There are several basic modes available today for Video Immersive environments that have significantly different predicates and display modes:
1. Big wall environments for multiple-person conferences -- these are thought of primarily as the heavily hyped and expensive HP Halo and the Cisco Telepresence "rooms". The basic configuration -- six people in three blocs of two people -- on "each side" of a wide video wall is set up to approximate two groups of people who are not proximate, able to discuss topics while viewing the body language, facial expressions, and contextual settings of the "other side". Each system can be reduced to a "smaller room" for two people; a variation allows and sometimes emphasizes multi-point meetings, using each of the three two-person screens to represent a new site. Sound-actuation switching can multiplex many such "rooms" -- we've experimented with up to one hundred participants for ten hours in fifteen sites -- a major tour de force.
2. Big TV screen "windows" for multiple-person conferences -- these are seen in LifeSize, Tandberg, Polycom, and Vidyo systems among others. Each can show "another person elsewhere" in High Definition image, or with various "windowed" tiled pictures (think TV Picture in Picture), can show multiple attendees from multiple locales simultaneously.
3. Small Picture Point-to-Point. Think Skype Video, which is essentially a Video Phone ala the famous "failed experiment" of AT&T in 1964 and 1970.
4. Specialty systems -- The Northrup / Applied Minds capability features heavy "war-room" interactive screens for integrated artifact display and spreadsheet and textual presentation plus social networking tools, along with augmented video walls with blurred edges between "rooms" and experimental "auto-director" editing plus archival / retrieval capability.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Mistrusting your collaboration system
John Canny, EE/CS professor at Berkeley, said it well yesterday at our demo fair -- "The vendors are all busy selling Eye Candy, the High Definition screens for Video Conferencing, while ignoring Eye Gaze which is the most important single ingredient in effective communication."
I had opened the conference by asserting that every single system today on the market, with some minor exceptions in the HP Halo system and "the sweet spot" for Cisco Telepresence, builds subconscious mistrust, because they all have optics that nearly completely precludes looking the other person in the eye. Every culture on the globe, and virtually all animal species as well, use eye gaze for engagement and trust establishment. Every system that disbars eye contact creates a barrier to effective communication.
Jeremy Bailenson's opening keynote elaborated on my assertion; twelve speakers during the day affirmed the point, and the evening demos clearly established the problem, as well as some suggested technical solutions.
But Tuesday afternoon, LiveSize presented at the Sun Microsystems' sponsored MediaX Spring Lecture series, and said High Definition was the key, and that users "quickly" adjust to the lack of eye contact. Suzie Wu at HP confidently told Harlyn Baker, on the original HP Halo research team, that "people integrate the perceived view". And this afternoon, the Cisco and HP tours will allow the conference participants to form their own judgments.
Make no mistake -- these systems are awesome in many respects, and represent substantial improvement in capability (and sometimes cost) over anything previously available. But they ignore basic human psychology in dramatically important ways. It would be wonderful to imagine that the teams at the key companies -- Cisco, HP, Polycom, Tandberg, LifeSize, and the interesting newcomer, Vidyo -- would be putting key research into these subtle but vital aspects. Alas, the evidence is otherwise.
I had opened the conference by asserting that every single system today on the market, with some minor exceptions in the HP Halo system and "the sweet spot" for Cisco Telepresence, builds subconscious mistrust, because they all have optics that nearly completely precludes looking the other person in the eye. Every culture on the globe, and virtually all animal species as well, use eye gaze for engagement and trust establishment. Every system that disbars eye contact creates a barrier to effective communication.
Jeremy Bailenson's opening keynote elaborated on my assertion; twelve speakers during the day affirmed the point, and the evening demos clearly established the problem, as well as some suggested technical solutions.
But Tuesday afternoon, LiveSize presented at the Sun Microsystems' sponsored MediaX Spring Lecture series, and said High Definition was the key, and that users "quickly" adjust to the lack of eye contact. Suzie Wu at HP confidently told Harlyn Baker, on the original HP Halo research team, that "people integrate the perceived view". And this afternoon, the Cisco and HP tours will allow the conference participants to form their own judgments.
Make no mistake -- these systems are awesome in many respects, and represent substantial improvement in capability (and sometimes cost) over anything previously available. But they ignore basic human psychology in dramatically important ways. It would be wonderful to imagine that the teams at the key companies -- Cisco, HP, Polycom, Tandberg, LifeSize, and the interesting newcomer, Vidyo -- would be putting key research into these subtle but vital aspects. Alas, the evidence is otherwise.
Immersive Video communications
I'm currently in the midst of a fascinating conference, IMMERSCOM 2009, for which Ruzena Bajcsy and I are co-chairs. It is being held -- the first conference ever in this new site -- in the new CITRIS building at U C Berkeley, a grand testament to interdisciplinary research into IT (information Technology) and its impact on society.
At the moment, four of the best programs in the world in IT and its Impact on Society (what I called ISIS at Stanford for my course in 1984-1989 to honor the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility and nurturer of the earth) are on the West Coast -- our own MediaX at Stanford, the CITS program at UC Santa Barbara, the STS program at Santa Clara University, and the CITRIS program, mostly at UC Berkeley with outposts at Merced, Santa Cruz and Davis. I co-initiated the UCSB program, and still sit on the Advisory Board. Over the past two weeks, the Chair of both the Santa Clara program (Bill Coleman, the "B" of BEA Systems) and Ruzena Bajcsy, the director of CITRIS, have reached out to propose joint activities amongst us.
It is high time... in my opinion... to consider the IMPACT of our technologies on the users and inhabitants of the world, rather than just focus on the Whizziness of the Technologies. Hard for us technologists to say, let alone do. But a few quick examples may make the point, which I will do in some subsequent posts.
At the moment, four of the best programs in the world in IT and its Impact on Society (what I called ISIS at Stanford for my course in 1984-1989 to honor the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility and nurturer of the earth) are on the West Coast -- our own MediaX at Stanford, the CITS program at UC Santa Barbara, the STS program at Santa Clara University, and the CITRIS program, mostly at UC Berkeley with outposts at Merced, Santa Cruz and Davis. I co-initiated the UCSB program, and still sit on the Advisory Board. Over the past two weeks, the Chair of both the Santa Clara program (Bill Coleman, the "B" of BEA Systems) and Ruzena Bajcsy, the director of CITRIS, have reached out to propose joint activities amongst us.
It is high time... in my opinion... to consider the IMPACT of our technologies on the users and inhabitants of the world, rather than just focus on the Whizziness of the Technologies. Hard for us technologists to say, let alone do. But a few quick examples may make the point, which I will do in some subsequent posts.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Dogs sure set up a racket
Memorial Day weekend dawned cool and windy in our part of the world. Needed a coat to walk the dogs, and I decided to forego planting for a couple hours. But by the end of Saturday, the rockwall out front was finally completed, and it looks almost like it had been there for years.
Sunday was Indianapolis race day, something that my dad never missed (except for once when we went golfing and Jenny turned off the recorder that he had so carefully adjusted to capture it). Castroneves won, despite my rooting for Danica Patrick. Jenny knew Castroneves from the Dancing with the Stars program -- fame has a great way of traveling.
And Monday, more of the same. Chilly. And then the dogs, barking and growling at a woodpile from our ongoing construction. Wow, noisy beyond belief. And then, directly, the cause -- a very large, very angry raccoon that they'd treed in our smallish Persimmon tree. He/she was quite upset with the din, and Zoe especially seemed oblivious to the idea that this thing was able to defend itself.
Fortunately, he was able to get from the tree branches onto the roof, and then onto the spruce tree out front, which he climbed with ease. Four hours later, he was still ensconsed some thirty feet up in that tree. Jenny came home, and saw this great pile of fur and she was mighty impressed. We were both glad that Zoe missed her goal.
The next morning, today, no sign of the big creature.
Sunday was Indianapolis race day, something that my dad never missed (except for once when we went golfing and Jenny turned off the recorder that he had so carefully adjusted to capture it). Castroneves won, despite my rooting for Danica Patrick. Jenny knew Castroneves from the Dancing with the Stars program -- fame has a great way of traveling.
And Monday, more of the same. Chilly. And then the dogs, barking and growling at a woodpile from our ongoing construction. Wow, noisy beyond belief. And then, directly, the cause -- a very large, very angry raccoon that they'd treed in our smallish Persimmon tree. He/she was quite upset with the din, and Zoe especially seemed oblivious to the idea that this thing was able to defend itself.
Fortunately, he was able to get from the tree branches onto the roof, and then onto the spruce tree out front, which he climbed with ease. Four hours later, he was still ensconsed some thirty feet up in that tree. Jenny came home, and saw this great pile of fur and she was mighty impressed. We were both glad that Zoe missed her goal.
The next morning, today, no sign of the big creature.
IMMERSCOM 2009
The thought was a good one, or so it seemed at the time. Gather the designers and key users of these new Video Immersive environments -- known as HP Halo, or Cisco Telepresence, or LifeSize, or pick your favorite other system (e.g. Polycom, Tandberg, Vidyo...) -- and have a deep and penetrating conference about what works, and what needs improvement, for these new tools.
Put it in Silicon Valley, the mecca for innovation, and you "can't miss". Well, we reckoned without the dire economy, even though these tools are one of the best ways to mitigate costs by eliminating most travel needs and enhancing the teamwork and hence productivity of designers. So, the conference has about half as many attendees as we'd have liked, which means that we'll be lucky to break even.
But today, at MediaX, we hosted Casey King, the CTO for LifeSize, who described a company that has doubled every year for the last five, with now some 10,000 companies using their products, with High Definition Video for relatively low cost, and his enthusiasm was palpable, as it was for the host company, Sun Microsystems, which reported on the productivity increases due to such tools.
And Thursday, we'll tour HP and Cisco facilities to experience first-hand these wonder tools. If you haven't been in one of these uber-centers, run rather than walk to experience this stuff.
Why so few attendees? Could be the esoteric titles on the papers, or it could be the time of year or the travel budget issue, or maybe there is no capital equipment money even if things looked great. Or maybe people are so "heads-down" that they have no capacity to consider change?
Seems odd to me. It feels strangely like the old joke about the machine gun salesman showing up at the castle, and the wife explaining that her knight doesn't have time to listen, because he is putting on his suit of armor and mounting his horse to go fight in the Crusades.
Ah well. We'll have a great time
Put it in Silicon Valley, the mecca for innovation, and you "can't miss". Well, we reckoned without the dire economy, even though these tools are one of the best ways to mitigate costs by eliminating most travel needs and enhancing the teamwork and hence productivity of designers. So, the conference has about half as many attendees as we'd have liked, which means that we'll be lucky to break even.
But today, at MediaX, we hosted Casey King, the CTO for LifeSize, who described a company that has doubled every year for the last five, with now some 10,000 companies using their products, with High Definition Video for relatively low cost, and his enthusiasm was palpable, as it was for the host company, Sun Microsystems, which reported on the productivity increases due to such tools.
And Thursday, we'll tour HP and Cisco facilities to experience first-hand these wonder tools. If you haven't been in one of these uber-centers, run rather than walk to experience this stuff.
Why so few attendees? Could be the esoteric titles on the papers, or it could be the time of year or the travel budget issue, or maybe there is no capital equipment money even if things looked great. Or maybe people are so "heads-down" that they have no capacity to consider change?
Seems odd to me. It feels strangely like the old joke about the machine gun salesman showing up at the castle, and the wife explaining that her knight doesn't have time to listen, because he is putting on his suit of armor and mounting his horse to go fight in the Crusades.
Ah well. We'll have a great time
Where has the time gone?
The last post I made was the day before we moved into our new home. Now, a mere five months later, I surface again! Howze that for tunneling...
A lot has happened in five months. For one, the economy has not gotten much better, despite some semi-heroic government actions. For two, the fact that many kings and noblemen lack clothes is becoming increasingly apparent. Most obviously, the greed and corruption that is being reported daily seems like the ultimate insult to the American Way. The AIG bonuses, the Sacramento water scam, the egregious bankers, and the arrogant Detroit moguls seem of a piece, and not so very far from Bernie Madoff actually. It wouldn't be that hard to find targets at most of the large corporations where seemingly the "family atmosphere" is gone, and the drones of the movie 1984 seem curiously apt.
The issues have become more basic for many who are out of work. What next? Where to? And how can we survive this calamity?
In these kinds of times, there is opportunity to be sure, but it has some of the feeling of the "we were sent in to drain the swamp, but these damn alligators have us under siege".
In our small part of the world, it is not particularly sanguine either. Jenny's work is booming, thanks to the stimulus package for education, and she is so busy she cannot hardly keep up. Profits are elusive, but the work is there, so we are thankful for that. MediaX has had several great opportunities as well, including a fantastic DATA VISUALIZATION exhibit that we have from now through December on display in Wallenberg Hall, open to the public.
And our Summer Institute has its widest variety of offerings to date. See http://mediax.stanford.edu/WSI/ for an eclectic set of seminars and workshops.
But corporate philanthropy, on which our program depends, is at an all-time low, and the cries of distress from the largest companies -- IBM, HP, and Boeing to name a few -- would have you think that they are facing imminent bankruptcy. Maybe they are, and they've carefully shielded us from that fact, kinda like Bernie, but more likely, they are hoarding their billions and making sure that they wring every productive ounce of profit from the system. It seems to me to be a clear case of penny-wise and pound-foolish, but then old Ben Franklin has been dead so long....
Maybe I will develop more energy for the next post...
A lot has happened in five months. For one, the economy has not gotten much better, despite some semi-heroic government actions. For two, the fact that many kings and noblemen lack clothes is becoming increasingly apparent. Most obviously, the greed and corruption that is being reported daily seems like the ultimate insult to the American Way. The AIG bonuses, the Sacramento water scam, the egregious bankers, and the arrogant Detroit moguls seem of a piece, and not so very far from Bernie Madoff actually. It wouldn't be that hard to find targets at most of the large corporations where seemingly the "family atmosphere" is gone, and the drones of the movie 1984 seem curiously apt.
The issues have become more basic for many who are out of work. What next? Where to? And how can we survive this calamity?
In these kinds of times, there is opportunity to be sure, but it has some of the feeling of the "we were sent in to drain the swamp, but these damn alligators have us under siege".
In our small part of the world, it is not particularly sanguine either. Jenny's work is booming, thanks to the stimulus package for education, and she is so busy she cannot hardly keep up. Profits are elusive, but the work is there, so we are thankful for that. MediaX has had several great opportunities as well, including a fantastic DATA VISUALIZATION exhibit that we have from now through December on display in Wallenberg Hall, open to the public.
And our Summer Institute has its widest variety of offerings to date. See http://mediax.stanford.edu/WSI/ for an eclectic set of seminars and workshops.
But corporate philanthropy, on which our program depends, is at an all-time low, and the cries of distress from the largest companies -- IBM, HP, and Boeing to name a few -- would have you think that they are facing imminent bankruptcy. Maybe they are, and they've carefully shielded us from that fact, kinda like Bernie, but more likely, they are hoarding their billions and making sure that they wring every productive ounce of profit from the system. It seems to me to be a clear case of penny-wise and pound-foolish, but then old Ben Franklin has been dead so long....
Maybe I will develop more energy for the next post...
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