Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	4f13
authors	Ronchi, Alfredo M.
year	1994
title	A Brief History of CAAD in Italy
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.f3n
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, p. 227
summary	Twenty years of revolution, from the middle '70 to the middle '90. Many things have changed since the origins of computer graphics and computer aided design in architecture. We started teaching drafting on terminals which connected to mini computers, complex procedures or sets of graphics libraries working with keywords, vectors and storage screens. The next step was devoted to the discovery of workstations in the early '80's, where the user sat face on to the whole power of a multitasking system. At that time to use up to 16 time sharing processes running on the same work station seemed to have no practical use at all. Fortunately someone (ie Xerox PARC laboratories) at the same time started to develop the so-called GUI. Graphical user interface started a revolution in human/machine interface (ie Smalltalk). The desktop metaphor, the use of multiple windows and dialogues joined with icons and pop up menus let the user manage more applications and, even more important, created a standard in application/user interface (CUA). In the meantime focus had moved from hardware to software, systems being chosen from the software running. The true revolution we have seen starting from that base and involving an ever increasing number of users was the birth of PC based applications for CAAD. Generally speaking nowadays there are three main technologies concerning teaching: communication, multimedia and virtual reality. The first is the real base for future revolution. In the recent past we have started to learn how to manage information by computers. Now we can start to communicate and share information all over the world in real time. The new age opened by fax, followed by personal communication systems and networks is the entry point for a real revolution. We can work in the virtual office, meet in virtual space and cooperate in workgroups. ATM and ISDN based teleconferencing will provide a real working tool for many. The ever increasing number of e-mail addresses and network connections is carrying us towards the so called 'global village'. The future merger between personal digital assistant and personal communication will be fascinating. Multi & HyperMedia technology is, like a part of VR, a powerful way to share and transfer information in a structured form. We do not need to put things in a serial form removing links because we can transfer knowledge as is. Another interesting and fundamental aspect typical of VR applications is the capability to change cognitive processes from secondary (symbolic - reconstructive) to primary (perceptive - motory). In this way we can learn by direct experience, by experiment as opposed to reading books. All these things will affect not only ways of working but also ways of studying and teaching. Digital communications, multimedia and VR will help students, multimedia titles will provide different kinds of information directly at home using text, images, video clips and sounds. Obviously all those things will not substitute human relationship as a multimedia title does not compete against a book but it helps.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	sigradi2005_463
id	sigradi2005_463
authors	Costa Cabral, Cláudia Piantá
year	2005
title	Computer City, 1994
source	SIGraDi 2005 - [Proceedings of the 9th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Lima - Peru 21-24 november 2005, vol. 1, pp. 463-467
summary	This paper is about an emblematic design of the sixties, Dennis Crompton’s Computer City, published in 1964 by Archigram Magazine. Besides other enterprises of its time, Archigram promoted a critical view over institutionalised post-war modernism for not being able to recognize the emergence of new social realities, identified with the new technologies of automation and information, the restructuring of capitalist fordism and the shift from a predominantly industrial culture to an electronic culture. This paper sustains that more than a direct translation of unquestionable technical necessities; it was a conscious attempt of producing a sort of representation of technology. Crompton’s design clearly demonstrates the actual change in the character of technology, when it is no longer primarily identified with artefacts and objects, as the machine, and seems to be progressively identified with abstract and ubiquitous systems and processes of control, as automation and information systems. [Full paper in Portuguese]
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:49

_id	ga0024
id	ga0024
authors	Ferrara, Paolo and Foglia, Gabriele
year	2000
title	TEAnO or the computer assisted generation of manufactured aesthetic goods seen as a constrained flux of technological unconsciousness
source	International Conference on Generative Art
summary	TEAnO (Telematica, Elettronica, Analisi nell'Opificio) was born in Florence, in 1991, at the age of 8, being the direct consequence of years of attempts by a group of computer science professionals to use the digital computers technology to find a sustainable match among creation, generation (or re-creation) and recreation, the three basic keywords underlying the concept of “Littérature potentielle” deployed by Oulipo in France and Oplepo in Italy (see “La Littérature potentielle (Créations Re-créations Récréations) published in France by Gallimard in 1973). During the last decade, TEAnO has been involving in the generation of “artistic goods” in aesthetic domains such as literature, music, theatre and painting. In all those artefacts in the computer plays a twofold role: it is often a tool to generate the good (e.g. an editor to compose palindrome sonnets of to generate antonymic music) and, sometimes it is the medium that makes the fruition of the good possible (e.g. the generator of passages of definition literature). In that sense such artefacts can actually be considered as “manufactured” goods. A great part of such creation and re-creation work has been based upon a rather small number of generation constraints borrowed from Oulipo, deeply stressed by the use of the digital computer massive combinatory power: S+n, edge extraction, phonetic manipulation, re-writing of well known masterpieces, random generation of plots, etc. Regardless this apparently simple underlying generation mechanisms, the systematic use of computer based tools, as weel the analysis of the produced results, has been the way to highlight two findings which can significantly affect the practice of computer based generation of aesthetic goods: ? the deep structure of an aesthetic work persists even through the more “desctructive” manipulations, (such as the antonymic transformation of the melody and lyrics of a music work) and become evident as a sort of profound, earliest and distinctive constraint; ? the intensive flux of computer generated “raw” material seems to confirm and to bring to our attention the existence of what Walter Benjamin indicated as the different way in which the nature talk to a camera and to our eye, and Franco Vaccari called “technological unconsciousness”. Essential references R. Campagnoli, Y. Hersant, “Oulipo La letteratura potenziale (Creazioni Ri-creazioni Ricreazioni)”, 1985 R. Campagnoli “Oupiliana”, 1995 TEAnO, “Quaderno n. 2 Antologia di letteratura potenziale”, 1996 W. Benjiamin, “Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reprodizierbarkeit”, 1936 F. Vaccari, “Fotografia e inconscio tecnologico”, 1994
series	other
more	http://www.generativeart.com/
last changed	2003/08/07 17:25

_id	a378
authors	Friedell, M., Kochhar, S., Marks, J., Sistare, S. and Weitzman, L.
year	1994
title	Cooperative design, Human-computer interaction, Interaction techniques, Graphical user interfaces, Design automation, Design methodologies, Automated design of graphical displays, Computer-aided design
source	Proceedings of ACM CHI'94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1994 v.2 pp.187-188
summary	Computer-aided-design (CAD) systems are now used to design all kinds of artifacts, from jet fighters to works of art. A major challenge in the design of a CAD system itself is the user interface (UI). Developing the UI to a CAD system raises myriad questions about input devices and techniques, display devices and techniques, and the details of the dialogue that relates the two. But these questions are ancillary to one central question: what is the fundamental nature of the interaction between human and computer in the design process supported by the CAD system? Is the design activity essentially manual, with the computer playing the role of passive tool, like a pen or paintbrush? Or is the computer augmenting the human designer by actively restricting available design choices, or by playing the role of critic or "improver"? Or maybe the interaction paradigm is one of "interactive evolution," in which the computer is responsible for generating design alternatives, with the human merely choosing among choices suggested by the machine. Or perhaps the computer performs the design process completely automatically, with a final acceptance check being the only human contribution? The panelists will describe these different paradigms for human-computer cooperation in a set of related CAD systems and prototypes and discuss the conditions under which each paradigm might be most useful.
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

_id	cc19
authors	Glennie, William L.
year	1994
title	Europe '94 - A Visitor's Report on the State of CAAD in Education
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.s5h
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 262
summary	During May, June and July of this year, I had the pleasure of visiting twelve institutions across Europe where computers are being used in the teaching of Architecture. There are as many different approaches to the incorporation of computers in the curriculum as there are places, and they all have some degree of success. My greatest surprise was the large size of these Schools, even in relatively small countries. Dealing with a huge number of students makes any kind of mandatory computer instruction almost impossible. In spite of all difficulties, enthusiasm and willingness to work directly with students was the single most important characteristic in the faculty and staff who are having the greatest success. Support staff dedicated to the maintenance of equipment and software were provided at most of the institutions. For those who do not have this benefit it is critical to relieve the teaching and research faculty of the need for these time-consuming tasks. Formal research activities are not essential to effective education. The process of setting up such efforts is again a distraction from the more important job of teaching. If research projects grow naturally out of the curriculum, they may be pursued without impeding instruction. Most serious of all, there is a substantial lack of communication and cooperation among these schools, and by implication, among all of the other schools in Europe. The mechanism of annual conferences held by ECAADE is insufficient to exchange information and interests. There were several occasions when I mentioned work that was being carried out at one place that would match very nicely with efforts at another. However, it is clearly impossible for any one school to spearhead this kind of collection and coordination of activities. The only appropriate organisation for this kind of exchange would be a centralised service initiated and maintained by the European Community. It is very important that such a body does not attempt to limit or direct the work of individual schools, rather simply serves as a clearinghouse through which the various groups can benefit from each other's work, to the mutual benefit of all.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	ddss9442
id	ddss9442
authors	Hensen, Jan
year	1994
title	Energy Related Design Decisions Deserve Simulation Approach
source	Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994
summary	Building energy consumption and indoor climate result from complex dynamic thermal interactions between outdoor environment, building structure, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system and occupants. Apart from a few trivial relations, this reality is too complicated to be casted in simple expressions, rules or graphs. As shown in a previous paper, there are now tools available - in the form of computer simulation systems - which treat the building and plant as an integrated, dynamic system. It is argued that these can and should be used in the context of design decision support and design evaluation related to thermal energy. The paper will give ageneral overview of building energy design tools which range from simplified design tools (SDT's) to comprehensive modelling and simulation systems. It will be demonstrated why SDT's are very limited in scope and range of applicability. With respect to building energy simulation the paper will compare simplified models with comprehensive models in terms of ressource needs, applicability etc. In view of the risk involved when using SDT´s or simplified models, the paper strongly promotes the use of comprehensive tools in combination with emerging intelligent front ends. The message ofthe paper will be: let the machine do the work.
series	DDSS
email
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	61a4
authors	Parsons, Peter W.
year	1994
title	Craft and Geometry in Architecture: An Experimental Design Studio Using the Computer
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1994.171
source	Reconnecting [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-03-9] Washington University (Saint Louis / USA) 1994, pp. 171-176
summary	Craft is one of the main aspects of architecture that accounts for its strong corporeal presence. The Computer used as a geometry machine lacks such tectonics. The predominant means for bringing a sense of materiality to its geometric constructions is through rendering, and in this respect the computer is not significantly different from geometric drawing. One need only recall the beautifully rendered drawings of the Beaux-Arts for a comparison. With the rise of modern architecture such 'paper' architecture was voraciously denounced in the cause of relating architectural production more closely with crafted production. Even now the interest in craft has persisted despite postmodern criticism. Therefore, a means for bringing a greater sense of craft to computer-aided design seems desirable. The architectural studio discussed in this paper was initiated partly for this purpose by intentionally confronting the computer's proclivity to move its users away from craft toward geometry, while at the same time taking advantage of its capabilities as a geometry machine. Craft can best be understood by practicing it. Consider, for example, the use of a chisel in woodwork. As one applies force with it, one can feel the resistance of the material. Carving with the grain feels differently than carving against or across it. Carving a piece of maple feels differently than carving a piece of pine. If one presses too hard on the chisel or does not hold it at the precise angle, there is a great risk of creating an unwanted gouge. Gradually with practice the tool feels as if it is an extension of the hand that holds it. it becomes an extension of the body. One can feel the physical qualities of the wood through it. Like a limb of the body its presence can become transparent and one can learn about what one feels through it. It can imprint a memory in the mind that comes to the brain, not through the eyes alone, but through the tactile senses. On the other hand it is tiring to use a chisel for an extended period of time. One's body begins to ache and, as the body tires, the risks of making an unwanted mistake increase. Furthermore, because a tool becomes wedded to the body, it is almost impossible to use more than one tool at a time unless they are being used in conjunction with one another as one might use two limbs of the body together. On a computer one can never 'feel' an object, the image of which is on the screen, in the same manner that one can feel with a chisel the material upon which one is working. One becomes particularly aware of this when creating a 3D computer model of a hand tool. One wants to hold it, not just look at it. Thus the artifice of the object created by means of the computer becomes very apparent, because the 'tool' has not yet taken on the qualities of a tool, although it has taken on the appearance of one.
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:59

_id	a34c
authors	Sadowski, Michal
year	1994
title	Protection and Conservation of Monuments Supported by GIS
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.g2m
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 240
summary	The issue of monument protection and conservation not incidentally has become a part of the scope of interests of the Center for Computer Aided Architectural Design. As a research-educational division of the School of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, we are a partner providing advisory and implementation services. Employment of a large computer system such as Intergraph's MGE will constitute a considerable improvement for Conservation Offices in the introduction, storage, updating and accessibility of historical maps, photographs, information about information, geological and topological, network, roads, sites, CAD drawings and 3D models. Another important effect will be that of setting a direction for activities of other offices interested in increasing their work efficiency through computerization.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	ddss9484
id	ddss9484
authors	Sklar, Hinda
year	1994
title	Opening Doors at Harvard's Graduate School of Design
source	Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994
summary	Design communication has many forms and employs a wide array of references. Design pedagogy uses a rich body of sources and is informed by deep communication between faculty and student. Advancing technology for distribution and manipulation of digital design media and a pervasive computer network at the Harvard Graduate School of Design provide an ideal environment for investigating new methods of access to design resources. A research initiative called the DOORS project (Design-Oriented On-line Resource System) will make a variety of design reference materials available over the GSD's computer network Potentially, DOORS will provide access to: - the Frances Loeb Library's visual and special collections; - slides, drawings, photographs, videos; - private faculty slide collections; - maps and geographic information systems of text, numeric and other visual databases of three- dimensional computer models; - computer-generated animations and digital video segments with sound of multimedia projects. As early pilot versions of DOORS are released, faculty and students will gather visual information for study and modification, analyze images and models, compare and link design documentation in different formats, develop lectures and make presentations from computers in offices, classrooms, and studio work areas. Emphasis will be placed on flexibility, as this particular tool's success will hinge on its ability to respond to different approaches to design and instruction. DOORS proposes to offer three modalities, browsing, composition and presentation, to enable searching, organizati-on, and display. Using established library standards for record format, subject access and keyword indexing, browsing will offer flexible and diverse search criteria. Composition will provide tools for linking, annotation and manipulation of assembled materials. Individual presentations will be viewed in classrooms, studios or offices. A pilot project to assemble some of the basic technology and expertise required is currently under way. The objective of the pilot is to deliver a slice of material over the GSD's local area network in order to raise awareness of the tool's potential among faculty and students, to evaluate its effectiveness, and to formulate technical specifications for later project phases.
series	DDSS
email
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	6058
authors	Smulevich, Gerard
year	1994
title	The Electronic Bauhaus
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1994.197
source	Reconnecting [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-03-9] Washington University (Saint Louis / USA) 1994, pp. 197-208
summary	This paper describes the use of electronic space in a fourth year undergraduate architectural design studio. It attempts to address the importance of developing a design process that is redefined by the use of computing, integrating concept and perception. This goal is set in the studio exercise, an international student design competition to design an addition to the school of architecture at the original Bauhaus/Weimar. The studio involved re-evaluating the Bauhaus principles of integrating the artist and the craftsman, but in contemporary or post-industrial terms. In 1989 the Wall came down. Seamless access of western telecommunications and media became greatly responsible for the crumbling of the rigid machine-age soviet technocracy; and with it, the former east German city of Weimar, home to the first Bauhaus, was once again a living part of architectural history. When the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture announced an international student competition to design a new addition to the school of architecture at the original Bauhaus/Weimar, we immediately decided that this should be an Electronic Bauhaus.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	ascaad2006_paper11
id	ascaad2006_paper11
authors	Stanton, Michael
year	2006
title	Redemptive Technologies II: the sequel (A Decade Later)
source	Computing in Architecture / Re-Thinking the Discourse: The Second International Conference of the Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD 2006), 25-27 April 2006, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
summary	Nearly ten years ago I published an article in the Dutch journal ARCHIS called "Redemptive Technologies." It derived from comments I made during a conference held in New Orleans in 1994. At that point the machine aesthetic associated with the "new technologies" generated by the computer had not established a precise formal vocabulary but were generating great excitement among the architectural avant-garde. It addressed the limits of the imagery and data produced by this machine and the simple but very political problem of cost and obsolescence. Now the millennium is well past and the somewhat apostolic fervor that accompanied the interaction of a very expensive consumer device with architecture has cooled. Discussion has generally moved from the titillating possibilities opened up by the device, many of which have so far not come to pass, to the sorts of hard and software available. An architectural language closely associated with the imagistic potential of new programs, biomorphism, has now come and gone on the runways of architectural taste. And yet, in recent articles rejecting the direct political effect of architectural work, the potential of new programs and virtual environments are proposed as alternative directions that our perpetually troubled profession may pursue. This paper will assess the last decade regarding the critical climate that surrounds cyber/technology. In the economic context of architectural education in which computers are still a central issue, the political issues that evolve will form a backdrop to any discussion. Furthermore, the problem of the "new" language of biomorphism will be reiterated as an architectural grammar with a 100-year history - from Catalan Modernismo and Art Nouveau, through Hermann Finsterlin and Eric Mendelsohn's projects of the 1920s, to Giovanni Michelucci and Italian work of the post-war, to Frederick Kiesler's Endless House of the late '50s, continuing through moments of Deconstructivism and Architectural Association salients, etc. These forms continue to be semantically simplistic and hard to make. Really the difference is the neo-avant-garde imagery and rhetoric involved in their continuing resurrection. Computer images, but also the ubiquitous machine itself, are omnipresent and often their value is assumed without question or proposed as a remedy for issues they cannot possibly address. This paper will underline the problem of the computer, of screens and the insistent imagistic formulas encourage by their use, and the ennui that is beginning to pervade the discipline after initial uncritical enthusiasm for this very powerful and expensive medium. But it will also propose other very valuable directions, those relating to reassessing the processes rather than the images that architecture engages, that this now aging "new" technology can much more resolutely and successfully address.
series	ASCAAD
email
last changed	2007/04/08 19:47

_id	0574
authors	Alison Murison and James Gray
year	1994
title	Spatial Analysis for Museum Design
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.201
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 201-206
summary	The paper describes how a specially written customisation of AutoCAD enables students of Architecture to use the method of spatial analysis called Space Syntax developed by Professor Bill Hillier of the Bartlett School of Architecture, London, to examine a number of existing museums, to compare the findings against other criteria, and to draw conclusions about the strategy adopted in museum design. Simple interactive graphics enable plans to be entered and compared, so that they may be evaluated during the design process, with decisions supported by objective tests. This improves both design decisions and the learning process.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	065b
authors	Beitia, S.S., Zulueta, A. and Barrallo, J.
year	1995
title	The Virtual Cathedral - An Essay about CAAD, History and Structure
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1995.355
source	Multimedia and Architectural Disciplines [Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe / ISBN 0-9523687-1-4] Palermo (Italy) 16-18 November 1995, pp. 355-360
summary	The Old Cathedral of Santa Maria in Vitoria is the most representative building of the Gothic style in the Basque Country. Built during the XIV century, it has been closed to the cult in 1994 because of the high risk of collapse that presents its structure. This closure was originated by the structural analysis that was entrusted to the University of the Basque Country in 1992. The topographic works developed in the Cathedral to elaborate the planimetry of the temple revealed that many structural elements of great importance like arches, buttresses and flying buttresses were removed, modified or added along the history of Santa Maria. The first structural analysis made in the church suggested that the huge deformations showed in the resistant elements, specially the piers, were originated by interventions made in the past. A deep historical investigation allowed us to know how the Cathedral was built and the changes executed until our days. With this information, we started the elaboration of a virtual model of the Cathedral of Santa Maria. This model was introduced into a Finite Elements Method system to study the deformations suffered in the church during its construction in the XIV century, and the intervention made later in the XV, XVI and XX centuries. The efficiency of the virtual model simulating the geometry of the Cathedral along history allowed us to detect the cause of the structural damage, that was finally found in many unfortunate interventions along time.
series	eCAADe
more	http://dpce.ing.unipa.it/Webshare/Wwwroot/ecaade95/Pag_43.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	ee23
authors	Bille, Pia
year	1994
title	A Study of Color
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.185
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 185-190
summary	Color courses are traditionally based on exercises carried out with either water color or colored paper. Use of the computer as a tool for teaching color theory and analyzing color in architecture was the topic of a course given at the School of Architecture and Planning at the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA where I was an exchange faculty in the academic year 1993/94. The course was structured into 3 topics: color theory, color perception and application of color.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	0e89
authors	Bradford, J.W., Cheng, N. and Kvan, Thomas
year	1994
title	Virtual Design Studios
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.163
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, pp. 163-167
summary	Beginning in 1993, small groups of students of architectural design at different institutions around the world participated in collaborative design projects using a variety of tools, including CAD, Internet and teleconferencing. This programme, known as the "Virtual Design Studio" (VDS), allows students to work collectively with colleagues from different cultures and climates who are thousands of kilometres and in different time zones. Most recently, in February 1994, four institutions in N. America, one in Europe, and one in S E Asia participated in VDS’94. This paper explains the operation of the VDS and explores the future of the VDS as a potential tool for architectural design education. In particular, we review what we have learned in employing computer tools to extend the teaching in design studios into a "virtual" experience.
series	eCAADe
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	diss_brewster
id	diss_brewster
authors	Brewster, S.A.
year	1994
title	Providing a Structured Method for Integrating Non-Speech Audio into Human-Computer Interfaces
source	Heslington, York: University of York
summary	This thesis provides a framework for integrating non-speech sound into human-computer interfaces. Previously there was no structured way of doing this, it was done in an ad hoc manner by individual designers. This led to ineffective uses of sound. In order to add sounds to improve usability two questions must be answered: What sounds should be used and where is it best to use them? With these answers a structured method for adding sound can be created. An investigation of earcons as a means of presenting information in sound was undertaken. A series of detailed experiments showed that earcons were effective, especially if musical timbres were used. Parallel earcons were also investigated (where two earcons are played simultaneously) and an experiment showed that they could increase sound presentation rates. From these results guidelines were drawn up for designers to use when creating usable earcons. These formed the first half of the structured method for integrating sound into interfaces. An informal analysis technique was designed to investigate interactions to identify situations where hidden information existed and where non-speech sound could be used to overcome the associated problems. Interactions were considered in terms of events, status and modes to find hidden information. This information was then categorised in terms of the feedback needed to present it. Several examples of the use of the technique were presented. This technique formed the second half of the structured method. The structured method was evaluated by testing sonically-enhanced scrollbars, buttons and windows. Experimental results showed that sound could improve usability by increasing performance, reducing time to recover from errors and reducing workload. There was also no increased annoyance due to the sound. Thus the structured method for integrating sound into interfaces was shown to be effective when applied to existing interface widgets.
series	thesis:PhD
email
more	http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~stephen/publications.shtml
last changed	2003/11/28 07:34

_id	5dff
authors	Bricken, M.
year	1994
title	Virtual Worlds: No Interface to Design
source	Cyberspace - First Steps, M.Benedikt ed, MIT Press
summary	In a virtual world, we are inside an environment of pure information that we can see, hear, and touch. The technology itself is invisible, and carefully adapted to human activity so that we can behave naturally in this artificial world. We can create any imaginable environment and we can experience entirely new perspectives and capabilities within it. A virtual world can be informative, useful, and fun; it can also be boring and uncomfortable. The difference is in the design. The platform and the interactive devices we use, the software tools and the purpose of the environment are all elements in the design of virtual worlds. But the most important component in designing comfortable, functional worlds is the person inside them. Cyberspace technology couples the functions of the computer with human capabilities. This requires that we tailor the technology to people, and refine the fit to individuals. We then have customized interaction with personalized forms of information that can amplify our individual intelligence and broaden our experience. Designing virtual worlds is a challenging departure from traditional interface design. In the first section of this chapter I differentiate between paradigms for screen-based interface design and paradigms for creating virtual worlds. The engineer, the designer, and the participant co-create cyberspace. Each role carries its own set of goals and expectations, its own model of the technology's salient features. In the second section of the chapter I address these multiple perspectives, and how they interrelate in the cooperative design process. In conclusion, I consider broader design issues, including control, politics, and emergent phenomena in cyberspace.
series	other
last changed	2003/11/21 15:16

_id	ddss9414
id	ddss9414
authors	Bright, Elise N.
year	1994
title	THe "Allots" Model: A PC-Based Approach to Demand Distribution for Siting and Planning
source	Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994
summary	This paper reports on the development and application of ALLOT: a user-friendly, flexible computer model which has been designed to help governmental jurisdictions and private landowners throughout the world to achieve more economically efficient and environmentally sound land use and development patterns in a short period of time. ALLOT has the potential to drastically change the way that land use planning is conducted, since it has the capability to allow theincorporation of a wide variety of previously ignored environmental characteristics and up-to-date land use patterns. ALLOT, which is written in the SAS programming language, contains twomajor parts. The first part employs a GIS database to conduct land suitability analyses for the area. It then produces maps showing the most suitable areas for various land use types. The second part appears to be unique in the field of computerized land use planning models. It combines the results of the suitability analysis with forecasted demand for various land use types to produce "optimum" future land use patterns. The model is capable of quickly analyzing a wide variety of forecasts, allowing easy comparison of different growth scenarios; and it can also be modified to reflect community goals and objectives, such as protection of wildlife habitat orattraction of industry. The flexibility, combined with the fact that it runs on any IBM-compatible PC (286 or higher), make it a powerful land use planning tool. The model has been successfully applied in two "real world" situations. First, three alternative future land use patterns were developed for a rural lakeside area. The area had rural characteristics and was lacking infrastructure, but a large influx of people was expected as the lake was filled. The success of this effort led to decision to test it´s use as a method for facility siting (using landfill siting as an example).
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	48a7
authors	Brooks
year	1999
title	What's Real About Virtual Reality
source	IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 19, no. 6, Nov/Dec, 27
summary	As is usual with infant technologies, the realization of the early dreams for VR and harnessing it to real work has taken longer than the wild hype predicted, but it is now happening. I assess the current state of the art, addressing the perennial questions of technology and applications. By 1994, one could honestly say that VR "almost works." Many workers at many centers could doe quite exciting demos. Nevertheless, the enabling technologies had limitations that seriously impeded building VR systems for any real work except entertainment and vehicle simulators. Some of the worst problems were end-to-end system latencies, low-resolution head-mounted displays, limited tracker range and accuracy, and costs. The technologies have made great strides. Today one can get satisfying VR experiences with commercial off-the-shelf equipment. Moreover, technical advances have been accompanied by dropping costs, so it is both technically and economically feasible to do significant application. VR really works. That is not to say that all the technological problems and limitations have been solved. VR technology today "barely works." Nevertheless, coming over the mountain pass from "almost works" to "barely works" is a major transition for the discipline. I have sought out applications that are now in daily productive use, in order to find out exactly what is real. Separating these from prototype systems and feasibility demos is not always easy. People doing daily production applications have been forthcoming about lessons learned and surprises encountered. As one would expect, the initial production applications are those offering high value over alternate approaches. These applications fall into a few classes. I estimate that there are about a hundred installations in daily productive use worldwide.
series	journal paper
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	7d6c
authors	Chapin, William L., Lacey, T. and Leifer, Larry
year	1994
title	DesignSpace: A Manual Interaction Environment for Computer Aided Design DEMONSTRATIONS: Virtual Reality Multimedia
source	Proceedings of ACM CHI'94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1994 v.2 pp. 33-34
summary	DesignSpace is a computer-aided-design (CAD) system that facilitates dexterous manipulation of mechanical design representations. The system consists of an interactive simulation programmed with a seamless extended model of the designer's physical environment and driven with continuous instrumentation of the designer's physical actions. The simulation displays consistent visual and aural images of the virtual environment without occluding the designer's sensation of the physical surroundings. Developed at Stanford University's Center for Design Research (CDR), DesignSpace serves as an experimental testbed for design theory and methodology research. DesignSpace includes significant contributions from recent CDR development projects: TalkingGlove, CutPlane, VirtualHand, TeleSign, and VirtualGrasp. The current DesignSpace prototype provides modeling facility for only crude conceptual design and assembly, but can network multiple systems to share a common virtual space and arbitrate the collaborative interaction. The DesignSpace prototype employs three head-tracked rear projection images, head-coupled binaural audio, hand instrumentation, and electromagnetic position tracking.
keywords	Virtual Environment; Dexterous Manipulation; Interactive Simulation; Presence; Spatial Acoustics; Manual and Gestural Communication; Teleconference; Collaboration
series	other
last changed	2002/07/07 16:01

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