Immersive experiences with a high emotional impact to approach issues such as gender violence, the drama experienced by migrants and refugees, the housing problem or extreme pollution. This is the approach of the Googaz initiative, promoted by BBK Kuna, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and VirtualWare.
To the extent that the initiative is part of BBK Kuna/The house of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program is linked to raising awareness of these challenges. Specifically, this edition of Googaz seeks to bring the SDGs closer to youth and for this it has opted for immersive virtual reality experiences.
Basically, the young people who participate in this project, between the ages of 16 and 30, will put on virtual reality glasses and experience firsthand the panic that a battered woman suffers when her husband comes home, the dramatic situation of a refugee in a war situation or the sufferings of the tenant of a 'coffin home', one of those Japanese coffin houses in which people living in poverty reside.
Specifically, the project addresses five themes. First of all, regarding the topic of anxiety, the game will put the participants in the place of a young man, and the consequences of spending "all day connected" as well as "constantly" attending the networks will be shown. to the 'perfect life' of others, "the need to keep making plans, despite feeling bad, or its impact on mental health".
Secondly, the participants will be invited to "put themselves in the shoes of refugees to learn about the reality of the war camp."
The third area is that of gender violence, for which the participants will be placed in the shoes of a woman who suffers this type of violence.
In the 'Cities of the future' section, you will travel to a city of the future with very tall buildings, enormous pollution, lack of light or means of transport of the future".
Finally, in the aspect of housing, a "coffin home" will be shown, coffin houses that already exist in Japan and that will allow to know "how the population lives in a situation of poverty, addressing the consequences of inequality and poverty".
This year the initiative will reach six municipalities in Vizcaya: Leioa (April 24 and 25), Gernika-Lumo (April 27 and 28), Durango (May 2 and 3), Balmaseda (May 4 and 5) and Getxo ( 11 and 12 May). It is also scheduled to arrive in Sopela, although there is no date yet.
The head of the BBK Entrepreneurship, Talent and Innovation area, Oihane Aldayturriaga; the person in charge of Googaz, Irati Arejita and the person in charge of Virtualware Marketing, Yera Zaldumbide, have explained that the Googaz experience will consist of two phases. On the one hand, an "immersive" activity through the use of virtual reality glasses and a 'Hackathon', a meeting between young people whose objective is to create the script for a virtual reality game.
All those young people residing in the five municipalities that Googaz will visit, and who want to participate in the experience, can register through the website: www.googaz.eus.
