7.0275 Virtual Reality, Vienna '93 (1/561)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 1 Nov 1993 08:17:45 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0275. Monday, 1 Nov 1993.

Date: 28 Oct 93 12:17:25 +0100
From: Christian.Bauer@uibk.ac.at
Subject: Virtual Reality Vienna '93 - Agenda

Dear interested fellows,

this is the last update of our pre-agenda. So enjoy reading and be
there!

Yours,

Christian Bauer

----------------


*****************************************************************
* *
* Pre-Agenda *
* *
* Virtual Reality Vienna 1993 *
* --------------------------- *
* *
* The Global VR-Focus in Europe *
* 1st to 3rd of December 1993 *
* Palais Ferstl Vienna / Austria *
* *
*****************************************************************


Simulation in Progress
----------------------

The cutting-edge in simulation technologies and the continuous
development in Computer Science led towards a new and fascinating
field: "Virtual Reality".

The symposium offers the opportunity to attend discussions and
present and respond to presentations and papers about Virtual Reality
(VR) and closely related fields. Participants will also have the
opportunity to test VR-Systems, exhibited in an industry showcase.

Special topics featuring Asian and European VR-research and
development as well as academic- and industry-activities make VRV
1993 a unique possibility of information exchange.


1. General Remarks
-------------------

* Conference languages are English and German, simultaneous
translation services will be offered in all presentations.
* Workshops and exhibits are not included in this pre-agenda. We
will follow up with this information later, several exciting
demonstrations are under final preparation like a MARS-
WALKTHROUGH of NASA / Xtensory, "life" interactive VR-links
and others.
* On request we offer a detailed description of each speech in
English and German.


2. The "Virtual Polis"
-----------------------

We have the honour to cooperate with Prof.Carl Eugene Loeffler. He is
Project Director for Telecommunications and Virtual Reality at
Carnegie Mellon University and is working on a project called
"Virtual Polis".

Overview:

The virtual polis or city is an actual three dimensional city,
inhabited by a multitude of participants, each with their own
purposes. Tele-existence is an essential aspect. Imagine a virtual
city complete with private spaces or domiciles, parks, stores,
entertainment centers. As much as a grand social experiment, it also
is a far reaching graphical user interface (GUI) for electronic home
shopping and entertainment.

The salient points of the virtual city include:

~ a distributed, three dimensional inhabitable environment
~ investigation of tele-existence in a distributed virtual construct
~ capability of supporting potentially unlimited participants
~ private spaces, property and moral code
~ exploration of tools to alter the environment, while inhabiting it
~ interface (GUI) for home shopping and entertainment

The idea of a distributed application based on the notion of an
inhabited city, is fascinating. Traversing the city and encountering
other inhabitants will be a startling experience.

VRV '93:
The premier and first presentation to the public of the ~Virtual
Polis~ prototype will be presented at Virtual Reality Vienna-93.
People from three different locations, including Pittsburgh in the
USA, Tokyo in Japan and the VRV '93 location Palais Ferstel in
Vienna, Austria will be inhabitants of a virtual city, as a dynamic
example of networked Virtual Reality. They explore a city that is
sound intensive, inclusive of high-rise buildings, private domiciles
and a park. Tele-existence is an essential aspect. This new way of
meeting and interacting is possible through Virtual Reality (VR) and
new telecommunications technologies, developed at Carnegie Mellon
University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Date and time: December 1, 1993, starting at 15:00 EMT


3. Preliminary Agenda
----------------------

3.1. The Day Before, November 30, 1993, Tuesday
------------------------------------------------

* Press conference
* Dinner with Speakers

3.2. First Day, December 1, 1993, Wednesday
-------------------------------------------

3.2.1. Morning Session
-----------------------

Working Pool VRV'93
Vienna, Austria
"About the VRV '93"
Introduction
20

Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research
Vienna, Austria
"Official Opening of the VRV '93"
Politics, Austria, Education
20

Linda Jacobson
Wordswork
San Francisco, USA
"An Introduction to VR"
Introduction, History, Sociology
45

Scott Fisher, Ph.D.
Telepresence Research
USA
"Building Virtual Worlds: An Overview of Current Applications."
Application, Industry
60

Lew Hitchner, Ph.D.
Xtensory Inc.
Scotts Valley, USA
"Virtual Planetary Exploration - Walking on Mars"
Fundamental Research, Application
60

Etsuroh Kitauchi
Dentsu Inc. Chubu
Nagoya, Japan
"The VR EXPO - Organizing the Biggest Japanese VR-Fair"
Application, Industry
30

Etsuroh Kitauchi
Dentsu Inc. Chubu
Nagoya, Japan
"The VR Techno Center - A New Industrial VR-Consortium in Japan"
Application, Industry
20


3.2.2. Afternoon Session
------------------------

FOCUS ON VR AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

Univ.Prof.Dr.Robert Trappl
University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
"The Role of Artificial Intelligence in VR"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, AI
45

Dr. Yong Cao + Prof. Dr. Ipke Wachsmuth
University of Bielefeld, Faculty of Technology
Bielefeld, Germany
"Situated Space Agent for 3D Graphics Design"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, AI
30

********************************************
* *
* Special Feature starting at 3 p.m.: *
* *
* "VIRTUAL POLIS" *
* *
* presented by *
* *
* Prof. Carl Eugene Loeffler *
* *
********************************************

FOCUS ON HYPERTEXT / HYPERMEDIA:

Dipl.Ing. Andreas Dieberger + Mag. Jolanda Tromp
Technical University of Vienna, Dept. for Design and Assesment of
Technology + University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Psychology
Vienna, Austria + Amsterdam, Netherlands
"VR User Interface for Collaborative Navigation in Hypertexts"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, Collaborative Navigation
30

Keith Andrews, M.S.
University of Technology at Graz
Graz, Austria
"Constructing Cyberspace: VR and Hypermedia"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, Hypermedia
30

Industry-Presentation:

Richard Huddy
Canon Research Center Europe
Surrey, England
"Meeting the Performance Criterea of VR"
Application, Industry
30

Diego Montefusco
University of Milan
Milan, Italy
"Virtual Worlds in Italy: An Overview"
Application, Industry
30


3.2.3. Night Session
---------------------

* Panel Discussion on TV (Club 2 in ORF, ev.CNN)
"VR as a new Technology - How will it change your life?"
* Formal Dinner - with all Speakers, Exhibitors and VIPs
* Vienna Sightseeing


3.3. Second Day, December 2, 1993 Thursday
---------------------------------------------

3.3.1. Morning Session
-----------------------

Prof. Carl Eugene Loeffler
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, USA
"Inhabiting the Domain: Distributed Virtual Reality"
Fundamental Research, Academic, Application, Distributed VR
60

FOCUS ON VIRTUALITY AND EDUCATION:

Mag. Wolfgang Schinagl
Ludwig Boltzmann Institut
Graz, Austria
"The Interactive Information Center - A New Way in Education and
Teaching"
Education
30

Morten Soby, M.S.
University of Oslo
Oslo, Norway
"Possessed by VR"
Fundamental Research, Academic
30

Ola Odegard
Norwegian Telecom Reasearch
Oslo, Norway
"Terminals and Applications in Education and Work"
Fundamental Research, Education, Application, Industry
30


3.3.2. Afternoon Session

FOCUS ON VR AND 3D USER INTERFACES:

Dipl.Ing. Klaus Boehm + Dipl.Ing. Michael Sokolewicz
Fraunhofer Institute, Computer Graphics Center
Darmstadt, Germany
"GIVEN++ - A Toolkit for Advanced 3D User Interface Construction"
Fundamental Research, Application, Toolkit, HCI
30

Mag. Sabine Musil + D.I. Georg Pigel
University of Vienna, Vienna User Interface Group
Vienna, Austria
"Virgets: Elements for Building 3D User Interfaces"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI
30

D.I. M.Rauterberg + M.Kuehni + E.Styger + D.WI. K.Szabo
Multimedia Lab (University of Zuerich)
+ Usability Lab (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology),
Zuerich, Switzerland
"2 1/2 D vs. 3D - A Classification Concept and an Experimental
Comparison"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, Experiment
30


FOCUS ON VR AND MEDICINE:

Col.Dr. Richard Satava
US Army
Washington DC, USA
"Teleprecence and VR - A Framework for Surgery in the 21st Century"
Fundamental Research, Concptual, Medicine, Application, Industry
60

Dr. Duane Boman
Stanford Research Institute
Stanford, USA
VEDA: Virtual Environment Design Applications
Fundamental Research, Industry, Application, Medicine
60

Zhaowei Jiang, Ph.D.
Wayne State University, Dept. of Computer Science + Dept. of
Neurological Surgery
Wayne, USA
"VR and Tele-Presence Nerro Surgery - Basic Theory and a Prototype"
Fundamental Research, Application, Medicine
45

Dr. Rudolf Morawetz
University Clinic for Anaestesiology and Intensive Care Medicine
Innsbruck, Austria
"The Olfactory Dimension - The Forgotten Part of the Virtual World?"
Fundamental Research, Academic
45

3.3.3. Night Session
---------------------

* Panel-Discussion "VR in Japan and the USA - Two Different
Approaches"
* Reading: "Street Tech" - a new book of Linda Jacobson
* Vienna Sightseeing


3.4. Third Day, December 3, 1993, Friday
-------------------------------------------

3.4.1. Morning Session
-----------------------

Dr. Robert Jacobson
Worlddesign Inc.
Seattle, USA
"Through the Looking Glass - The Virtual Worlds Industry in 2010, a
Prospective Retrospective"
Fundamental Research, Theory
60

Dr. Werner Kuhn + Dr. Andrew U. Frank
Technical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
"Virtual and Real Spaces: The Synergy between VR and Geographic
Information Systems"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, GIS
30

Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder
Ars Electronica Center
Linz, Austria
"The Ars Electronica Center"
Science, Education, Entertainment, Industry
60

3.4.2. Evening Session
-----------------------

Carolina Cruz-Neira, M.S.
University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic Visualization Lab
Chicago, USA
"The Cave Automatic Environment"
Fundamental Research, Academic, HCI, Application, Visualization
45

Florian Brody + Dr.Peter Gathmann
Consultant for New Media + Vienna Medical School, Dept. for
Psychosomatics
Los Angeles, USA + Vienna, Austria
"Psychopathology of Virtual Worlds"
Phsychology, Sociology, History
45

Paco Xander Nathan
Writer
Austin, USA
"Practical Cybernetic Environs"
Sociology, Homebrew, Street-Tech
30

3.4.3. Night Session
--------------------

* Panel-Discussions
"Hype in VR - What possibilities do we have to avoid that?"
"Results and Comments on the VRV'93"
* Partying till the morning...
* Vienna Sightseeing

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Chair
-----

* IDG-International Data Group
World's leading company of information for success with
information technology, offices in > 50 countries
worldwide.
Dr. Manfred Weiss, Gen.Manager, IDG Austria
* ICON - Int.Comm.Network
Christian Klezl


Initiator
---------

* Christian Bauer & Freunde
Christian Bauer


Organizing Committee
--------------------

* Worlddesign
Dr. Robert Jacobson
128 NW 56th. Street
Seattle, WA 98107
USA

* Wordswork
Linda Jacobson
Box 31263
San Francisco, CA 94131
USA

* Dentsu Inc. Chubu,
Project Planning and Development Dept.
Etsuroh Kitauchi
4-16-36 Sakae
Naka-ku, Nagoya 460
Japan

* JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization
Yoshiyasu Imazu
Mariahilferstr. 41-43 / 3
1060 Wien
Austria

* Systems Education Centre Pte Ltd.
David Ong
12th Floor WTC Convention Centre, World Trade Centre
1 Maritime Square
Singapore 0409

* University of Oslo,
The Faculty of Social Science
Morten Soby
Helga Engs Building, 4th Floor, Room 414
P.O. Box 1092 Blindern
N-0317 Oslo
Norway

* Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute for Economic Reasearch
Mag. Wolfgang Schinagl
Mozartgasse 14
8010 Graz
Austria

* Ars Electronica Center - Austrian Broadcasting Corp. (ORF)
Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder
Franckstrasse 2a
4010 Linz
Austria

* University Clinic for Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine
Dr. Rudolf F. Morawetz
Anichstrasse 35
6020 Innsbruck
Austria


Location
--------

Vienna is the capital city of Austria. It is a beautiful and friendly
city, located in the very center of Europe. Vienna is well known as a
place for international fairs and exhibitions, but also for its
cultural riches and its unique, relaxed atmosphere. The symposium
will be held in the center of the 1,5 Mio city.

The Palais Ferstl, an old castle in Vienna's first district, is
located right in the central heart of Vienna.


Accommodation and Travel
-----------------------

Rooms in Vienna vary from US $65 to $400. Accommodation can be easily
booked through IDG (see below).


Fees & Grants
-------------

Full conference fee
(incl.lunch & beverages, social programm, exhibits and all sessions)
ATS 12.980,-

Special Fare
(Academic personal of schools and universities, "early bird" for
registration till Sept. 1, 1993, member of special institutions,
second attendant of the same company)
ATS 9.990,-

Student Fare
(limited amount of reduced full registrations, only for students with
recommendation by university teachers)
ATS 2.980,-

Visitor to the Exhibition
ATS 240,-

Remark: UDS 1,- equals approx. ATS 12,-


Registration & Information
--------------------------

Telephone and Fax:

Dr. Manfred Weiss
IDG Communications GMBH
Zieglergasse 6
A-1070 Vienna
Austria / Europe

Tel +43 / 1 / 523 05 08 - 0
Fax +43 / 1 / 523 05 08 - 33


or with email:

ICON Int.Comm.Network
Christian Klezl
Gobergasse 34 / 13
A-1130 Vienna
Austria / Europe

e-mail: 100276.1277@compuserve.com