Experiential Media Institute
The Experiential Media Institute (XMI) develops new insights, analysis, models, and practices for understanding mediated experience design across industries, technologies, production modes, and content strategies. With a unique emphasis on public/private partnerships, technology ethics, and bringing together communities of practice across academia, industry, and the arts, XMI explores the opportunities offered by the convergence of media practices in four target areas: content creation, audience relationships, emergent business models, and the applications of media in disparate industries.
Transmedia storytelling
Digital documentaries
Augmented/locative/VR experiences
AI/Technology Ethics
Mixed realities (AR/VR/XR)
Collaborative design thinking
"COVID-19 and the Efficacy of Using Virtual Reality Scenarios to Safely Train Police in Mental Health Crisis Response", with Dark Slope Studios Inc. (Naimul Khan, Natalie Alvarez, Richard Lachman, Jennifer Lavoie), funded by NSERC Alliance
"Genetic Investigation of Startle Reactivity to Understand Anxiety Mechanisms” with CAMH (Julia Tomasi, Richard Lachman, Calvin Gaspar)
IN_SITU - A research study to evaluate and address the digital challenge of Co-Creation between the Arts and Emergent Tech (AI) Sectors, with the Banff Centre for the Arts, in collaboration with the MIT OpenDoc Lab (Kat Cizek, Richard Lachman, Howard Jang), application to Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund
Methods for digitally mediated processes: a lab for collaboration (Generous Friend, with Nightswimming Theatre, SoulPepper Theatre Company, and Ryerson University), funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund
Director of the Experiential Media Institute
Richard Lachman
Dr. Richard Lachman directs Zone Learning for Ryerson University, Creative Technology Development for FCAD, and the Experiential Media Institute. He is an Associate Professor, Digital Media in the RTA School of Media, and also serves as a Technology and Creative Consultant for entertainment and software-development projects. A Gemini award-winning producer, Richard has worked on many highly successful Canadian and US interactive and convergent-media projects over his career.
Richard completed his doctorate at UNE in Australia studying software recommendation-engines, did his undergraduate work in Computer Science at MIT, and holds a masters degree from the MIT Media Lab’s “Interactive Cinema” group. He was part of a startup acquired by Mattel, ending as Lead Designer and Lead Engineer for the Petz software with over 3 million units shipped worldwide. The software has received awards from ID Magazine and Communications Arts, was featured in the New York Times, USA Today and Time Magazine, and was part of an exhibition at the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
His later work in transmedia has garnered a Gemini, CNMA and Webby Honouree awards, and he has lead collaborative design exercises with UNICEF, TIFF, Penguin UK, Kobo, the CRTC, and others. His areas of research include transmedia storytelling, digital documentaries, augmented/locative/VR experiences, mixed realities, and collaborative design thinking.
The Experiential Media Institute (XMI) develops new insights, analysis, models, and practices for understanding mediated experience design across industries, technologies, production modes, and content strategies. With a unique emphasis on public/private partnerships, technology ethics, and bringing together communities of practice across academia, industry, and the arts, XMI explores the opportunities offered by the convergence of media practices in four target areas: content creation, audience relationships, emergent business models, and the applications of media in disparate industries.