Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!sobiloff@acc.stolaf.edu
From: sobiloff@acc.stolaf.edu (Chrome Cboy)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: HELP WITH VR FORECASTING!, Please.
Message-ID: <10092@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 27 Oct 90 19:02:02 GMT
References: <9964@milton.u.washington.edu>
Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: St. Olaf College; Northfield, MN
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Dear Mr. Moderator,
        This is about, what, the third or-so posting asking for pointers to
papers, books, articles, etc., regarding virtual reality. No, I'm not whining
about you forewarding them to the group... :-) I'd like to suggest that we,
as a group, work on establishing our own database of VR-related material!
        Such a database is clearly being called for, and I think it would
be a tremendous aid to people who are just becoming interested in VR and 
need to know where to get their feet wet, so to speak. I'm envisioning some-
thing similar to the "Usenet Macintosh Programmer's Guide" that was recenlty
compiled. It is a whopping 270+ page document chocked full of great, workable
source, tips, pointers, etc., and is probably an invaluable aid for many
people besides myself. Of course, the best is that its only cost to you is
what it costs to print out!
        So, why not do something similar for our group? Of course we'd have
to dicker a bit about a standard format that everyone can use (plain text,
or do we want a "true" database? What is a good format for data interchange
between Unix, Mac, IBM, et al?), but I think it's definitely workable. We
could determine a number of classifications that various papers can fit into,
and then have individuals write brief (1 paragraph or so) abstracts about
things of interest. Compile it and put it up for anonymous ftp. Lots of work,
but I'd be willing to help with the compilation and may even be able to 
provide an ftp site. Of course I'm *not* volunteering to do it all (I'm not
*that* big a glutton for punishment... :-), but I would like to get the ball
rolling.
        What say you? Thanks for your time.
                                                        -Blake
--
                                                        ______________
_______________________________________________________/ Chrome C'Boy \_________
| "One of the biggest obstacles to the future of computing is C. C is the last |
| attempt of the high priesthood to control the computing business. It's like  |
| the scribe and the Pharisees who did not want the masses to learn how to     |
| read and write."                        -Jerry Pournelle                     |
[So what do YOU all say?  I'm just the moderator.  We all do the work! 
 -- Bob Jacobson]