For class 2/24/14
Post Comments by 11:59 pm on 2/23/14

Virtual Superheroes: Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior

Robin S. Rosenberg, Shawnee L. Baughman, and Jeremy N. Bailenson
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3559425/

This is a press release that describes the project for a more general audience

http://www.livescience.com/26752-superheroes-boost-helpful-behavior.html

Astrojumper: Motivating Exercise with an Immersive Virtual Reality Exergame
Samantha Finkelstein*, Andrea Nickel, Zachary Lipps, Tiffany Barnes, Zachary Wartell and Evan A. Suma
http://people.ict.usc.edu/~suma/papers/finkelstein-presence2011.pdf

Related media:

Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZZmommFnBE 

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0slLnGhcEC4 

Discussion 1 (Pick 3)

1. What do you think of the overall setup of the experiment?  Do you agree with the approach?
2. What do you think of the metrics used in the study?  Do you think these provide an adequate measure of prosocial behavior?
3. If you were going to change something in the experiment what would it be and why?
4. What other prosocial behaviors would you like to test?  Would you design your experiment in the same way?
5. You may find a term or topic that you are unfamiliar with.  If you would like to, do a little research on the subject (wikipedia would be a good place to start). Briefly describe your understanding of this concept and how confident you are about this understanding.
6. Find a topic that you interesting, dubious, or curious and explain why.

Discussion 2 (Pick 3)

1. What design decisions do you think were the wisest in the Astrojumper system?  Which decisions do you think could be improved upon?
2. Do you think using a CAVE was the best VR setup for this system?  Why or why not?
3. What do you think of the measures used in the experiment?  If you were to add another measure, what would you add? Do you think of the heart rate being monitored when it was?  Do you think this was possibly problematic?
4. Pick one of the results and briefly discuss why it is interesting to you.
5. You may find a term or topic that you are unfamiliar with.  If you would like to, do a little research on the subject (wikipedia would be a good place to start). Briefly describe your understanding of this concept and how confident you are about this understanding.
6. Find a topic that you interesting, dubious, or curious and explain why.

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.

For class 2/10/14
Post Comments by 11:59 pm on 2/9/14

Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments
Mel Slater
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1535/3549.full.pdf+html

Which World Is Real? The Future of Virtual Reality
http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Virtual-Reality/Which-World-Is-Real-The-Future-of-Virtual-Reality.html

Please print out these articles and bring them with you to class on Monday for discussion.  Alternatively, you can bring digital versions of the reading with you.

For discussion, please “Leave a Reply” below in the comments section as opposed to creating a new post. Note: The comments were previously shown as closed.  This issue should be resolved now.

 Discussion:

Post 1 (Pick 3, write one paragraph for each):

1. Do you agree with Slater’s breakdown between PI and Psi?  Do you agree with Slater that these concepts are orthogonal? Explain why.
2. Slater writes “The illusion [PI], given the right physical set-up and the appropriate SCs in a particular modality, is automatic—it can coexist with different (but not contradictory) sensations in another modality.”  Do you agree? Explain why.
3. Do you agree that breaks in Psi are harder to overcome than breaks in PI? Explain.
4. The paper references the Milgram Experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment).  How do you feel about this experiment being run in Virtual Reality?
5. Select a topic that you find interesting, dubious, confusing or curious and explain why.  Write at least a paragraph of explanation and add citations if warranted.

 Post 2  (Pick 3, write one paragraph for each):

1. The article brings up many concerns about VR.  Pick one to either argue for or against
2. Pick one of the quotes listed in the article that you find apt, interesting, misleading, problematic, etc.  Make an argument for our against the citation.
3. How do you feel about the predictions this article makes?  Do you agree with them?  Do you find them misguided?
4. This article was written some time ago.  Do you think the issues raised are the same issues today?  What types of new issues do you believe have risen up over the last decade.

For class 2/3/14
Post Comments by 11:59 pm on 2/2/14

The Ultimate Display
by Ivan Sutherland, 1965
comments by Bruce Sterling, 2009
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/09/augmented-reality-the-ultimate-display-by-ivan-sutherland-1965/

A Note on Presence Terminology
Mel Slater
http://s3.amazonaws.com/publicationslist.org/data/melslater/ref-201/a%20note%20on%20presence%20terminology.pdf

Please print out these articles and bring them with you to class on Monday for discussion.  Alternatively, you can bring digital versions of the reading with you.

Discussion (comment on these questions below):

Post 1: The Ultimate Display

Bruce Sterling lists a number of present day technologies which match the concepts which Sutherland was describing.  What do you believe was the most influential of these developed technologies?

What do you think of how Slater ends the article?  Why do you think Sutherland choose to use such menacing imagery?

Can you name another current technology which which matches Sutherland’s concepts but is not included in Sterling’s listings (and describe it in a few sentences and how it relates)?  If you can’t, write a paragraph about elaborating on how the technology Sterling points to in his article are still used today.

Post 2

Do you agree with the separation of presence and immersion?  Does this differentiation make sense to you?

What do you think of Slater’s argument about presence in simulations of the Non-Real?  Do you agree that Presence is possible in impossible environments?

Finally, select a topic that you find interesting, dubious, confusing or curious and explain why.  Write at least a paragraph of explanation and add citations if warranted.