The Cultural Spiral: Virtual Spaces as Records of Time
Access status:
Open Access
Type
Conference paperAbstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities of VRML technologies as foundational tools in the exploration of real and virtual cultural times and places. VRML allows for the 3D presentation of objects in space and of space as defined by objects. Starting from a specific ...
See moreThe purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities of VRML technologies as foundational tools in the exploration of real and virtual cultural times and places. VRML allows for the 3D presentation of objects in space and of space as defined by objects. Starting from a specific cultural focus, such as a public work of art, VRML enables the perception of pathways to the focus. Situating the object then allows for the situating environment to be included, within the circularity of a VRML movie. By adding hot spots to the VRML, the viewer is then able to break out of the fixed circularity of the panovision, into the enlarged world. Within this enlarged world, information is able to retain its connectedness with the fundamental experience of the object in its environment. Information is also allowed to claim its own particular shape. That is, through varieties of documentation, including detailed views, historical documents etc. the viewer is able to encounter a variety of cultural foci. VRML can enable new kinds of texts and inter-texts. Current work, on a VRML project, using Throsby Creek, Newcastle as the site, illustrates the advantages of VRML as a foundational technology in opening up new kinds of understanding about the ways that we "read" and "write" the world.
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See moreThe purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities of VRML technologies as foundational tools in the exploration of real and virtual cultural times and places. VRML allows for the 3D presentation of objects in space and of space as defined by objects. Starting from a specific cultural focus, such as a public work of art, VRML enables the perception of pathways to the focus. Situating the object then allows for the situating environment to be included, within the circularity of a VRML movie. By adding hot spots to the VRML, the viewer is then able to break out of the fixed circularity of the panovision, into the enlarged world. Within this enlarged world, information is able to retain its connectedness with the fundamental experience of the object in its environment. Information is also allowed to claim its own particular shape. That is, through varieties of documentation, including detailed views, historical documents etc. the viewer is able to encounter a variety of cultural foci. VRML can enable new kinds of texts and inter-texts. Current work, on a VRML project, using Throsby Creek, Newcastle as the site, illustrates the advantages of VRML as a foundational technology in opening up new kinds of understanding about the ways that we "read" and "write" the world.
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Date
2001-01-01Publisher
Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), the University of Sydney.Licence
Copyright the University of SydneyCitation
Computing Arts 2001 : digital resources for research in the humanities : 26th-28th September 2001, Veterinary Science Conference Centre, the University of Sydney / hosted by the Scholarly Text and Imaging Service (SETIS), the University of Sydney Library, and the Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), the University of SydneyShare