Enhanced Realities. Augmented and Unplugged
25-27 October, 2001
Center for Design Visualization, University of California, Berkeley, USA
The 7th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM2001) hosts several sessions relating to Virtual Heritage and emerging VR Technologies and applications.
Virtual Systems and MultiMedia
ENHANCED ENVIRONMENTS
Picking up where virtual reality and technology 'assistants' left off, enhanced environments are rapidly emerging as a major multidisciplinary research, development, and deployment area today through the explosion in wireless technologies (and bluetooth standard), small and easily deployable sensor technologies, networked off-the-shelf 2 and 3D cameras, pattern recognition algorithms, smart mobile phones, RFID tags, GPS and location trackers, etc. Papers which present innovative research in
wireless virtual and augmented environments, including mobile computing, mobile learning, wireless entertainment/games, and mixed reality are encouraged.
VIRTUAL HERITAGE
This year will showcase the most innovative work in the field, including new imaging and modeling techniques, large scale terrain modeling, geo-temporal 3D databases, remote sensing and GIS for culture, laser scanning and data capture, object and image restoration and modeling, virtual reality for museums, kiosks and site explanations. Papers accepted will cover a range from technical tools and techniques, to actual site environments that use new techniques for historical re-enactment, storytelling or site reconstruction. Heritage, museum, and cultural officials working with technology are encouraged to submit case studies.
SPECIAL SESSION ON ECAI: NETWORKED DIGITAL RESEARCH RESOURCES
The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (www.ecai.org) is creating an infrastructure for data discovery by time and location. The paradigm of the historical atlas, showing spatial and temporal relationships among
cultural data, and the digital library model of networked distributed resources, together define within ECAI a new approach to collaborative scholarly research. Using time-enabled Geographic Information Systems,
ECAI-affiliated research projects are creating interoperable data layers that can be retrieved from globally distributed servers for display on a map-based interface. Data layers can be further linked to text, images,
audio, video, or other resources. The ECAI Special Session will foreground speakers on key issues concerning potential for GIS resources in the humanities, such as Virtual Reality and Internet GIS. Presentations by major ECAI-affiliated projects demonstrate the breadth and suppleness of the ECAI infrastructure. Project walk-through sessions, as well as demo sessions by ECAI members, demonstrate the basic ECAI IT architecture and the wide range of technological approaches that individual projects have adapted to the varied demands of humanities research.
IMMERSIVE ART AND CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY
This session will present the latest work in 3D art and creative technology with special emphasis on real-time interactive and immersive systems. Paper topics include museum art and exhibitions, wireless art,
networked experiences, open-ended generative systems, site-specific installations, new media, and experimental art forms are encouraged to apply.
SPECIAL SESSION ON EMERGING VIRTUAL ENTERTAINMENT
With entertainment/game consoles rivaling the power of flight simulators, and game engines taking over 3D standards, entertainment is playing an increasingly strategic role in the Virtual and 3D worlds. And with the increasing crossover between Military and Entertainment applications traditional lines are blurring and new alliances being forged. This session will explore and debate both theoretical and practical issues pertaining to this virtual cross-cultural area. Technical papers, from processes to applications and tools are encouraged. Theoretical papers that discuss philosophical, moral or the future issues of this merging
industry are highly encouraged.
VIRTUAL DESIGN, PROTOTYPING & TRAINING
Virtual Design & Training is the first area of Virtual Reality to yield commercially viable applications. This session presents the papers for the following three sub-categories:
INDUSTRIAL
Papers exploring 3D virtual design, prototyping, and tele-robotic applications in engineering (macro and micro), aerospace, defense, automotive, petrochemical, manufacturing, and related areas. Case studies
and papers presenting business and human factors benefits will be particularly welcome. Also welcome are papers presenting practical techniques for assessing human performance in virtual environments -
situational awareness, transfer of skills, navigational performance and cognitive mapping.
ARCHITECTURAL
Papers exploring advances in applied 3D design and prototyping in the architectural field (as distinct from 3D CAD and CAE), from applications of image-based modeling and rendering, to 3D scanning, applications of Web3D in architectural design and training, virtual design, and the issues of virtual 'placemaking'.
MEDICAL
Topics here include telemedicine and telesurgery, virtual surgery, virtual patients (and the importance of training delivery using task abstraction vs. physiological fidelity) VR and micro- and nano technology for
biomedical applications, surgical robotics using VR or other advanced human-system interfaces, virtual hospitals and operating theatres (for training), case studies (transfer of skills, especially), Web-based
surgical training, and so on.
Contact: vsmm-sec@vsmm.org
Admission: $ 475 (general, 26 Sep-19 Okt), $ 550 (general, onsite), $ 250
(student, 26 Sep-19 Okt), $ 275 (student, onsite)