Imagine an encyclopedia where you can experience history and science through a fully immersive 3D simulation.
The HoloLibrary is a free library of 3D simulations, recreations, and virtual field trips.
We are pioneering the use of virtual reality gaming in education by making immersive 3D scenarios in history and science for students, educators, parents or anyone to use.
Help us build the first 5 educational virtual reality simulations, and we’ll get thousands of them into every classroom in America… and the world.
A host of recent improvements in display technology are making virtual reality headsets better and more affordable than ever. We’ve already seen the gaming community’s outpouring of support for new VR headsets like the Oculus Rift; our goal is to bring this technology to the classroom by developing 5 immersive 3D scenarios in popular topics.
A day in the life of a bee
Journey through the cardiovascular system
First flight to the Moon with Neil Armstrong
The inside of a tornado
And one more to be determined by contributors…
We’ll use funding and contributions to produce these first 5 simulations in house and make them compatible with the Oculus Rift. We’ll need to acquire server space to run our operation, some animating equipment, and we’ll hire some apprentice 3D modelers to power through some of the time consuming 3D renderings. We’re working with top academic experts in each field who will advise and monitor the simulations throughout development to be sure they are immaculate in detail, faithful to the historical record, and of encyclopedic quality. After the 5 simulations are completed, we’ll get them loaded into the HoloLibrary where anyone can download and “play” them for free, with or without a VR headset. We’ll be showing teachers and educators how to use the HoloLibrary, and we’ll travel around the world talking to businesses and organizations about getting involved and sponsoring new educational series for the HoloLibrary.
In developing these 5 simulations, our mission is threefold: to make the case for virtual reality as a new tool for education, to show teachers and educators how to use this technology to transcend the walls of the classroom, and to deliver free experiential learning opportunities to students across the globe. The HoloLibrary will be free to anyone under a GNU General Public License.
The Kickstarter Campaign
Our campaign starts with an international tour. We will begin in Hong Kong, where we will be exhibiting an early product Demo to local educators. Next, it is back to the United States to meet with administrators from several top universities. At the end of the campaign we will be in latin America, demonstrating our Tour of the Cardiovascular System to professors in Costa Rica. During the course of the next 30 days, we will be updating you with videos, interviews, and product demos. We will be collecting feedback and volunteers, sharing our experiences, and offering unique insight into the challenges we face.
What comes next?
HoloLibrary isn’t just a digital 3D simulated encyclopedia, we’re cultivating an entire network of designers, animators, 3D programmers, and topic experts who are passionate seeing VR change education.
If our model is proven successful, we’ll stick with our open-source philosophy and call upon the community of 3D developers, graphic artists, sound engineers and academic experts worldwide to participate as we add more and more titles to the HoloLibrary. We’ll partner with museums, historical societies, businesses, and individuals passionate about this project. We’ll create financial incentives for developers, modelers, and sound effect artists. They will be paired with educators and experts who will advise on the simulations. Our job will be to develop content internally, and organize the remote collaboration of various teams of animators, artists, and experts via our developer’s site, dev.hololibrary.com, which will break down all the work needed toward completion on each series. The possibilities are endless, any subject, any time period…
Experience history from a first person perspective – take a walking tour of your favorite ancient city Explore human physiology at the micro level – travel through the human body as a red blood cell Download a fully immersive 3D simulation of a topic your teacher or the textbook presented poorly Re-create dangerous experiments or study psychological phenomena in a controlled environment
By cultivating an entire network of 3D developers, artists, educators, and visionaries, we’re also giving that gift back to the internet – a brand new kind of matrix of thinkers and creators that is quite literally at humanity’s disposal.
Why are we doing this and who are we?
Growing up digital, we couldn’t envision a possible future where virtual 3D headsets weren’t part of every classroom and computer lab. A whole new generation of lightweight and inexpensive VR headsets like the ‘Oculus Rift’ are hitting the market and HoloLibrary’s mission is to develop and fund educational and experiential 3D simulations of all kinds – from biology and geology to history and the social sciences – to work on these systems. Our goal is to provide students and educators worldwide with an unprecedented bank of virtual models and environments in the latest immersive 3D technology that lets people explore the sights and sounds of history or science up-close and in first person.
