Polycular

03/06/2024

15/02/2024

🌟 Exciting News from Polycular! 🌟 We're thrilled to announce that coopXscape is one of 12 projects selected for funding through EMIL XR! This innovative XR game is set to revolutionize team collaboration and communication. 🚀🌍

Key Points:
• Global Play: Dive into our Escape AR Scenario, with remote play and utilizing VR in addition to tablets and smartphones for remote teams everywhere.
• Asymmetric Gameplay for a fresh take on team dynamics. Dive into unique roles and game dynamics to explore social interactions in a whole new light.
• AI Communication: Innovate with AI-driven interactions. 🤖

Leveraging the latest XR tech, coopXscape is at the forefront of hybrid team experiences, redefining corporate education through games. Our goal? Transform corporate education with immersive, engaging narratives and a suite of workshop packages tailored for businesses. 🎯💼

Discover more about this exciting venture and the other selected projects here: https://emil-xr.eu/the-call-2-selected-12-projects-to-be-funded/

Join us in shaping the future of teamwork.

European Media and Immersion Lab (EMIL) Funds Groundbreaking eXtended Reality Initiatives. The European Media and Immersion Lab (EMIL) has announced the beneficiaries of its second call for proposals, awarding a staggering 4.6 million euros to spearhead 12 innovative XR (extended reality) projects a...

04/12/2023

Our augmented reality game has been taking players through digital escape rooms to fight disinformation since 2019. Starting with January 2024, we are aiming to support teachers and educators in their media literacy classes even more, by providing:

❗ New content in the app. “Trouble with (E)Lisa” tackles the newest topics, such as deepfakes and manipulating search engines.
❗ A Massive Online Open Course for teachers, covering media literacy, digital citizenship, disinformation, game-based learning with Escape Fake. The MOOC is hosted by partner Scuola.net and is accredited by the Ministry of Education in Italy.
❗ A digital toolkit where you can find ideas and resources for using Escape Fake in the classroom effectively. Includes activities for educators, ready-made presentations and questionnaires.

➡️Are you interested in using as an educational tool? Do you know teachers, educators, journalists working with the public on media literacy? Invite them to pre-register for the toolkit at https://escapefake.org/toolkit/

is funded by the European Commission through the Creative Europe programme and by the European Media and Information Fund.

Grateful to advance our mission with Escape Fake together with partners Expert Forum (EFOR), La Fabbrica and Pro Progressione
With: Thomas Layer-Wagner Irina Elena Paraschivoiu Alice Bovone

16/10/2023

🚀 Exciting Times at Polycular! 🚀

From our initial endeavor with EcoGotchi, sparking thoughtful dialogues about sustainability, to our 2019 venture EscapeFake, addressing the challenge of fake news, we've always been driven by purpose. Today, we humbly present our newest addition, eduXscape (https://www.polycular.com/eduxscape/) - XR powered team development.

🌍 Our creations aren't merely games; they're reflections of the challenges and aspirations of society. In an era where trust, open communication, and adaptability are paramount, we aim to provide tools that foster these values.

🕰️ The path to realizing eduXscape spanned two years. With the invaluable support of Austria Wirtschaftsservice Creative Impact and insights from the Institute for cultural excellence gmbh, we embarked on this journey. It began with insightful expert interviews, shaping a concept that the entire Polycular team embraced and nurtured. Venturing into our first multiplayer experience tested our resolve, but together, we navigated its complexities.

🙌 To everyone who offered feedback, tested, and shared their perspectives, we extend our heartfelt gratitude. Your voices have been instrumental in shaping this experience.
Startup Salzburg, EdTech Austria, FH Salzburg, Martin Seibt, Klaus Neundlinger, Simone Rack and many more.

🎮 Curious about eduXscape? It's an XR-powered team workshop blending the challenge of escape rooms with the capabilities of augmented reality. It's not just fun; it’s a transformative experience that enhances team collaboration and communication like never before. It's something we're proud of and hope it offers value to your team too. https://www.polycular.com/eduxscape/

Thank you for being an integral part of our journey. Here's to many more shared adventures ahead. 🌟

06/10/2023

As Escape Fake 2.0 - App, Toolkit and MOOC are taking shape let's introduce our partners and the project.

The European project Escape Fake 2.0 was born out of the development of the first Escape Fake experience launched in 2019 by Polycular (Austria) with the creation of the escape game of the same name.

To amplify the impact of the game at the European level, promote its use in schools, and involve young contemporary artists in the production of works inspired by the game's themes, since 2022 the project has expanded to include and connect more partners:

✔️​La Fabbrica / scuola.net in Italy
✔️​Expert Forum in Romania
✔️​ProProgressione in Hungary

Let's get to know the promoters of the project better!

Polycular
Polycular is a design and technology studio that has been combining creativity and technological innovation for over 20 years to create meaningful playful experiences in AR and VR that make concepts, products, or brands stand out.

La Fabbrica
scuola.net is an independent international communications agency working in the field of educational communication platforms and campaigns. La Fabbrica promotes Scuola.net, a community of more than 200,000 teachers and a digital ecosystem to provide free certified teacher training courses.

Expert Forum
Expert Forum (EFOR) is a nonprofit think-tank specializing in education, advocacy, media literacy and active citizenship, working with a range of institutions such as the European Commission, World Bank and UNDP.

ProProgressione
Pro Progressione has 10 years of experience in producing contemporary art and networking artists, cultural institutions, scientists and experts from various fields to foster international collaborations in the field of culture and investigate current issues through art.

04/09/2023

We already started our presence at the Ars Electronica Festival 2023 in Linz with two workshops on Escape Fake at the Founding Lab last week!

A collaborative prototype for developing a pioneering university of the future, the Founding Lab aims to identify and develop new approaches and formats for co-creation of the digital transformation. Boundaries between disciplines and between art and science are to be overcome and all dimensions of digitization are to be considered.

We had the pleasure to engage master and PhD students in how we teach media literacy, as well as give them a preview of the Escape Fake prequel. In the game, players interaction with Hannah - a quantum reality hacker - who tries to fix a broken future by preventing fake news from escalating at certain moments in time.

Together, we used speculative design to discuss how Hannah’s future might look like, and the technological developments and factors which contributed to it. We also provided participants with a vocabulary of strategies and tools used in the disinformation space, such as filling in data voids, source hacking and evidence collages. Together, we reflected on different approaches to teaching media literacy: developing knowledge and skills, dealing with biases, or learning how to deal with disagreements.

We had a lot of fun and we thank all the Founding Lab attendees for their participation and ideas. Looking forward to an exciting festival ahead!

https://lnkd.in/dqY5fnkB

03/08/2023

"𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲" with the augmented reality educational escape game 𝗘𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝟮.𝟬

Help Hannah, a "history hacker" living in the future, expose fake news. By scanning a series of markers, combining 3-D objects and answering several quizzes on the topic of creating and spreading fake news and how to counter it, you can uncover the truth and eliminate fake news.

In August and September, the game will be showcased at Sziget Festival and Ars Electronica Festival together with a series of art works created by young contemporary artists and inspired by the topics of the projects.

From November 2023, the escape game will be available in English, German, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian along with a training course and a kit in digital format to support teachers in using the game in the classroom.

Escape Fake 2.0 is a European project designed for teachers, educators and students between the ages of 12 and 18, co-funded by the Creative Europe - Media program and the Gulbenkian Foundation's EMIF fund.

07/07/2023

Hosting a workshop with the new version of EscapeFake at the creative days of Arbeiterkammer Salzburg at ARGEkultur Salzburg.

Great to get some first hand feedback from the target group and seeing how enthusiastic and well the new version of our EscapeFake app was received.

02/06/2023

07/02/2023

📣 Last call for media and graphic design artists looking to work on topics of data, misinformation and fake news.

💻 Apply before 14th of February.

Details at https://escapefake.org/en/open-call-artists/

❓Are you an artist or artistic group working with interactive and media art, data visualization or multimedia production?
❓Are you interested in the topic of fake news, disinformation or media literacy?
❓Are you motivated to design transformative experiences related to the above mentioned topics?

We are on our way to growing 🚀 EscapeFake, our escape room game teaching media literacy for young people and are currently looking for artists to contribute their ideas in the form of media artworks, multimedia productions or data vizualization. The artworks will be toured together with the Escape Fake game, to media and art festivals, in the second half of 2023.

Join our Open House on the 26th of January 2023
Apply before the 14th of February 2023

Want to find out more? Check out:
https://escapefake.org/en/open-call-artists/

Escape Fake 2.0 is run in partnership with Progressione Expert Forum (EFOR) and La Fabbrica.

Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and The European Media Information Fund.