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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Finance: State Visibility of Events and Risk"

subject

description

This chapter reflected on the potential of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR / AR) technologies in supporting the dynamics of global financial systems and in addressing the grand challenges posed by unexpected events and crisis. The chapter briefly overviewed traditional VR/AR uses and described three early attempts to use 3D/ VR / AR technologies in Finance. In light of the recent financial crisis, there is a potential added valued in harnessing the use of VR/AR technologies to convey a greater visibility of the financial state (including visibility of financial risk). Various dimensions of the problem are considered. The chapter suggested a blend of service oriented computing SOC and empirical modelling technologies to support the use of VR / AR technologies in raising the perception of financial state and risk. There is a very significant distinction between VR modelling for areas such as assembly planning as represented in papers such as (Garbaya et al, 2000), and its application for greater visibility of the financial state and risk. Whilst we can reasonably speak of "using VR to model the reality of the process of assembly planning", the reality of the financial state is an altogether more elusive concept. Where manufacturing assembly deals with objects and actions whose objectivity and real-world authenticity is uncontroversial, financial state visibility is a prime example of an activity in which the impact of technology upon human cognition is prominent, and character of its agencies and observables is accordingly hard to capture in objective terms. Empirical Modelling supplies an appropriate framework within which to address the ontological issues raised by such applications of VR / AR (Beynon, 1999). This chapter points to the following conclusions: · 3D/ VR/ AR technologies can help in exploring a particular state in a social context. · The pre-construction phase of the virtual world can benefit greatly from concepts drawn from the Empirical Modelling literature such as modelling state, state change, and the initiators of state change. · 3D/ VR / AR technologies needs to be better adapted for the representation of multiple agents acting to change the state and corresponding visualisation. · The successful application of 3D / VR /AR technologies in modelling social and data intensive environment relies upon integrating these technologies with other programming paradigms and architectures such as service oriented computing and architecture (SOC and SOA). Future research agenda involves the development of quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess the potential benefits of 3D / VR / AR in modelling a state in a social context. Two dimensions are appropriate: the visibility and the viscosity.