Conference 7864C
The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2012

Conference Chairs
Ian E. McDowall, Fakespace Labs, Inc.; Margaret Dolinsky, Indiana University

Virtual and augmented reality systems are evolving. In addition to research, the trend toward content building continues and practitioners find that technologies and disciplines must be tailored and integrated for specific visualization and interactive applications. This conference serves as a forum where advances and practical advice toward both creative activity and scientific investigation are presented and discussed. Research results can be presented and applications can be demonstrated. In addition to the general topic area, the 2012 conference is encouraging the submission of work in the following areas:

• Women in VR: Many women are key to the advancement of the field of virtual reality, including establishing hardware systems, forging research directions and creating experiences. We invite research activities that are influenced from a feminine perspective. Papers presenting work by women or derived from their research areas are encouraged. The 2012 conference is specifically seeking work that explores how a feminine perspective discovers, examines and designs virtual reality systems.

• Compelling Experiences: A compelling immersive experience transports the user to a place that is viscerally felt, not easily forgotten, yet completely synthetic. This requires subtle interplay between the technological and creative arts. Papers that present working systems or ongoing research into the delicate balance between these disciplines are desired.

• Stubborn Problems: Interaction, tracking, lag, rendering speed, field of view, resolution B resolution, et. al. Tthese are but a few of the topic areas which vex the field every year. Papers presenting work improving the state of the art in these areas are encouraged. In addition, the 2012 conference is specifically seeking work that explores manual aesthetics and interaction in 3D environments.

• Industrial Applications: Systems that solve real-world problems from a wide variety of disciplines are a mainstay of the conference. It especially promotes papers that describe systems which are important because of the problems they solve, and not the technology they use, and papers that describe systems which can quantify their utility. Practitioners in industry are highly encouraged to make submissions.

• Late Breaking Progress: One to two presentations are allotted for exciting 'late breaking' work that is submitted after the formal paper deadline but within a month of the conference date. Papers reporting on work-in-progress, last minute results, or interesting but incomplete findings are welcome for these limited spots.