Virtual Environments...

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Virtual Environments..."

Maximillian Spencer
5 years ago
Views:

1 Introducing Virtual Travel.... Virtual Environments....2 Moving Past the Picture Frame....3 Being Not-There May Be More Achievable....4 Being Not-There May Safeguard the Place....5 Share by Being Not-There....6 The Implications for Virtual Travel....7 Learning via Virtual Travel....8 The Thorny Issue of Engagement....9 Four Major Problems....0 Virtual Reality and Cultural Significance Virtual Environments Technological Limitations Lack of Widely Distributed Technology Size, Speed and Rendering Issues Lack of Meaningful Content We Experience More than Tangible Objects The World Is More than Visual Stimuli Different People See Different Things Personalization Is Missing Lack of Contextual Evaluation Summary of Implications for Virtual Environments Virtual Places Place in a Virtual Space Experiential Types of Place Place as Unique Experience Sublime Places of Terror and Awe Evocative and Atmospheric Place xi

2 xii Place as Stage and Playground Place as Trace and Palimpsest Requirements for Creating a Sense of Place Place Requires Embodiment Place Requires Paths and Centers Response to Place Requires Ongoing Feedback Place Requires Social Embeddedness Place Is Mark-Able Evoking Place via Arts and Sciences Architecture Art and Artifacts Literature Film Cultural Geography in Place and Culture Cyberspace Critics and Criteria Cyberspaces Lack Limits Cyberspaces Lack Play Through Objects Cyberspaces Lack Life History Cyberspace Concepts and Terminology Suggestions for Creating Cyberplace Three Types of Virtual Environments Inert Explorative Environments Activity-Based Environments Cultural or Hermeneutic Environments Matching Virtual Environments and Technologies Terms Summary of Place Theory Cultural and Social Presence Why Photorealism Does Not Convey Cultural Significance Virtual Heritage Is Not Realism Phobic Triggers and Experiential Realism Archaeology and History Is Not Set in Concrete Confusion over Cultural Presence What Is Culture? What Is a Culturally Significant Place? How Culture Is Learnt Social and Cultural Presence Hermeneutic Richness, Cultural Agency Culture in Virtual Worlds Useful Cultural Presence Summary of Cultural Presence Theory

3 xiii Game Style Interaction Defining Games Defining Game Style Interaction Useful Features of Games Engaging Features of Games Case Study: Heretic II Dynamic Places Dynamic Place Design: Unreal Palenque and Xibalba Racing in a Tent: Spatial and Haptic Immersion Constrained Tasks and Goals Interaction Modes in Palenque Using Adobe Atmosphere Constrained Tasks in Journey to the West Social Agency: Avatars Agents and Actors Agency in a Marco Polo Game Artifacts Mapping to Aid Navigation for Egyptian Mythology Mapping Through Drawing Game-Based Learning Procedural Versus Prescriptive Learning Game Genres and Cultural Learning Snakes and Ladders Different Perspectives per Player Role Playing The Spy Game Issues of Time: Interaction Versus Historical Authenticity Ancillary Non-celebrity Characters Autonomous Action, Immutable Results Groundhog Day Possible Worlds Diary of Emotional Development Surfing Memetic Drift Augment History with Real World Augmented Cultural Exchange Dynamic Places Game-Based Evaluation Summary of Games Style Interaction Playing with the Past What Is Virtual Heritage? The Problem of Culture Virtual Heritage Case Studies

4 xiv Art History in Online Worlds: Santa Maria, Italy... Virtual Forbidden City, China... Dordrecht Monastery, The Netherlands... Urban Design and Virtual Sambor, Cambodia... FAS Palace, Mesopotamia... Culture and History Inside a Game: Palestine and Italy Virtual Egyptian Temple Dome Visualization: Mawson s Hut, Antarctica Heritage Tour: Macquarie Lighthouse, Australia Panoramic Explorations: PLACE-Hampi, India Performance and Archaeology: Spaces of Mjalnar, Malta Summary Augmenting the Present With the Past What Is Augmented Reality? Blends of Augmented Reality and Augmented Virtuality Inserted Walk-About Reality, University of South Australia Overlaid Walk-About Reality, Columbia University Bubbled Reality Example 3: Mawson s Huts, Antarctica Other Types of Mixed Reality Data-Streamed Virtual Reality Augmented Virtuality Audio Augmented Reality Participant and Audience-Augmented Virtuality Augmented Reality and Virtual Heritage Summary Evaluating Virtual Heritage Testing That Which Is Not Yet Fully Tested Evaluating Cultural Learning Virtual Heritage Evaluation What Types of Evaluation Are There? Expert Testing Content and Media Comparison Studies Physiological Testing Task Performance Surveys/Questionnaires Ethnographic Evaluation Evaluating Virtual Heritage Environments

5 xv Task Performance and Game Evaluation... Statistical Methods Suitable for Virtual Heritage Projects Evaluation Case Study: Palenque Pilot Study Evaluation Evaluation Questions Schedule of Evaluation Observations Summary of Evaluation for Virtual Heritage Conclusion Cultural Understanding Through Digital Interactivity Future Research Index... 2

Online Exploration of Mayan Culture

Online Exploration of Mayan Culture Erik Champion Department of Geomatics, and Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning The University of Melbourne VIC 3010 Australia e.champion@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au