Virtual
Environments and the Internet
What does game-like thinking combined with immersion in 3D environments
do to our brains, to our minds and
to our culture? Why might virtual environments
be interesting to artists? And what are virtual environments
doing with the Internet?
Slick implies
a certain type of legitimacy
and virtual reality
is slick like wet ice.
Location
It was the location that attracted my attention. Monterey is situated
between my computer and the rest
of civilization. And I don't usually hear about
international Internet related events happening so close to,
but not on top of my desk.
Virtual reality was not a subject that I was particularly drawn to. (1)
I am not a great fan of games, I am
not attracted to slick vector based graphics
and it seemed to me that VRML/Web3D was just more
cumbersome tech-hype. I proceeded to research
VRML and virtual environments on the net in an
attempt to discover why I might be interested
in this subject. My basic questions were: Why might virtual
environments be interesting to artists? And what
are virtual environments doing with the Internet? I
encountered numerous glitches and crashes, but
I came to realize that navigable virtual environments will
become progressively more functional and popular
in the Internet environment and this is something to
contemplate. It is even interesting. I acquired
more questions like, what does game-like thinking
combined with immersion in 3D environments do
to our brains, to our minds and to our culture?
VRML alias Web 3D
Web 3D/VRML, The Fifth International Conference on
Virtual Reality Modeling Language & 3D Web
Technologies
Was held February 21-24, 2000 at the Hyatt Monterey,
Monterey, California
Hosted by The Web3D Consortium
The idea of VRML/Web3D is to enact a ubiquitous functioning method to
perpetuate navigable three
dimensional illusionistic environments via the
Internet. The intent is to initiate a standard in a similar way
that HTML has done to facilitate the text and
predominantly two dimensional environment of the World
Wide Web as we know it.
The program was devoted to methods and techniques of developing and promoting
a useable format for
bringing illusionistic three dimensional navigable
environments into more accessible and widespread use
on the World Wide Web. The Consortium describes
their intent:
"Web3D blends the intuitive human sense of space and time with user
interface interaction and programming language integration producing a
truly
new and exciting technology for the Internet. The evolution of the Net
from
command-line to 2D graphical to emergent 3D interfaces reflects ongoing,
fundamental progress toward human-centered interface design-- that is,
toward a more immersive and responsive computer-mediated experience."
(2)
The conference premiered VRML-ART 2000. (3) This was a juried selection
of fifty-four projects
working with 3D worlds, objects, spaces, and
avatars. The jury members were:
Melentie Pandilovski, Skopje, Macedonia
Karel Dudesek, Vienna, Austria
Kathy Rae Huffman, Troy, New York
an Account of an Event
The participants in this gathering had chosen to traverse long distances
to gather in a physical
environment to contemplate and discuss virtual
environments. The most ubiquitous characteristic
describing the people attending the conference
was fatigue. The most memorable image - tired eyes.
I arrived at about 3:00 in the afternoon. The artists and exhibition organizers
were busy setting up for the
evening when the general population of conference
attendees were scheduled to come and to view the
show. The art exhibit was somewhat autonomous
from the rest of the conference. The people involved
with the exhibition considered it of primary
significance, but from the perspective of the non-artist
participant it appeared as an evening entertainment
program.
Everyone was wearing a name tag so it was easy to locate Professor Huffman,
of Electronic Media Arts
and Communication, at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute. Her greeting set me at ease and her enthusiasm
drew me in. I was impressed by the substantial
database of information inside her memory about curation
and issues surrounding women online as well as
VRML. She explained the set up of the conference. The
back half of the exhibition room was devoted
to the art exhibitors. In the front part were advertisers.
Huffman calls what we have now a first wave for Web3D. She believes it
is important to have
presentations and exhibitions of 3D work installed
professionally by the artists or other experts, who can
guarantee that it will have a clean installation.
Apparently most people who would like to explore virtual
environments at home, and who are generally interested,
still don't have good enough horsepower at their
workstations, or the general technical skills
to get all the plug-ins and software installed and working
properly together. She also finds that many people
still do not have the comfort level to fully explore the
environments because they are used to just clicking,
and not necessarily navigating. So they miss out on a
lot of the subtle aspects of the VRML works.
But she predicts that all this will change some day soon
and navigating virtual environments will be common
and seamless. (4)
Professor Karel Dudesek from Universsitat fur Angewanndte, Kunnst Ordinnariat
fur Medien, Vienna,
maintained a wry sense of humor while being preoccupied
with making things work so it was late in the
evening when we had a chance to chat. I had met
Professor Dudesek briefly the previous weekend at
the CRASH symposium in Berkeley. (5)
Melentie Pandilovski is the cheerful but serious director of the Center
for Contemporary Arts in
Skopje, Masidonia. He is interested in the philosophical
implications of VR. And would also attend
another conference before leaving California.
His next stop was San Diego to present a paper relating
virtual environments to a philosophy of consciousness.
This interested me and I asked if he would send
me a copy of the paper.
In his paper, On Modes of Consciousness and Electronic Culture, Pandilovski
begins with the
phenomenology of Husserl, "the study of the structures
of consciousness that enable it to refer to objects
outside itself." He goes on to raise questions
regarding the evolution and structure of consciousness and
the relation of consciousness to the phenomenal.
He approaches the issue of technology with the idea
that electronic memories are actually simulations
of the memory function of the brain, and he discusses
the mathematical logic of the technical image.
As Pandilovski establishes his perspective on the arts, he states:
"The inevitable pendulum-like motion from prehistoric thinking i.e. thinking
in
images, towards marking the end of it (with the invention of the alphabet),
is
now set again in opposite direction allowing the technological image to
shape
the consciousness. Due to this it should be expected that the general
value
system would be thoroughly altered (as every previous change in direction
did)."
He says that the technology-image will lead us away from linear text based
thinking and speculates on
the consequences of such a change. He believes
that interactive art is paradigmatic of this relation. Some
of the characteristic features of the medium
that he lists are: velocity, conceptual, visualization,
communicative, void, information, codes, mediation,
technical procedures and conditions, and collective
work.
Pandilovski's conclusion:
"Finally I would conclude that the concept of virtual reality calls for
a New
Phenomenology for it may in the future prove to be one of the key paradigms
that will assist us in the process of restructuring of our cultural consciousness
in the direction of establishing an inner subjective world and dynamic
intersection between the heterogeneous fields of human activities, such
as art
and science, philosophy and religion, where one will be in dialogue and
function of the other instead of standing opposite it." (6)
I also spoke with a couple of the artists who were presenting their projects.
Steve Guynup from Atlanta, Georgia, wore a shocking-blue shirt and a straggly
little braid placed amidst
natty hair. Hyperactive would be an appropriate
term to use while describing his personality. He sounded
somewhat obsessed with the word "content" so
I made an attempt to discover what he meant by it. He
seemed to equate content with serious subject
matter. It was interesting that as he began to show me his
Kosovo project his approach was to dazzle with
techno-glitz. When I prodded him with, "lovely but where
is the content," it took him off guard but he
slowed down for a few moments and clicked to political
photos located in his virtual environment. And
he confessed that there was a reference to Duchamp's
Fountain hidden somewhere in the code. He also
commented that it was unusual to be asked for content,
most people just want to be dazzled. (7)
In contrast Nichole Stenger spoke in a soft voice with a gentle accent.
The subject of her project
related to American cities such as San Francisco
and Los Angeles. She combined a nostalgic concept of
these cities with a 3D electronic style. Her
intent is to create a type of virtual book in the tradition of
handmade books and medieval illuminated manuscripts.
For this project she avoided the navigation
aspects of 3D. However she has been working with
virtual reality since the days "when you had to go
into a computer science lab and work with engineers
to do anything at all." Stenger had first encountered
VR in the early '80's when she saw a film Sunstone
by Ed Elmschwiller. She claimed this exposure
changed her life. She had fallen in awe and wonder
at the potential of the VR medium. (8)
The other half of the art exhibition room had advertising displays from
companies mostly trying to peddle
VR authoring software. A couple of guys from
Japan seemed sincerely excited about their product
whereas an American salesman showed me a seriously
tacky method of illustrating a seriously tacky car.
(9)
One interesting person from that portion of the room was Nicholas Polys.
He was promoting a
3D-Ezine called VirtuWorlds. It appears to be
a useful source of information for Web 3D builders. Polys
gave me a couple of slick pages of advertising
and a questionnaire. The introductory blurb on one slick
printed flyer describes the e-publication as,
"Immune to the pressures of industry politics, and inspired by pure passion
for 3Dweb.
"... the ultimate onramp into a chaotic and fragmented endeavor of viewing
3D worlds and applications over the Web.
"...Sporting a professional and intuitive design, the 3DEZine features
the
highest quality content alongside the insightful analysis to cut through
the hype
surrounding it." (10)
I believe the part about passion for 3D Web. Passion was an attitude that
permeated the event. But I
have to ask Nic, do you even recognize the contradiction
in using hype to refute hype?
Is this an example of how the marketing hype is in fact infiltrating the
structure of common language and
therefore common thought structures? Is this
example enthusiasm or an example of the sci-fi futuristic
culture where thoughts are replaced by slogans?
But for real. And it isn't even politically motivated. Is a
structure of thought emerging out of popular
culture as a result of industrial media hype? And what sort
of popular thought patterns will develop from
extensive immersion in navigable virtual worlds?
outside The art Exhibition
Beyond the art exhibit loomed the technological industrial complex of
VRML/Web3D. And the majority
of the conference existed there.
In search of the non-artist perspective I struck up a conversation on
the patio with some delightful
gentlemen from Holland.
Alex van Ballegooij was at the conference to present a paper, 3D Gadgets
for Business Process
Visualization: A Case Study. Van Ballegooij admitted
that he wrote the paper to submit to the conference
so that he (and Eli'ns) would be able to attend.
And he claimed that his interest in VR grew out of an
enthusiasm for computer games. (11)
Roland Smeenk who was also participating in the conversation agreed. They
believe it is not only the
virtual environments that are significant to
the enthrallment with games but it is the psychological states
induced. It is thrilling to be able to play the
action hero. Drawing on a comment that I had heard from a
couple of CADRE students who are into games,
I asked if a sense of community was also an attraction.
They agreed the community with other players
was part of it but they argued that the main thrill is the
fantasy of role-playing the hero who saves the
world. They believed that it is gaming incentives that drive
VR enthusiasm. It is a rush. And it seems the
rush is more related to states of ego and aggression than a
sense of community bonding. (12)
While van Ballegooig and Smeenk elaborated on the significance of games
as a driving force in the
development of Web3D, Anton Eliëns stood
by grumbling and nodding his head in good humored
disagreement.
Professor Anton Eliëns from the department of Mathematics and Computer
Science, Vrije Universiteit,
Amsterdam expressed his interest in VR is related
to data visualization. This is interesting. I wanted a
non-artist perspective on the event so I asked
what they thought motivated the people at the conference
to be there. Eli'ns firmly believed that people
were there because they were genuinely excited about the
subject of Web3D. And perhaps because they do
not want to see a monopoly (i.e. Microsoft) enshroud
its development. In other words he did not believe
that the attendees were driven by marketing
opportunities but again, sincere passion for
virtual environments.
Later while reviewing the published information on the various people
I planned to include in this report I
discovered that Eli'ns, who has named his projects
things like Déjà VU, Hush and even Diva, has a
background that includes visual art as well as
music. So much for getting the perspective of a non-artist.
(13)
I did speak with one woman from the business sector, Chris Byrne from
Seattle. She was involved with a
commercial project that she preferred not discuss
in detail. She was describing volumetric space
identifying the volume of a collection of periodical
volumes.
Multiple meanings of the term "volume" becomes amusing in relation to
virtual 3D environments. There is
the volume of space, the volume of amount, the
volume characterizing an increment of an issue, and I
suppose we need to consider the volume of noise
as well. (14)
the VRML/Web3D consortium
I did catch the end of one panel. A woman talking about Education expressed
annoyance relating to the
patriarchal tendencies of the virtual reality
arena and her challenges facing "old boys club" behavior and
attitudes. There certainly was a male majority
present.
I also sat in on a consortium general meeting. It was no secret that the
consortium is motivated by a
desire to win a prominent estate on the electronic
frontier. For example they had introduced some types
of membership that were less exclusive for the
purpose of enlisting a volunteer work force. Also the
VRML developers did not rename their consortium
"Web3D" simply to be inclusive of a variety of VR
programming languages, rather it was necessary
to rename the consortium due to a negative stigma
associated with VRML allegedly perpetuated by
the American press. While this was being discussed at
the meeting it was stated that the name change
was temporary and purely cosmetic. But for a few years
it would be prudent to use the name Web3D. The
pronunciation vermel is considered unappealing and
furthermore an implied association with the illustrious
and successful W3 consortium adds to the
appearance of credibility and authority.
Someone from Sony stood up and explained that their company was keeping
a close watch on
VRML/Web3D due to interest in the expected digital
merge between the net and television. And Karel
Dudesek, director of the art exhibit, strutted
in with an appeal to the general consortium affiliates to
recognize the importance of developing significant
content and not just focus on working out technical
glitches.
My main impression of the organization of this Consortium is not that
they are overly concerned with
creativity, community and collaboration, despite
an extravagant use of these terms. Rather it was that
they are economically motivated industrialists
who have learned to appeal to the lofty idealism of
scientists, artists and the common man because
it is useful to do so.
back In the Art exhibit
Back in the art exhibit Andy Best bought everyone drinks. I picked up
one of his sample CD's it had
snazzy packaging and a catchy title "Conversations
with Angels". I did not have a chance to speak with
Mr. Best who seemed like a decent sort of guy
but I wasn't extremely impressed with what I saw of the
actual project. Maybe I don't get it. (15)
Alex van Ballegooij made an interesting comment while viewing one of the
art projects, "I could do
that but it wouldn't look as good. I guess artists
do know something about how to make things look good.
Composition or something." Maybe I had found
a non-artist quote after all.
Late in the evening Dudesek achieved a more jovial mood. Systems were
functioning as well as they
were going to function and he had accomplished
imploring the technicians and software developers to
recognize that making smoother, faster, more
marketable user friendly authoring tools was not the main
issue. The main issue is content. He is irritated
that content is not getting the attention or support it
deserves.
Dudesek also gave an intriguing account of an observation he'd made while
watching American
television that week. He described a dot.com
add where the theme was that a particular internet service
would facilitate convenience, thus giving the
people more free time for leisure activities. He stated, "Now
American TV is using classic communist ideals
in its advertisements." I repeated his statement back to
him to be sure I heard it correctly. "Yes," and
he explained that, "Personal freedom and liberty are classic
communist ideals."
Pandilovski added a comment that the Internet was never about democracy,
and that believing that the
Internet is about democracy is just a delusion
of those, "silicon valley hippies."
I am concluding my account of the event with this conversation partly
because it was the final
conversation. But it also exemplified how complex
even simple language is. Both Dudesek and
Pandilovski are intelligent and well meaning
people concerned with substantial relevant issues regarding
art, culture, the Internet and VR. But, what
is a "silicon valley hippie?" And, "Personal freedom and
liberty are classic communist ideals..." Interesting.
Clearly it is impossible for communication to be simple
even in an apparently simple form. We need to
recognize the complexity and deal with it because the
human condition is not going to get any more
simple in the next few years.
The VRML/Web3D Consortium operatives did not impress me so much, but some
of the characters
attending the event did. And when interesting
people are interested in something it is bound to be an
interesting subject that drew them together.
Virtual Environments and The Internet
The thrill people experience from games, passionate exploration by scientists
and artists, and commercial
motivation all indicate that virtual environments
are not going to go away. And virtual environments are
interesting because they are likely to affect
structures of consciousness in an electronic culture, not
simply because they are snazzy and the latest
thing.
It seems that virtual reality has been a "revolution waiting to happen"
for quite some time. But instead of
having VR rooms replace our television sets we
have television adds imitating the mundane graphics that
have evolved on a primarily text based World
Wide Web with its limited graphic possibilities. TV adds
are showing slick imitations of a clumsy medium.
Very odd. (16) But this reminds us that we don't
always know how parts of the puzzle will come
together. People want faster processing, bigger
bandwidth and navigable illusionistic space.
So, despite the current limitations of access, speed and
functionality, despite the silly graphics, glitches
and crashes, the craving for online virtual environments is
being fed and it is likely to grow.
What we crave is not always nourishing and we don't always know what we
are eating. If we did, no
one would ever get food poisoning. So, it is
worthwhile to speculate about potential accidents or at least
unexpected formations that could evolve. Paul
Virilio, known as a French theorist of technology, seems
to be virtually standing on a soap box imploring
the populace to beware. Amidst his drama and creative
logic significant warnings are expressed. Virilio
raises important questions about components of an
information era. Comrades beware!
Speed.
Sacrifice.
Accidents.
Immersion.
Dis-information.
Space/Time Continuum.
It is as valid to continually question as it is to recognize the value
of any given system. Basically the
psycho/bio/mental influence of our technological
exploration needs attention as well as the
eco/socio/political issues.
Since it is reasonable to consider that the game zone will expand to include
all aspects of communication,
commerce, education and so on - how does a game
format affect information. The divisions between
news, advertising and entertainment are already
becoming increasingly more blurry. As the Internet
merges more seamlessly with other forms of media
the fact/fiction blend is amplified. All of this may
perpetuate a public awareness of the need to
develop new skills of understanding. But it might not.
How does the immersion and activity of the virtual reality game reform
physical structure of the human
psyche, body and culture?
An example is the hoopla over subliminal advertising. It is valid hoopla.
Image and sound effects can lull
or shock us as well as leave an unexpected, uninvited
imprint. Flashing images or text, barley perceptible
moments of television and film have been recognized
as extremely effective. Even flat printed media use
subliminal composition and symbols in advertisements
and documentation. If we amplify the quality and
quantity of psychological immersion in a medium
we have a stronger tool to impose subliminal imprinting.
Physically it isn't just a matter of eye strain and sore wrists. We may
be rearranging our neurological and
chemical structure. If not so much at the moment,
almost certainly in the near future. The psychological
influences are more obvious of course, but do
we really absorb the significance of a psycho-biological
connection. For example if our hormones affect
our mood (and therefore our behavior) in a physical way
there must be a process that travels the other
direction. So media influence obviously playing an audience
in psychological terms is also likely to be affecting
the physiology of the audience.
what Is metaphor
Ray Bradbury wrote a story about a Virtual Reality Room where the children
who go on a virtual safari
get eaten by lions, or was it their parents who
were eaten? In any case, Bradbury's story was believable
as far as the audio visual safari simulation
in a room. For example, years ago Pacific Bell had a
film-in-the-round exhibit at Disneyland that
gave the visual illusion of traveling through space. The leap of
suspending disbelief in Bradbury's story was
tagged on at the end. How do projected lions eat real
people?
Metaphorically of course they can. But what about a meta-metaphoric interpretation?
It is no longer science fiction to imagine virtual rooms that are not
merely devised of illusionistic
projections. Our virtual rooms will not be projected
or broadcast. They will be interfaces to digital
systems connected in a global network that mingles
all functioning machinery and information data.
Theories of self-organizing emergent systems
indicate unpredictable evolutionary possibilities even if we
remain pragmatically grounded in a massive network
of digital information. But can a fictitious virtual
environment be developed in a way that would
make being eaten by lions a comfortably believable idea?
Maybe. There is no reason why electronic information
technology will remain aloof from neurological,
chemical and biological technologies as well
as molecular and atomic elements. Currently our virtual
environments are tied to hardware and digital
code structures. But one or both of these elements could
be, are likely to be, superseded by more advanced
methods.
Another angle might be to consider the reasonable proposition that consciousness
is a physical structure.
We have seen that energy and matter have a certain
relationship that is significantly powerful in real life
material terms. It is fairly easy to imagine
that consciousness is related to energy. What if consciousness
is related to matter in a way that energy is
related to matter? We have examples of what happens when
we split an atom. What would happen if we split
a basic unit of consciousness. Although we probably are
not talking about basic units anymore. But does
splitting an increment of consciousness cause a
rearrangement of matter and/or energy? It is
something to think about.
Virtual reality and network environments are not the end of the story.
Creative or artful
contemplation of the nature of reality is not new--
am
I myself dreaming I am a butterfly or am I a butterfly dreaming I am myself?
life
is but a stage where we actors strut and fret for an hour.
and so on.
The
world as we know it is certainly in transition.
Notes
(1) The second issue of switch was devoted to the subject of Virtual Reality
URL: http://switch.sjsu.edu/switch/SwitchV1N2/tocV1N2.html
The Art and Games issue of Switch for a "variety of perspectives on issues
pertaining to computer games and art,
gender, game hacking, game interfacehistory,
networked game play and opportunities for new modes of game
interaction, navigation and narrative."
URL: http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v5n2/ednotes.html;
http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v5n2/index.html
(2) Web 3D / VRML Consortium: URL: http://www.web3d.org
(3) VRML-ART, URL:vrml-art.org. VRML-ART will have a gallery in the SIGGRAPH
ART SHOW in New Orleans,
July 23 - 29, 2000. And at the 6th Annual computer
Arts Festival, Maribor, Slovenia. May 23 - 27, 2000. A panel
discussion between artists, programmers, and
users will take place on Friday, May 27, before a large VRML-ART
party at the student center in Maribor. Also
VRML-ARTwill be at the Pro@Contra conference in Moscow, May 13,
2000.
(4) Kathy Rae Huffman, E-mail:huffman@rpi.edu, URL: vrml-art.org,
URL: http://www.rpi.edu/~huffman/faces.html
(5) Karel Dudesek, E-mail:Dudesek@vis-med.ac, URL: http://vis-med.ac
(6) Melentie Pandilovski, E-mail: Mpandil@soros.org.mk, URL: http://www.scca.org.mk
(7) Steve Guynup, E-malil: Guynup@mindspring.com, URL: http://www.pd.org/~thatguy/lepervr.htm
(8) Nichole Stenger, URL: http://nicole.netgate.net. Ed Emshwiller was
a pioneer of VR art and founder of the
CalArts Computer Animation Lab and Dean of the
School of Film/Video from 1979 to 1990. Information about Ed
Emshwiller and his work may be found at the CalArts
site
http://emsh.calarts.edu/emshwiller.html
(9) Lattice URL: http://www.lattice.co.jp
(10) Nicholas F. Polys, E-mail:npolys@virtuworlds.com, URL: http://virtuworlds.com/
(11) Alex van Ballegooij, E-mail: Alex.van.Ballegooij@cwi.nl, URL: http://www.cwi.nl/~alexb
(12) Roland Smeenk, r.j.m.smeenk@fel.ton.nl, URL: http://www.tno.nl
(13) Anton Eliëns, E-mail:eliens@cs.vu.nl, URL: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/
(14) Chris Byrne, E-mail: Chris@BookAlive.com
(15) Andy Best, URL: http://meetfactory.com/angels
(16) And yet, comments Jason Challas, "I would expect no less from pop
culture advertisers who will attempt to
capitalize on any trend." He also believes that
VR being slow to come of age "is a good thing --as it has allowed us
much time to consider the implications..." Jason
Challas, Interviewed Brenda Laurel, in the Virtual Reality Issue of
SWITCH, 1995-- http://switch.sjsu.edu/switch/SwitchV1N2/Laurel_interv/Laurel_intro.html
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