🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2195@milton.acs.washington.edu> good@baviki.enet.dec.com writes:
   Wearing things is not the only way to approach virtual
   worlds, or multi-sensory I/O.  Force-feedback joysticks,
   for instance, act much more like a traditional I/O device,
   and let you explore using the sense of touch.

Where does one get a (relatively cheap, ie ~$1K) force-feedback joystick?
The only force-feedback devices I've used have been quite cumbersome and
uncomfortable.

   However, given current technology, the head-mounted
   display and glove is what we have available for exploring
   support for natural human vision.  It's good enough to
   get started for building prototypes and learning about
   what works and doesn't work.  Holography is a promising
   technology, but it doesn't work for building interactive
   prototypes yet.

But my point is that the head-mounted display and glove may not be "natural"
and may be leading us down a garden path.  I'd like to see less
concentration on the techno-whizz-banginess of the gadgets and more on the
underlying ideas we're trying to get across.

To give you an idea of what I'm getting at, look at Randy Smith's (?CHI'87?)
paper on the tension between magic and reality.  He's talking about
something fundamental to the whole endeavor, something totally divorced from
the gadgetry.  I'd like to see more work like that.  (References always
appreciated.)

   Many people will wear machines that are sufficiently
   comfortable, useful, and fun.  Look at the Sony Walkman
   and its successors.

Good point.  I had forgotten about the Walkman.  But now that I think about
it, don't people complain about the anti-sociality of the walkman?

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