Virtual realities in the business world

The computer screen is a window to an alien world, one we can see and hear but never touch. Over time improvements in display technology have meant that the spaces which greet us on the other side of the plastic and glass are filled-in with ever greater realism and verisimilitude, enmeshing us more completely in our digital environments. Yet cyberspace remains tantalizingly beyond our reach leaving us stranded in a liminal existence on the edges of our virtual worlds. The growing importance of digital environments in our lives has made the separation between the virtual and the real ever more palpable. In that light the aspiration to enable people to fully enter digital environments becomes understandable. We are a long way off fully realizing that ideal, but day-to-day virtual reality (VR) is bringing us gradually closer. Is VR here to stay, or is it a passing fad like 3D Television? This issue of Out-of-the-Box explores the emergence of VR, and the kinds of changes that it may bring to the working world