SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.si.umich.edu
A different take on virtual worlds
Thomas A. Finholt and Erik Hofer
School of Inform
ation
University of Michigan
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Outline
�Challe
nges of virtual organizing
–Understand cultural differences
�Overview of CI usage
–Netw
orking
–Computing
�CI-based applications -VISIT
–HD Video Conferencing
–Im
mersive visualization
–Next-generation evaluation techniques
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Lessons from virtual organizing
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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Unde
rsta
nd c
ultu
ral d
iffer
ence
s
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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Dom
ain
scie
ntis
tsD
omai
n sc
ient
ists
Dom
ain
scie
ntis
tsD
omai
n sc
ient
ists
•Power distance
–Hierarchical
–Bias toward seniority
•Individualist
–“individual genius”
–Solo PI model
•Masculine
–Adversarial
–Competitive
•Uncertainty avoidance
–Highly skeptical of new
technologies
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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CI d
evel
oper
sC
I dev
elop
ers
CI d
evel
oper
sC
I dev
elop
ers
•Power distance
–Egalitgarian
–Bias toward talent
•Individualist
–Use the Internet to
create worldwide
communities
–Project m
odel
•Masculine
–Adversarial
–Competitive
•Uncertainty
avoidance
–Extrem
ely open to new
technologies
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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Plan
for f
irst c
onta
ctPl
an fo
r firs
t con
tact
Plan
for f
irst c
onta
ctPl
an fo
r firs
t con
tact
Unde
rsta
nd c
ultu
ral d
iffer
ence
s
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Com
mun
icate
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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Seek
com
mon
gro
und
Seek
com
mon
gro
und
Seek
com
mon
gro
und
Seek
com
mon
gro
und
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.si.umich.edu
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.si.umich.edu
Seek
com
mon
gro
und
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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Tink
erTi
nker
Tink
erTi
nker
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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•Se
ek s
mal
l win
s an
d le
vera
ge th
e w
ork
of o
ther
s–
Linu
sTo
rval
ds's
style
of
deve
lopm
ent—
rele
ase
early
and
of
ten,
del
egat
e ev
eryt
hing
you
can
, be
ope
n to
the
poin
t of p
rom
iscui
ty—
cam
e as
a s
urpr
ise. N
o qu
iet,
reve
rent
cat
hedr
al-b
uild
ing
here
—ra
ther
, the
Lin
ux c
omm
unity
see
med
to
rese
mbl
e a
grea
t bab
blin
g ba
zaar
of
diff
erin
g ag
enda
s an
d ap
proa
ches
. (E
ric R
aym
ond)
•Ti
nker
and
exp
erim
ent
–To
take
adv
anta
ge o
f the
tech
nolo
gy
one
mus
t eng
age
dire
ctly
with
it, a
nd
one
mus
t allo
w tra
ditio
ns o
f pra
ctice
to
be
flexib
ly in
fluen
ced
by it
. (AC
LS
repo
rt)
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Sust
ain
Sust
ain
Sust
ain
Sust
ain
Sust
ain
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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Infrastructure for ultra-resolution
collaboration
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SI maintains an experimental high perform
ance
network, with 10 G
b/s links to SI North and W
est Hall
via r-bin-m
ilr (located at SEB). Michigan Lambda R
ail
(MiLR) provides high perform
ance connectivity to
colla
borating sites (Wayne State, UIC, NCSA, U.
Washington) and national networks.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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SI is not a m
ajor consumer of HPC resources. A 6-
node AMD O
pteron visualization cluster meets m
ost
of VISIT's needs, though a TeraGrid development
allo
cation is under review for a joint project with
AOSS.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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www.si.umich.eduVarious ultra-resolution
applications
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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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SI colla
borates in the development and
demonstration of high-quality video conferencing
technologies. Using the iHD1500 software, we
transmit low-latency, studio-quality HD video over
advanced networks at 1.5 G
b/s.
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The STIET IGERT program, run in cooperation with
Wayne State University, uses an uncompressed
iHD1500 link to hold a weekly research seminar
between Ann Arbor and Detroit, using M
iLR.
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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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SI recently completed the construction of a new 100
megapixel OptIPortal tiled display. This cluster-driven
tiled display runs the Rocks Linux distribution and the
SAGE graphics m
iddleware from UIC.
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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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SI colla
borates extensively with other units on the
application of advanced CI technologies. The
Department of Atm
ospheric, Oceanic and Space
Sciences colla
borated with SI in the development of a
50-m
egapixel OptIPortal.
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Engagement with other units allo
ws SI to study the
use of advanced CI 'in the wild
.' An SI PhD student
and CoE U
ROP U
ndergraduate are working w
ith the
AOSS display on study of visualization in the
classroom.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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In addition to visualization, SI is developing
colla
boration technologies that use these O
ptIPortals
as a platform
. Component technologies include
laptop screen projection and m
ultiple flavors of HD
video (uncompressed, DVCProHD, HDV)
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
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In addition to 'b
ig networking'-based projects, SI is
deploying a sensor network testbed to evaluate the
use of wireless sensors in studying the use of new
technologies.
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These sensors monitor audio level in build
ings as a
proxy for social activity. Visualizations of sensor data
provide 'social weather maps,' tracking pockets of
social activity in a space. O
ver a long tim
e frame, we
can m
easure how new technologies (i.e. public
displays) change how physical space is used.
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We are also developing ways to instrument CI
systems. W
e have embedded cameras in the seams
of our latest OptIPortal, which we will use to colle
ct
usage data about the system.
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We use the data from these cameras to compute eye
tracking coordinates, attention levels or other metrics
of interest in real time using computer-vision
techniques.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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The future: Combining ultra-
resolution with virtual worlds
�Multitouch, integrated instrumentation, social
sensing, and O
ptIPortals
–Context-aware ultra-resolution colla
boration
�OptIPortalavaila
bility
–International netw
ork of OptIPortals(~70)
–Approxim
ately $900 per megapixel
�OptIPortals
as bridge between real and virtual
worlds
–Life-sized representation of avatars
–Reflection of real world into the virtual space
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