Reading 3

For class 2/17/14
Post Comments by 11:59 pm on 2/16/14

Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence
Jonathan Steuer
http://ww.cybertherapy.info/pages/telepresence.pdf 

Discussion (Pick 5 of items below.  Each response should be at least a paragraph)

  1. In what ways do you think the author’s view on Telepresence differs from Slater’s use of presence?
  2. The author lists a number of examples of presence without proximity (e.g. telephone, letters, etc).  Either arguing for or against one of the examples being indicative of presence.
  3. The author writes that “redundancy serves to further enhance vividness”.   Do you agree? Is sensory information often “redundant” in our daily lives?  Why or why not?
  4. The author writes that there is a trade-off between bandwidth and depth for senses.  In what ways would you for see trying to balance this trade-off in VR?
  5. Do you agree with the way Engagement is defined in this article?  Do you feel like matches the previous definition in the Slater paper?  Do you agree that engagement is achieved when we “feel for and with the characters”?
  6. Choose 4 items on Figure 3 that you believe are in the wrong place and state where you think they belong (more or less interactive and more or less vivid) and why
  7. Do you feel the final paragraph of the article is alarmist or justified?  Why or why not?
  8. Find a topic that you interesting, dubious, or curious and explain why.