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SXSW, Comic-Con, and more
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WE'RE FINALISTS AT SXSW EDU LAUNCH!
OurWorlds, Inc. will pitch to a live audience of industry experts, early adopters, investors, and educators at the 11th annual SXSW Edu Launch Competition on March 9, 2022, at SXSW Edu Festival in Austin, TX.
“OurWorlds is unlike anything presently found in education and that’s why we were one of only six startups chosen. We specifically target the information shortfalls and technological deficiencies typically found in education pertaining to Native Americans. We are deliberately combining emerging technologies and primary sources to thoughtfully bridge gaps of understanding between cultures,” commented Kilma Lattin, Founder and CEO of OurWorlds (Cupeño, Pala Band of Mission Indians).
The goal of the Our Worlds project is to create a platform that supports a large-scale network of primary source, immersive cultural experiences that are placed around the world by geolocation and tribal geofences, and accessible on mobile devices without the need for expensive hardware.
OUR WORLDS PANEL AT SXSW EDU 2022 FEATURING STANLEY RODRIGUEZ EdD, BRANDIE TAYLOR, AND ALEC CALAC
This panel will focus on new Native-developed XR technologies that extend tribal oral traditions, transforming public understanding about history and the Native American experience, and empowering new generations to advance their cultural heritage while pursuing academic and career goals. Our diverse group of panelists are blazing new trails in education, extending the continuum of their culture into the present day with innovations in medicine, STEM education, and language and cultural studies.
OUR WORLDS PANEL AT SXSW 2022 HOSTED BY KILMA LATTIN FEATURING DOMINIQUE RISSOLO, CHRISTINE LUCKASAVITCH, AND CATHERINE ENG
Every generation challenges the depiction of reality that came before it. From religious iconography, to the Renaissance and the discovery of perspective, to photography and photo filters, each generation redefines beauty, and its vision for the future. In this age of emerging AR, VR, and XR technologies, we will also be remembered for how we depicted our reality. What does this mean for creators and developers working with emerging technologies and what is now called the metaverse?
This panel will explore the transformative work being done in cultural heritage preservation, indigenous mapping initiatives, and immersive technologies by panelists Dominique Rissolo, PhD, Co-Director of UC San Diego's Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative (CHEI); Christine Luckasavitch, Executive Director of Native Land Digital; and OurWorlds' Kilma Lattin, Founder and President, and Catherine Eng, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer.
We are working with Dr. Stanley Rodriguez on a project that converges Kumeyaay narratives about San Diego waterways with geographic knowledge systems to create a series of cool extended reality experiences. We have been invited to submit a proposal for this, titled, "Kumeyaay Landscapes, Knowledge Transfer, and Land Stewardship in San Diego" for the Science Engine Challenge Grant. You will find this on Experiment.com, which is like Kickstarter for scientists! There, you can read more about what we are planning to do, and, if you are so inclined, make a contribution towards our funding goal of $5k. The campaign ends on February 24. Thanks for supporting us!
QUICK READS
OurWorlds held a panel at Comic-Con Special Edition over Thanksgiving weekend. The panel, titled “Native American Comics and Culture with Extended Reality and 360 World Building,” was moderated by OurWorlds founder, Kilma Lattin and featured renowned Native comic artist, Ricardo Caté in conversation with notable Native American leaders in San Diego.
How new is the San Diego-based Our Worlds mobile technology platform? So new, its first app hasn’t had its official rollout yet. So state-of-the-art, it uses extended reality, artificial intelligence and geolocation to turn your phone into a 360-degree art gallery, a time machine and a teleporter.
But for all of Our Worlds’ high-tech features, the vision for its debut project is timeless. For founder and executive producer Kilma Lattin, the Our Worlds app was created to give Native Americans the chance to be seen for who they are now and who they will be.
“I would like the world to know that Native Americans are alive and well in the 21st century,” said Lattin, a Native American futurist who grew up in La Jolla and on the Pala Indian Reservation.
“We don’t live in history books. Our culture is not static. We can move beyond the drums and the beads and the turquoise, and we can use all available means and technologies to move our culture and our civilization into the 21st and the 22nd century.”
TIDBITS
Stay tuned for a special announcement Wednesday, February 2nd
