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Motivation

There were many factors which combined to result in the creation of this type of simulation and continues to inspire thought and projects along similar lines. As I am currently pursuing dual degrees that include a Master of Computer Science along with the Fine Arts, I felt that my presentation should include both these interests. This combination represents more than the programming aspects of the creation of the Smart House simulation and includes ideas and methods that I am studying as part of my completion of my M.Sc. degree.

The area of research to which I refer is that which concerns the role of human involvement in the interaction between computer and user. More often than not, the human is the last participant taken into consideration when an interactive computer application is created. This results in a program that is cryptic, difficult to use and thereby works against the user. With the guidance of Brad Blumenthal, both myself and my collaborator, Jason Leigh have been involved in research that studies the user and the needs of the user in order to better incorporate them into the environment. We have been inspired by the work of Donald Norman in his book "The Design of Everyday Things" [6], where he describes our role of the user in the design of objects that we interact with everyday and how design does not always fulfill it's role. Rebecca Springmeyer emphasizes the importance of studying the user, in this case, scientists, when developing scientific visualization tools in her paper, "A Characterization of the Scientific Data Analysis Process" [7]. Finally, the work of Richard Wurman in "Information Anxiety" [10] discusses the availability of the large amount of information and how this phenomena is actually not as positive as many computer manufacturers and service providers would like the general public to think. Here, the issue is how to make large bodies of information understandable and usable. The fluid availability of information does not mean that it is automatically in an organized, understandable form. While there are many more authorities on this subject and many more articles which inspired me, the above mentioned are most notable. I will reference them and others at the end of this document.

Computers are increasingly integrated into society everyday. Indeed, the number of vendors currently providing network services to the general public has increased tremendously. In addition, the term ubiquitous computing is becoming more common as computers are integrated into households and are designed to offer the inhabitants remote control over such things as heating, appliances, message taking systems, lighting, etc. These systems are designed to increase and enhance the occupants comfort level as they can customize their house to fit their daily routines. This technology has been under development since the 1980's in the guise of a ``smart house" and also includes applications to office environments being researched today by Xerox PARC. While many companies today build smart houses for clients, these homes are cost prohibitive. The claim is that they will some day become accessible to the average home buyer. I am not sure if this is a positive development because, while it certainly sounds appealing to have a house anticipate your actions and attempt to accommodate your needs through pre-programmed actions, our routines are under constant flux and sometimes changing programming is much less convenient than using the programming. In addition, such homes require high maintenance and should be closely designed with the user in mind. These doubts and questions are not directly addressed in the smart house presentation, but have been raised for me while working on the project and reflecting on it's content. While my attitude for this technology seems pessimistic at this time, I do believe that a subset of it will endure and perhaps become integrated into some homes. We are, however, a long way from living a ``Jetsons" lifestyle.

The fact that I recently purchased my first home added a bit of interest to this project. We began and are continuing many projects to renovate and personalize the house to our preferences. Homes in general must be quite adaptable structures. While the architect may build it a certain way for many reasons, among them are expense, utility, availability of materials, a home goes through many changes throughout it's lifetime. I use the term lifetime for it is true that a house structure has a life. Each inhabitant expresses her or himself through the changes that are made to the house and these changes are an expression of the inhabitant. The amount of technology added to a home are just another form of customization to a home. Some of these additions may be a frivolous enhancement made available by excess financial resources, or some may accommodate special needs that the inhabitants may have. This simulation is an expression of that type of customization and how different tourists react to those features.

   figure17
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the CAVE hardware configuration. Shown is the main cubic viewing area that contains three screens upon which three RGB projectors project the stereo graphics while Googelon, one of the CAVE inhabitants, looks on.

I was intrigued by the idea of simulating this type of home in virtual reality. The medium lends itself very well to architectural walkthroughs and there is a well established history of using virtual reality in this way [1] UNC web page. The immersive capability of the CAVE structure (figure 1) contributed to the creation of the architectural space, and the ability to track the position of a participant in the environment meant that the environment could be very responsive to a user's movements throughout a house. This accurately simulates the behaviour of a real smart house, as much of the action of the technology relies on motion detection. Further, with the advent of smart house companies, the question arose to Jason and I as to how such technology is tested. The only method to research the success of a house is to physically implement and exercise the technology. Virtual simulations seemed to be a better and quicker method for such examinations and we began to investigate this theory. The reactions of the participants taught us much regarding this theory and I will discuss this later. My presentation tested not just the geometry of the house, as is currently the limitation of virtual reality architectural walk-throughs, but also tests the interaction and behaviour of the house. This, along with the ability of the user to smash bugs as she explored the house, broke with the illusion of user tracking and involved the user in house interaction.


next up previous
Next: Welcome to the House Up: Welcome to the House Previous: The Proposal

Christina Vasilakis
Fri Nov 22 22:27:49 CST 1996