williamb@milton.u.washington.edu (William Bricken) (12/12/90)
Virtual Reality: Directions of Growth
Notes from the SIGGRAPH '90 Panel
Copyright (C) 1990 All Rights Reserved by William Bricken
William Bricken
Human Interface Technology Laboratory
University of Washington, FU-20
Seattle, WA 98125
9/10/90
william@hitl.vrnet.washington.edu
I. INTRODUCTION
Virtual reality (VR) systems were introduced to the general public by
VPL and by Autodesk on June 6, 1989, VR Day, at two trade shows. This
event was preceded by about four months of media coverage. Since
then, VR has captured the public's imagination. It is also in the
unique position of being commercially available before being
academically understood.
Any technology which has the audacity to call itself a variety of
reality must also propose a paradigm shift. In essence, a paradigm
shift expands the potential of an entire discipline. For me, VR has
expanded every aspect of Computer Science, and is providing a base for
a very satisfying philosophy as well.
And just what is the paradigm shift? Computers are not only symbol
processors, they are reality generators. Until recently, computers
have generated only one dimensional symbolic strings. Text and
numbers. Text is a code which, when read, generates images of reality
in our minds. During the 80s, we enhanced the expressability of
computation by adding space and time dimensions to the realities being
generated. Two dimensional windows, 2D animation, solid modeling,
simulation. Now, in the 1990s, computer systems can generate virtual
environments, entire multisensory worlds which include us as
interactive participants. Digital information can seem as-if-real,
changing our notions of computation, symbolism, meaning, metaphysics,
self, and culture. Virtual realities are more than real.
The potential for VR to contribute to societal infrastructures such as
manufacturing, marketing, telecommunications, science, entertainment,
art, education, medicine, and media, suggests an economic impact that
rivals the Gross National Product. We live in two superimposed
worlds, the one of mass and the one of information. The huge
accumulation of difficult to access words on paper indicates that the
world of mass is not particularly well-suited for dealing with
information. As our culture matures into an information society, we
are now discovering the virtual world, an ideal place for interacting
with information.
What follows is a wide ranging discussion of interesting growth areas
for VR. I'll define VR, point to some active areas of research, tell
you about virtual world tools, outline some things we have learned
from working in the field, and discuss some risks and philosophies
engendered by VR techniques.
II. THE RESEARCH SUITE
VR is the body of techniques that apply computation to the generation
of experientially valid realities. HITL is forming its research
agenda around a suite of three interrelated technologies:
Behavior Transducers
hardware interface devices
Inclusive Computation
software interaction techniques
Intentional Psychology
biological constraints and plasticity
Behavior transducers map natural behavior onto digital streams.
Natural behavior is what two year olds do: point, grab, issue single
word commands, look around, toddle around. Behavior transducing
interface devices include body trackers, voice recognizers, spatial
sensors, kinesthetic feedback devices, and subjective audio and video
displays. Transducers work in both directions, physical behavior to
digital information (the virtual body) and virtual display to
subjective experience (the physiological model).
Inclusive software provides tools for construction of, management of,
and interaction with digital environments which surround a
participant/user. The central design issue for VR is getting behavior
transducers and virtual environments to feel good to a participant.
The intentional psychology of VR will require a deep knowledge of how
we work, our physiology, our sensations, our cognition. We must
refocus the effort of interface from the needs of symbol processors to
the needs of people.
III. THE ESSENCE IS INCLUSION
We at HITL believe that the primary defining characteristic of VR is
inclusion, being surrounded by an environment. VR places the
participant inside information. Some of the changes in perspective:
picture --> place
observe --> experience
use --> participate
interface --> inhabit
When we extend our field of view onto a computational environment
beyond about 60 degrees, a remarkable phenomenon occurs. We shift
from a feeling of viewing a picture to a feeling of being in a place.
This shift is accompanied by an emotional response. It seems as
though the unification of our symbolic processes with our visual
processes creates a feeling of wholeness, of empowerment. We shift
from external users (exercising rights) to internal participants
(exercising responsibilities), from being observers to having
experiences, from interfacing with a display to inhabiting an
environment.
My colleague Meredith Bricken and I have collected videotaped behavior
and exit interviews from over 500 people that we have guided through
initial VR experiences. We have seen overwhelmingly positive
responses, eagerness to return to "that place", willing suspension of
disbelief.