Seattle Public Library
Immersive Information Design
Virtual Reality as a Public Access Medium
Context
At the Seattle Public Library I worked on research into virtual reality as a public information tool as an Intern during my time at the University of Washington. The core question was whether immersive formats could change how people engage with historical and educational content. Not just make it more entertaining, but actually change what people understand and take away from it.
What I did
I studied how people interact with immersive content, looked at VR as a medium for historical and educational engagement, and tried to understand how the format itself changes what people learn. A lot of information design work assumes the format is neutral. This project pushed me to question that assumption directly.
Impact
Exploratory research
Contributed to thinking on public accessibility and information format
This was early-stage research rather than a shipped product. The value was in the questions it opened up. How does the format we choose shape what people believe? What does it mean to make information truly accessible, not just available?
I came away more curious about how information systems shape understanding. The format is never neutral. What we show, how we show it, and who we design it for all determine what people actually know and do with that knowledge.