Subject: ADMIN: sci.virtual-worlds FAQ, updated May 1992. (LONG)

From: [email-masked] (Human Int. Technology Lab)
Date: 9 May 92 19:19:13 GMT

[Co-mod(Mark): Please note that the FAQ posted previous to this should
 be ignored-- it contained some errors.  This posting fixes all of
 those errors that were identified, and adds some additional
 information.  I hope you will find it useful.]

   This is the Frequently-Asked-Questions post (FAQ) for sci.virtual-worlds.
 Please send updates, additions to Mark A. DeLoura ([email-masked])
             This document was last modified on May 8, 1992.

Contents:
        The Newsgroup
        The Mailing List
        The Listserv
        Index to Subject-line Blips
        The Posting Archives
        Virtual Reality Bibliography
        Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions, available via FTP
        The Glove-list Archive
        Definitions
        VR Tool Index   
        Other Businesses
        VR Research in Schools
        Suggested Reading List
        Other Sources of Information on Virtual Reality

========

The Newsgroup:

Sci.virtual-worlds is aimed at the discussion of aspects of virtual
reality and its related technologies.  The newsgroup is moderated by
two members of the Human Interface Technology (HIT) Lab, in Seattle,
Washington:

        Bob Jacobson                        Mark A. DeLoura
        [email-masked]           [email-masked]
        Moderator                           Co-moderator/librarian

Questions concerning the newsgroup itself or operations of the HIT Lab
should be addressed to Bob.  Questions regarding the archives, FAQ, or
FTP site should go to Mark.

========

The Mailing List:

The newsgroup is available via a mailing list, as well as UseNet
proper.  The mailing list originates from [email-masked].
To get onto the mailing list, send e-mail to Mark requesting to be put
on it.  Articles will come to your mailbox as they are posted to the
group, and articles can be posted to the newsgroup by Replying to any
of the messages, or sending mail to [email-masked].
Unsubscribe requests should also be sent to Mark.

========

The Listserv:

Sci.virtual-worlds is bounced off a BITNET site, UIUCVMD at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  To sign on this list,
send a mail message to [email-masked] (or whatever the
appropriate manner for sending mail to bitnet might be at your site).
The body of the message should read:
        subscribe virtu-l <full_name>
Put your full name as a replacement for <full_name>, of course.  Greg
Newby is the administrator for virtu-l.  Any questions about the list
should be directed to him at: [email-masked].

========

Index to Subject-line Blips:

        ADMIN: Items of administrative importance.
        APPS:  Applications of virtual worlds in various domains.
        CONF:  Probably the most overused blip, for conferences.
        EDUC:  Having to do with schooling in the field.
        JOB:   Notice of job offers, etc.
        MISC:  Items that don't fit into any other category.
        PHIL:  Deep and profound discussions of virtuality, etc.
        SCI:   Scientific issues, like how light refracts, etc.
        SOC/CULTURE: Notes on virtual worlds and social phenomena.
        TECH:  Hard technology, codes, software, hardware, etc.
        %-):   The Awestruck Smiley symbol.  Item is of unusual interest
                or quality.

========

The Posting Archives:

Nearly all of the postings ever made to sci.virtual-worlds have been
saved, and are available via anonymous FTP.  We say "nearly all",
because some postings from the first few months have been lost.

The FTP site is milton.u.washington.edu (128.95.136.1).  The messages
are stored in ~ftp/public/virtual-worlds/postings, and are generally
kept in monthly groups that are tar'red and compressed.  An index file
is kept in the top-level of the postings directory, and is also
compressed-- it consists of the subject lines from all postings that
are available.

Don't forget to anonymously ftp the files in binary mode!  (If you
have no idea what I'm talking about, you'd be best off talking to your
system administrator.)

========

Virtual Reality Bibliography:

There is a bibliography of VR-related papers and publications
available in the FTP site mentioned above, in the directory 
~ftp/public/virtual-worlds/citations.

The bibliography is in latex/bibtex format.  If you don't have these
text formatters, the files are readable as straight text, they just
look a little messy.

========

Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions, available via FTP:

Also in the sci.virtual-worlds FTP site, there exists a large
directory filled with various information on current VR technology.
Most of this information has been obtained from sci.virtual-worlds
posts, and will be updated as things are posted to the newsgroup.  The
information will be kept in ~ftp/public/virtual-worlds/faq, and a
tar'red and compressed version of the directory will be kept as the
file ~ftp/public/virtual-worlds/faq.tar.Z.

Here is a list of the current contents of the faq directory:

citations/      commercial/     conf/   other/
papers/         publications/   rsrch/  schools/

citations:
3D.optical.tracker      3D.sound        Eye-tracking
Force-feedback          Good.top.10     HCI.bibliography
Head-tracking           Text.in.VR      W.industry.papers

commercial:
3d.digitizers           AGE                     Alias
Ascension               Battletech              Broderbund
CrystalRiver            Dimension               Division
EXOS                    Evans&Sutherland        FakeSpaceLabs
FocalPoint              FutureVisions           GoggleVox
Gyration                Haitex                  ISCAN
Interlink               Kynar                   LEEP
Logitech                MaK                     Matsushita
Mattel                  Megatek                 Polhemus
README.3dsound          README.displays         README.gloves
README.hardware         README.other            README.software
README.trackers         Reflection              Sega
Sense8                  ShootingStarTech        SimGraphics
Spaceball               StereoGraphics          StrayLight
Tektronix               Telepresence            Teletact
TiNi                    Transfinite             VPL/
Virtex                  VirtualResearch         VirtualS
Virtus                  VividEffects            WIndustries/
Worldesign              Xtensory

commercial/VPL:
EyePhones               VPL.MicroCosm           VPL.MicroCosm2
VPL.address

commercial/WIndustries:
Visette.size            W.addr                  W.descrip
W.descrip1              W.descrip2              W.descrip3

conf:
CyberConf1.proceedings  CyberConf2.CFP          CyberConf2.review
CyberConf2.review2      CyberConf2.review3      CyberConf2.review4
CyberConf2.review5      CyberConf3.info         Cyberarts.91.announce
HITL.91.announce        InCyberspace.91.announce
InCyberspace.91.review  Meckler.91.announce     Meckler.91.proceedings
Nikkei.91.addr          Nikkei.91.announce      Nikkei.91.announce2
Nikkei.91.announce3     Nikkei.91.review        Nikkei.92.CFP
SRI.91.announce         SRI.91.review           SRI.91.review2
Siggraph.91.CFP         Siggraph.91.CFP2

other:
3D.renderer.PC          ALIFE                   ALIFE.2
ALIFE.Tierra            BIX                     BlipList
George.Coates.info      INGRAFX                 MUDs
Meckler.videos          Neural.interface        Neural.interface.2
Neural.interface.3      Neural.interface.4      Senate.hearing.summary
Senate.hearing.video    Stereoscopy.bulletin    Tech2000.DC
UserInterface.92.announce                       VR.Consortium
VR.Film.doc

papers:
3dm-abstr.ps.Z          3dm-impl.ps.Z           3dm-users.ps.Z
Andersson.Scenario.Z    Barlow.BeingInNothingness.Z
Barlow.CrimeAndPuzzlement.Z                     Bricken.DirectionsOfGrowth.Z
Carlson.VirtualMars.Z   Farmer.GettingThere.Z
Jacobson.TowardsGlobalInitiative.Z              Jacobson.trip.reports/
Norskog.5D.Z            Norskog.VRNeeds.Z       Pausch.5DollarsADay.Z
Taylor.VisualizationSarnoff.Z                   VR.paper.tar.Z
VirtualEnvironments.ps.Z                        Walser.CyberspacePlayhouse.Z
Wells.Overview.Z        Wolff.InsideVR.Z

papers/Jacobson.trip.reports:
Bob.Europe.1.Z          Bob.Europe.2.Z          Bob.Europe.3.Z
Bob.Japan.1.Z           Bob.Japan.2.Z           Bob.Japan.3.Z
Bob.Sweden.Z

publications:
ArtificialRealityII     Azimuth.newsletter      CyberEdge
EccentricSpaces         Graphics.hacking        HITL.tapes
HumanScale              MakingThemMove          Mondo2000
Presence                Random.magazine.articles
Spatial.data.books      Theoretical.and.General VR.Index
VR.Monitor              VRsourcebook            VirtualReality
WholeEarthReview

rsrch:
Boeing                  Boeing.Alabama          DEC
HITL                    IBM                     Intel
JTTAS                   NASA                    NASA.3d.sound
NASA.Ames               NASA.View               NASA2
RMIT                    SFI                     Sarnoff
Sarnoff's.Princeton.Engine

schools:
Banff                   CMU                     Cal.Arts
Columbia.U              National.U.Singapore    Naval.Postgrad
Naval.Research.Lab      README                  RPI
Stanford                Syracuse                Syracuse.2
Syracuse.3              U.of.Alberta            U.of.Alberta,MRToolkit
U.of.Central.Florida    U.of.Geneva             U.of.Illinois.U-C
U.of.NorthCarolina      U.of.NorthCarolina,3dm  U.of.NorthCarolina,Siggraph
U.of.Southampton        U.of.Tokyo              U.of.Toronto
U.of.Virginia           U.of.Washington         Utah
list.extended

========

The Glove-list Archive:

The Mattel PowerGlove, which was designed to be plugged into a
Nintendo home video game unit, spawned off a large discussion of how
to interface the unit to computers for simple movement in virtual
worlds.  This discussion was eventually moved to a mailing list, and
is now archived on karazm.math.uh.edu (129.7.128.1), in the directory
~ftp/pub/VR.  Also available there is the source code for interfacing
the PowerGlove to various computers.

The Glove-list still exists-- to subscribe to it, send mail to
[email-masked] with a body of:

subscribe glove-list [email-masked]

<replace [email-masked] with a valid e-mail address>

The PowerGlove itself has been discontinued, but lucky bargain-hunters
may be able to find some still available in Toys 'R Us stores or
remote stores that sell Nintendo equipment.

========

Definitions:

The definitions which are listed here are not meant to be *the*
canonical definitions of VR technology. They are instead a list of terms
which are commonly used and the intersection of many people's personal
definitions. 

Cyberspace: in short, the information space which we all operate in.
        Radio waves are as much a part of the cyberspace "matrix" as
        are the means by which you are currently reading this article.
        Anything which is a means of communication or a communication
        itself could arguably be considered part of Cyberspace.
Virtual Reality (VR): Virtual Reality as a concept essentially deals
        with convincing the participant that s/he is actually in
        another place, by replacing the normal sensory input received
        by the participant with information produced by a computer.
        This is usually done through three-dimensional graphics and
        I/O devices which closely resemble the participant's normal
        interface to the physical world.  The most common I/O devices
        are gloves, which transmit information about the participant's
        hand (position, orientation, and finger bend angles), and
        head-mounted displays, which give the user a stereoscopic view
        of the virtual world via two computer-controlled display
        screens, as well as providing something to mount a
        position/orientation sensor on.
Virtual World: a Virtual World is a scene or experience which a
        participant can interact with using computer-controlled I/O
        devices.  Most virtual worlds attempt to imitate physical
        reality, but virtual worlds are not strictly tied to physical
        reality-- any set of information that can be visualized can be
        made into a virtual world that the participant can experience. 
Artificial Reality: unlike the term Virtual Reality, Artificial
        Reality has come to mean something a bit more specific, due to
        Myron Kreuger's books "Artficial Reality" and "Artificial 
        Reality II".  Artificial Reality is like VR in that the 
        participant's experiences are manipulated/enhanced by a 
        computer, but the Artificial Reality experiences are not as
        intrusive-- they usually don't require the participant to 
        don goggles, or wear a glove, and they often involve full-body
        motion without any extra interface whatsoever.  Read the book
        "Artificial Reality II" for more details.  

========

VR Tool Index:

Gloves
------
CyberGlove
        Jim Kramer
        Virtex Technologies
        P.O. Box 5984
        Stanford, CA 94309
        Phone:  (415) 497-1204
DataGlove II
        VPL Research 
        656 Bair Island Road, Suite 304
        Redwood City, CA 94063
        Phone:  (415) 361-1710
        Fax:    (415) 361-1845
EXOS Dextrous Hand Master
        EXOS, Inc.
        8 Blanchard Road.
        Burlington, MA 08103
Mattel PowerGlove
        Discontinued-- Check Toys 'R Us.
Teletact Force-feedback Glove
        Advanced Robotics Research Ltd
        National Advanced Robotics Research Centre
        University Road,
        SALFORD,  M5 4PP,
        United Kingdom.
        Phone:  44-61-745-7384
        Fax:    44-61-745-8264

Stereo Displays (for LCD shutter glasses and other displays, see FTP site.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOM (Binocular Omni-Orientational Monitor)
        Fake Space Labs
        935 Hamilton Avenue
        Menlo Park, CA 94025
        Phone: (415) 688-1940
        Fax:   (415) 688-1949
Cyberface II
        LEEP Systems, Inc.
        241 Crescent St.
        Waltham, MA  02154
        Phone:  (617) 647-1395
        Fax:    (617) 899-9602
EyePhones (various models)
        VPL Research 
        656 Bair Island Road, Suite 304
        Redwood City, CA 94063
        Phone:  (415) 361-1710
        Fax:    (415) 361-1845
Flight Helmet
        Virtual Research
        1313 Socorro Ave.
        Sunnyvale, CA 94089
        Phone:  (408) 739-7114
Visette
        W Industries Limited
        Virtuality House
        3 Oswin Rd
        Brailsford Industrial Park
        Leicester
        LE3 1HR
        Phone:  (0533) 542 127
        Fax:    (0533) 548 222

Trackers
--------
2D/6D Mouse (Red Baron)
        Logitech, Inc.
        6505 Kaiser Drive,
        Fremont, CA  94555
        Phone:  (415) 795-8500
        Fax:    (415) 792-8901
3Space Isotrak
        Polhemus Navigational Sciences
        P.O. Box 560
        1 Hercules Drive
        Colchester, VT 05546
        Phone:  (802) 655-3159  
        Fax:    (802) 655-1439
ADL-1 Mechanically-Coupled Tracker
        Shooting Star Technology
        1921 Holdom Avenue
        Burnaby, B.C. Canada
        V5B 3W4
        Phone:  (604) 298-8574
        Fax:    (604) 298-8580
The Bird / Flock of Birds / Big Bird
        Ascension Technology Corp.
        P.O. Box 527
        Burlington, VT 05402
        Phone:  (802) 655-7879
        Fax:    (802) 655-5904
Evil Eye eye-tracker
        ISCAN
        125 Cambridgepark Drive
        P.O. Box 2076
        Cambridge, MA  02238
        Phone:  (617) 868-5353
        Fax:    (617) 868-9231
Flying Mouse
        SimGraphics Engineering
        1137 Huntington Rd., Suite A-1
        South Pasadena, CA 91030-4563
        Phone:  (213) 255-0987
GyroPoint 6D Mouse
        GYRATION Inc.
        12930 Saratoga Avenue
        Building C
        Saratoga, CA 95070
        Phone:  (408) 255-3016

3D Sound
--------
Convolvotron
        Crystal River Engineering
        12350 Wards Ferry Road
        Groveland, CA 95321
        Phone:  (209) 962-6382
        Fax:    (209) 962-4873
Focal Point
        Gehring Research, Inc.
        189 Madison Avenue
        Toronto, Ontario
        M5R 2S6 CANADA
        Phone:  (416) 966-3139

Complete VR Systems
-------------------
Division "Vision"
        Division Ltd.
        Quarry Road
        Chipping Sodbury,
        Bristol, BS17 6AX
        United Kingdom
        Phone: 44-454-324527
Sense8 "WorldTool DS"
        Sense8 Corp.
        1001 Bridgeway, PO Box 477
        Sausalito, CA  94965
        Phone:  (415) 331-6316
        Fax:    (415) 331-9148
VPL "RB1","RB2","MicroCosm"
        VPL Research 
        656 Bair Island Road, Suite 304
        Redwood City, CA 94063
        Phone:  (415) 361-1710
        Fax:    (415) 361-1845
WIndustries "Virtuality"
        W Industries Limited
        Virtuality House
        3 Oswin Road
        Brailsford Industrial Park
        Leicester, LE3 1HR
        Phone: (0533) 542 127

Other VR-related Software Products
----------------------------------
Body Electric, Isaac
        VPL Research 
        656 Bair Island Road, Suite 304
        Redwood City, CA 94063
        Phone:  (415) 361-1710
        Fax:    (415) 361-1845
Mandala
        Vivid Effects
        317 Adelaide St. W.
        Suite 302
        Toronto, Ontario
        Canada M5V 1P9
        Phone:  (416) 340-9290
Virtual Reality Studio
        Virtual 'S' Ltd.
        The Limes
        123 Mortlake High Street
        London SW14 8SN England
        Phone: 081-392-9000
WalkThrough
        Virtus Corporation
        Cary, NC
WorldToolKit
        Sense8 Corp.
        1001 Bridgeway, PO Box 477
        Sausalito, CA  94965
        Phone:  (415) 331-6316
        Fax:    (415) 331-9148

========

Other Businesses:
        (some important businesses whose addresses are not listed in
         the VR Tool Index)

Meckler Publishing
        11 Ferry Lane West
        Westport, CT 06880
        Phone:  (203) 226-6967
        Fax:    (203) 454-5840
MIT Press
        55 Hayward St. 
        Cambridge, MA 02142
        Phone:  (617) 253-5643
Telepresence Research 
        635 High St.
        Palo Alto, CA 94301
        Phone:  (415) 325-8951
        Fax:    (415) 325-8952
The WELL
        27 Gate Five Road
        Sausalito, CA 94965
        Phone:  (415) 332-4335

========

VR Research in Schools:

Detailing what each of these schools are doing would take up a LOT of
space in this post.  Interested parties would be better off checking
the FAQ information on the FTP site-- for a pretty reasonable list,
check the listing of files on the FTP site, listed above. 

========

Suggested Reading List:

        Artificial Reality II, Myron W. Kreuger.
                Reading MA: Addison-Wesley, 1991.
                ISBN: 0-201-52260-8.
        Virtual Reality, Howard Rheingold.
                New York NY: Summit Books, 1991.
                ISBN: 0-671-69363-8.
        Cyberspace:First Steps (CyberConf I papers).
                Michael Benedikt, editor.
                Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1991.
                ISBN: 0-262-02327-X.
        Neuromancer (fiction), William Gibson.  
                New York NY: Ace Books, 1984.
                ISBN: 0-441-56959-5.
        more to be added...

========

Other Sources of Information on Virtual Reality:

CompuServe
        CompuServe has a Virtual Reality section in the COMART (Computer
        Art) forum, Room 13.  It is moderated by John Eagan.  For
        more details, contact him at [email-masked].
GEnie
        Echo of sci.virtual-worlds, at least.  Contact J.ANDERSON71
        on GEnie, or [email-masked]. (Joel Anderson)
BIX
        Virtual-Reality Conference: If you are into the man/machine
        interface concept; virtual-reality design, programming, and events;
        virtual reality and computer interface gaderty; and related matters,
        take a stroll through BIX's new Virtual World conference.  Type "join
        virtual.world" to join in extended discussions of all aspects of
        virtual reality, from entertainment to fiction to hardware.  Moderated
        by Dan Duncan (dunc), the conference is a good source of information
        on meetings and other events of interest to virtual-reality buffs.
CyberEdge 
        CyberEdge Journal is a bi-monthly newsletter which covers
        Virtual Reality and related subjects.  For more information,
        contact Ben Delaney, editor, at [email-masked].
        ISSN# 1061-3099
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
        Presence is being advertised as "the journal for our field".
        The editorial board contains members from the HIT Lab, JPL,
        NASA, UNC, Telepresence Research, VPL, MIT, IBM, EXOS, Apple,
        and many other groups doing VR research.  For more
        information, contact MIT Press Journals, at (617) 253-2889.
        ISSN# 1054-7460
Whole Earth Review
        ISSN# 0749-5056
Mondo 2000
        ...
VR Monitor
        ...