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Immersive Vision Theatres and Strategies for Knowledge Transfer Seminar Report

Report by Martha Blassnigg and Michael Punt

This event was convened jointly by Transtechnology Research at the University of Plymouth and the AHRC ICT Methods Network. It was delivered as planned and publicized with the exception of the presentation by the SEOS team who, at short notice, were unavoidably unable to participate. Their component was delivered by David Macconville from the perspective of his company Elumenati. Of the invited participants most were able to attend for all the sessions while the plenary lectures attracted a larger audience since they took place in an unrestricted auditorium. The experimental and innovative live link and presentation of Uniview using the internet network was successful. The following discussion in real time with a participant in the USA was also technically robust and intellectually valuable. The plenary discussion provoked a number of possible initiatives but at this proximity it is impossible to be specific about future collaborations. What can be claimed at this stage is that the interpretation of immersive vision technologies have been broadened among a constituency committed to using and sharing them.

Introduction to the Day

The event began with registration and coffee served in the Immersive Vision Theatre in order to familiarize participants with the environment as a technical resource. The day was introduced by Michael Punt who outlined the objective of identifying the key topics, approaches and discourses that need to be co-ordinated to develop reliable practices and methods of evaluation in designing immersive audio-visual experiences in an educational and research context. He emphasized that the focus of the day was to identify existing strategies for the effective use of immersive A/V environments for the transfer of knowledge and to suggest new areas of research that will contribute toward a deeper understanding of the experience for the participant.

The technical team, led by Peter Carrs, presented a number of projects that had been realized for immersive vision environments, and some developed at the University of Plymouth by his team. The emphasis in this presentation was on those projects that required quite low resolution and modest technological specifications. This was to encourage prototype and blue skies thinking about possible uses of the resource, which is a design feature of the IVT in order to facilitate easy access for end users. Emphasis was also placed on the provision in the resource for feedback and interaction and the portable versions of the immersive environment which could be used for diffusion and public outreach. This familiarization with the IVT prepared the ground for three keynote presentations.

Read the report...