Virtual Research Environment Research Articles

Providing and accessing scientific literature. How the German Research Foundation (DFG) supports scholarly communication

Within the DFG the Committee on Academic Libraries and Information Systems is traditionally responsible for the management of funding activities for libraries and archives. Formerly known as the Library Committee the change of its name reflects major developments in the exchange of research information. Libraries don’t only buy and provide books any longer, they are asked to provide digital information that can be accessed independently of time and place. Libraries themselves need to build digital research environments. They must build them unless they want to loose their customers that are perfectly able to look for alternatives in discovering scholarly literature. Libraries namely are not any longer the only providers of research information. Information does not only come from a growing variety of archives, museums and media centres. Many researchers themselves build information environments where they provide highly relevant materials. And finally publishers offer possibilities to quickly find and access high quality information. In that rapidly changing landscape academics and scientists asked their information facilities to support them in the best possible ways, not only in regard to accessing the necessary information but also in disseminating their own research results. Researchers ask to be supported in digitally accessing publications. They ask for support in regard to the discipline specific indexing of information spaces, they ask for support as far as providing management, and interlinking of research and literature goes. During the last years the DFG has unfolded many activities to support scholarly communication by funding ambitious projects in providing literature, in digitizing highly relevant resources, in electronic publishing and in building virtual research environments. Far away from simply financing individual projects the task of the committee consisted in building up the necessary infrastructure for scholarly communication and thus also required issuing recommendations, reviews and strategy papers. Actually the Committee on Academic Libraries and Information Systems met in conclave in October 2005 and worked on new recommendations to the focal points of interest in research information. In May 2006, the DFG’s Executive Committee will be discussing these recommendations before they will, as I hope, be published in summer this year. The recommendations will propose specific activities in the four main funding programs that are Nationwide Library Services, Cultural Heritage, New Forms And Methods Of Publication and Information Management. For my paper however I will mainly concentrate on describing how projects especially

From Libraries to ‘Libratories’

While the eighties of the last century were a time of local automation for libraries and the nineties the decade in which libraries embraced the internet and the WWW, now is the age in which the big search engines and institutional repositories are gaining a firm footing. This heralds a new era in both the evolution of scholarly communication and its agencies themselves, i.e. the libraries. Until now libraries and publishers have developed a digital variant of existing processes and products, i.e. catalogues posted on the Web, scanned copies of articles, e-mail notification about acquisitions or expired lending periods, or traditional journals in a digital jacket. However, the new OAI repositories and services based upon them have given rise to entirely new processes and products, libraries transforming themselves into partners in setting up virtual learning environments, building an institution’s digital showcase, maintaining academics’ personal websites, designing refereed portals and – further into the future – taking part in organising virtual research environments or collaboratories. Libraries are set to metamorphose into ‘libratories’, an imaginary word to express their combined functions of library, repository and collaboratory. In such environments scholarly communication will be liberated from its current copyright bridle while its coverage will be both broader - including primary data, audiovisuals and dynamic models - and deeper, with cross-disciplinary analyses of methodologies and applications of instruments. Universities will make it compulsory to store in their institutional repositories the results of research conducted within their walls for purposes of academic reporting, review committees, and other modes of clarification and explanation. Big search engines will provide access to this profusion of information and organise its mass customisation.

From libraries to ‘libratories’

While the eighties of the last century were a time of local automation for libraries and the nineties the decade in which libraries embraced the Internet and the Web, now is the age in which the big search engines and institutional repositories are gaining a firm footing. This heralds a new era in both the evolution of scholarly communication and its agencies themselves, i.e. the libraries. Until now libraries and publishers have developed a digital variant of existing processes and products, i.e. catalogues posted on the Web, scanned copies of articles, e–mail notification about acquisitions or expired lending periods, or traditional journals in a digital jacket. However, the new OAI repositories and services based upon them have given rise to entirely new processes and products, libraries transforming themselves into partners in setting up virtual learning environments, building an institution’s digital showcase, maintaining academics’ personal Web sites, designing refereed portals and — further into the future — taking part in organising virtual research environments or collaboratories. Libraries are set to metamorphose into ‘libratories’, an imaginary word to express their combined functions of library, repository and collaboratory. In such environments scholarly communication will be liberated from its current copyright bridle while its coverage will be both broader — including primary data, audiovisuals and dynamic models — and deeper, with cross–disciplinary analyses of methodologies and applications of instruments. Universities will make it compulsory to store in their institutional repositories the results of research conducted within their walls for purposes of academic reporting, review committees, and other modes of clarification and explanation. Big search engines will provide access to this profusion of information and organise its mass customization.

Effects of Local-Lag Mechanism on Task Performance in a Desktop CVE System

Consistency maintenance is a kernel problem in Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) research. The approaches used in Networked Virtual Environments (e.g., DR algorithm) could not be used in CVEs, for they could not prevent short-term inconsistency. Therefore, local-lag mechanism has been proposed to eliminate short-term inconsistency in CVEs. Choosing a proper lag value is a key problem in local-lag mechanism. This paper studied the effects of lag value (0ms-900ms) on task performance in a desktop CVE system. Experimental results indicate that the effect of lag value on task performance is not linear. The effect could be separated into four segments by three dividing points: 150ms, 300ms and 600ms. Lag has no effect on task performance while ranging from 0ms to 150ms. From 150ms to 300ms, lag slightly affects task performance. Lag deteriorates task performance seriously while ranging from 300ms to 600ms. When lag is longer than 600ms, the task cannot be accomplished sometimes.

How Colorful Was Your Day? Why Questionnaires Cannot Assess Presence in Virtual Environments

This paper argues that a scientific basis for “presence” as it's usually understood in virtual environments research, can not be established on the basis of postexperience presence questionnaires alone. To illustrate the point, an arbitrary mental attribute called “colorfulness of the experience” is conjured up, and a set of questions administered to 74 respondents with an online questionnaire. The results suggested that colorfulness of yesterday's experiences was associated with the extent to which a person accomplished their tasks, and also associated with yesterday being a “good”, “pleasant”, but not frustrating day. The meaning lessness of this analysis illustrates that the equivalent methodology used by presence researchers, may, similarly, bring into being the idea of presence in the minds of VE participants. However, it is argued that there can be no evidence on this methodological basis that presence played any role in their actual mental activity or behavior at the time of the experience. It is concluded that presence researchers must move away from heavy reliance on questionnaires in order to make any progress in this area.

Supporting Teaching and Research in an Online Environment: Developing the University of London Library Model

Founded in 1837, the University of London Library (ULL) is the central research library of the University of London with particular research strengths across the broader arts, humanities and social sciences. With the development of information and communications technology, it has become a hybrid library, offering access to electronic collections but also extending access to services and its physical collections through its website and online catalogue. Research libraries now face the challenge of supporting distance learning. The ULL has risen to this challenge by being a partner in the development of webenhanced distance learning by the University of London External Programme’s Virtual Campus Project. To do this, the ULL has initiated the Virtual Library Service (VLS) Project. Within the research-focussed University of London, the ULL has anticipated the potential research-support needs of its students. It is also leading a separately funded Virtual Research Environment (VRE) Project on behalf of the University Libraries Committee to address these needs and inform the University of London’s activities in the virtual sphere. The University of London has created the Electronic Library Projects Team (ELPT) to undertake the VLS and VRE projects and ensure that they develop along complementary lines. This paper outlines how the ULL is supporting teaching and research in an online environment through the development of its VLS and VRE models.

Calibrating Visual Path Integration in VEs

When moving around in the world, humans can use the motion sensations provided by their kinesthetic, vestibular, and visual senses to maintain their sense of direction. Previous research in virtual environments (VEs) has shown that this so-called path integration process is inaccurate in the case that only visual motion stimuli are present, which may lead to disorientation. In an experiment, we investigated whether participants can calibrate this visual path integration process for rotations; in other words, can they learn the relation between visual flow and the angle that they traverse in the VE? Results show that, by providing participants with knowledge of results (KR), they can indeed calibrate the biases in their path integration process, and also maintain their improved level of performance on a retention test the next day.

Visualization and modeling of geoscientific data on the Interactive Workbench

The Interactive Workbench was initially a collaboration between the University of Houston's Virtual Environment Research Institute (VERI, but then known as VETL) and BHP's research branch. The latter wished to evaluate the potential long-term impact of virtual reality (VR) on the resource industry. Oil and gas exploration, in which computer technology/expertise is widespread, was chosen as a testing ground.

High-power graphic computers for visual simulation: a real-time--rendering revolution.

Advances in high-end graphics computers in the past decade have made it possible to render visual scenes of incredible complexity and realism in real time. These new capabilities make it possible to manipulate and investigate the interactions of observers with their visual world in ways once only dreamed of. This paper reviews how these developments have affected two preexisting domains of behavioral research (flight simulation and motion perception) and have created a new domain (virtual environment research) which provides tools and challenges for the perceptual psychologist. Finally, the current limitations of these technologies are considered, with an eye toward how perceptual psychologist might shape future developments.

Comments on the Use of Olfactory Displays for Virtual Environments

Currently, the hardware to produce virtual environments does not include olfactory displays, in spite of the fact that a wealth of sensory information is available from the olfactory sense. This paper reviews the physiological and psychological aspects of olfaction and discusses the use of olfactory displays for virtual environments. Further, it outlines the information that will be needed by the virtual environment research community to integrate olfactory stimuli into virtual environments.

Research in Virtual Environments and Simulation at the Institute for Simulation and Training of the University of Central Florida

The Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) was created in 1984 by the University of Central Florida to provide research support to the U.S. Department of Defense in the area of simulation-based training. In 1989, IST's Visual Systems Laboratory (VSL) was inaugurated. Focal areas of research at VSL include distributed realtime physical simulation, interoperability among networked simulators, the application of virtual environments to education, training, and design, and head-mounted display technology. Section 1 describes the history of IST and VSL, and VSL's early projects. Section 2 surveys current research projects in three main areas: dynamic environments, interoperability, and virtual environments. Section 3 describes service and educational activities, and Section 4 provides insight into future research plans.

Virtual Environments Research in the Air Force Institute of Technology Virtual Environments, 3-D Medical Imaging, and Computer Graphics Laboratory

The Air Force Institute of Technology Virtual Environments, 3-D Medical Imaging, and Computer Graphics Laboratory is investigating the 3-D computer graphics, user-interface design, networking protocol, and software architecture aspects of distributed virtual environments. In this paper we describe the research projects that are underway in the laboratory. These projects include the development of an aircraft simulator for a distributed virtual environment, projects for observing, analyzing, and understanding virtual environments, a space virtual environment, a project that incorporates “live” aircraft range data into a distributed virtual environment, a virtual environment application framework, and a project for use in a hospital emergency department. We also discuss the research equipment infrastructure in the laboratory, recent publications, and the educational services we provide.

The VEOS Project

The Virtual Environment Operating Shell (veos) was developed at University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory as software infrastructure for the lab's research in virtual environments. veos was designed from scratch to provide a comprehensive and unified management facility to support generation of, interaction with, and maintenance of virtual environments. VEOS emphasizes rapid prototyping, heterogeneous distributed computing, and portability. We discuss the design, philosophy and implementation of veos in depth. Within the Kernel, the shared database transformations are pattern-directed, communications are asynchronous, and the programmer's interface is LISP. An entity-based metaphor extends object-oriented programming to systems-oriented programming. Entities provide first-class environments and biological programming constructs such as perceive, react, and persist. The organization, structure, and programming of entities are discussed in detail. The article concludes with a description of the applications that have contributed to the iterative refinement of the VEOS software.

Virtual Environments Research at the Georgia Tech GVU Center

Virtual Environments Research at the Georgia Tech GVU Center

An Integrated Virtual Environment System

Virtual environment research involves a number of related problems from a variety of domains. A joint research at the George Washington University and the Naval Research Laboratory is bringing together issues from these domains to study the factors that contribute to an integrated virtual environment. The research can be divided into three general categories: human factors, motion control, and sound synchronization. Human factors issues involve the development of new paradigms for movement and navigation, essential for performance of general tasks in virtual spaces. Novel approaches to motion control are being explored to help users of virtual environments interact and control virtual objects. This involves both interactive control as well as automation through evolutionary approaches. The sounds being generated as a result of these motions are modeled with compositional techniques to parameterize and synchronize them to the events in the environment. The research is being approached from both a fundamental point of view typical of an academic environment as well as from an application oriented point of view of interest to the Navy. The cooperative relationship has benefited both the George Washington University and the Naval Research Laboratory.

Advanced telerobotic interfaces: Background for the design of virtual environments

Experiences in the design of spatially oriented multisensory human/machine interfaces for telerobotic systems provide valuable background for the design of virtual environments. These interfaces may be viewed as virtual portals into world models with conventional Newtonian physics and minimal computational delay and distortion. As such, they help isolate the contribution and interaction of human/machine interface components in a system where a high-fidelity real-time world model is available. This paper will provide a survey of work performed in the field of advanced telerobotic interfaces and its import for the virtual environment research and development community.

High thermal conductivity ceramics

The Virtual Environment Research, Interactive Technology, And Simulation (VERITAS) facility is designed to support basic and applied research in complex multisensory environments including: 3D audio displays for improving safety in general aviation flight operations, advanced audio displays for improving performance in combat search and rescue missions, basic and applied research on multisensory (audio/visual/haptic) interactions, and displays for instrument landing systems. The central component of the facility is a CAVE®, a room-sized virtual environment presentation system. Several of our multi-user distributed experiments also utilized a virtual environment display system in the Appenzeller Visualization Laboratory (AVL). The facilities include a set of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software solutions that work together with custom applications developed by our team to create immersive virtual environments. To facilitate software development and coherence, we created the Integrated Virtual Platform (IVP) as a flexible, expandable, and portable software platform for human performance experimentation. The experiments, experiences, and results in the VERITAS facility presented here, provide an example of a VE platform being actively used for human performance experimentation. The success of the research we have completed suggests that immersive virtual environments are useful tools in investigating complex human performance tasks.