Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses

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Type: Masters Research thesis × Author: Finkelstein, Jonathan ×

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    Communication, media and virtual reality : implications for building practitioners
    Finkelstein, Jonathan (University of Melbourne, 1998)
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    Communication, media and virtual reality: implications for building practitioners
    Finkelstein, Jonathan ( 1997)
    Whenever a new communication medium is introduced to society, people discover new ways to record and exchange ideas through it. History has shown that new media such as printed text, radio and television have had a profound impact on our communication practices in ways that we could not have imagined. Digital media is today the new medium with which we must come to terms. Its offerings are diverse, and it is difficult to identify which technologies within digital media are the keys to maximising the potential of a computer-based environment for communication. Over the last decade, Virtual Reality (VR) has featured prominently in research, the military, entertainment industries and the arts. Its popularity suggests that VR may play a major role in the way we communicate in the future. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether VR is indeed likely to become a main-stream communication device. To do this, first VR is evaluated in terms of the cognitive mechanisms it uses and the technology required for its operation. This research approach is then applied to the specific case of communication within the practice of building. It is concluded that Virtual Reality has the potential to change the way building practitioners record, exchange and develop ideas. On a semiotic level, it offers them the ability to communicate, using sensorimotor knowledge rather than a language of symbols. On a practical level it is a technology that focuses on the interface between us and a computer system, which is the key to maximising the potential of digital media. However, the technology has a long way to develop before it can be used widely. There are some areas of society for which we cannot yet see if VR can be applied successfully. However, for many areas of society Virtual Reality does offer the potential to advance human communication practices once the technology has developed sufficiently.