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From: Shelley Brundage
Date: 04 Oct 2006
Time: 09:07:31 -0500
Remote Name: 128.164.247.162
hi Vasu: Well, it's not quite as involved as the holodeck, but the idea is similar (I always thought the holodeck was cool). As to challenges in implementing VR, costs have come down in recent years but remain high, particularly if one does not own a computer. Cost for a system (computer, headset, software) is approximately $10,000US if you purchase outright. Luckily, most companies will allow you to lease the software that creates the VR environment. You touched on another challenge--that situations in the VR have to be scripted in some way, but to be honest, there is a fair amount of flexibility in the newer systems. For example, I can choose many responses for the virtual interviewer in the job interview. In the new audiences environment, audience members can pose questions specific to the speaker (this is done by having the therapist pose the question for the virtual audience member via a microphone). Additionally, in the audiences environment, we can upload a speaker's own powerpoint slides, so that s/he can practice their own speeches/presentations. In these ways the situations can be tailored to specific users. I have an article in press at the Journal of Fluency Disorders that contains screen shots (www.elsevier.com/jfd I think is the URL). I'm not sure how to upload screen shots to ISAD-Sorry! Folks who participated in my research to date report being sufficiently immersed in the environments, and many of them reported physiologic and affective responses to the virtual worlds (e.g., "My palms were sweaty and I was scared."). Shelley