WebXR For Cooperative Work, Thought, And Play
summary
WebXR is a browser API that exposes headset position, orientation, and controllers while using WebGL or the new WebGPU for rendering; Chrome just shipped WebGPU in beta. Mozilla Hubs is presented as a lightweight, self-hostable social engine — like Hubs is a WordPress for 3D web apps — that adds spatial audio and shared-media cues to restore nonverbal signals missing from Zoom. Examples, history, and tradeoffs (simplicity wins: worse-is-better) are argued with concrete comparisons to Xanadu, the web, and Dynamicland.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Introduction to WebXR
- 1:27History of virtual reality
- 3:53Early VR pioneers
- 6:23Marshall McLuhan’s media theory
- 8:08Critique of the metaverse hype
- 10:33Computer-supported cooperative work
- 11:57Dynamic Land and learning
- 13:44Human-centered computing
- 16:37Doug Engelbart’s vision
- 19:23Memex and early computing
- 20:27Von Neumann architecture
- 22:11Grace Hopper’s compiler
- 23:34Limitations of video calls
- 25:47Compendium and wicked problems
- 27:53Worse is better concept
- 29:16UNIX vs Multics
- 31:01World Wide Web vs Xanadu
- 35:35Grace Hopper on transportation
- 38:46Breaking free from video calls
- 40:08Game engines and purpose-built tools
- 41:15Social presence in VR
- 43:02Hubs as social experiences engine
- 44:49Use cases and conclusion
