Immersion for Discovery

Global experience with virtual environments has skyrocketed in 2020. “Shelter-in-place” is our local term for working, learning and socializing remotely. Regardless of how it’s labeled, we have dramatically increased the proportion of communications and interactions that are NOT face-to-face. We’ve used virtual presence to share screens, to create meaning. We’ve learned new cues for taking turns in telepresence, and we’ve tamed the nests of cords and accessories that power and personalize our various devices.

In this virtual colloquia webinar series we will use existing and emerging technologies to leverage experiences and insights from the mediaX membership community of scholars, researchers, instructors and learners. This session will focus on DISCOVERY.

July 14, 12:00pm PACIFIC
IMMERSION FOR DISCOVERY
Chris Chafe – Diagnosing Acoustic Latency: Human Perception of Milliseconds
Allison Okamura – Engineering for Tactile/Haptic Thresholds
Ge Wang – The Artful Design of Immersion
Club Cardinal – Connecting for Inspiration (11:40a)

Additional Virtual Webinar Sessions

July 13, 5:00pm PACIFIC
IMMERSION FOR COLLABORATION

Nick Haber – AI for Affect, Personalization and Reciprocity: Modeling the Self and the Other
Renate Fruchter – Attention and Engagement for Teamwork
Ivan Davies – Players First: The Responsibility & Opportunity of Multiplayer Video Games Today

July 16, 9:00am PACIFIC
IMMERSION FOR LEARNING
Roy Pea – Leveraging Distributed Intelligence
Carla Pugh – Quantitative Predecessors to Human Actions
Jill Helms – Not for the Faint of Heart: Creating an Environment for Learning in Virtual Spaces
Aditya Vishwanath – The Many Futures of Virtual Learning Environments
Club Cardinal – Connecting for Inspiration (8:40a)

Presenters

Chris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, and cellist, developing much of his music alongside computer-based research. He is Director of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). In 2019, he was International Visiting Research Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies The University of British Columbia, Visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Torino, and Edgard-Varèse Guest Professor at the Technical University of Berlin. At IRCAM (Paris) and The Banff Centre (Alberta), he has pursued methods for digital synthesis, music performance and real-time internet collaboration. CCRMA's jacktrip project involves live concertizing with musicians the world over.

Allison Okamura

Allison Okamura is currently Professor in the mechanical engineering department at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in computer science. She was previously Professor and Vice Chair of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. She has been an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, editor-in-chief of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Conference Editorial Board, an editor of the International Journal of Robotics Research, and co-chair of the IEEE Haptics Symposium. Her awards include the 2020 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award, 2019 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Service Award, 2016 Duca Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, 2009 IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award, 2005 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award, and 2004 NSF CAREER Award. Her academic interests include haptics, teleoperation, virtual environments and simulators, medical robotics, soft robotics, neuromechanics and rehabilitation, prosthetics, and education.

Ge Wang is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He specializes in the art of design and computer music — researching programming languages and interactive software design for music, interaction design, mobile music, laptop orchestras, expressive design of virtual reality, aesthetics of music technology design, and education at the intersection of computer science and music. Ge is the author of the ChucK music programming language, the founding director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk). Ge is also the Co-founder of Smule (reaching over 200 million users), and the designer of the iPhone's Ocarina and Magic Piano. Ge is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, and the author of ARTFUL DESIGN: TECHNOLOGY IN SEARCH OF THE SUBLIME—a book on design and technology, art and life‚ published by Stanford University Press in 2018 (see https://artful.design/)