Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: craig@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Craig Hubley) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Exploratory Engineering in User Interface - publication options Message-ID: Date: 22 Sep 89 00:20:11 GMT Organization: University of Toronto Computing Services Lines: 44 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In the July 1989 ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, there is a short (two-page) piece of exploratory engineering by a Sony scientist, Kiyonobu Kojima, called "Information Detective: A Workstation for Exploring Three Dimensional Information Space". Although I don't care much for the idea, it is clearly an attempt to describe an interface to virtual realities that doesn't require what the author describes as 'expensive', 'heavy' headgear, and has the advantage of not obscuring the 'real world'. His interface is basically like a magnifying glass, with similar focus properties. Although I believe that all of these problems with head-mounted displays can and will be solved, the proposal of an alternative device to provide equivalent access to information is welcome. Does anyone know of any other reputable publications (preferably refereed) that have published exploratory engineering in user interfaces ? By the term 'exploratory engineering', I mean describing and discussing the implications of a device that is feasible but has-not/cannot-yet be built? Incremental ideas can often be easily built and tested with existing tools, but paradigm shifts usually require so much support in terms of equipment and research latitude that one must do a considerable amount of convincing before anything is actually built (as witness: Drexler's assembler, Alan Kay's reactive engine (now the Smalltalk/Star/Macintosh/Xwindows systems), Arthur C. Clarke's telecommunications satellite, Jules Verne's submarine, William Gibson's Cyberspace, etc.). Legitimate scientific forums where individuals can propose and receive comments on such ideas from colleagues would be welcome. Of course, USENET is one such forum, but it suffers from a lack of formal commitment to the review process, which is where traditional journals shine. -- Craig Hubley ------------------------------------- Craig Hubley & Associates "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" craig@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca ------------------------------------- craig@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu mnetor!utgpu!craig@uunet.UU.NET {allegra,bnr-vpa,decvax,mnetor!utcsri}!utgpu!craig craig@utorgpu.bitnet [I believe that Autodesk is using the term "cyberspace" to describe their Dataglove-based "virtual reality" system. Funny that you should have left the Memex out of that list. --JoSH]