On a holoride with: Kathleen Cohen

Without a doubt, last year has been challenging. But it has also provided us with a variety of opportunities. More importantly, I believe that it has changed our thinking profoundly about what’s possible in the digital age and where technology will continue to disrupt our lives. 

That’s also why beginnings are so exciting. While you don’t necessarily know where the ride will take you, it’s the excitement of the new that often drives us. "On a holoride with" is one of these rides and the beginning of an interview series that aims to create insightful content with experts sharing their views on current developments and the fast-paced environment that they are working in. And, of course, where holoride fits in. 

I’d like to kick-off our interview series with Kathleen Cohen, a thought leader and tech humanist within emerging tech, and also part of holoride's stellar group of advisors.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts And, of course, thanks to Kathleen for taking the time to answer all these questions and providing these great insights.

Enjoy reading,

Nils

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Hi Kathleen! Great to have you on board for this interview - how are you holding up these past few months? 

Between Covid, the California wildfires, and the Elections, it has been a challenging few months for all of us. Each day, we don’t know if it is better to be inside, outside, or to live our lives through virtual reality. However, all of that aside, I've been trying to use my time creatively, working with many industries to create impactful immersive experiences.

Before we dive right into it, can you please give us a short intro of who Kathleen Cohen is, what she does, and what inspires her? 

As a tech humanist who focuses on immersive worlds, strangely, the situation we are in because of the pandemic inspires and excites me. Lately, I’ve become a more creative visionary that has been inspired to bridge immersive and physical worlds for business and consumer verticals. Especially now, when people need more options to learn, to help envision their ideas, be entertained, and feel connected at a human scale, creating immersive experiences through virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and/or XR (extended reality) are all great solutions.

You’ve held roles with some of the leading names in entertainment, including Disney, IBM Innovation, and DreamWorks. Can you share a favorite project or attraction you’ve worked on?

Working at DreamWorks Interactive while we were building Medal of Honor (MOH) was incredible. Peter Hirschman and the MOH team were building one-off gaming engines before it was the trend to use an out-of-the-box solution, like Unreal. We felt like we were breaking barriers with AI and had unlimited creativity, driven by Steven Spielberg supporting us as a young startup. It was a golden moment in gaming history to be at DreamWorks, which was fueled by a Microsoft, Disney, and Electronic Arts (EA) partnership and company-wide ethos. Today, Peter and his team are bringing MOH VR to market.

I also had the chance to work for Disney Worldwide Parks & Resorts. After launching Disneyworld.com, a core team of creatives were asked to think about rearchitecting Epcot with new technology for future park guests. This engagement inspired me and set me on my own path to open my own creative consultancy. The Disney team went on to develop the Magic Band, part of the MyMagic+ experience — a wearable device for Disney World to bridge physical and data-driven worlds. I have been interested in the cross-section of immersive storytelling, data, world-building, and experiential learning ever since.

Why did you choose to join holoride’s advisory board? What aspect of this technology excites you the most?

I was the Jury Chair of the Aurea Awards, representing excellence in AR/VR, which is held annually at Europa-Park. Our jury was proud to award holoride with the prize for “Best Experience”. Nils and I chatted after the show, and it was immediate our like-mindedness. My interests in media & entertainment (M&E), themed attractions, and better guest experiences struck a chord with Nils.

"There is an expectation that media engagement will soon be everywhere."

This space is soon going to be a "real world" for us - not just reserved for gaming and location-based experiences. holoride understands the human aspect of this with their own automotive DNA. While the media & entertainment industry knows how to tell a story, and engage an audience, holoride is a true disruptor by working with the best storytellers, best creatives, and best developers to bring immersive experiences to consumers in the backseats of their cars. There is an expectation that media engagement will soon be everywhere. Your new educational facility will become virtual, themed, gamified, and experiential, like your local hospital and your local library, too. holoride is making experiences like these possible with the advice and counsel of its board. Each one of the board members is a progressive thinker and visionary in their own right. I wanted to be in the same company.

What is your role in helping holoride advance the future of in-vehicle entertainment? 

Meeting "all" people where they’re at. All people are entitled to have a shared experience. Whether you are a person with a disability, of a different race, age, gender or speak another language, it’s my commitment as a tech humanist first to achieve things not previously possible. I am personally looking at the future of humanity in these tech-enabled platforms. Can we do our best, trying to solve systemic world problems focusing on inclusivity, diversity, accessibility, and trust? I care about taking everyday human experiences and designing with all of these values in mind.

We are embarking on a new immersive territory filled with AI biases - pushing the envelope on new business models that need to be more closely aligned with human values - and all this has to happen before we discuss launching autonomous vehicles. The governor of California just announced a commitment to phase out all gasoline-powered cars by 2035. We have a short window to establish the norm of automated, immersive solutions and the expectation for people to trust being on board - and going a step further, we need to be creating immersive experiences to entertain passengers in the car now to be ready when these vehicles are fully ready for public use.

How is XR changing location-based entertainment experiences today?

holoride, for example, is using XR technology to create a global platform for the mobility and entertainment industries, meaning at some point, consumers will simply need to purchase VR glasses, and they will be able to transform their car, cab, or public transit into a moving theme park — resulting in the widespread adoption of XR promoting ambient environments and location-based experiences. Globally, there are approximately 1.4 billion car rides a day with a passenger on board, leaving hours of wasted transit time on the table. This is what holoride is changing: connecting all of us through our shared experiences through enjoyable interactions with the virtual world.

Broadly speaking, how will the entertainment industry need to adapt its strategy in our current climate, especially as it relates to immersive location-based experiences? 

The entertainment industry will need to lean on our virtual and immersive worlds to stay afloat in a socially distant world. Creating a connection while not being physically present is key. Virtual Production will begin to push this platform forward in inventive ways. This process will continue to unveil and provide creative opportunities and immersive location-based experiences - front end and back end, that is not yet revealed.

Looking to the new year, what opportunities are you most excited about within emerging tech, entertainment, and the metaverse?

The investment in immersive worlds doesn’t seem so crazy at this point since we’ve been forced into a linear format with a Zoom screen every single day. The word “virtual” is now commonplace. We also are in desperate need of more 3D integrated spaces. A combined illusion will eventually be an everyday occurrence. So, how do we plan our future selves in these worlds? How are we going to represent ourselves? Will our digital or virtual twin be an accurate reflection of us today? Will it be the norm to meet your digital or virtual twin? Will your twin have an end date? What will your digital or virtual twin’s legacy be? Will AI fill-in the legacy part for me? What will it mean to be alive? We’re in a super creative moment in history. We have been given the license to start thinking about how we want to “live" in these worlds, persistently and permanently. How do we solve for and create the next level of community and socialization? What we lost in this new normal, we’re gaining in other ways.

Additionally, the future of education has also been expedited. All of the industry’s creative contributions in solving future education is beginning to take shape now. While you might miss physically sitting next to a person in your college auditorium, we can recreate and redefine other integrated moments and relationship building on a human scale for real connection, all made possible because of virtual reality and/or XR technologies.

holoride’s 1st Advisory Board Meeting early March 2020 before COVID-19 hit. 

Front from left to right: Dirk Ahlborn, Kathleen Cohen, Todd Makurath, Greg Castle, Thomas Alt 

Back from left to right: Marcus Kuehne, Palmer Luckey, Anthony & Joe Russo, Nils Wollny, Daniel Profendiner

ABOUT KATHLEEN COHEN

Thought Leader & Tech Humanist, Founder, The Collaboratorium — Kathleen Cohen is a creative, immersive strategist within emerging tech. In 2005, Kathleen founded The Collaboratorium, a production consultancy leveraging the best digital, XR, AI/ML, computer vision and experiential, thought leaders to solve enhanced guest experiences within multi-use environments. Kathleen has previously held roles at Disney Parks & Resorts, DreamWorks, and IBM Innovation and is deeply connected within the attractions and entertainment industry. Through her work as it relates to the Metaverse, speaking engagements, and research projects relating to virtual humans, Kathleen provides an ethical angle to holoride’s business and technology.