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Reports
These reports, written by volunteers, summarise information
for people not able to attend the sessions. Their comprehensiveness and
accuracy are not guaranteed. For more information, please contact the presenters
directly. Their e-mail addresses are available at http://www.isoc.org/inet98/program.shtml
Track 7 : User-Centered Issues Panel: The Virtual Museum By Angela Merino, 22 July 1998 Session Chair: Christine Maxwell, Chilliad Towards a Universal Theory of Convergence: Transcending the Technocentric View
of the Multimedia Revolution Niranjan Rajah, University of Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia In a historical approach to the forms of representations of multimedia, Mr. Rajah
analysed the characteristics of multimedia taking into account historical, cultural and
philosophical elements. He emphasised the fact that a media is not isolated from the
culture that created it. During the final section of his presentation he showed some
interactive procedures of communication in a virtual reality in 3D. The following are some extracts from his presentation, but these are not an exhaustive
presentation of the whole lecture. "Meaning is no longer to be found in the intentions of the author, but in the
interpretations of the reader. The reading of any representation is not passive
consumption, but an active writing of another. With the death of the author, authority
passes from the sender of the message to its receiver. As a consequence of increased
computing power and high speed computer networks, the new multimedia messages can be
conveyed instantaneously with an unprecedented speed. .... With the continued conectivity
of the Internet, the totality of information can be said to exist in virtual proximity,
transforming our very understanding of representation. What has thus far essentially been
a question of the receiver interpreting messages that have been sent by the author, is
fast being transformed into a dynamic and interactive exchange representation. " "In traditional cultures, art was inseparable from manufacture in use. When a
thing was produced for any given purpose, it was by art that is was properly made. However
this harmony was ruptured when the modern system of manufacture gave rise to two different
kinds of makers of things - the artists and labourers." "Currently, it is not possible to have a romantic view of artists who now work
together with manufacturers." The speaker talked about globalisation and the influence of new technologies in
different cultures and he noted the heavy outflow of information on the Internet from the
USA in contrast to lesser inflow consisting mainly of requests. Comments and Questions of the audience: How is Science, Technology, and Art changing, and which is the best way to keep
a record of this ? This is no problem for the artists that are working with multimedia Art. There is a
tendency to institutionalize, but a rapid intitutionalisation will affect freedom of
expression. Currently it is an open approach, but problems will arise when it is
institutionalised Bringing Museums to the Web: An Architecture for the virtual Exhibition Lutz Nentwig, Fraunhofer-Institute for Software and Sytems Engineering The presentation dealt with Internet technologies and architecture used in the
development of a virtual exhibition. The aim of the virtual exhibition is to present the
German history in the XX century on the Internet. This project is developed by the DFN-Verein with the Fraunhofer Institute for Sofware
and Systems Engineering, the German Historical Museum in Berlin and the Haus der
Geschichte of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn. The languages and tools used to develop this project are the following: * VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), HTML and Java. * Streaming Video / Streaming Audio * Java-applet * Live Source (webcam) use VRML 2.0, but they notice that they have to deal with different results depending
on which browser and operating system is used and that they have to make a compromise
between design and technology (loading time, speed navigation). This architecture aims to integrate the Internet and multimedia technology. They conclude that Museums need a good infraestructure for exhibition and the success
depends on the quality of the content and presentation. Links suggested by the lecturer: