Hello HFES!
I'm here to share some exciting news with the community.
The Virtual Environments Technical Group (VETG) is OFFICIALLY changing its name to the:
EXTENDED REALITY TECHNICAL GROUP (XRTG).
During our Business Meeting at the annual HFES conference, there were several TG members who expressed interest in proposing a name change. We agreed that there was consensus within the group that the term Virtual Environments is somewhat of an antiquated and misleading title, and that it represents a small slice of the work being performed by the members in our TG. To emphasize a broader application space of research and development within the HFE community, the leadership proposed a name change to the EXTENDED REALITY (XR) TG. We want our group within HFES to promote innovative work being performed across a spectrum of immersive and interactive technologies, with attention to the design, implementation, and evaluation of these XR tools and methods across the wide array of domains and use cases they're being applied within.
In the latest election, we held a vote for the proposed name change. We received unanimous support, and a request to proceed with the name change was sent to the HFES Executive Council. We received word today that the request has been approved!
We are excited by this evolutionary change. This will help facilitate broader outreach and participation in this area of HFE research and development. We will also pursue opportunities to co-coordinate sessions with complimentary TGs that are applying XR technologies in creative ways to drive their research priorities.
Lastly, with the Call for Papers live, please consider submitting to the XRTG Track! We will be building an excellent program and contribution to upcoming Annual Meeting. See you all in Washington!!
Ben
Benjamin Goldberg
XRTG Chair
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Benjamin Goldberg
Senior Scientist
US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center
Orlando FL
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