From: bluefire@well.com (Bob Jacobson)
Subject: EVENT: Proposed Reunion of VR Pioneers, for 1997
Date: 2 Feb 1997 23:20:07 GMT
Message-ID: <5d37f8$stc@was.hooked.net>
Organization: The Well, San Francisco, CA


Your replies welcome.

TIME FOR A VR REUNION...AND LOOKING FORWARD!
--------------------------------------------

It's been 40 years since Myron Krueger first started working on
"artificial reality," 30 years since Ivan Sutherland first donned his
"Sword of Damocles," 20 years since Tom Furness began work on the
"SuperCockpit," and 10 years since VPL's "DataGlove" was featured on
the cover of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

Now that VR seems on the verge of finally taking off, Bill Chapin
(formerly of Stanford and Crytal River) and I got to talking last
night about what a gas it would be to get together in one place as
many of the VR pioneers who can make it, before an audience of
everyone who might be interested in recapping the milestones and
assessing what's in our community's collective future.

I think we could use the facilities of my employer SRI (in Menlo Park,
California), to host such a gathering, which is fitting since SRI is
where the ARPANET, now the Internet, home to VRML and virtual worlds,
got started -- not to mention quite a few of the VR pioneers.

We're probably shooting for the late springtime, as school is getting
out, so that professorial types, students, and overseas VR folks can
attend.  Silicon Valley and the Bay Area generally are beautiful in
the springtime.  We'd need a lot of help with accommodations, etc.,
since it's a busy conference season, but that shouldn't be too hard
given how many of us already live here.

If you're a VR pioneer (I'll let you define what that means to you)
who might like to attend such a gathering, please get in touch.  If
you have ideas about what this event might be like or contribute to
the progress of our field, or have someone you think should attend as
a VR pioneer, post your reply to

	sci.virtual-worlds

We'll also be looking for corporate sponsors.

Thanks for your replies and for passing the word around.

Bob Jacobson
Business Intelligence Center
SRI Consulting
(formerly of the HIT Lab, 
Worldesign Inc., and
co-moderator of s.v-w)

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