Grief, Joy, and a Cockroach: A Space Where Anything Could Happen
Following the announcement that ENGAGE VR is entering liquidation, this post reflects on the uncertainty surrounding the platform’s future and the many meaningful moments XR Women has shared within its virtual spaces. From connection and collaboration to learning, laughter, and unexpected encounters—including a memorable cockroach—ENGAGE has been a place where anything could happen. While it remains unclear whether the platform will ultimately close, XR Women is hopeful that this vibrant community space will continue to provide opportunities for people to gather, create, and support one another.
The EU AI Act is Now Being Enforced. What Does That Mean for the Way We Build AI?
The EU AI Act is moving from policy to enforcement, requiring organizations to make certain AI-generated content detectable and to demonstrate how they manage transparency, accountability, and traceability in practice. For developers—including those creating XR experiences—this means designing clear, timely disclosure into AI-powered avatars, voices, and virtual environments rather than treating governance as a checkbox. While some deadlines for high-risk AI systems have been extended, the larger question is whether the Act will drive meaningful changes in how organizations build and oversee AI—not simply how they document compliance.
Garden: In Full Bloom
Garden: In Full Bloom is an immersive XR Women Museum exhibition that explores what it means to grow into your fullest, most authentic self. Featuring 20 international artists, the virtual garden uses emerging media—from digital sculpture and animation to AI and virtual reality—to create a shared ecosystem of transformation, identity, imagination, connection, and possibility.
The Immersive Work Coming Out of Africa Right Now — And the Women Building It
African women are quietly redefining the global XR landscape and the industry hasn't caught up. From Judith Okonkwo, who built Lagos's first VR lab in 2016 and grew it into a multi-country network, to Diana Njeri's XR Girls Africa, which turns rural Kenyan women into hosts (not just visitors) of the metaverse, this piece spotlights a wave of immersive storytellers and builders across Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Their work is winning international awards, yet remains absent from major showcases like Venice Immersive. The gap isn't talent, it's distribution and gatekeeping. The message: Africa isn't emerging in XR. It's already here.
Anyone Can Build a VR World Now - Starting from Zero
For five years, worlds were what I asked other people to build. I'm dyslexic and low-vision, so the usual on-ramp — learn Unity, learn C#, learn 3D — wasn't a hill, it was a wall. Then I stopped trying to learn the tool and started describing the dream. Here is the seven-step path from zero to a published XR world, with no prior knowledge and not one line of code I typed myself.
Feeling in the Way
Where in your life do you shrink yourself without even noticing? A trip to a coffee shop for something cold on a hot day turns into an unexpected lesson. It's a warm, personal reflection on the tiny ways we make ourselves smaller — and an invitation to stop.
A Different Kind of Immersion
When most people hear the word immersion, they think of headsets and virtual worlds. But this summer, Tracie Yorke’s experience became something more—a different kind of immersion shaped by community, place, and meaningful human connection at the iLRN Conference in Athens, Greece.
Through presentations, shared experiences, and unexpected opportunities to connect with scholars and local experts, the trip became a powerful reminder that learning extends far beyond technology.
Immersive Storytelling, Shared Across Borders
Judie Alson joined the XR Women Global community in the ENGAGE platform to share work on how immersive storytelling can drive social change and foster empathy across cultures. Standing as an avatar alongside an international audience of avatars representing eight countries—from the UK to Brazil to India—the experience revealed that the real immersion wasn't just in the technology, but in the shared experience of stepping together into each world. This is the story of how a 360-degree presentation, a playful virtual canary, and a generous global community demonstrated why immersive media matters.
Visiting BURNERSPHERE: Burning Man Without the Dust
BurnerSphere brings the creativity, culture, and community of Burning Man to life in virtual reality—no desert heat or playa dust required. Created by XR Women's Athena Demos and Doug Jacobson, this immersive experience lets you explore digital twins of iconic art installations, then step through portals into 360-degree videos recorded on the actual playa, seamlessly blending reconstructed models with real-world moments.
Roundtables Are Where the Real Work Begins
XR Women's roundtables aren't panels — they're working sessions. Here's how honest conversations about access, funding, and leadership in XR and AI are turning into real action, accountability, and change across the industry.
Why Meta's Kylie Jenner Partnership Could Be a Turning Point for Women in Wearable AI
Meta's partnership with Kylie Jenner is more than a celebrity endorsement — it's a signal that wearable technology is finally asking a different question: not "how do we get people to care about tech?" but "how do we make tech fit the lives people already live?" For those of us advocating for more women in XR and emerging technologies, that shift in thinking is an encouraging sign.
AWE Long Beach 2026: What It Means for Women Shaping the Future of XR
AWE USA 2026 showcased a pivotal moment for spatial computing, with major hardware announcements from Snap (consumer AR glasses), XREAL (the AI-powered AURA headset built with Google and Qualcomm), and fashion-forward partnerships between Google's Android XR team and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. The event's "humans at the center" theme — combined with gesture-based wearables and embedded AI — signals a clear shift toward XR that is more accessible, stylish, and inclusive. For women in XR, the move away from bulky, male-coded hardware toward design-forward, lower-barrier devices represents real progress toward a more representative industry.
When Governments Pull the Plug: What the Claude Fable 5 Shutdown Means for XR Women
This week, the US government pulled the plug on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — cutting off global access overnight with no warning. For XR Women building at the intersection of spatial computing and AI, it's a wake-up call: the infrastructure we depend on can disappear in an instant. Here's what happened, why it matters, and the questions our community needs to be asking.
Know Your 3D: What Every XR Creator Should Understand About Splats, Meshes, and Photogrammetry
Choosing the right 3D method — whether a hand-built mesh, photogrammetry capture, or Gaussian Splat — determines what learners can actually do in your XR experience, not just what they can see. This post breaks down all three, shows how they work together in a real immersive training scenario, and explains why XR creators need to be fluent in each. With Apple bringing Gaussian Splatting to 300+ cities in iOS 27 and capture tools already in your pocket, there's never been a better time for XR Women to lead in this space.
When the Virtual Gets Personal: The Social Side of VR
This blog explores the social science behind human interaction in virtual reality, drawing on the research of communication scholar Bree McEwan.
Growing Community Through Play: Prototyping Belonging in XR
XR Women member, Tink, helped by play-testing the first prototype, Community Garden in Horizon Worlds.
The Future Just Landed on Your Face: Google's Project Aura and What It Means for Women in XR
XREAL and Google Showcase Project Aura at Google I/O 2026
Free Claude Certifications - and Why XR Women Should Get Them Now
I just added three Claude certifications to my LinkedIn — for free — and it took less than a day. Anthropic's online academy offers Claude credentials and AI Fluency courses, and they're open to everyone. Whether you're new to AI or already using it in your XR workflow, these courses will sharpen how you think about and work with it.
Redefining Immersive Showcasing
A recap of the Immersive Showcase by Ringling College and XRWomen.
