VIRTUAL SPACES IN ISIS
Virtual Spaces are an important part of the ISIS program. We do work on websites, in maps, virtual worlds, games, and other media. We are also beginning to explore augmented reality systems using Qcodes and mobile devices. Many of these projects converge with in the practical and theoretical interests of our faculty and staff.
Rich Media Mapping
Several ISIS projects have involved map making in Google Earth. These include the Multimedia Mapping: Muhuru Bay, Kenya project, the DukeTour project, and the Walltown Neighborhood History Project. Additional Duke/Durham projects are planned fro Spring 2010 in partnership with a course on Digital Durham, which will include historical materials. We also anticipate new mapping projects connected to the Haiti Lab.
Virtual Worlds
ISIS has been a leader on campus in thinking about how Virtual Worlds can be used for teaching and research. We manage two islands, the Duke ISIS Oasis and the Duke Metaverse, and are collaborating on a Virtual Haiti Island which will act as a 3D front end to the Haiti Digital Library project.
The DIVE
ISIS students and faculty sometimes do work in the DiVE, Duke's Immersive VIrtual Reality Environment. This facility is directed by Rachael Brady, ISIS Research Forum Director and head of the Visualization Technology Group.
Selected ISIS courses and projects offer students a way into Duke's own immersive virtual reality environment - the DiVE. Directed by Rachael Brady, who is also the ISIS Research Forum Director, the DiVE offers the opportunity to see 3D projects full size and to walk through represented and imagined landscapes. ISIS and ISIS partner involvement in the DiVE has ranged from first year undergraduate student projects to advanced faculty projects. Some of these have included:
- Reconstruction of the Crystal Palace from the Great Exhibition of 1851, as part of the ISIS Virtual Realities Focus Cluster
- ISIS research scholar neuroscientist/artist Tim Senior's Memory Tower project, an exploration of memory consolidation through architectural metaphors
- ISIS Faculty Director Tim Lenoir's interactive visualization of a vast patent database
- Faculty/grad student created 3D models of the "Arts Warehouse District" buildings on south East Campus as part of a collaboratively taught workshop, WIRED: Digital Historical Reconstruction
