Virtual Space: Computers & the Internet John “J.D.” Dougherty CS @ Haverford College [email protected] Science and a Sense of Place.

Virtual Space:Computers & the

InternetJohn “J.D.” Dougherty

CS @ Haverford [email protected]

www.cs.haverford.eduScience and a Sense of PlaceBryn Mawr Summer Institute

July 26, 2006

Overview• “Getting to Know You”: Introductions,

Ice-Breaker, Goal Setting

• Morning Question: How does the Internet Work to Impact our Perception of Space?

• Afternoon Question: How can a Computer Work to Create Virtual Space?

Conclusions: How can we pose these questions effectively to our students?

Who Are We?• Demographics:

name, school, grade

• Questions: What do you want to explore?

What do you think of when you consider computing & space?

What others have said about “space”• “Space: The Final Frontier.” [Gene

Roddenberry]

• “Giving a man space is like giving a dog a computer: the chances are he will not use it wisely.” [Bette-Jane Raphael]

• “Don’t fence me in.” [?]

“It’s a small world after all.” [W. Disney]

What others have said about “place”• "We anticipate a global world-market

with place for perhaps five computers." [T. Watson, IBM, 1949]

• “Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating sandwiches.” [J. Carrey]

“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.” [M. Twain]

What others have said about “the Internet”• “The Internet is the world's largest

library. It's just that all the books are on the floor.” [John Allen Paulos]

• Internet: absolute communication, absolute isolation. [Paul Carvel]

• “The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom.” [Jon Stewart]

Sen Ted Stevens’ observations ...

What is the Internet?

• low-level infrastructure of the Web

• set of computers hierarchically connected via a set of wires (& now wireless)

• hardware and protocols for decentralized, packet-based interprocess communication

the busiest, most congested system you’ve never seen (but you will ...)

Internet is like the USmail (sort of ...)

• messages are partitioned into “packets”

• each packets has a destination (and a sender), as well as a sequence number and (often) some error correction feature

• computers connect to dedicated routers that simply pass information around until the message is delivered

Jon Stewart was right!

An Exercise• I need volunteers:

• browser (2)

• web server (2)

• email server

• email client (2)

routers (the rest)

Protocols(i.e., “the rules”)

• everyone needs a unique domain name

• all but routers get a set of cards

• email client: compose email message on 5-10 cards

• browser: make request for webpage from webserver

• routers simply “store and forward”

“Class -- engage!”

Discussion Questions

• How is this distinct from a phone system? How might this be used for phone calls?

• How smart is the Internet?

• Can you think of a way to improve the Internet protocols used? Make it faster? more reliable? other?

• How are images sent? sound? video?

How are cycles avoided?

Observations• The Internet creates the perception of

“smaller space” by actually reducing the time of transmission as compared to conventional means (letters, yelling)

• Physicists view time as another dimension along with the three for space

• Computer Scientists connect, often “trade”, time for space (data structures, compression techniques)

So do people (TiVo, fast-forward, warehouses, others???)

Intermission(& Lunch)

• You are invited to discuss your most compelling or unusual usage of the Internet [e.g., OneRedPaperClip]

• To get ready for the afternoon, consider installing Alice from www.alice.org

Computing and Space

(& Time)• An “unnatural” science [Feynmann]

• Can define space that is realized (engineered) in the real world

• How much space?

• infinite in theory

“virtually infinite” in practice

Computers &Virtual Space

• How do we know what’s real?

• Descartes “Cogito ergo sum”

• J.D.’s “stubbo toe hurts-so”

• How do we know what’s virtual?

• “Total Recall” (vacation in your mind)

• “American Werewolf in London”

“The Sims” and other simulations

HCI and Perception• people# depend on vision

for a substantial amount of information to define their world; other senses add to this definition

• animation, movies, graphics all work to generate that information to a degree

computer graphics are not bound by reality, and provide a means to explore these limits -- in virtual worlds

# people without vision issues

Go ask Alice ...• Alice is an interactive

environment to create virtual worlds and explore virtual space (and experience programming)

• Movies are stories in virtual space

• Interaction is also possible, permitting the user to participate in the virtual space

www.alice.org

A Quick Demo ...

Virtual Space Exercise• Create a short spot (think a 30

second commercial -- impact over content)

• choose a setting, a cast of characters (i.e., objects)

• drag-n-drop instructions to animate your characters

• trial and error

events can be used for interaction

Points for Reflection• simulations are used often in

natural science; should they be used to teach natural science?

• can students/young people become addicted to life in the a virtual space?

• can virtual space be used to explore other issues?

others???