Virtual Meeting Spaces and Sustainable Arctic Communities: All Who Wander Are Not Lost

This chapter describes lessons pertaining to two (2D)- and three-dimensional (3D) solutions for connecting in virtual spaces that were developed in response to the COVID-19 travel disruptions. A handful of intergenerational participants met in person in one of two physical locations, the Faroe Islands and Rolvsøya, Norway, for workshops on sustainable Arctic tourism and the use of virtual reality (VR) technology to connect distant Arctic communities in the spring of 2021. These two groups developed 2D virtual ‘forest office’ and ‘island home’ spaces in Gather.town, which is an interactive platform that acts both as a place to store information (e.g., videos) and to host an organic video chat. Meetings started from these spaces, and then participants around the world used VR headsets to launch into several VR experiences, including “walk and talks” on Faroe Island roads, note-taking around a virtual campfire, and selfie-taking on an ice floe in the Arctic. Interdisciplinary and intersectoral organizers curated existing content and platforms and brought new VR content to participants. The chapter both highlights the many positives experienced by the participants in the VR workshops and discusses the challenges and drawbacks to consider before launching into such an involved enterprise.