Tomorrow's Yesterday: Mapping the E-Tech Continuum

John M. Fujii
Hewlett-Packard Company

 

Index

 

Introduction

In computer graphics, history frames the possible, imagination paints the impossible, and passion fills in the rest. Visionaries, explorers, pioneers, artists, and philosophers have shaped the Emerging Technologies programs since 1991. This history-mapping project recognizes their contributions and provides a departure point to "what is next" and "who might take us there."

The project idea grew from inspirations by ancient explorers' maps. Exploration maps visualized the fluid edges of "the known" and "unknown" that surrounded "where to explore next." They were storytellers of space and time.

The goals for this project were simple. First, we set out to preserve a usable historical record before our heritage became untraceable. Secondly, we wanted a map visualization of the data to foster interest in surveying past achievement. Finally, we wanted to gather new perspectives on the work/data to encourage e-tech pioneers within our community.

 

Historical Record

The adventure began with reconstructing the historical landscape. Eleven years of past documentation (plus the current year in production) was scattered across a variety of formats and content. Like its creators, the record followed a winding road of evolution. Program records differed greatly from year to year. The gaps and inconsistencies encountered required vast supplemental searches of paper reports, brochures, clippings, email archives, Internet searches, and dialogs with original contributors.

The resulting database encapsulates uniform information about each of the 328 projects cataloged from the search.

Each project was sorted by year and alphabetical order within a year. The resulting location was assigned a unique project ID. For example, the entry for this project is 324. It contains product descriptions, contact information, and a range of internal analysis information. (Click here for a complete record description.) All contact information was current to the year of publication.

 

Map Visualization

Several categorizations were applied to the data. Initially, each project was reviewed for a high-level significance or purpose (as perceived by this author). As presented in the written record, the intent of each project seemed to fall within areas of:

  1. Technology - significance of innovation or machine
  2. Technique - achievement in paradigm or human factor
  3. Application - expression or enabler of ideas

After further study, a refined series of attributes emerged for each category that further described a project's contribution to the emerging technology landscape. These significant features and points of interest became handles for searching and visualization later on in the design phase of this mapping project. You will find a full list of these attributes (numbered 100s, 200s, 300s in the database) in the record description appendix below.

The visualized map represents a radial view of the 328 projects sorted by their primary and secondary attributes. The map offers an initial set of sub-relationships between projects to begin exploration of the data. Additional levels of detail blossom as you follow pointers back into the database and ultimately back into the original record (Visual Proceedings, Program & Buyer's Guides, websites, etc.)

The layering of data by only two categories creates unusual neighborhoods of ideas and achievements across a broad reach of time. In the area of "avatar / agent," for example, themes of communication (202 - Talking Head, 272 - Muu: Artificial Creatures as an Embodied Interface) sit right next to virtual animation systems (156 - Virtual Kabuki System) and information navigation systems (195 - Multiple Identities Map). The approach gives you a chance to immediately engage the data. It is, however, not the only way to explore and we encourage you to find and suggest other relationships.

Ultimately, we hope that the data explorers familiarize themselves with all twelve years of projects and begin to build their own conclusions. Ideas and observations are welcomed at email address on the map.

 

Observations and Trends

This ambitious project began in the middle of March, 2002. Since a majority of the time was spent researching and acquiring the data, we've only begun to scratch the surface of this history's significance. From a twelve year perspective, here are a few interesting views of our E-Tech community past:

Hypermedia

One of the great pioneer roads for all Emerging Technologies programs was hypermedia / hypertext. Through this area of interest, we witness not only early attempts at non-linear information interfaces, but we're allowed to watch the birth and continuing evolution of the Internet into areas such as educational forums, communities, and mediums for extended presence.

In the early days (1991-1992), we see pioneers working hard to create either their own custom interfaces (7 - The Computer Sciences Electronic Magazine) or use early tools like HyperCard (23 - Simulation of Acute Myocardial Infarction) that were limited to specific platforms and thus limited to specific audiences. This all begins to change as we see the ideas of CERN (1990) become the realities of NCSA's Mosaic (1992-1993) and later Netscape's Explorer (1994-1995).

Suddenly an infrastructure and paradigm begin to emerge through standards (HTML,VRML) and freely available hypertext browser platforms to empower whole communities (57 - MATRIX: Women Networking, 116 - The Tele-Garden, 118 - Telluride Info-Zone) and ideas about information and commerce (92 - A Virtual Shopping Mall, 105 - HotWired Lounge, 153 - Tenochtitlan).

A maturity level is visualized when the the volume of hypermedia / hypertext projects evolves from technology focus (1991 = 13 of 31 projects) to support building block (2000 = 1 of 29 projects). By the beginning of the new century, the technology has emerged and been embraced as paradigm, providing the solid platform for new seeds of innovation (102- The Electronic Postcard, 194 - The Multi-Cultural Recycler)

Immersive Reality

Immersive reality covers a broad spectrum of virtual reality, virtual environments, visually-engrossing displays, or many other sensory-enrapturing experience environments. As virtual reality, it was the other pillar of the original 1991 program, Tomorrow's Realities, around which researchers already foresaw practical applications of immersive experience in areas of collaborative design (1 - 3dm, A 3-Dimensional Modeling System, 5 - The Boeing VSX), sub-atomic exploration (10 - Flying Through Protein Molecules), infinite exercise environments (16 - A Mountain Bike with Force Feedback for Indoor Exercise), and performance platforms (18 - Performance Cartoons).

Over time, advances in technology also advanced the experience in breadth, fidelity, and variety. Extensions such as museums (66 - Virtual Environments for Public Exhibitions), simulators (181 - Fixed-Base Driving Simulator, 207 - Virtual Environment ATC Tutor (VEAT), 245 - ROUTE66), and paradigms (230 - City of News) become commonly accepted standards of progress.

Psychological acceptance of immersive realities have also been considered. Two interesting perspectives include exposure therapies (141 - Overcoming Phobias Using Virtual Reality) and effectiveness of psychological immersion (320 - Physiological Reaction and Presence in Stressful Virtual Environments).

Augmented Reality

An offshoot of immersive reality experiences, augmented reality overlays real-world phenomena with synthesized inputs. E-Tech featured programs that included augmented sight (212 - AR2 Hockey, 236 - Head-Mounted Projector, 237 - Hologram / Head-Mounted Display, 246 - Shared Space; Collaborative Augmented Reality, 276 - Retinal Direct Imaging, 299 - Wearable Augmented Reality Systems), augmented sound (258 - Augmented Groove: Collaborative Jamming in Augmented Reality, 309 - Augmenting the Reality with 3D Sound Sources ), and augmented touch (221 - Natural Pointing Techniques Using a Finger-Mounted Direct Pointing Device, 231 - Curlybot, 248 - Touchable 3D Display).

Additionally, there are examples of augmented reality feedback systems (223 - PingPongPlus, 315 - The Interactive Window) that extend realworld paradigms to new dimensions. This will be a category to watch in the near future!

Simulation

Simulation is integral to the history map. Whether it was the focus of the project (17 - NPSNET: A 3D Visual Simulator for Virtual World Exploration and Experience, 68 - WaveMaker: A Computer Simulation for the Classroom of Tomorrow) or an enabler for another technology (5 - The Boeing VSX: Operations with Virtual Aircraft in Virtual Space, 30 - Virtual Acoustic Environments: The Convolvotron, 107 - Magic Gigabit Testbed) or technique (2 - Assembly Modeler - A Manufacturing and Engineering Operations Simulator, 87 - SMDK: Simulation-Space Mosaic of Mobile Data Sounds, 162 - The Virtual Space Fortress, 207 - Virtual Environment ATC Tutor (VEAT)), you will find simulations a major component of emerging technologies.

Simulation continues to evolve along several different paths. Key areas include mechanical scenarios (110 - OSIRIS, 114 - Solar System Modeler, 181 - Fixed-Base Driving Simulator), synthetic life / characters (58 - Menagerie, 125 - Artificial Dolphins, 203 - Toco the Toucan, 252 - (void*): A Cast of Characters, 321 - Public Anemone: An Organic Robot Creature), and natural phenomena (112 - Shared Haptic World, 135 - Haptic Challenge: An I-FORCE Computer Game, 291 - FEELEX).

Distributed Interaction

Distributed interaction continues to grow in its contribution to E-Tech programs. As network connectivity and bandwidth improves, we see models of collaboration (2 - Assembly Modeler, 56 - Mandala: Virtual Village, 130 - Digital Dixieland, 246 - Shared Space: Collaborative Augmented Reality), communication (202 - Talking Head, 108 - Network Neuro-Baby with Handshake), and even remote presence through sight (85 - ROVER, 149 - Space Browser: A Tool for Ubiquitous Tele-Embodiment) and new areas of touch (217 - inTouch, 295 - An Interface For Touching The Interface, 304 - RobotPHONE).

E-Tech programs also recorded the emergence of community computing. Several projects looked at the notion of communities through the Internet (101 - The Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology, 116 - The Tele-Garden, 118 - Telluride Info-Zone, 139 - JOURNEYS by Telecommunity).

Workstations To PCs

With the advance of technology, one major trend recorded by the E-Tech programs is the advance of price/performance technologies. In the beginning, projects were the domain of researchers with high-powered technical workstations (3 - Be Here Now, 5 - The Boeing VSX, 54 - KA-O-RI). Improvements in the personal desktop computer in terms of capability and affordability has lead to an explosion of new ideas (79 - NorthWater World, 90 - uniVRsum VRASP: The Virtual Reality Alliance of Students and Professionals, 176 - d-rhum) accessible by a broader audience (170 - Alice: Easy to Learn Interactive 3D Graphics).

Spectrum of the Senses

Projects in the Emerging Technologies program have taken most of the five natural senses to new integrated extremes. The sensation of taste seems to be the only sense not explored in a major way of E-Tech projects. This probably will soon change, too.

For twelve years, SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies have been at the forefront of exploring sight (66 - Virtual Environments for Public Exhibitions,91 - Virtual Photography/PHSColograms, 102 - The Electronic Postcard), sound (30 - Virtual Acoustic Environments, 87 - SMDK: Simulation-Space Mosaic of Mobile Data Sounds, 155 - Vibescape), touch/motion (72 - Desktop Force Display, 136 - HapticWeb, 205 - Ultra Magic Paper Interface), and even smell (142 - Plasm: Yer Mug).

Machine Recognition

As an interface, active machine-recognition has supported many projects since the beginning of the E-Tech program in 1991. Key functionality to consider include gesture interfaces (14 - The Mandala VR System, 128 - Cypress Adventure, 226 - Swamped! Using Plush Toys to Direct Autonomous Animated Characters), synthetic intelligence (37 - Knowledge From Beauty, 44 - ALIVE: An Artificial Life Interactive Video Environment, 150 - Spirits of the Bayou, 216 - HoloWall: Interactive Digital Surfaces), and behavioral systems (19 - Plasm: Above the Drome, 61 - Plasm: A Country Walk, 203 - Toco the Toucan).

Adoption Curves

An interesting aspect about featured E-Tech projects has been the level of adoption and vitality of ideas through the years. A major factor of sustainability seems to be the minimization of barriers to entrance. As with the introduction of Internet web browsers (initially given out as free technology), newer interfaces such as avatar systems have taken hold when the primary client-technology is freely available (154 - Traveler).

 

Promising Frontiers

Pushing forward from past trends, there are promising frontiers emerging for exploration. The first decade of building blocks is becoming a second decade of buildings themselves. Some interesting pathways into the immediate future include:

Bandwidth

Bandwidth at all levels of human/machine interaction points at new paradigms. Using mixtures of machine recognition (44 - ALIVE: An Artificial Life Interactive Video Environment, 96 - Alive Dreams and Illusions, 147 - Smart Spaces: The Untethered Interface), synthetic intelligence (227 - Virtual FishTank, 284 - Alpha Wolf, 316 - Lewis the Robotic Photographer), and distributed computation (41 - A System for Distributed Physical Interactions, 115 - T_Vision), there will be continued expansion in capabilities.

An interesting trend is the use of the human computer as a peripheral to the machine. In the recognition process, humans are much more adept at guiding or correcting decisions for the machine in arbitrary situations. The collaboration must be more seamless to gain better levels of efficiency. The tradeoffs and balance for what each partner is best at (machines for tedious adjustments without distraction, humans for context assessment or recognition) will be an interesting nexus of exploration.

The interesting paths of exploration will be exploiting the highest bandwidth input/output paths between human and machine - this means going beyond simply the visual system out into sound, touch, smell, and other response systems and paradigms.

Telepresence

Tele presence attempts to extend the human senses to remote locations. Already we see wonderful examples of sight and sound (73 - The Edge Observatory: An Airborne Telepresence System, 117 - Telemedicine, 210 - Wango: COMPOST, 250 - VisiPhone). New exploration is coming in the form of motion / touch (108 - Network Neuro-Baby with Handshake, 217 - inTouch, 304 - RobotPHONE). Scent, as a powerful conveyor, may be the next frontier along with stimulus notions of taste. There are also nuances of perceived temperature, moisture, wind, balance, or even electrogalvanic response that need further refinement in future work. Furthermore, notions of remote emotional conveyance/response as supports for communication or remote experience do not seem far off in the immediate future.

Robotics (312 - Distributed Systems of Self-reconfiguring Robots, 316 - Lewis the Robotic Photographer) or other display systems (202 - Talking Head) show promise for surrogate representations of the remote individual.

Biofeedback

While biofeedback is not new in the Emerging Technology program (36 - IBVA Biofeedback Hypermedia Workstation, 75 - Human/Dolphin Virtual Reality World Concept, 192 - Mind Garden), there are compelling results that suggest closer linkages physiometrics (320 - Physiological Reaction and Presence in Stressful Virtual Environments) may drive more effective / entertaining experiences in the future. Levels of immersion can be indicated by measured user responses that lead to adaptive behaviors by a user's environment. Even physical features such as the responsiveness of a chair (305 - sensingChair) or the extending the properties of glass to human needs (315 - The Interactive Window) are not inconceivable.

Augmented Reality

While computational realism is increasing everyday in terms of responsive performance and perceptual fidelity, the notion of placing synthesized images/environments is appealing from the great reduction in computing necessary to achieve psychological presence. Holography (237 - Hologram/Head-Mounted Display) and projective experiences (246 - Shared Space, 299 - Mobile Augmented Reality Systems) currently rely on head-mounted displays. Unassisted stereo viewing, however, has long been an area of active research (67 - Virtual Table with Lamp, 220 - Natural 3D Display System Using Holographic Optical Element, 264 - HoloSpace, 286 - Cylindrical 3D Display Observable From All Directions).

It seems that approaches using level-of-detail, visual blending (e.g., contrast and lighting-cue matching), occlusion detection (168 - 3D Imaging Sensing Technology, 236 - Head-Mounted Projector), etc., will be areas of study for the very near future.

 

Conclusions

At twelve years old, some might think that there are no new ideas left to emerge. To quote Charles Duell, U.S. Patent Office Commissioner, 1899:

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

It would be easy to believe that maturity has been reached or that there are no interesting frontiers left to conquer in this age of computing. From the historical record, however, we see that we have not even begun to scratch the surface on better developing and connecting the human computer into the equation. Interactive technologies and techniques still have vast regions yet to be explored as long as we are willing to see beyond any barriers to creative thought we might be carrying along with us.

If we are to build upon the future, we must properly understand the past. One critical realization of this project was how easily the historical record can be lost and broken. As SIGGRAPH pioneered forward, we didn't maintain a solid link with our past. This is perhaps why we become myopic when viewing the future - we can only remember a short distance into our past as the basis for our references. It is hoped that this record is a start on building stronger ties to our past.

We must strive to capture, understand, and preserve the work so that others will be able to navigate the future. Moreover, we have the rich opportunity to use the building blocks of the past in new combinations for projects and frontiers of the future. Invention in this age is built upon the shoulders of the past.

We encourage you to help add your insights to this project. With your help, we are positive that our maps of the past will become better, more refined, and serve as useful heritage for the generations of ACM SIGGRAPH contributors in the years to come.

The time is now to pioneer the next Emerging Technology frontier.

 

Record Contents

References - Public Record

Last updated: 16 Jul 2002
Sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH, Copyright © 2002 Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM)
Contact us: etech-map@siggraph.org