Visual Worlds

Visual Worlds
Author: John R Hall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2006-02-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1134232780

As many observers have noted, the world is becoming increasingly visually mediated, with the rise of computers and the internet being central factors in the emergence of new tools and conventions. Exploring the social structure of visuality, this volume contains a collection of essays by internationally renowned artists and scholars from a variety of fields (including art history, literary theory and criticism, cultural studies, film and television studies, intellectual history and sociology). It was conceived to address a bold query: how is our experience and understanding of vision and visual form changing under pressure from the various social, economic and cultural factors that are linked under the term 'globalization'. The essays overlap in their considerations of the tensions between cultures and worlds, political life, everyday social experience, and war. The resulting conversation that develops between the chapters touches on points from many visual worlds, and provides a unique opportunity for considering the changing character of visual experience today. This book will attract readers from a wide range of academic disciplines and will especially be valuable as a textbook for graduate and undergraduate courses in visual culture and cultural studies.

Visual Worlds

Visual Worlds
Author: James Elkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2020
Genre: Art and society
ISBN: 9780199390915

"A next-generation college textbook that introduces Visual Culture in the arts and sciences"--

The Visual World of Shadows

The Visual World of Shadows
Author: Roberto Casati
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2023-12-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262550849

How the perception of shadows, studied by vision scientists and visual artists, reveals the inner workings of the visual system. In The Visual World of Shadows, Roberto Casati and Patrick Cavanagh examine how the perception of shadows, as studied by vision scientists and visual artists, reveals the inner workings of the visual system. Shadows are at once a massive problem for vision—which must distinguish them from objects or material features of objects—and a resource, signaling the presence, location, shape, and size of objects. Casati and Cavanagh draw up an inventory of information retrievable from shadows, showing their amazing variety. They present an overview of the visual system, distinguishing between measurement and inference. They discuss the shadow mission, the work done by the visual brain to parse, and perhaps discard, the information from shadows; shadow ownership, the association of a shadow with the object that casts it; shadow labeling, the visual system's ability to tell shadows from nonshadows; and the shadow concept, our knowledge about shadows as a category. Casati and Cavanagh then apply the theoretical apparatus they have developed for shadows to other phenomena: illumination, reflection, and transparency. Finally, they examine the art of the shadow, paying tribute to artists' exploration of shadow, analyzing a series of artworks (reproduced in color) from a rich and fascinating art historical corpus.

Extending Virtual Worlds

Extending Virtual Worlds
Author: Ann Latham Cudworth
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1482261170

Written as the successor to Virtual World Design: Creating Immersive Virtual Environments, this book carries the ideas brought forward in its predecessor to new levels of virtual world design exploration and experimentation. Written by an Emmy award-winning designer with 22 years of experience creating virtual environments for television and online communities, Extending Virtual Worlds: Advanced Design for Virtual Environments explores advanced topics such as multi-regional design, game-based sims, and narrative structure for environments. The book provides bedrock knowledge and practical examples of how to leverage design concepts within the intertwined structures of physics engines, level of detail (LOD) systems, and advanced material editors. It also shows designers new ways to influence the experience of virtual world visitors through immersive narrative and storytelling. With over 150 illustrations and 10 step-by-step projects that include the necessary 3D models and modular components, it delivers hours of stimulating creative challenges for people working in public virtual worlds or on private grids. By using this book, novices and advanced users will deepen their understanding of game design and how it can be applied to creating game-based virtual environments. It also serves as a foundational text for class work in distance learning, simulation, and other learning technologies that use virtual environments.

Visual Cultures as World Forming

Visual Cultures as World Forming
Author: Adnan Madani
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-04-04
Genre: Art
ISBN: 3956795377

How the world—and the world of visual culture in particular—creates itself in a creative act that knows no economic return. How does the world form itself? How does it create itself as a world? And how do we understand the role of the visual in this regard? Most responses to these questions within cultural theory and visual culture refer to the rise of globalization, thus highlighting the acceleration of exchanges, the proliferation of information and communication devices, and the multiplication of globally circulated goods and images that characterize the world we live in. Visual Cultures as World Forming takes a different approach by focusing on the taking place of the world, a creative act that knows no economic return. This taking place does not lead to more proliferation of goods, additional financial exchanges, further communications, or an increase in the distribution of visual material, but leads to the continued “worlding” of the world. This approach is predominantly, but not exclusively, inspired by the work of Jean-Luc Nancy. Through a reading of his work and of some of his contemporaries both inside and outside of the Western canon, Madani and Martinon attempt to expose how the world—and the world of visual culture in particular—creates itself and the ways in which each one of us is embodying this creation without economy. Copublished with Goldsmiths, University of London

Learning in Virtual Worlds

Learning in Virtual Worlds
Author: Sue Gregory
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2016-04-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 177199133X

Three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds have been touted as being capable of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning experiences. Much of the evidence gathered to support these claims has been anecdotal but the potential that these environments hold to solve traditional problems in online and technology-mediated education—primarily learner isolation and student disengagement—has resulted in considerable investments in virtual world platforms like Second Life, OpenSimulator, and Open Wonderland by both professors and institutions. To justify this ongoing and sustained investment, institutions and proponents of simulated learning environments must assemble a robust body of evidence that illustrates the most effective use of this powerful learning tool. In this authoritative collection, a team of international experts outline the emerging trends and developments in the use of 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning. They explore aspec ts of learner interaction with virtual worlds, such as user wayfinding in Second Life, communication modes and perceived presence, and accessibility issues for elderly or disabled learners. They also examine advanced technologies that hold potential for the enhancement of learner immersion and discuss best practices in the design and implementation of virtual world-based learning interventions and tasks. By evaluating and documenting different methods, approaches, and strategies, the contributors to Learning in Virtual Worlds offer important information and insight to both scholars and practitioners in the field.

Metaplasticity in Virtual Worlds: Aesthetics and Semantic Concepts

Metaplasticity in Virtual Worlds: Aesthetics and Semantic Concepts
Author: Mura, Gianluca
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2010-11-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1609600797

The concept of virtual worlds is strongly related to the current innovations of new media communication.ÿ As such, it is increasingly imperative to understand the criteria for creating virtual worlds as well as the evolution in system architecture, information visualization and human interaction. Meta-plasticity in Virtual Worlds: Aesthetics and Semantics Concepts provides in-depth coverage of the state-of-the-art among the best international research experiences of virtual world concept creations from a wide range of media culture fields, at the edge of artistic and scientific inquiry and emerging technologies. Written for professionals, researchers, artists and designers, this text is a perfect companion for those who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of virtual worlds within the development of digital communication.

Immersive Environments, Augmented Realities, and Virtual Worlds: Assessing Future Trends in Education

Immersive Environments, Augmented Realities, and Virtual Worlds: Assessing Future Trends in Education
Author: D’Agustino, Steven
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1466627018

Technology has had direct impact on education in increasing the way that society continues to learn. Applications of immersive environments, virtual worlds, and augmented reality have significant implications for how teaching and learning are achieved in contemporary education. Immersive Environments, Augmented Realities and Virtual Worlds: Assessing Future Trends in Education brings together current research and performance in trends in education. While examining cyber behavior and the use of virtual worlds, immersive technologies and augmented realities aim to improve teaching and enhancing learning.

Learning and Research in Virtual Worlds

Learning and Research in Virtual Worlds
Author: Jeremy Hunsinger
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135753040

Virtual worlds are places where humans interact, and as such they can be environments for research and learning. However, they are complex and mutable in ways that more controlled and traditional environments are not. Although computer-mediated, virtual worlds are multifaceted social systems like the offline world, and choosing to study virtual world phenomena demands as much consideration for the participants, the environment and the researcher as offline. By exploring virtual worlds as places of research and learning, the international practitioners in this book demonstrate the power of these worlds to replicate and extend our arenas of research and learning. They focus on process and outcomes and consider questions that arise from engaging in teaching and research in these spaces, including new approaches to research ethics, internationalization, localization, and collaboration in virtual worlds. This book was originally published as a special issue of Learning, Media & Technology.