Digital diving: practical lessons from virtual reality dives in the deep-sea

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) offers unprecedented access, mobility, and engagement with deep-sea environments, but it also introduces methodological challenges due to its immersive mode of visualizing space as a volume. This article examines VR dives through the lenses of ‘big science’, ‘gaming’, and ‘spectator’ practices, exploring their role in more-than-human digital encounters. The study discussed here introduces ‘digital diving’ and critically reflects on VR as a research tool, questioning its geopolitical, ethical, and technological implications. Through an ethnographic investigation of marine biodiversity monitoring, this work provides practical insights into how VR redefines human-nonhuman interactions and proposes key conditions – truth, mobility, and interaction – for effectively engaging with oceanic imaginaries in virtual environments.