Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken!csustan!news From: rsc@altair.uucp (R. S. Cunningham) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: Scientific Visualization again Message-ID: <1989Nov30.222404.2817@csustan.CSUStan.Edu> Date: 30 Nov 89 22:24:04 GMT References: <11726@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1989Nov25.142552.1702@hellgate.utah.edu> <3399@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <5646@eos.UUCP> Reply-To: rsc@altair.csustan.edu (R. S. Cunningham) Organization: CSU Stanislaus Lines: 38 jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (Jim Helman) says in 89Nov27133735@baroque.Stanford.EDU > II. EdVis. Educational "visualization" needs to be simple, > interactive and enticing. This means simultaneously manipulating the > parameters of a physical model and "visualizing" the behavior of that > model. Unlike research level visualization, educational models are > usually simple enough that pedagogically useful and graphically > compelling simulations can be made on almost any PC or workstation. > To date, the software to do this is sadly lacking. After all, who > develops it? A high school teacher here, a professor there. Each > doing his own thing for his own class with little cooperation or > sharing. > > The tremendous potential that EdVis has to make math and science more > interesting and accessible has not been exploited. Unfortunately, > there is little financial incentive for commercial development of such > software. I also know of little governmental support. This is an excellent statement of one of the overlooked opportunities of computer graphics. Lots of people have written lots of "his (or her) own thing for his (or her) own class with little cooperation or sharing" and it shows -- we really aren't making much progress in the area. I know SIGGRAPH has an interest in this area and has just supported a project which is developing a volume for the Mathematical Association of America on Visualization in Mathematics with a strong educational emphasis. Dr. Walt Zimmermann (math, U. of the Pacific) and I are editing and collecting this volume. I am sure that much more needs to be done here and encourage anyone in any discipline to contact me with ideas. I'm especially interested in persons who want to make something happen, but plain discussions are still welcome. And if we might get together at SIGGRAPH '90 or somewhere else, we just may be able to get something to happen here. Steve Cunningham Computer Science Department CSU, Stanislaus Turlock, CA 95380 (209) 667-3176 (ans machine) Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com