Mastering the art of VR: on becoming the HIT Lab cybrarian

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) emerged as a technology when Ivan Sutherland created the ‘Sword of Damocles’, the first visual display enabling users to be immerse themselves in a 3‐dimensional environment (Sutherland 1968). This virtual 3‐dimensional visual display profoundly changes the relationship between the user and the computer. With this virtual interface, the user is placed inside the computer‐generated environment. This concept has revolutionized information displays. For the first time, the user interacts with a spatial display. The virtual display is engineered to fit how we, as humans, perceive things intuitively. Humans are spatial beings and virtual interfaces evolved from the desire to make machines more human‐like (Furness 1986). The paradigm shift in information displays lies in the inclusiveness of the virtual interface. The multi‐sensory display of VR amplifies the perceptions and experiences of the user (Bricken 1991).

Citation

Emerson, T. (1993), "Mastering the art of VR: on becoming the HIT Lab cybrarian", The Electronic Library, Vol. 11 No. 6, pp. 385-391. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045261