Reading and journaling 3: VR/stereoscopic

To prepare for Class 3: VR and stereoscopic vision (4 Feb), please do the following:

Read:

From the Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media:

• Algorithm (pp 1-4)
• Augmented Reality (pp 30-32)
• Cave (pp 49-52)
• Virtual Reality (pp 510-514)

Uricchio, William. 2011. The algorithmic turn: photosynth, augmented reality and the changing implications of the image. Visual Studies. 26(1).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2011.548486 Links to an external site. (You need to be on the UiB network to access this - if you're not on campus you can connect using VPN)

Hoezl, Ingrid and Rémi Marie. 2015. "The Operative Image (Google Street View: The World as Database)" In Softimage: Towards a New Theory of the Digital Image. Pages 81-110. (Litteraturkiosken.uib.no)

(If you like, read the section about the stereoscope in the following article, or skim it to get an idea of how this technology was received when new:

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. 1859. The Stereoscope and the Stereograph. The Atlantic. June. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1859/06/the-stereoscope-and-the-stereograph/303361/ Links to an external site.

Explore:

Look at The Moment Links to an external site., the Photosynth composite image of Obama's inauguration. 

Try making a 360˙ image yourself in the Street View app. You will probably need to try a few times in order to get it right. If you like, try making a photosynth image too. 

Explore any other 360˙ images, technologies or apps you have access to. 

Writing prompt:

Ingrid Hoezl and Rémi Marie write that we are the "deictic center" of Google Street View (page 91). Find out what deictic means. Do you agree with Hoezl and Marie about this? Why or why not? Does the same apply to Photosynth? What about other related visual technologies?