accessible baseline rulebook curated by the XR Safety Initiative (XRSI) that has a layered structure, outlining the focus areas that act as a set of functions within a system and how they interrelate to achieve privacy; standardized subcategories; and […]
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual Reality (VR) is a fully immersive software-generated artificial digitalenvironment. VR is a simulation of three-dimensional images, experienced by users via special electronic equipment, such as a Head Mounted Display (HMD).VR can create or enhance characteristics such as presence, embodiment, and agency. […]
Volumetric Video Capture
Volumetric Video Capture is a technique that captures a three-dimensional space, such as locations, people, and objects, including depth data so that it can be later viewed from any angle at any moment in time. It allows six degrees of freedom. […]
XR Data
XR Data can be defined as the data collected, inferred, processed, and shared from both consumers and bystanders to create and facilitate immersive experiences. XR Data includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Personal Data, Biometrically-Inferred Data (BID), and Sensor Data to enable 6 degrees of freedom, presence, persistence, and immersion. […]
XR Timeline
XR timelines are interactive-narrative moments that sit between films and games. A timeline is a smaller unit of measurement than a full experience, yet part of a larger experience that is ever-evolving, dynamic, ever-changing, and fundamentally interconnected and relational. The term “timeline” itself is part of the experience and combination of many moments that include […]
