"The Interdisciplinary Challenge of Building Virtual Worlds"

2/23/2001: [time not recorded]
[location not recorded]

Abstract: Creating an interactive experience is a one of the hardest authoring challenges in human history. Success requires talent from computer science, engineering, art, drama, design, architecture, and a host of other disciplines. Science can tell us how and why to provide better perceptual phenomena (e.g. head-tracking), but success also requires "out of the box" thinking, rapid prototyping tools, and a willingness to create the grammar for this new medium. Since 1995, I have worked with Walt Disney Imagineering on several virtual reality projects for the DisneyQuest "digital theme park," now open in Orlando and Chicago. Meanwhile, Carnegie Mellon has created the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) [ http://www.etc.cmu.edu], a joint initiative between Schools of Computer Science and the College of Fine Arts. As part of the ETC efforts, we have developed the Alice 3d authoring tool [http://www.alice.org ] and processes that allow interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates to build and test compelling virtual worlds in a two-week time period. I will discuss the "Building Virtual Worlds" course, and the mechanisms we use to put students together from different fields.

About Randy Pausch: Randy Pausch is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon, where he is the co-director of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. He has consulted with Walt Disney Imagineering on the user interface design and testing of interactive theme park attractions, particularly for the "DisneyQuest" virtual-reality based theme park. He also consults with Google.com and Z.com on user interface issues. Dr. Pausch is the author or co-author of five books and over 50 reviewed journal and conference proceedings articles, and he sits on the Board of Directors of the Jupiter Media Metrix corporation.

Last updated: Mon Jun 19 17:44:06 2006