Channels can be created by brands, developers, communities or single users. A channel might be an immersive layer over the whole environment, or a persistent workspace of apps and content.
Gil and Flora enjoy different immersive games. Even though their physical space is the same their overall experience is quite different.
Public channels can be browsed and joined, but private channels could require an invitation.
Gil finds it useful to switch channels and identities depending on his current activity.
Channels cater to all sorts of themes, activities and interests. This proliferation makes it easy to navigate the world through a chosen lens and filter out irrelevant virtual content.
Channels can create strongly bonded communities, but also exclusive cliques.
User permissions are defined by the channel’s creators. While some might restrict user content, others might encourage it.
Gil and Flora have different sets of hobbies and interests. Living within individually-chosen channels can make it hard to encounter opposing views or discover a new interest.

Gil glances out at the park from under his hat brim. This São Paulo skyline is much lower than the version he’s used to. Adverts with quaintly nostalgic lettering are silhouetted against the sky. He briefly wonders whether the greyscale filter over everything is a little over the top, but it looks amazing.

A girl of about his age approaches and looks him up and down. Is she the secret contact? He leans forward to mutter the codeword he’s been given as she says something to him at the same time, but both are confused - the codewords don’t match up and the secret symbol she’s showing him seems like it comes from an alien culture, not from the detective noir game he is playing.

A brightly coloured newsflash breaks in, shattering the illusion. Corinthians have scored in their match against Santos and a tiny replay bursts into view.

He turns back to speak to the girl, but she’s gone.

It’s orientation week at the University of São Paulo. Gil moved from a small town, and has been making the most of the opportunities of the big city. The university is the ideal place to discover new channels, with the various clubs and societies inviting new members to join. In the next month he visits sports bars with the university soccer team, has a furious argument about politics in the debate club, and explores the physical fabric of the city with new eyes as a skater - suddenly seeing each set of steps or stone bench marked up with trick targets and the notes and advice left by other skaters.

He meets plenty of interesting and like-minded people, but he still finds himself wondering about ‘Flora’. He sometimes catches a glimpse of her around campus; he wishes they had some common ground but they always seem to be in different worlds.

Outside of his study hours, Gil and a friend have been making a project for the Soundscape channel. They place their Soundscape marker at a favourite student bar near the park, and enjoy the effect as the beautiful patterns they designed ripple across the surfaces in time with their looping music composition. As they walk around their marker, they catch Soundscapes that other artists have placed nearby and different audio-visual works mix in and out of their own as they move through space. Combinations of physical and virtual sights and sounds create a unique experience on every path they take.

His project dances around him as he walks back into his Soundscape. And there she is, moving her hand slowly through the patterns and watching as they ripple away from her. He waves slowly back. The rippling patterns meet and morph as he summons the courage to go and introduce himself.

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