cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) (05/31/91)
This is a reminder to our European friends, and especially those in Northern Europe, that the Meckler Conference on Virtual Reality takes place in London this weekend and/or the first part of next week. I have no details, so anyone who can post the calendar and roster should do so. The HIT Lab will have a few delegates there, as will most other VR labs in North America and Britain. The newsgroup welcomes reports from any attendees. Bob Jacobson Moderator --
harry@harlqn.co.uk (Harry Fearnhamm) (06/07/91)
From: cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson)
Subject: Meckler Conference Taking Place NOW, in London!
Date: Fri, 31 May 1991 04:30:59 GMT
Organization: Human Interface Technology Lab, Univ. of Wash., Seattle
This is a reminder to our European friends, and especially those in
Northern Europe, that the Meckler Conference on Virtual Reality takes
place in London this weekend and/or the first part of next week. I
have no details, so anyone who can post the calendar and roster should
do so. The HIT Lab will have a few delegates there, as will most other
VR labs in North America and Britain. The newsgroup welcomes reports
from any attendees.
Unfortunately I went expecting an exhibition with a conference
attached. It turned out to be the other way round, but given the
limited amount of commercial development in Britain, that's hardly
surprising. There was nothing new over the Computer Graphics
Exhibition last November in London, but that too is hardly surprising.
There were no University Groups demonstrating, either, which might
have been a good idea - does this reflect the limited amount of
academic VR research in Britain (someone enlighted me here!), or is it
just the way the conference turned out? I could only afford the
proceedings - I wish these things weren't so expensive!!!
--
Harry Fearnhamm, ,---.'\ EMAIL: loki@harlqn.co.uk
Harlequin Ltd, (, /@ )/ ...!ukc!cam-cl!harlqn!loki
Barrington Hall, /( _/ ') VOX: +44 (0)223 872522
Barrington, \,`---' FAX: +44 (0)223 872519
Cambridgeshire, DISCLAIMER: Nothing is True.
ENGLAND. Everything is Permitted.
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Is "VR" passing out of the exhibition -- I almost
said, "circus"! -- mode, or is this just a passing hiatus in the cycle
of commercial conferencing? Only the NIKKEI and SIGGRAPH meetings will
tell! Stay tuned, fellow celebrants. Thanks again, Harry, for the
report. Think of the Proceedings' cost as an investment in your
great-grandchildrens' future. They should fetch a nice price in the
future. I hang onto MOST of my VR memorabilia.
[Sorry about the editorializing, friends. Back into my moderator's
shell... -- Bob Jacobson]ISSSSM%NUSVM.bitnet%lilac.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax. (Stephen Smoliar) (06/10/91)
I am interested in hearing from anyone who attended the London Conference, "Virtual Reality 91: Impacts and Applications." The announcement listed eleven talks which were given and two open forums. Is this all that there was? Were the talks published in a proceedings volume; or were they more like "pep rally" talks? If an account is not presented on this bulletin board, please send information to me by electronic mail (address given below). =============================================================================== Stephen W. Smoliar Institute of Systems Science National University of Singapore Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Kent Ridge SINGAPORE 0511 BITNET: ISSSSM@NUSVM "He was of Lord Essex's opinion, 'rather to go an hundred miles to speak with one wise man, than five miles to see a fair town.'"--Boswell on Johnson [MODERATOR'S NOTE: The prior posting in this thread, by Harry Fearnham, gave general information about the Meckler Conference. Any further information about obtaining proceedings, etc., would certainly be welcome. -- Bob Jacobson]
peterhi@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Peter Hickman) (06/10/91)
Virtual Reality '91
Somewhere in London
5th-6th June
I went here, indeed I was also responsible for pointing this out to many
friends here at Sussex and getting them to go, on the 6th. I can't say much
about the Conference part of the show ( except there were an awful lot of
people wearing business suits ) as my funds only allowed me to go as far as
the free exhibition.
Well first off there were only 5 exhibitors and for no good reason they were
on two floors. Two of them were the souped up CAD type systems, two sported
the weird headgear and the last showed us 3D TV.
We had a program here called Horizon that covered VR several weeks ago and it
must be said that I have now had a go on all the major exhibits (Virtuality,
CyberZone and the NASA like head set) and feel less inclined to VR than I
first was. The place looked and sounded like a games arcade and all of the
systems seemed to be based around interactive CAD systems. I don't have
anything against CAD but simply adding a new interface to it doesn't really
change things it mearly facilitates escapism for those who lack imagination.
The 3D television however looked good but here again a somewhat less sexy
product was really being displayed. The trick with the 3D TV was that the
makers had a method of compressing two signals into one and decoding it in
real time - a remarkable achivement indeed but is it really VR? When I talked
to the salesman as to whome his major clients were it came down to security
firms who wanted their security cameras to record as much information as
possible and vidio companies who wanted to get as much on a tape as possible (
8 chanels on a 2 inch tape seems a posiblilty ). Any clients for the 3D
aspect? Not really, it just brought in the crowds.
So I left disappointed and sporting a big headache ( by the way if any
exhibitors are reading I was the one in black leather from Cognitive Sciences
). When I was little and armed with nothing more than imagination we had this
thing that our parents called escapism, now we have computers we have
Interactive Architecture, Interactive Landscape Gardening, Interactive
Interior Design and Interactive Games and we call it Virtual Reality. It all
seems much less real that the games I used to play and the books that I now
read.
Someone please tell me that this exhibition was just a blind and that VR has
something vibrant to show us rather than the fact that the Marketing Machine
has yet to run out of new names for old markets.
Peter Hi
Peter "You're doing computing as an ARTS degree!" Hickman
COGS U/G PH, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH
--------------------------------------- peterhi@uk.ac.sussex.syma ------------
SOMETHING EMBASASING UNDER CONSTRUCTION (other than the spelling!)
--------------------------------------- peterhi@uk.ac.sussex.tsuna -----------
"More beer, more shouting, resistance is useless" - USTA bars
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: William Bricken just returned from the Meckler
Conference and reports, "It's the best conference I've been to." We
look forward to his posting a full report from inside the conference.
-- Bob Jacobson]harry@harlqn.co.uk (Harry Fearnhamm) (06/11/91)
From: Stephen Smoliar <ISSSSM%NUSVM.bitnet%lilac.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.
Subject: Re: Meckler Conference Taking Place NOW, in London!
Date: Sun, 09 Jun 91 13:40:03 SST
I am interested in hearing from anyone who attended the London Conference,
"Virtual Reality 91: Impacts and Applications." The announcement listed
eleven talks which were given and two open forums. Is this all that there
was? Were the talks published in a proceedings volume; or were they more
like "pep rally" talks?
I don't know the details of the talks, as I didn't go to the
conference, but I got the Proceedings, according to which there were
two days of talks, five on the first day, six on the second, and an
open forum at the end of each; the first day focused on the
foundations of VR, the second on real world applications. The very
last talk didn't get into the Proceedings.
Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on Virtual Reality '91:
Impacts and Applications.
ISBN 0 88736 781 X
Published by:
Meckler Ltd.,
247-249 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 1HQ,
England.
Also at:
11 Ferry Lane West,
Westport,
CT 06880,
USA.
The Proceedings cost me 25 pounds. I don't know whether you can get
them direct from Meckler, but it's worth a try. In my opinion, they
are rather expensive (proceedings always are!), and don't really say
much that hasn't been discussed at some time or other in s.v-w, but as
a way of crystallising the current state of VR, they are worth it.
They also give overviews of one or two commercial products that are
now available. Pehaps William Bricken or Brian Karr can comment on
this (assuming HITL got a copy!)
--
Harry Fearnhamm, ,---.'\ EMAIL: loki@harlqn.co.uk
Harlequin Ltd, (, /@ )/ ...!ukc!cam-cl!harlqn!loki
Barrington Hall, /( _/ ') VOX: +44 (0)223 872522
Barrington, \,`---' FAX: +44 (0)223 872519
Cambridgeshire, DISCLAIMER: Nothing is True.
ENGLAND. Everything is Permitted.