- Emerging
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Communication in VR - Preface
- Introduction
- Contents
- Contributors
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Towards
CyberPsychology
Say not to say
Cybertherapy
Being there
Ambient Intelligence
The hidden structure
of
interaction
From Communication to
Presence
Enacting
Intersubjectivity
Advanced Technologies
in Rehabilitation
IOS Press
Editorial Board
Identity, Community and Technology in the Communication Age
Edited
by:
G. Riva
Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Milan, Italy
F. Davide
Telecom Italia
Rome, Italy
Preface
In
this reality, whereto every computer is a window, seen or heard objects
are neither physical nor, necessarily, representations of physical objects
but are, rather, in form, character and action, made up of data, of pure
information. This information derives partly from the operations of the
natural, physical world, but mostly it derives from the immense traffic
of information that constitutes human enterprise in science, art, business,
and culture.
Benedikt, 1991
Beyond the development of networked technologies, the most striking trend
in contemporary telecommunications is the tendency to convergence among
the various media, a convergence that involves the computer as well. The
convergence of the computer with telephone and television technologies
is, in fact, producing new communication environments - from distance
learning to cybermalls - that are shaping our experience
Acknowledging this trend, the term cyberspace has been adopted within
telecommunications researchers and developers to stress those technologies
clustered around computers and networks, and the term information superhighway
has become a popular way to underline the continuing convergence of these
technologies. The use of cyberspace stresses the social and cultural aspects
of telecommunications, whereas the superhighway metaphor favors the commercial
and otherwise, utilitarian functions of computer-mediated communication.
Although most often considered just as a tool for making calculations,
storing data, and manipulating symbols, the computer can be described
an information technology and a medium of communication, too. In this
sense any form of human-computer interaction can be studied as a peculiar
form of communication, varying in the degree whereto the computer or the
users are in control.
Often, stressed is computing's potential to improve the quality of interactivity
on mass media earlier limited to one-way communication. Also, significantly
is the computer's ability to store and transmit information digital way,
as a sequence of 0 and 1, making possible the creation of new electronic
tools: digitized images, sounds, data are easier to store, transmit, and
edit than analogic versions, opening the door to new forms of expression
and manipulation of content. Moreover, computer's ability to digitize,
adapt and store variety of data makes it central to any discussion of
multimedia, the combination and blending of otherwise discrete media and
forms such as still images, video, and text.
The term multimedia, refers to nonlinear computer experiences, in which
conceptual nodes are linked to other relevant pieces of information, forming
a knowledge network. A node can include any type of text-words, graphics,
moving images, sound, or any combination of these. The manner in which
multimedia are navigated is by linking nodes to any other nodes. Ideally,
multimedia dissolve the differences between texts, book series, or encyclopedias,
even libraries; between learning and gaming, and between texts as objects
to be read and as environments to navigate through. In this sense, virtual
reality can also be viewed as the most advanced form of multimedia.
Through multimedia new experiences of space, location, travel and learning
are created. Within this new interface familiar environments and tools
acquire new forms and the boundaries between them disappear. Specifically
the perceptual experience of one's physical environment is replaced by
the sensations of being in a symbolic or artificial environment. Future
potential applications of these new tools are really only limited by the
imagination of talented individuals. In this sense, understanding how
to shape and exploit the full potential of this new situation is an exciting
challenge for both developers and researchers. This book wants to help
them in identifying some key paths for reaching this goal.
Alfredo Riccio, Telecom Italia, Rome, Italy
Start of the page
Introduction
The
users' presence in an environment exists if and only if they can use the
electronic environment to interact. To allow interaction in a given situation,
the user's freedom must be guaranteed, both in the physical and in the
social environment. In fact, more than on the richness of available images,
the sensation of presence depends on the level of interaction/interactivity
which actors have in both "real" and simulated environments.
Riva and Mantovani, 2000
The title of this book begins with the words communications because
our main concern is to understand the processes by which we manage our
experience - construct identities, create communities and make meanings
- through the most advanced communication media: the virtual technologies.
In this sense the focus of this volume is communication as it is mediated
by computers, not only the technology itself.
The starting point of our analysis is Virtual Reality (VR). What is VR?
Virtual reality is a new technology that replaces the way individuals
interact with computers. In fact, it can be defined as a set of computer
technologies which, when combined, provide an interface to a computer-generated
world. Specifically it provides such a convincing interface that the user
believes he is actually in a three dimensional computer-generated world.
A virtual environment is a virtual reality application that lets users
navigate and interact with a three-dimensional, computer generated (and
computer-maintained) environment in real time. However, VR is not just
a technology. As will be showed in the book, VR is the just the visible
edge of general evolution of present communication interfaces like television,
computers, and the telephone to the emergence of a metamedium.
To create successful applications with today's communication technologies,
we must begin by asking: what are they good at? This book offers an answer
to its possible readers - developers, researchers and students - by presenting
an overview of the current issues in this field. In fact, the book is
a collection of chapters from researchers who have pioneered the ideas
and the technology associated with these new communication technologies.
More particularly, the book discusses the social and technological issues
associated with the use of virtual technologies. It should be noted that
technical characteristics of these tools change very rapidly; but what
will not change is their user. Thus, to ensure that the contents of this
book are not quickly updated, all the contributors have made a great effort
to identify possible constraints in the use of these technologies and
to indicate how they can be faced and solved. The key issue was to integrate
technical knowledge and psycho-social principles related to human factors
into the design of virtual technologies.
Another important goal of the volume is to provide rationales for virtual
reality applicability in many different fields, from distance learning
to telemedicine. We reviewed the relevant literature regarding theoretical
and pragmatic issues for these applications, and provided a description
of ongoing work developed worldwide. The topics discussed directly involve
critical issues for designers and users, and are presented with scientific
competence and suggestions for actual use.
We have put a great deal of thought and effort in the structure of this
book and the sequence of the contributions, so that those in search of
a specific reading path will be rewarded. To this end we have divided
the book in three main Sections comprising 15 chapters overall:
The Technology of Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality in Communication: Human
Factors and Applications
Virtual Reality in Communication: Emerging
Trends and Technologies
Each
chapter begins with a brief abstract and a table of contents that help
the reader to identify the relationships among the section's chapters.
The starting point of the book is the technology of VR.
In Section 1 - The Technology of Virtual
Reality
,the chapter written by Davies
(Chapter 1)
describes the Virtual Reality hardware and software now available and
how these have been built to be usable by people. The technology which
lies behind Virtual Reality is, in fact, quite straight-forward and easy
to understand, the consequences of its usage and the potential this gives
people rather less so. In this sense, the final goal of VR interface design
is the full immersion of the human sensorimotor channels into a vivid
computer-generated experience. Future trends of this technology are also
considered by the Chapter, as well as the challenges which lie ahead for
its developers in making user-friendly technology which aids instead of
hinders communication.
However, VR is not just a technology. As we have just seen VR is the visible
edge of general evolution of present communication interfaces. As
Section 2 - Virtual Reality in Communication:
Human Factors and Applications -
points out, VR is not a technology; it's a destination. The general shape
of this emerging metamedium is like a diving suit which one can plunge
into and explore the electronic ocean. Media have always been environments,
but the VR environment surrounds the senses.
How can we understand this new metamedium? Chapter
2,
written by Riva and Galimberti, tries to understand the characteristics
of the different forms of Computer Mediated Communication and their effects
on people, groups and organizations.
The chapter also considers the implications of these changes for current
research in communication studies, with particular reference to the role
of context and the link between cognition and interaction, and the use
of interlocutory models as paradigms of communicative interaction: communication
is not only - or not so much - a transfer of information, but also the
activation of a psychosocial relationship. Riva, in Chapter
3, expands this vision and defines VR
as a communication tool: a communication medium in the case of multi-user
VR and a communication interface in single-user VR. The consequences of
this approach for the design and the development of VR systems are presented,
with the methodological and technical implications for the study of interactive
communication via computers.
Starting from the theoretical background presented in the previous chapters,
Chapter 4
prepared by Riva presents a framework for the development of web-based
learning environments. These tools can be considered a particular form
of hypermedia: computer-stored information, which is connected and retrieved
via links. An interesting evolution of hypermedia analyzed by the chapter
is shared hypermedia, new Internet tools in which different users, who
are simultaneously browsing the same web site, can communicate with each
other.
Another interesting application of VR is 3D-CAD systems, focus of
Chapter 5
written by Gaggioli and Breining. These tools may dramatically improve
the possibilities of visualization and interaction offered by common 2D
display CAD workstations. In particular the chapter investigates how the
computer-generated object is represented on 3D immersive display during
the design process and the effect of Virtual Reality aided design applications
on user's perceptive and cognitive system.
A second interesting area of application for VR systems - the clinical
area - is explored by Chapter
6,
written by Riva, Molinari and Vincelli. The great potential offered by
VR to clinical psychologists derives prevalently from the central role,
in psychotherapy, occupied by the imagination and by memory. Using VR
as an advanced imaginal system it is able to reduce the gap existing between
imagination and reality improving the efficacy of a psychological therapy.
A further area of application, discussed in Chapter
7 by Riva and
Gamberini is telemedicine. Since telemedicine is principally focusing
on transmitting medical information, VR has the potential to enhance this
function. Particularly VR can be used in telemedicine as an advanced communication
interface, which enables a more intuitive mode of interacting with information,
and as a flexible environment that enhances the feeling of physical presence
during the interaction. In the chapter, the state of the art in VR-based
telemedicine applications is described. A final area of application for
VR is Computer Based Learning (CBL). CBL is well known as a source of
effective tools to aid learning processes and there is evidence that computer
simulation can contribute to raise interest and motivation in students
and to effectively support knowledge transfer.
As discussed in Chapter
8, written by Ruggeroni, VR is very interesting
for CBL because using virtual environments the learning process can be
settled within an experiential framework. The chapter also presents a
case study carried out to assess the influence of immersive subjective
tendencies on the transfer of knowledge in the educational process mediated
by VR. The obtained results support the effectiveness of these environments
in the learning process and provide a reference framework for teachers
and designers interested in this area.
Section 3 - Virtual Reality in Communication:
Emerging Trends and Technologies -
introduces technological developments in fields apparently far from VR.
Seven chapters for four topics: telecommunications, computing, hardware,
wet-ware. The vision that guided our choice is that breakthroughs in VR
cannot come from the refinement of current human interface technology,
but rather from fields that are undergoing spectacular improvements and
are building new technological paradigms.
First, there is the technology of mobile communications. An amazing amount
of information will reach a wireless VR user through the broadband mobile
networks. An increasingly strict interleaving between real world and networking
will rewrite the traditional definition of "augmented reality",
whilst the new networks make feasible to decrease the power of the wearable
interfaces and to leave the computation burden on the networked servers.
Chapter 9,
written by Castelli, describes terminal, services and applications in
the scenario generated by the diffusion of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System (UMTS). We are conscious that there are many other topics in telecommunications
which would have merited attention, but we preferred to leave room for
other technologies and to deepen telecommunications in the forthcoming
volumes of the series this book belongs to.
Chapters 10 and
11 are devoted to latest paradigms in computing. Walker explores the relationship
between adaptive technologies and VR services. Adaptive technology stems
from the application of "biological problem solving" to classical
engineering problems, and becomes, according to Walker, an invaluable
way to manage artificial complexity. Artificial neural networks, evolutionary
computing, the ecological /embodied approach to artificial cognition and
collective computing are some of the ways that allow us to attack problems
which are intractable for a traditional engineering approach. These will
include, in a near future, many key issues in virtual reality: from how
to process data from large numbers of redundant noisy sensors to sensory
fusion, from the identification of high level events to the effective
personalization of interfaces.
Chapter 11,
written by Amigoni, Schiaffonati and Somalvico, follows a vision coherent
with the previous one, though more focussed on epistemology. The focus
is on the study of creativity, where a creative act is defined as the
observation of a set of phenomena and the invention of a set of models
of them. Within the framework of the multi-agent systems in artificial
intelligence, the authors propose a partial explanation of creative intellectual
activity via a specific form of agency called creative dynamic agency.
Results of the study of creativity can be of great interest for researchers
of VR: from one hand they regard the epistemological issue of methodology
and creativity; from the other hand they allow for an improvement of technical
methods in artificial intelligence. In the center there is always the
human being, whose behaviors are the everlasting preoccupation and inspiration
source for these studies as well as for VR technology.
There are exciting times ahead also gratia emerging technologies affecting
the hardware of the human interfaces.
Chapters 12
an 13 discuss technology of artificial olfaction and nanofabrication.
Davide, Holmberg and Lundstrom introduce the topic of olfactory information
processing that is strangely not present in the common practice of VR
applications. Two enabling technologies, electronic noses and virtual
olfactory displays, are presented. They came from the science of chemical
sensors and technology of gas calibration, respectively. They confirm
the key assumption of this book: VR may greatly benefit from research
and development fostered by fast growing applications, which have only
a loose relationship with VR. Relevant psycho-physiological issues are
also reviewed and originally presented for those who are more interested
of end-to-end systems than of results internal to the discipline of artificial
olfaction. Built on the advances that have been witnessed in microelectromechanical
systems (the famous MEMS), nanomechanics is delivering stunning results.
Nanoelectromechanical systems have been fabricated first in hard, inorganic
materials, and then also in polymeric materials, which have many advantages
in interfacing biological systems.
In
Chapter 13 Jager,
Smela and Inganäs discuss how conducting polymeric nanosystems can
produce controlled movements through the differential expansion of a layer
of one material pressed against another of different material. Microrobots
for cell manipulation are shown in this outstanding paper, already appeared
in a recent issue of Science totally dedicated to nanotechnology. And
there is more to come in the biological domain, also thanks to the impressive
funding infusions into this field.
Direct interfaces to biological systems can follow paradigms, designated
by the word wet-ware, radically different from the common ones. Sanguineti,
Giugliano, Grattarola and Morasso report in
Chapter 14
the state of the art in the technology of interfacing the neural system
of living beings. Neural interaces are considered as both a peculiar kind
of human-machine interaction in which there is no participation of the
sensory and motor systems, and a means for the study of neural plasticity
and neurocode. In this original chapter a hybrid system consisting of
a mobile robot connected to a part of living brain tissue is presented
as a bridge between the cellular and the behavioral levels. Another hybrid
consisting of a network of cultured neurons connected to an artificial
body is envisioned by the authors as a further step towards the understanding
of basic mechanisms in information representation and processing in a
sampled neuronal population.
Chapter 15,
written by Dagnelie, closes the book with a brilliant and complete analysis
of feasibility of neural visual prostheses for blind people. This is indeed
more than VR claims: nonetheless these achievements are possible even
if not yet practical. In the next decade we will have three research tracks,
whose combined results will lead to retinal (and maybe cortical) working
prototypes. In the long run, nervous prostheses using electronic implants
and computer signal processing should emerge as well as bio-robotic applications
based on the interface between living biology and robotics. It is not
the come of the age of the cyborg but instead the opportunity to use the
hardware as physical models of biological systems (e.g. to study in field
locomotion, orientation and vertebrate arm control) and to be inspired
by biological studies for new communication services.
The wide array of disciplines represented here strengthens the idea of
using VR for real-life applications, and the continued growth and investigation
of new approaches geared to helping improve the final usability of the
emerging tools. As the field continues to grow, we eagerly expect larger
on-the-field trials as well as outcomes comparisons to existing methods
of practice, supporting continued growth of new applications.
In the end, we hope that the contents of this book will stimulate more
research on technical, cognitive and human factors connected to the virtual
experience and on how best use virtual technologies in communication,
education, commerce, design and telemedicine.
Giuseppe Riva, Ph.D.
Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Milan, Italy
Fabrizio
Davide, Ph.D.
Telecom Italia
Rome, Italy
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Contents
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Preface
A.
Riccio
go to preface
Introduction
G. Riva and F. Davide
go to introduction
Section 1 -
The Technology of Virtual Reality
1.
Virtual Reality hardware and software: complex usable devices? (180 Kb)
R.C. Davies
download
Section
2 - Virtual Reality in Communication:
Human Factors and Applications
2. Virtual Communication: social
interaction and identity in an electronic environment (122 Kb)
G. Riva and C. Galimberti
download
3. Virtual Reality as communication tool: a socio-cognitive
analysis (48 Kb)
G.
Riva
download
4.
Communication and interaction in web based learning environments (165
Kb)
G. Riva
download
5.
Perception and cognition in immersive Virtual Reality (502 Kb)
A. Gaggioli, R. Breining
download
6. VR as communicative medium between patient and
therapist (70 Kb)
G. Riva, E. Molinari, F. Vincelli
download
7.
Virtual Reality in telemedicine (87 Kb)
G. Riva, L. Gamberini
download
8. Ethical education with Virtual Reality: Immersiveness
and the Knowledge Transfer Process (113 Kb)
C. Ruggeroni
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Section
3 - Virtual Reality in Communication: Emerging Trends and Technologies
9.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System: terminals and applications
(345 Kb)
G. Castelli
download
10. Virtual reality and adaptive technology (87
Kb)
R. Walker
download
11. Dynamic agency: models for creative production
and technology applications (157 Kb)
F. Amigoni, V. Schiaffonati, M. Somalvico
download
12. Virtual olfactory interfaces: electronic noses
and olfactory displays (234 Kb)
F. Davide, M. Holmberg, I. Lundström
download
13. Microfabrication: conjugated polymer actuators
(1480 Kb)
E. W. H. Jager, E. Smela, O. Ingänas
download
14. Neuro-Engineering: from neural interfaces
to biological computers (313 Kb)
F. Amigoni, V. Schiaffonati, M. Somalvico
download
15. Virtual technologies aid in restoring sight
to the blind technology applications (369 Kb)
G. Dagnelie
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Color plates for Chapters 13 and 15 (263 Kb)
download
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Contributors
Francesco AMIGONI
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy
Ralf
BREINING
Competence Center for Virtual Reality, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial
Engineering
Stuttgart, Germany
Giorgio
CASTELLICSELT
Centro Studi Laboratori e Telecomunicazioni Torino
Torino, Italy
Gislin
DAGNELIE
Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center, The John Hopkins University
School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD, USA
Fabrizio
DAVIDE
Innovation and Development, Telecom Italia S.p.A.
Rome, Italy
Roy
C. Davies
Division of Ergonomics and Aereosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences,
Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University
Lund, Sweden
Andrea
GAGGIOLI
Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Milan, Italy
Carlo
GALIMBERTILICENT
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica
Milan, Italy
Michele
GIUGLIANO
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Biofisica ed Elettronica (DIBE), Università
di Genova
Genova, Italy
Massimo
GRATTAROLA
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Biofisica ed Elettronica (DIBE), Università
di Genova
Genova, Italy
Martin
HOLMBERG
Laboratory of Applied Physics, Linköping University
Linköping, Sweden
Olle
INGANAS
Biomolecular and Organic Electronics Department Of Physics and Measurement
Technology, Linköping University
Linköping, Sweden
Edwin
W. H. JAGER
Biomolecular and Organic Electronics Department Of Physics and Measurement
Technology, Linköping University
Linköping, Sweden
Ingemar
LUNDSTRÖM
Laboratory of Applied Physics, Linköping University
Linköping, Sweden
Enrico
MOLINARI
Laboratorio Sperimentale di Ricerche Psicologiche, Istituto Auxologico
Italiano
Milan, Italy
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica
Milan, Italy
Pietro
MORASSO
Dipartimento di Informatica Sistemistica e Telematica (DIST), Università
di Genova
Genova, Italy
Giuseppe
RIVA
Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Milan, Italy
Centro Studi e Ricerche di Psicologia della Comunicazione, Università
Cattolica
Milan, Italy
Carlos
RUGGERONI
National University of Rosario,
Rosario, Argentina
Vittorio
SANGUINETI
Dipartimento di Informatica Sistemistica e Telematica (DIST), Università
di Genova
Genova, Italy
Viola
SCHIAFFONATI
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy
Elisabeth
SMELA
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland
College Park, MD, USA
Marco
SOMALVICO
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics project
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy
Francesco
VINCELLI
Laboratorio Sperimentale di Ricerche Psicologiche, Istituto Auxologico
Italiano
Milan, Italy
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica
Milan, Italy
Richard
WALKER
Istitute of Psychology Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Rome Italy
Artificial Intelligence Lab, Psychology Department
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, II Università di Napoli
Caserta, Italy
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