From: IN%"peter@Nexus.YorkU.CA" "Peter Roosen-Runge" 13-SEP-1990 18:30:23.18 To: cs100006@YUSol CC: Subj: Return-path: peter@Nexus.YorkU.CA Received: from JNET-DAEMON by YUSol; Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:30 EDT Received: From YORKVM1(MAILER) by YUSOL with Jnet id 3720 for CS100006@YUSOL; Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:30 EDT Received: from YUOrion by VM1.YORKU.CA (Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 2479; Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:30:29 EDT Received: from nexus.yorku.ca by Orion.YorkU.CA; Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:28 EDT Received: by nexus.yorku.ca id 6942; Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:28:19 EDT Date: Thu, 13 Sep 90 18:28:14 EDT From: Peter Roosen-Runge To: cs100006@YUSol Message-Id: <90Sep13.182819edt.6942@nexus.yorku.ca> Path: yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.ut exas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!ames!prlb .philips.be!prcs3.decnet.philips.be!jenkins@beaver.cs.washington. From: ames!prlb.philips.be!prcs3.decnet.philips.be!jenkins@beaver.cs.washington. Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: VR reference list, re:Yo People! Message-ID: <7461@milton.u.washington.edu> Date: 6 Sep 90 13:19:41 GMT Article-I.D.: milton.7461 Posted: Thu Sep 6 09:19:41 1990 Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu Lines: 140 Approved: hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu *Reading for Dreamers - Virtual Reality and CyberSpace 'Reference' List* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've seen the postings regarding 'Yo People!'. I've been interested in the ideas behind VR for *quite* a while, and have found various references to, and discussions of the ideas behind it in some of the material below. The list is by no means exhaustive, and has some items that should be reasonably easy to find. Some of the items may be available in the UK only. 1/ Magazine and Newspaper Articles [a] 'Interfaces for Advanced Computing'; James D Foley, Scientific American, October 1987, (Advanced Computing issue). The first thing I saw specifically about VR, apart from cyberspace and cyberpunk SF stories. This issue of Scientific American is worth seeking out, as it covers other new computer technology issues. [b] 'Between Man And Machine'; Ernest R Tello, BYTE magazine, September 1988. Similar in scope to [a]. [c] 'The Road to the Global Village'; Karen Wright, Scientfic American, March 1990. Longish piece, puts VR in the context of emerging global communications technology. [d] 'Cyberspace:The Final Frontier'; Mark Heley, i-d magazine, January/February 1990. (UK publication) NB - i-d is a 'style' magazine, and this namechecks stuff like VPL, MONDO 2000, and cyberpunk, etc. [e] 'From Here To Reality'; Jim McClellan, The Face magazine, November 1989. (UK publication) Similar in scope to [d]. [f] 'Participative Fiction'; Charles Platt, Interzone, March-April 1990. (UK publication) Suggests VR ideas may replace conventional (written) fiction. Interzone is a UK based SF magazine, available in America and other countries. [g] 'Virtually a perfect world'; Bob Swain, The Guardian, Thursday June 14th 1990. (UK newspaper) [h] 'Active video: it's out of this world'; Sam Kiley, The Sunday Times, Sunday June 17th 1990. (UK newspaper) [i] 'Realm of near reality'; Jack Schofield, The Guardian, Thursday July 26th 1990. (UK newspaper) [j] 'Virtual Reality'; Frank Hayes, UNIX WORLD, August 1990. [k] 'Virtual Reality'; Marc De Groot, Unix Review, Vol 8 number 8, September 1990. [l] BYTE magazine, July 1990, full of articles on 'Computing Without Keyboards', including datagloves. A *must read* issue of BYTE, mentioned in sci.virtual-worlds some time ago. [a], [b], [c], and [l], IMHO, make good background references. 2/ Books [a] 'THE MEDIA LAB'; Stewart Brand, 1987/1988, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-009701-5 (paper). The above is an absolute *MUST* read. Covers VR, multimedia, AI, highly parallel processing, graphics, communication etc. *LOTS* of ideas and *very readable*. [b] 'MIND CHILDREN'; Hans Moravec, 1988, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-57616-0 (paper) and ISBN 0-674-57618-7 (cloth). The above is a good read. Visualizes VR ideas in the book; covers the projected evolution of computer/cybernetic systems into a replacement for humankind. *Provocative* to some humanists or those concerned with 'mind/body split' philosophical ideas. I believe this book attracted some attention. 3/ Books discussing technology/concepts Virtual Realities (may) need These don't specifically mention VR, but may be important to the potential requirements of VR, IMHO. [a] 'The Connection Machine'; W Daniel Hillis, 1985, 1987, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-08157-1 (cloth). Paperback available. Dicusses one model of *highly* parallel processing, the basis for the famous (?) 'Connection Machine', created at MIT. The book is actually Hillis' Phd thesis, but very readable. [b] 'Artifical Life'; [The Proceedings of An Interdisciplinary Workshop on The Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems. Held September 1987, in Los Alamos New Mexico.]; Christopher G Langton ed; 'Vol VI Santa Fe Institute Studies in Sciences of Complexity'; Addison Wesley 1989, ISBN 0-201-09346-4. ISBN 0-201-09356-1 (pbk). Not sure about this one. Discusses all manner of biologically inspired methods for modelling 'living' systems. Includes simulation, graphics, animal behaviour, artificial intelligence. Cuts across all kinds of subjects. I suspect that the stuff on generating graphics for instance (eg modelling plant growth) may be of some interest to those who want 'plants' and 'animals' or whatever in their VR. [Who wants VRs to have straight grid-lines or neon cubes all over the place ? :-) ] The book is *huge*, and also has papers by Moravec, and Drexler (of nano-technology fame.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - D. Jenkins !INTERNET jenkins@prcs3.decnet.philips.be - - Standard Disclaimers Apply ! - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------