No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Heidegger and Virtual Reality: The Implications of Heidegger's Thinking for Computer Representations
Abstract
This author addresses the assumptions that underlie most research into virtual reality (VR) and other interactive computer systems. These assumptions relate to tensions between views of perception as a matter of data input versus the notion of perception as mental construction. Similarly, there is a tension between the assumption that pictures are meaningful as representations of things and the opposing idea that pictures are meaningful as socially constructed human practices. Aspects of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger are invoked as a means of cutting through these dilemmas. This reading of Heidegger presents truthful representation as a matter of correspondence only when the truth is understood as a means of disclosing a world. The article concludes with practical suggestions for VR research and development appropriated from a Heideggerian perspective.
... A year after Heim published 'Metaphysics of Virtual Reality' Coyne (1994) responded to his work with a paper speculating on the implications of representations in VR from the perspectives of different theorists and a specific focus on Heidegger's views. Heidegger's concern for the extremes in technology enframing phenomena was great and as VR aims to capture reality itself and there are few extremes that currently measure up to it, it is thought that he would look upon it with criticism (Heidegger, 1996). ...
... He was also concerned about the authors bias in representations of reality which has already been discussed. Coyne (1994) focused on Heidegger's notion of the tension between correspondence and the social construct that underlaid the workings between truth and reality mirroring the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, hence his ideas about truthful representations indirectly addresses 'VR's quest for realism' (Coyne, 1994, p. 69). Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. ...
... Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. Another duality of Heidegger that is relevant for VR is the contrast between earth and the world where the earth is seen as the real-life reality and the world as the constructed virtuality (Coyne, 1994). He stresses the notion of difference between these and the clash between constructed order and the realized materiality of the real world. ...
... A year after Heim published Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Coyne (1994) responded to his work with a paper speculating on the implications of representations in VR from the perspectives of different theorists and a specific focus on Heidegger's views. Heidegger's concern for the extremes in technology enframing phenomena was great and as VR aims to capture reality itself and there are few extremes that currently measure up to it, it is thought that he would look upon it with criticism . ...
... He was also concerned about the authors bias in representations of reality which has already been discussed. Coyne (1994) focused on Heidegger's notion of the tension between correspondence and the social construct that underlaid the workings between truth and reality mirroring the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, hence his ideas about truthful representations indirectly address 'VR's quest for realism' (Coyne, 1994, p. 69). Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. ...
... Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. Another duality of Heidegger that is relevant for VR is the contrast between the earth and the world where the earth is seen as the real-life reality and the world as the constructed virtuality (Coyne, 1994). He stresses the notion of difference between these and the clash between constructed order and the realized materiality of the real world. ...
... A year after Heim published Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Coyne (1994) responded to his work with a paper speculating on the implications of representations in VR from the perspectives of different theorists and a specific focus on Heidegger's views. Heidegger's concern for the extremes in technology enframing phenomena was great and as VR aims to capture reality itself and there are few extremes that currently measure up to it, it is thought that he would look upon it with criticism . ...
... He was also concerned about the authors bias in representations of reality which has already been discussed. Coyne (1994) focused on Heidegger's notion of the tension between correspondence and the social construct that underlaid the workings between truth and reality mirroring the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, hence his ideas about truthful representations indirectly address 'VR's quest for realism' (Coyne, 1994, p. 69). Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. ...
... Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. Another duality of Heidegger that is relevant for VR is the contrast between the earth and the world where the earth is seen as the real-life reality and the world as the constructed virtuality (Coyne, 1994). He stresses the notion of difference between these and the clash between constructed order and the realized materiality of the real world. ...
... The term virtual reality is in itself an oxymoron. An adjective meaning "not physically existing" and a noun meaning "physical existence" are combined to represent a computer technology: a technology which provides sensory information and feedback to the user, in order to immerse them into an artificial world that only exists inside a computer (Coyne, 1994). However it is named, virtual reality has brought a new look at philosophical discussions about reality, mind and body. ...
... where the person who is engaged in the process does not perceive a divide between subject and object (Coyne, 1994). ...
... According to Coyne (1994), Heidegger would view VR as a literal enactment of Cartesian ontology, as VR seems to isolate the subject within a field of sensations and claim that everything is there, presented to the person in a cocoon. Also, the idea of constructing a reality through data and algorithms would hypothetically be argued strongly. ...
Participatory urban design processes make use of a variety of tools and methods. Among these, computer generated environments help not only laypeople but also experts better understand spatial relationships. Furthermore, virtual reality technologies introduce the body into these computer generated environments and help perceiving body’s relationship to space.
In this thesis, it is theorized that virtual reality can be used as a medium to create immersive, engaging participatory tools to be implemented in urban design processes. To this end, a design guideline study is proposed. Designing an interactive, multisensory, body centered tool for participatory urban design is a complex issue that can be deciphered with the help of psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, game design, interaction design, architecture and urban design. These areas are examined in order to form a design guideline study.
First, evolution and components of virtual reality are examined. Next, participation in urban design is questioned and case study that uses virtual reality is presented. Next, essential steps for designing a participatory tool using virtual reality are defined based on previous chapters.
In addition to outlining a roadmap to architects and urban designers for creating such a tool, this thesis suggests ways to heighten the sense of presence in it. In further studies, a case study that takes this design guideline study into account should be conducted in order to verify its accuracy.
... A year after Heim published 'Metaphysics of Virtual Reality' Coyne (1994) responded to his work with a paper speculating on the implications of representations in VR from the perspectives of different theorists and a specific focus on Heidegger's views. Heidegger's concern for the extremes in technology enframing phenomena was great and as VR aims to capture reality itself and there are few extremes that currently measure up to it, it is thought that he would look upon it with criticism (Heidegger, 1996). ...
... He was also concerned about the authors bias in representations of reality which has already been discussed. Coyne (1994) focused on Heidegger's notion of the tension between correspondence and the social construct that underlaid the workings between truth and reality mirroring the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, hence his ideas about truthful representations indirectly addresses 'VR's quest for realism' (Coyne, 1994, p. 69). Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. ...
... Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. Another duality of Heidegger that is relevant for VR is the contrast between earth and the world where the earth is seen as the real-life reality and the world as the constructed virtuality (Coyne, 1994). He stresses the notion of difference between these and the clash between constructed order and the realized materiality of the real world. ...
... 12 2. BUILDING BLOCKS OF REALITY Technologically, virtual reality (VR) is a 'computer-generated simulation' of a 3D and 360-degree technological environment that can be explored interactively. 7 As a highly sophisticated application of human-computer interaction (HCI), it allows the user to take all kind of projective transformations that are most commonly experienced from a virtually embodied first-person perspective (Coyne 1994, Rudrauf et al. 2017. The mechanical aim of VR is to "present sensory information and feedback with the intention of producing a convincing illusion that the user is immersed in an artificial world" (Coyne 1994, italics added). ...
... According to the original data-oriented view, we need inputs to our senses to create a sense of the 'real'. (Coyne 1994.) On the other hand, the constructivist view sees that all our perceptions are constructed by ourselves with the help of our mental representations and those 'simple cues' gathered from the environment. ...
... Gibson's notion of 'ecological perspective taking' where the immersive environment is seen as activating our vision and senses (Biocca 1997, see also Coyne 1994). Besides, Biocca argues that we construct the world from "the patterns of energy detected by the body" and the body serves as a 'display device' for the mind. ...
This thesis is an experimental research that theoretically examines the ontological nature of virtual reality (VR) and its possible implications to be used in designing new emotional learning environments and experiences. The focus is set on fear as an emotion that physically and mentally manifests itself as a specific phobia. The applications of using virtual reality as a psychological tool for treating negative emotions are questioned by making apparent the unanswered questions about our emotions and perception taking abilities.
Through different case studies related to the manipulations of our sense of embodiment in VR, the plasticity of our mind and body is researched and applied into emotion theories. The thesis examines how VR could be harnessed to reveal the phenomenal ‘body loops’ with the help of sensor technology (HRV) and ultimately, be designed to unravel the maladaptive loops. Hypothetically, it considers taking advantage of the virtual space design and our sense of embodiment by literally creating new perspectives for experiencing through virtual body manipulations. Through problematization and the ideology of ontological design, it is suggested that we should adapt more radical design in VR to overcome the existing scientific paradigms about emotional learning.
... A year after Heim published 'Metaphysics of Virtual Reality' Coyne (1994) responded to his work with a paper speculating on the implications of representations in VR from the perspectives of different theorists and a specific focus on Heidegger's views. Heidegger's concern for the extremes in technology enframing phenomena was great and as VR aims to capture reality itself and there are few extremes that currently measure up to it, it is thought that he would look upon it with criticism (Heidegger, 1996). ...
... He was also concerned about the authors bias in representations of reality which has already been discussed. Coyne (1994) focused on Heidegger's notion of the tension between correspondence and the social construct that underlaid the workings between truth and reality mirroring the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, hence his ideas about truthful representations indirectly addresses 'VR's quest for realism' (Coyne, 1994, p. 69). Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. ...
... Following from this, Heidegger's concept of disclosure becomes relevant for VR as he is more concerned about which truths constructs (in our case the virtual world) disclose rather than how close to reality the representation is, hereby the message carried in an immersive video is more important than the sense of reality it provides. Another duality of Heidegger that is relevant for VR is the contrast between earth and the world where the earth is seen as the real-life reality and the world as the constructed virtuality (Coyne, 1994). He stresses the notion of difference between these and the clash between constructed order and the realized materiality of the real world. ...
... An adjective meaning "not physically existing" and a noun meaning "physical existence" are combined to represent a computer technology. A technology that provides sensory information and feedback to the user, in order to immerse them into an artificial world that only exists inside a computer [2]. ...
... Heidegger's phenomenological approach and rejection of Cartesian dualistic reality (clear distinction between the thinking subject and the world of objects) means that all reality is affected and altered by the interpreter. Heidegger's being in the World (Dasein) points to the basic experience of being in the process of making and doing, where the person who is engaged in the process doesn't perceive a divide between subject and object [2]. ...
This paper focuses on providing a comprehensive look at the use of virtual reality in participatory urban design practices. Immersive virtual environments are used in many areas of design, one of them being participatory urban design. Interactive, multisensory three-dimensional environments prove to be engaging for the public and illuminating for the designer. Presence can be benefitted for several layers of participatory urban design process: understanding the proposed design, commenting on the proposed design, contributing to the design. To this end, a review of the literature on the area is conducted and human-centered design considerations are noted. A human-centered VR experience is not proposed as the only component of the participatory design process, but one of them. The process should be designed by experts such as urban planners and designers with the input of all the stakeholders. This model should be included in the process design and tested in such a process in further studies.
... In this study, the concept of a virtual spectator means the VR user. This user shows spatial tendencies associated with being-in-the-virtualworld (which is defined by Richard Coyne [1994]) in the virtual space. Coyne (1994) explains, "within our experience of being in the world, there is a pragmatic understanding of proximity or closeness, and this closeness precedes any notion of measurable distance". ...
... This user shows spatial tendencies associated with being-in-the-virtualworld (which is defined by Richard Coyne [1994]) in the virtual space. Coyne (1994) explains, "within our experience of being in the world, there is a pragmatic understanding of proximity or closeness, and this closeness precedes any notion of measurable distance". In this context, the user being aware of the virtual space in which s/he was immersed in is the one who materializes spatial proximities according to their tendencies. ...
Virtual reality (VR) enables the controlled acquisition of physical reality into the virtual environment. The virtual built environment stimulates people as physical urban experiences. Room-scale experience allows wandering around the urban space. The purpose of this study is to understand VR as a tool for measuring spatial tendencies of the individual through distance structuring (proxemics) in the virtual environment. According to the concept of proxemics, individuals interact with the built environment and people through personal, social, and public distances. The study provided a virtual space that was designed as a streetscape with a road and buildings along the way both sides. Users were immersed in the VR model for 10 minutes through navigating on the chosen route and recorded in the video. The objective was understanding how the architectural elements are related to proxemics tendencies. This study describes VR as a tool for understanding user tendencies through user spatial behavior.
... It is, however, unclear whether 360 o or CG creates a different experience in the context of VRET. Some argue high realism is needed, a data-oriented approach (Fischer, 1991), while others, constructivist approach, argue it is not needed due to imagination (Coyne, 1994;Mantovani, 1996). High realism seems less needed when the VR environment creates high levels of fear or anxiety (Diemer & Zwanzger, 2019;van Gisbergen et al., 2019). ...
Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is used to help patients that suffer from AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder) to create coping mechanisms for situations in real life that cause craving, by means of creating virtual environments that feel real and immersive during treatment. However, it is unclear what VR technologies should be used to create these virtual worlds and whether implementing virtual humans in it makes them more efficient. Twenty-eight interviews with (former) AUD patients and UAD-health specialists, reveal that 360o recorded as well as Computer Generated (CG) technologies can be used to create an effective VRET that elicits craving and relaxation based on immersion and presence. The use of 360o technologies seem to create more realism compared to CG, but this differs per patient and situation. Adding virtual humans in VRET increases feelings of craving, although the added value depends on the personal context and past of the patient. As such, it is recommended to create a graded exposure strategy based on both technologies and the option to experience virtual humans that directly or indirectly provide an invitation to drink.
... This is implicit in the distinctions that are made between realistic, figurative or abstract representations." [20], and the boundary of veridiction "a representation that the image projects outwards 'that tends towards a certain reality, or rather, a certain concept of reality'" [21][22]? This may benefit individuals who live and experience a place or city, such as those in Kitakyushu. ...
The article explores the use of virtual
technologies to revitalize Kitakyushu, Japan, by drawing on
the “Immersive Legacies” exhibition at Wellington Museum,
New Zealand, which utilized virtual technologies to great effect.
There the Reality-Virtuality Continuum was used to analyze
the digital heritage of the “Gordon Wilson Flats”. These
methods were then applied to address issues that Kitakyushu is
facing, such as a declining population, outflow of young
migration, and lower gross product. To this end, the study
designed four virtual locations: Chugin Street, Kokura Castle,
Tanga Market, and Katsuyama Park. These locations were
envisioned as virtual commercial streets, VR scenic spots,
Virtual Seafood Museum, and virtual gym, respectively. The
aim was to use virtual technologies not only to revitalize
Kitakyushu but also to offer diverse shopping, touring,
educating, and exercising experiences. The study finds that
virtual technologies successfully address the challenges faced
by Kitakyushu and contribute to its revitalization. Moreover,
the research extends the meaning of the Reality-Virtuality
Continuum in design for city development and revitalizations.
... In philosophy, scholastic philosophy, for instance, philosophers view 'virtual' as not something existing 'actually' but as something existing 'potentially' (Metzinger, 2018). In addition to scholastic philosophical definitions, came definitions of 'virtual' to describe fictitious or imaginary things, for things that cannot become reality, but only representations of an existing reality (Coyne, 1994). Traces of this definition can be found in how engineers currently employ the term 'virtual', especially in situations where they can effectively substitute computers and peripheral devices in place of human senses. ...
Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) technology is becoming central for Information Systems (IS) research. However, existing studies in IS fall short of providing insights into how the IVR experience becomes meaningful for end-users. To increase granularity and specificity in this regard, researchers have suggested that the IVR experience can become meaningful due to its fleeting feeling of escapism. In this paper, I explore and characterize how individuals use the IVR experience to create meaning in the context of meaningful escapism, by undertaking a phenomenology inspired inquiry, based on Heideggerian views on meaning, meaningfulness, and world. Interviews and analysis were conducted within an empirical case of IVR fire safety training. As a result, four characteristics of the IVR experience as a meaningful form of escapism were unveiled: a sense of content, a sense of familiarity, a sense of mood, and a sense of care. Throughout this study, I offer a nuanced perspective on how the characteristics contribute to clarifying the distinctions and relationship between meaning and meaningfulness, as well as how the IVR experience becomes a meaningful escapism that provides an alternative of individual’s being-in-the-world, into a being-in-the-virtual-world, also known as Virtual Dasein. Further, this study contributes to the IS field by advancing the current discourse on IVR research and escapism, from a phenomenological perspective.
... These headsets used a system that detected head position based on the ultrasonic frequencies transmitted by the headphones and captured by sensors at the top of the device (Egliston & Carter 2021a). Later, in the 1980's and 1990's (Coyne 1994;Hillis 1999), new sensors appeared able to detect the eye movement of the user, some taking the magnetic field of the Earth for geospatial reference (Pesce 2020). According to Bailenson (2018), by the end of the 1990's a mid-range, commercially available system was capable of monitoring 18 different head and hand movements at a speed of 90 movements per second, meaning that a VR system could collect some 2 million data points on body language in only 20 minutes. ...
The creation of a Metaverses as an alternative to everyday reality heralds the first practical expression of transhumanism. The Metaverse is not, as is generally understood, an alternative reality similar to the virtual world of “Second Life”, but rather a pretended “extension” of our daily life. The Metaverse heralds the ubiquitous presentation of an augmented reality that will be essential for work and private life. In this paper we will analyse the possibilities this new technology offers for both the improvement of our well-being and also greater social control and the manipulation of our feelings and desires with particular focus on the possible impact on individual identity, privacy and political consciousness.
... Digital in the sense of ontics designates the ways that digital systems 'translate all inputs and outputs into binary structures of 0s and 1s, which can be stored, transferred, or manipulated at the level of numbers, or "digits"' (Lunenfeld, 2000: xv). Thought of as the universe of physical literals (Coyne, 1994), ontics simultaneously emphasizes an understanding of digitality as comprised of material digital objects: the hardware, software, devices, content, code, and algorithms that underwrite access to digital phenomena and mediations, which comprise the artefacts of our digital praxes, and which structure our experience of digitality. These digital technologies have recoded -or remediated (Bolter and Grusin, 1999) -multiple other technologies, media, art forms, and spatialities in ways coincident with the binary nature of computing architectures. ...
... Prototypical VR, developed in the late 1960s laboratory of military technoscience by Ivan Sutherland, was reliant upon sensing head position through ultrasonic frequencies transmitted from the headset and picked up by sensors located above the device. Scholars in media studies have been attentive to the data subtending the forms of commercial virtual realities that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s (Hillis, 1999;Coyne, 1994) focusing on the mediation of vision. As VR developer Mark Pesce (2020) notes, his invention of the 'sourceless orientation sensor' for SEGA's VR system in the early 1990s registered the device's movement through tracking changes in device orientation and elevation against the Earth's electromagnetic field. ...
Virtual Reality (VR) represents an emerging class of spatial computing technology reliant upon the capture and processing of data about the user (such as their body and its interface with the hardware), or their surrounding environment. Much like digital media more generally, there are growing concerns of who stands to benefit from VR as a data-intensive form of technology, and where its potential data-borne harms may lie. Drawing from critical data studies, we examine the case of Facebook’s Oculus VR—a market leading VR technology, central to their metaverse ambitions. Through this case, we argue that VR as a data-intensive device is not one of unalloyed benefit, but one fraught with power inequity—one that has the potential to exacerbate wealth inequity, institute algorithmic bias, and bring about new forms of digital exclusion. We contend that policy to date has had limited engagement with VR, and that regulatory intervention will be needed as VR becomes more widely adopted in society. © 2021, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. All rights reserved.
... Architectural design education is mostly based on visual expressions. Communication with visual expressions and representations is subject to the constant change in order to meet the understanding and appreciation of actors involved in design processes (Coyne, 1994). In virtual environments, physical expressions transcend from gravity-constrained reality into virtuality imitating gravity (Kotnik, 2010;Naz et al., 2017). ...
With the advent of computer technology, Virtual Reality (VR) became an integral part of design studios in architecture education. Researchers have been exploring how VR-enhanced design studios can be assessed from a student-centered perspective. This paper illustrates the role of teaching architectural design for developing a novel and contextual curriculum based on an analysis of student feedback. The background focuses on the development of VR-based architectural design education. The methodology frames two digital design ecosystems which are experimented in four undergraduate courses. With an ecosystem-based approach discussed in this paper, a medium-oriented and a content-oriented curriculum are offered for testing students' reaction to teaching design in VR. In both ecosystems, students are engaged with advanced digital design methods and techniques, which include 3D form-finding, building information modeling, visual programming, coding, and real-time rendering. The study screens the usage of software solutions for the creation of complex virtual environments, covering Blender, Rhinoceros, Unity, Grasshopper, and Revit. The implementation of a User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) comparatively demonstrates the performative qualities of both digital design ecosystems. Results indicate that the intensity of interaction varied in two incomparable, but connate, levels of qualities. The findings suggest that the perspicuity aspects of student interaction bare the risk of "complicated" and "confusing" software. The results further demonstrate a conflict between task-related qualities and non-task related qualities. Additionally, interacting with VR tools in architecture design education is found attractive, stimulating, and original despite low scores on the pragmatic qualities of perspicuity, efficiency, and dependability. The data and results obtained from this study give insight into the planning of design studios in architecture education based on the use of VR and digital methods. Therefore, this study contributes to future research in the contextualization of the design teaching efforts.
... Heidegger's definition of "being-in-the-world" defines, as Ökten (2012) has stated, the individual who is conscious of "being-here" or "human existence." Dasein 1 in Baudrillard's hyperreality, on the other hand, is reinterpreted in the context of being "being-in-the-virtual-world" (Coyne, 1994). In this study, the concept of virtual dasein has been defined as a virtual individual. ...
Storytelling is an integral part of narratives relating to our daily events, news, personal experiences, and fantasies. While humans have long narrated their stories, the mediums they have used to do so have evolved over time through the effects of technological developments: initially, storytelling was solely oral, then written forms were added, and now, with the effects of new media, such narratives have also begun to employ photography and video. These new media tools are also undergoing their own processes of expansion and development. Today one of the most attention-getting are those using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, a means that allows users to experience being-in-the-virtual-environments, with possibilities of becoming entirely immersed in a virtual environment. The ability to experience an environment with three-dimensional features enhances the experience in sensorial ways, with simultaneous stimulation of both the user’s visual and auditory sensorial systems. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of what exactly the user experiences through VR storytelling. To this end we have conducted an experimental research based on an examination of the immersive experience in VR, which constructs the presence feeling. The experiment has been designed to study the effects on forty users. These participants used the HTC Vive head-mounted display to experience the contents of a story called “Allumette” (designed by Penrose Studios). User behaviors were recorded and observed by the tools used to collect data from both the physical world and the virtual environment. Users’ physical movements were documented as coordinate data, while the behavioral reflections in the virtual environment were recorded as a video. Following this virtual experimentation, users were asked to answer a questionnaire that measured their responses to their VR storytelling experience. User experience was finally measured by analyzing both the behavioral outputs of the subjects and the questionnaire. “Cinemetrics” methodology was implemented to analyze the camera movements, which were considered as the user behavioral reflections in VR. The results of this study based on analyzing the behaviors and the reactions to visual and aural stimuli in the VR environment both lead to a clearer understanding of VR storytelling and uses these results to propose a design guide for VR storytelling.
... More recent phenomenologically oriented investigations relevant to virtual reality have included analyses of embodiment and intentionality in VR from the perspectives of Merleau-Ponty (Ajana, 2005;Cobián, 2008;McBlane, 2013;Bailey, 2016) and Stein (Fuentes, 2016); Heideggerian explorations of VR focusing on truth, inauthenticity, the world, and aesthetic experience (Coyne, 1994;Polt, 2015;Geng & Peng, 2016); explorations of the connection between the lifeworld and virtual reality (Beeson, 2001;Deuze, 2014;Butnaru, 2015); analyses that relate Ingarden's aesthetics to virtual reality as art and narration (Ryan, 1999(Ryan, , 2001(Ryan, , 2015Drazdauskas, 2006;Vilariño Picos, 2011;Przegalińska, 2014); frameworks for the design of virtual environments that draw on Norberg-Schulz's architectural phenomenology (Gladden, 2018b); broader phenomenological aesthetic analyses of virtual reality (Bekesi, 1999;Rabanus, 2009;Rousseaux, 2010); and more general phenomenological analyses of VR (Kornelsen, 1991;Murray, 1999;Schroeder, 2003;Heinzel & Heinzel, 2010;Asanowicz, 2014). This text seeks to advance such phenomenological study by investigating the nature of the VR-facilitated virtual world qua world and our experience of it. ...
In this text it is argued that immersion in virtual reality (VR) with the aid of contemporary VR equipment may offer access to novel types of virtual worlds that differ qualitatively from the “real” world and from other types of fictional worlds. The text begins by (a) distinguishing between VR systems, virtual environments, and virtual worlds; (b) showing how the virtual worlds facilitated by VR systems resemble and differ from the “virtual worlds” created in one’s mind when, for example, reading a novel or watching a film; and (c) identifying necessary and optional elements of a VR-facilitated virtual world. Employing a phenomenological approach that draws on the thought of Ingarden and Norberg-Schulz, it is shown that a visitor to a VR-facilitated virtual world can (and frequently does) shift his or her conscious attention along three different “axes”. First, one’s attention can move “horizontally” between the media that disclose the virtual world through different senses. Second, one’s attention can shift “vertically” between the virtual world’s different ontological strata, including its layers of myriad atomic stimuli; distinguishable elements that possess spatiotemporal extension; assemblages of elements that have a context and relations but lack individual meaning; glimpses that build up a lattice of meaning and contribute to one’s knowledge of the world; and the virtual world envisioned as a coherent mentally concretized whole. Third, one’s attention can shift “interspatially” between the many different overlapping constituent spaces of the virtual world, including its perceptual, concrete, natural, built, identifiable, technological, emotional, social, economic, political, cultural, ecological, and possibility spaces. This triaxial phenomenological framework can shed new light on the rich and diverse ways in which VR-facilitated virtual worlds manifest themselves as emergent wholes constituted within human consciousness; also, it suggests approaches by which visitors might more proactively mentally explore and come to inhabit such virtual worlds.
... It is thus not surprising that phenomenological methodologies have been found relevant and useful when analyzing or designing virtual environments. They have been used, for example, to develop Heideggerian explorations of VR focusing on the nature of truth, inauthenticity, the world, and aesthetic experience [62][63][64]; analyses of embodiment and intentionality in VR [65][66][67][68][69]; connections between the concept of the "lifeworld" and VR [2,[70][71][72][73]; broader phenomenological aesthetic analyses of VR [1,74,75]; and more general phenomenological analyses of VR [76][77][78][79]. Norberg-Schulz's concept provides yet another phenomenological avenue for investigating the design of virtual environments. ...
In some circumstances, immersion in virtual environments with the aid of virtual reality (VR) equipment can create feelings of anxiety in users and be experienced as something “frightening”, “oppressive”, “alienating”, “dehumanizing”, or “dystopian”. Sometimes (e.g., in exposure therapy or VR gaming), a virtual environment is intended to have such psychological impacts on users; however, such effects can also arise unintentionally due to the environment’s poor architectural design. Designers of virtual environments may employ user-centered design (UCD) to incrementally improve a design and generate a user experience more closely resembling the type desired; however, UCD can yield suboptimal results if an initial design relied on an inappropriate architectural approach. This study developed a framework that can facilitate the purposeful selection of the most appropriate architectural approach by drawing on Norberg-Schulz’s established phenomenological account of real-world architectural modes. By considering the unique possibilities for structuring and experiencing space within virtual environments and reinterpreting Norberg-Schulz’s schemas in the context of virtual environment design, a novel framework was formulated that explicates six fundamental “architectural paradigms” available to designers of virtual environments. It was shown that the application of this framework could easily be incorporated as an additional step within the UCD process.
... Such unilateral frameworks have reinforced positivist models that favor data-oriented approaches to perception and representation in these media forms. As a system property, immersion is thus reducible to a degree of correspondence -higher fidelity of display and tracking yields greater level of immersion -enabling a "productionist metaphysics" [24] largely responsible for a preoccupation with low-mimetic realism [25] or skeuomorphs; often confused with believability [26]. While calls for interdisciplinarity vis-à-vis immersive and interactive media have existed for sometime now [27][28][29] [30], it is the increasing, and more active, intersectionality of hard science and digital humanities that has offered a shift. ...
... It changes the traditional scenario of viewing web pages on two dimensional monitors. Virtual reality has a lot of potential in web technology in the future with the advent of Oculus Rift and similar HMDs [2]. JanusVR is built to work with Oculus Rift. ...
Given the rapid pace of technical development in the past several decades, many people have fond memories of using devices that are no longer common. We built a prototype of a virtual museum of consumer technologies to explore this with the intention of prompting memories of using past tech in the visitors. The prototype was created using the Janus VR browser and evaluated on a 2D display by 7 young adult users. It successfully prompted memories in all of the evaluators and all users rated the pleasure of touring the museum neutral or better. Future work involves making a more comprehensive museum and exploring better ways to utilize virtual reality for more engaging experiences.
... The phenomenology of technological interaction, which is of particular interest for this paper, gained direct attention in the work of Heidegger (1977), and has been extended by Dreyfus (1979), Borgman (1984), Ihde (1990), Coyne (1994), Feenberg (1999) and others. Coyne suggests that we adopt a hermeneutical perspective that rises above considerations of control and that we examine the application of technology acknowledging "the desire of humankind toward praxis and community" (1995:91). ...
This paper discusses emerging creative practices that involve interacting with generative computational systems, and the effect of such cybernetic interactions on our conceptions of creativity and agency. As computing systems have become more powerful in recent years, real time interaction with 'intelligent' computational processes and models has emerged as a basis for innovative creative practices. Examples of these practices include interactive digital media installations, generative art works, live coding performances, virtual theatre, interactive cinema, and adaptive processes in computer games. In these types of activities computational systems have assumed a significant level of agency, or autonomy, that provoke questions about shared authorship and originality that are redefining our relationship with technologies and prompting new questions about human capabilities, values and the meaning of productive activities. Copyright © 2012, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved.
... Virtual reality can be described as an exceptionally powerful tool in education (Hollins & Robbins, 2008). Perhaps the most prestigious educational dimension of VR is the ability to provide the user to explore the "cyberspace, " and not only to study, as it is done with a printed book, or browse as with the supernatant (Coyne, 1994). In this respect, virtual reality actively promotes the experiential learning, combined with the experience virtual environments, in which is varying the position, scale, density of information, interaction, response, time and the degree of user's engagement (Doyle, 2008). ...
The widespread escalation and exploitation of three-dimensional (3D) technologically-advanced virtual worlds can offer not only multiple interactions between users (instructors and students) for meaningful online learning processes, but also adaptable multi-user environments that can be co-manipulated according to their needs and demands. Notwithstanding the radical utilization of collaborative learning processes in these modern 3D computational infrastructures; it is still lacking a research to delineate a comprehensive pedagogical model aiming at facilitating the same productive-argumentative knowledge practices. The current study presents the literature review of the most reliable principles of contemporary socio-cognitive learning theories and models that occurred in the early 21st century. These socio-cognitive constructs can reinforce the vast majority of collaborative social-cultural students’ pursuits and capabilities in the learning process. In this notion, it should be promoted an innovative framework for users to better handle their cohesion or coordination in learning tasks with other peers in virtual worlds. Consequently, with the adaptation of the Progressive Inquiry (PI) teaching model which endorses most of these preconditions, this study proposed a novel framework for its implementation in collaborative processes held in 3D multi-user virtual worlds. The added value of this effort should be straightforward theoretically with the interaction analyses of the conditions and decisions that always all users should take into account in a collaborative climate. Educational implications for a reputable online instructional format with the conjunction of the PI model and further suggestions are also discussed.
Los avances en la digitalización se unen con otros importantes cambios originados por la tecnología como la realidad aumentada, internet de las cosas, gamification e inteligencia artificial. Como consecuencia, lo digital se ha convertido en una nueva modalidad de existencia que se equipara con la realidad. La transformación digital traspasa las fronteras disciplinares de las finanzas e ingenierías, para adentrarse en el diseño, las artes y en particular la arquitectura. El propósito de este artículo es examinar las relaciones entre los espacios y los cuerpos en el marco de la arquitectura y la digitalización. Mediante el análisis de prácticas arquitectónicas en espacios virtuales, el modelado digital constituye un entorno lúdico que se transforma en un “proto-metaverso”. En el hábitat virtual el cuerpo se convierte en un objeto reconfigurable mediante el avatar y los espacios habitables se prolongan desde la vida online a la vida offline. El avatar funciona como la presencia digital del cuerpo y la arquitectura como un espacio de convergencia entre lugares físicos y lugares digitales.
p>Desde inicios de siglo, la tendencia a la digitalización –la conversión de objetos y procesos a datos— ha sido constante y, a partir de la pandemia, se ha acelerado de manera inusitada. Hoy en día, lo digital se torna en una modalidad de presencia/existencia que se equipara, o se confunde, con lo que se denomina como “real”; partiendo de esta problemática, el propósito de este trabajo es el de examinar los discursos referentes a los cuerpos y los espacios en el contexto de una digitalización englobante. A través del análisis de prácticas arquitectónicas en Espacios virtuales , el modelado digital de espacios constituye un entorno virtual lúdico que pudiera considerarse como un “proto-metaverso”, se explora el estatus del cuerpo como objeto configurable mediante el avatar –representación digital del sujeto—, y sus repercusiones en la convergencia, prolongación o continuidad de la vida online respecto a la offline .</p
Since the beginning of the century, the trend towards dig-tization the conversion of objects and processes into data has been constant, and through the pandemic, it has accelerated in an unusual way. Nowadays, the digital becomes a form of presence/existence that is equated, or confused, with what is called "real". Starting from this problem, the aim of this study is to examine the discourses referring to bodies and spaces in the context of encompassing digitization. Through the analysis of artistic practices in Second Life, a playful virtual environment that could be considered a "protometaverse", the status of the body as an object configurable through the avatar a digital representation of the subject is explored, and its repercussions on the convergence, prolongation or continuity of online life compared to offline.
This article examines discourses about mixed reality as a data-rich sensing technology – specifically, engaging with discourses of time as framed by developers, engineers and in corporate PR and marketing in a range of public facing materials. We focus on four main settings in which mixed reality is imagined to be used, and in which time was a dominant discursive theme – (1) the development of mixed reality by big tech companies, (2) the use of mixed reality for defence, (3) mixed reality as a technology for control of populations in civil society and (4) mixed reality as a technology used in workplace settings. Across these settings, the broad narrative is that mixed reality technologies afford overwhelmingly positive benefits like efficiency and security through their capture, relay and rendition of data (about the environment, about the body etc.) – affording a form of anticipatory power to the user. The framing of temporality, we argue, is underlain by social and political values, which represent certain interests, but leave others out in the imagination of mixed reality's technological advance.
This article forms part of a larger research project that examines the distinct genealogies and unique properties of the theatre and architecture model. The current research builds on the authors’ earlier consideration of the physical model and shifts its focus of observation to the virtual model and the resultant virtual worlds. In The Model as Performance (Bloomsbury, 2018), we identify the model’s performative and epistemic qualities and argue for the unique capacity of the physical model to enable and provoke acts of cosmopoiesis or ‘worldmaking’ and ‘worldmodelling’. With its focus on the virtual model, this current project aims to develop two interrelated and hypothetical strands of inquiry. The first one ascertains the virtual model’s unique capacity for worldmaking. The other isolates its performative and epistemic qualities. Both require a positioning towards the physical and virtual model to articulate their elements of interconnection and distinction. Equally, both aspects demand the model’s theoretical positioning towards the ‘real’.
Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds, methodologies, and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community, learning, and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together, these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists, researchers, and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.
Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds, methodologies, and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community, learning, and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together, these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists, researchers, and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.
Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds, methodologies, and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community, learning, and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together, these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists, researchers, and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.
Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds, methodologies, and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community, learning, and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together, these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists, researchers, and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.
The art of virtual reality (VR) takes a person deeper not into nature but into technology. The vision remains technological throughout the entire extent.. The shamanistic pipers dance one's further into computers, simulations, and the ontological layer of cyberspace. Placeholder refers explicitly to earthly places and it tries to deepen one's self-understanding as creatures of earth. The Dervish shatters the comfort of a person's individual egos and it loosens the frozen network of social selves. However, every form of VR expresses a person's technological destiny, his merger with computers, robots, and information. Computer technology for virtual reality is no exception to the drive that aggressively renders reality digital and representational. VR is not simply a revival of something archaic but a new emergence of a human propensity. While one can learn from one's predecessors and neighbors who use visualization, many of the questions are new. Ultimately, the individual will have to face the most fundamental question, which is the dissonance in the phrase “nature and cyberspace.” By going deeper into technology, the art of virtual reality reintegrates the individual's fragmented senses. Aesthetics aims at delighting the senses. After aesthetics, VR offers to rebuild the fragmented world.. As the art of virtual reality ascends, people can only hope that the broken world, which it shapes, will offer sufficient depth for every dimension of the human spirit.
Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds, methodologies, and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community, learning, and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together, these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists, researchers, and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.
Explorative play affects the root of our being, as it is generative. Often experienced as a thrill, explorative play gradually lures its players beyond their mental or physical limits. While doing so, it affects players well before they can perform intentional actions. To understand explorative play therefore means to understand what happens before intention sets in. But this is problematic: by the time this becomes experienceable it is already clouded by habit and memory. However, thought processes outlined in Deleuze’s philosophy of difference reveal important clues as to how habitual thinking patterns may be exceeded, and why explorative play might cause thrilling and vertiginous experiences: when our awareness of the present is intensified, the potential to disturb habitual patterns arises; within this there is a chance to arrive at an ‘intuitive understanding’ of events where intensities express themselves as non-intentional movement or poetic language. This notion was investigated through generative art practice. An experimental setting was prepared that allowed for explorative play with a complex system – a biofeedback instrument that sonified its wearer’s physiological data in real-time. This instrument was explored in performances as well as participative action research sessions. The insight emerging from the performances was that introspection and stillness can enhance practice. The connections to Eastern practices this suggests were followed up and, by investigating the role of stillness in performance practices like Butoh, methods that may radicalise a biofeedback performance came to light. Extending these to biofeedback composition then made listening a central focus of this research and consequently, listeners’ responses to sonified biofeedback, the disruption of habitual musical expectations and increased immersed listening became paramount aspects of the practice. Conversely, the insight emerging from the participative sessions was that explorative playing with a complex system can allow for a more intuitive understanding of the generative because the emerging play experiences can be internally transformative; producing new ideas and forms, for instance poetic language or improvised movement. Thus overall, the research underlined the benefits of a greater propagation of explorative play.
Learning about the construction industry is arguably better when you can immerse students in the full experience of a construction project. Moreover, research about how people learn in general indicates active and authentic learning environments increase learner performance. As is common, students enter the construction management curriculum with little or no experience in the construction environment. Virtual reality (VR) has observable potential to address this problem and its benefits are well studied within academia. With a wealth of research data that presumes improvement and enhancement of the learning experience-why would it not be prudent to categorically state that VR has a place in construction education? Advancements in VR technology has streamlined VR equipment, simplified the complex setup and reduced cost. Likewise, the construction industry's demand for innovative technology that creates competitive advantages, is continuing to increase. Preparing students for this reality is imperative. Therefore, this study aims to address why advancements in VR technology, prevailing research and market demand provides a compelling case for standardizing VR in the construction management curriculum. Furthermore, there is immense potential for VR in the construction management classroom that goes beyond visual immersion, such as, VR as a tool to enhance visio-spatial learning, on-demand training, distance learning and as a new technique for assessment.
Traditionally, the focus of theories and practices of place-based education (PBE) has been the natural environment. This chapter discusses urban and digital environments as incubators of PBE goals. The interpretive framework is based on the lifeworld, personalistic attitude, noesis, and noema concepts from Edmund Husserl’s Ideas I and II. Urban and virtual places are both built, and this affects the learner’s interactivity and engagement. The chapter uses Husserl’s insights to analyze how different field sites affect the curriculum. It looks at the interplay between the learner and natural environments, urban built places, virtual places, and the “space” of an online forum, which Husserl sees as expressions of both noesis and noema. There is commonality in these places in which learners understand and solve problems.
The radical utilization of collaborative learning processes in Three-Dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual worlds has been widely investigated. However, a study to delineate a comprehensive pedagogical model aimed at facilitating the same productive-argumentative knowledge practices is still lacking. This chapter presents the most reliable principles of contemporary socio-cognitive learning theories and teaching models. These socio-cognitive constructs can reinforce the majority of collaborative social-cultural students' pursuits and capabilities in the learning process in order to better handle their cohesion or coordination with other peers in 3D multi-user virtual worlds. Consequently, with the adaptation of the Progressive Inquiry (PI) teaching model, this chapter proposes a novel framework for the implementation of this model in online collaborative processes that can be held in 3D multi-user virtual worlds. Educational implications for a reputable instructional format with the conjunction of the PI model and further suggestions are also discussed.
In my paper, I will approach virtual places neither in terms of non-places or atopias, nor in terms of utopias, but in terms of heterotopias. In order to do so I will deal with some major phenomenological commentaries of place in Heidegger before focusing on a series of placial or place-related topics in his 1936–1938 Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowing). In light of the Contributions I will first thematize virtual places indirectly by opening up the triad of calculation/digits, representation/screens, and communication/information bits. Then, I will attempt to relate the treatment of Contributions to a second triad of topics which are directly placial: worldliness and involvement, situatedness and affective attunement, familiarity and homelessness. I will conclude by insisting on the unique heterotopic dwelling that digital places as places of alterity offer us beyond the all too easy topos-atopia and topos-utopia dilemmas.
The notion of technology as well as our relationships to technological tools are philosophically described by Martin Heidegger and Gabriel Marcel. Understanding the phenomenon of cyber-crime from a philosophical viewpoint is not possible without unveiling the way human being is more and more connected to his/her technological tools. Cyber-crime is contributing to put the Infinite within the finite self. In doing so, cyber-crime is distorting the meaning of existential finitude as well as the meaning of the Infinite. This is the ultimate effect of the idolatry of technology. Human being is thus facing a deep anthropological change, since the parameters of what-it-means-to-be as well as dwelling in the existence have been radically modified. When the finite-Infinite dualism has disappeared (so that the Infinite is now an aspect of human being), we no longer have any reliable parameter for analyzing the meaning of human existence. The presence of the Infinite within the finite being is not rationally justified by every discourse or practice drawn from the cyber-space (including cyber-crime). Human being has lost the basic connexion with his/her existential questioning.
The term “virtual reality” was first coined by Antonin Artaud to describe a value-adding characteristic of certain types of theatrical performances. The expression has more recently come to refer to a broad range of incipient digital technologies that many current philosophers regard as a serious threat to human autonomy and well-being. Their concerns, which are formulated most succinctly in “brain in a vat”-type thought experiments and in Robert Nozick's famous “experience machine” argument, reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the way that such technologies would probably have to work. They also considerably underestimate the positive contributions that virtual reality (VR) technologies could make to the growth of human knowledge. Here, we examine and critique Nozick's claim that no reasonable person would want to plug into his hypothetical experience machine in light of a broadly enactivist understanding of how future VR technologies might be expected to function. We then sketch out a tentative theory of the phenomenon of truth in fiction, in order to characterize some of the distinct epistemic opportunities that VR technologies promise to provide.
This chapter investigates the new interactive dimension, which arises between cyber entities (avatars) that move around, meet others, and emulate their work in [D-] CIVEs ([Distributed-] Collaborative Immersive Virtual Environments). The active involvement and immersion in these "environments" elaborates the maximum possible total-relationship of the developmental users' forces (teachers and students) and creates "situations of real-life" in a 3D virtual system. The inspiration to deal with this issue originated through the prior knowledge that was gained from the previous educational studies in the virtual world of Second Life (SL), which was used as an environmental tool for action-based learning and research programs on Higher Education. The investigation and presentation of quality infrastruc-ture that this interactive "world" hosts in was the objective of this research, through the presentation and promotion of academic communities' previous applications to enrich their curricula. The original contribution of this effort is to become a highly inexhaustible source of inspiration for the bibliographic data and interdisciplinary for the field of e-learning future.
Human geography critiques of GIS are operationalized under a unique interpretation of ontology and epistemology. Internal to poststructuralism, this metaphysics collapses the traditional separation between ontology and epistemology, reducing ontological questions to epistemological constructs. Although critiques have moved beyond an initial fixation upon positivism, critical/cultural assessments of GIS tendered within the last ten years continue to motivate epistemology as a basis for its deconstruction. The epistemological reductionism of such a reading of the technology inappropriately abstracts GIS from its ontic basis in computing, giving rise to a fundamental 'disconnect' of poststructuralist metaphysics to the technology. This disconnect is identified in terms of (1) the epistemic fallacy, which, underwritten by (2) an 'undoing' of the metaphysics of presence, culminates in (3) an effective 'deontologization' of an immediately ontic entity. This does not negate the poststructuralist critique of GIS, but it necessitates that critical engagements of the technology accord a material ontological ground to the objects of critique.
This paper discusses the original artistic intentions behind the immersive virtual environment OSMOSE (1995). The strategies employed to manifest them include the use of an embodying user interface of breath and balance and a visual aesthetic based on transparency and spatial ambiguity. The paper examines the medium of immersive virtual space as a spatio‐temporal arena in which mental constructs of the world can be given three‐dimensional form and be kinaesthetically explored through full‐body immersion and interaction. Throughout, comparisons are made between OSMOSE and conventional design approaches to virtual reality. The tendency of such approaches to reinforce the West's historic devaluation of nature and the body is also discussed. It is suggested that this medium can potentially be used to counteract such tendencies. In the case of OSMOSE, an experiential context is constructed in which culturally learned perceptual/conceptual boundaries are osmotically dissolved, causing conventional assumptions about interior, exterior, mind, body and nature to be questioned by the immersed participant.
Virtual reality has introduced what is literally a new dimension of reality to daily life. But it is not without controversy. Indeed, some say that a collision is inevitable between those passionately involved in the computer industry and those increasingly alienated from (and often replaced by) its applications. Opinions range from the cyberpunk attitude of Wired magazine and Bill Gates's commercial optimism to the violent opposition of the Unabomber. Now, with Virtual Realism, readers have a thought-provoking guide to the "cyberspace backlash" debate and the implications of cyberspace for our culture. Michael Heim offers a comprehensive introduction to virtual reality and a provocative commentary on its present and future impact on our lives. Heim describes the fascinating and important industrial and military uses of virtual reality, as well as its artistic and entertainment applications. He argues that we must balance the idealist's enthusiasm for computerized life with the need to ground ourselves more deeply in primary reality. This "uneasy balance" he calls virtual realism.
We describe initial results which show “live” ultrasound echography data visualized within a pregnant human subject. The visualization is achieved by using a small video camera mounted in front of a conventional head-mounted display worn by an observer. The camera’s video images are composite with computer-generated ones that contain one or more 2D ultrasound images properly transformed to the observer’s current viewing position. As the observer walks around the subject. the ultrasound images appear stationary in 3-space within the subject. This kind of enhancement of the observer’s vision may have many other applications, e.g., image guided surgical procedures and on location 3D interactive architecture preview.
An important component of many virtual reality systems is head-tracked stereo display. The head-tracker enables the image rendering system to produce images from a viewpoint location that dynamically tracks the viewers head movement, creating a convincing 3D illusion. A viewer can achieve intricate hand/eye coordination on virtual objects if virtual and physical objects can be registered to within a fraction of a centimeter. Computer graphics has traditionally been concerned with forming the correct image on a screen. When this goal is expanded to forming the correct pair of images on the viewers retinas, a number of additional physical factors must be taken into account. This paper presents the general steps that must be taken to achieve accurate high resolution head-tracked stereo display on a workstation CRT: the need for predictive head-tracking, the dynamic optical location of the viewers eyepoints, physically accurate stereo perspective viewing matrices, and corrections for refractive and curvature distortions of glass CRTs. Employing these steps, a system is described that achieves sub-centimeter virtual to physical registration.
Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, Cambridge
- Simon Schofield
- Tim Wiegand
John Rees, Simon Schofield and Tim Wiegand, Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, Cambridge; Kathleen Carter, EuroPARC, Rank Xerox, Cambridge; Geert Smeltzer, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (at ECAADE in Barcelona).
Informating with Virtual Reality
- M B Spring
- Roth Helsel
M. B. Spring, "Informating with Virtual Reality," in Helsel and Roth [5] pp. 3-17.
The Question Concerning Technol-ogy and Other Essays
- M Heidegger
M. Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technol-ogy and Other Essays, W. Lovitt, trans. (New York: Harper and Row, 1977).
The Nature of Creativity in the Age of Production
- D Vesely
D. Vesely, "The Nature of Creativity in the Age of Production," Scroope Cambridge ArchitectureJournal 4, Department of Architecture, University of Cam-bridge (1992) pp. 25-30.