From: Mike Snow <msnow@vt.edu>
Subject: Re: DESIGN: 3D computing vs. virtual reality:  what's the difference?
Date: 13 Dec 1995 20:32:47 GMT
Message-ID: <4and9f$68e@solaris.cc.vt.edu>
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia


From: Mike Snow <msnow@vt.edu>

>So let me lower the limbo bar and ask provocatively: so what?  Why
>struggle to create virtual worlds that are experienced from within,
>when it is so much easier, cheaper, and less controversial to simply
>put a 3D model of a world on a monitor screen?

..and it doesn't make people motion sick, give them headaches and/or
visual fatigue, or create a conflict between accommodation and
vergence.  Good question!

To summarize: What good is presence?

I'm fairly caught-up on this literature and I believe I can safely say
that we need a lot more people to do dissertations, theses, and
research projects on the relationships between presence and
performance, presence and learning, presence and usability, presence
and just about everything else -- especially given that these
relationships are likely to be highly task-dependent.  I know there's
work being done here at VT, at the HITL, and at ARI in Florida, but it
seems like it's mostly been in the last few years and it's still seems
to be mostly getting started.  Part of the difficulty has been that
you can't just stick a thermometer in presence and take a reading.

I don't think we really know the value of presence yet and I'm amazed
at the effort and money that has gone into achieving it given our
apparent lack of understanding.  My $0.02.

Mike

                               __    ________
Michael P. Snow                \ \  / __  __/             FAX: (540)231-3322
Human-Computer Interaction Lab  \ \/ / / /              email: msnow@vt.edu
ISE Department, Virginia Tech    \  / / /               phone: (540)231-3193
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0118         \/ /_/  WWW: http://hci.ise.vt.edu/~msnow/