Virtual presence - Research and Development Issues Spending time in Virtual Spaces The social and human experience self Frank Scenery and content examples Infrastructure requirements End user equipment Business case EU-FP6 Peter Schulthess & al. University of Ulm, Germany Laboratory of Distributed Systems Distributed Systems, Ulm University 1 / 8
Spending time in Virtual Spaces: Socializing spaces: - chat, play, mail, avatar presence, mobile presence, televison Workspaces : - Joint editing & CAD, document archives, conference rooms, nanospaces Markets: - shopping, auctions, public services, consulting, banking, virtual travel Guessing the trend to virtualization: Transport & shopping Television Sleep C-Entertainment Computerwork 2002 2012 Work Distributed Systems, Ulm University 2 / 8
Reflexion in contemporary SF-Literature Douglas Adams ( galaxy, approximate quote): - A computer terminal is not just a clumsy old TV set with a typewriter keyboard in front of it, but an interface to connect mind and body to the universe and move parts of it through space William Gibson: Neuromancer Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash Wolfgang Hohlbein: The Net Salient points: - New rules in virtual space ( metaverse ), - Mixing reality and virtual spaces, - Dominance of large companies, - Isolation of individual people, - Violence and slavery, - Multiple presence. Distributed Systems, Ulm University 3 / 8
The social and human experience: Consider the handicapped and the elderly? Find the essence of communication Feeling and perceive the presence Collective user interface needed Immersion but no violence! Meet people in the net => Enhanced conferencing Not merely for techies Grandmothers visit M M M E I = @ K H I Distributed Systems, Ulm University 4 / 8
Scenery and content example 1 3D interactive virtual worlds => Location based information Shops, brokers & auctions Directories & databases Web, News & mail Video on Demand Computer games Edutainment www.activeworlds.com. Distributed Systems, Ulm University 5 / 8
Computer Game Scenario Rendering through high-performance 3D graphics adapter. Typically includes the option of networked play. Frequently rather violent action. Addictive & immersive. Distributed Systems, Ulm University 6 / 8
Collaborative Browsing Application => K. Froitzheim, H. Wolf & al. Collaborative Browsing in the Web. Visualize people in the vicinity of our current web page. Scout Applet to monitor user location & movements. Vicinity in the Web => - URL matching, - Based on directory, - Based on link distance, - Keyword based Vicinity, - Filtered according to profiles. Web space Offering a chat facility and more: User 1 Me User 3 Distributed Systems, Ulm University 7 / 8
Beyond voice communication. Smart Phones Enhancing a voice conference: - Biographical information on speaker & participants, - Side-band conversation possible, - Moderation and floor control, - Automatic conference setup, - Who is currently speaking Explicit and anonymous and feedback: - Stare, approve, disapprove, sleep, - Time keeping, inquiry. Recording and directory service. PBX features on the internet. Tim Moore, University of New South Wales => Distributed Systems, Ulm University 8 / 8
Infrastructure Requirements Privacy, security, trust & payments => Standards & recommendations World models & navigation Vicinities & communities Advanced session control Mobile networks/umts Mobile personal context Web application toolkits Other Friends Office Family Distributed Systems, Ulm University 9 / 8
Service Standardisation Standards required for worldwide deployment. Session initiation protocol (SIP, accepted for UMTS). Extending SIP: - Notification about a change of presence/vicinity, - SIMPLE for instant messaging & presence, - SDP for Multimedia Quality of Service, - Telephone supplementary facilities, - Visibility, availability, privacy, Competing standards: - H.263, - IMPP, - ICQ Caller SIP 1 Server 2 3 4 Callee Distributed Systems, Ulm University 10 / 8
End user equipment: Augmented reality & wearable computers => Cell phones and handheld PCs Bluetooth & wireless LANs Three dimensional vision Speech recognizers PCs & game cubes Wall projectors Smart tags http://borglab.media.mit.edu/wiki/borglab Distributed Systems, Ulm University 11 / 8
Business case Collaboration & medical consultation => Enhanced telephony on the internet Meaningful UMTS applications Mass market for entertainment Virtual travel & conferencing Edutainment and games Shopping & banking Advertising Distributed Systems, Ulm University 12 / 8
Workpackages for EU Research Action in VP Management, planning and controlling Standards observation and recommendation Overall architecture and API definition User interface abstraction & technology. User profile and world model data base E-commerce enhancement components Security and trust components Telephony presence & mobile devices 3D animation and 3D Web evolution Networked entertainment platform.. Definition Services Applications Distributed Systems, Ulm University 13 / 8
Conclusion New Volume-Applications possible: - Virtual meetings and conferences => - Location based services, - Network games, - 3D Worlds, - Phone! Synergy expected between: - Presentity based Presence Awareness - Location based Presence Awareness - GPS Satellite Localisation Service, - UMTS Localisation Service, - Environment Models. Research and development issues: - Achieve the feeling of presence, - Provide adequate technology, - Set service platform. Distributed Systems, Ulm University 14 / 8
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