June 23, 2020
Jaime Withorne
The following was originally published by The National Interest.
While the majority of international security policy organizations have shifted to online work, they have yet to embrace new mediums that could help them achieve their goals of reaching new audiences with their work. The majority of post-coronavirus work in the international security space has taken the form of Zoom calls, conference calls, and virtual happy hours; all of which tend to repeat or reiterate past lectures and lessons to the same audiences. The community has embraced the occasional e-learning module as well, so as to break up the Zoom monotony, but it is clear that these online approaches don’t exactly provide something new—the same approaches have just been digitized.
CNS produces interactive 3D models of ballistic and cruise missiles and centrifuges for the NTI website. Visitors to the site can rotate, zoom, and orbit these missiles as they learn more about the technology.
Corporate precedents have begun to pave way for the international security policy community to embrace new mediums in a post-coronavirus operating environment. While an AR hand cream is likely not the ideal medium for this community, this example demonstrates what creative and fresh mediums have the ability to look like.
While the majority of international security policy organizations have shifted to online work, they have yet to embrace new mediums that could help them achieve their goals of reaching new audiences with their work. The majority of post-coronavirus work in the international security space has taken the form of Zoom calls, conference calls, and virtual happy hours; all of which tend to repeat or reiterate past lectures and lessons to the same audiences. The community has embraced the occasional e-learning module as well, so as to break up the Zoom monotony, but it is clear that these online approaches don’t exactly provide something new—the same approaches have just been digitized.
There are few limitations regarding the shape these new mediums might take. For example, my employer, The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), has begun exploring new tools for communicating issues related to weapons of mass destruction. CNS has employed tactics such as creating 3D models, playing with Augmented Reality, and drafting coloring books in order to find new ways to talk about nuclear weapons.
Continue reading at The National Interest.
