Converging on Virtual Reality, a column by the Oldest Woman on the Web

Converging on Virtual Reality
By
Sherry Miller
The Oldest Woman on the Web
June, 1999

Although I'm an online freak, I pick up a real book about 6:30 in the evening and read the whole thing without stopping. Is it a great book? Hardly. Do I want to review it? Nope. I want to read a story put on paper by one of the most popular writers of the day. It's Net Force by Tom Clancy. I'm also reading my first Stephen King book, which is taking a lot longer.

I choose these novels because I participate in an online mailing list about 'Convergence.' We discuss what kind of content we're going to have when our TVs, computers, phones, washing machines, cars, radios and snowmobiles become one convenient familiar appliance which delivers all our news, schedules, health, financial, family, and secret information in one pass. This future is often called 'Convergence.' Some people call it 'Divergence.'

Each person on the mailing list seems to have an idea about convergence that comes from his or her own corner of the ring, looking straight out. Hardly any of us float above the ring and look down to see what is really happening in the whole picture. Then again, floating above the ring might be like skydiving and thinking you are seeing everything from China to Atlantic City to Baghdad, when you really only see Santa Monica to East LA, Washington to Bethesda, or Paris to St. Germain-en-Laye.

Part of convergence has to do with the hardware that will deliver information including phone lines, switches, satellites, set-top boxes, computers and TVs. Part of convergence has to do with the software that makes the right thing appear at the right time. And part of convergence is the actual content that might someday (soon) appear in a flat panel on your washing machine.

Content, the last item, is the reason I'm reading Clancy and King. There are endless kinds of content, and more every day as it becomes easier to create, print and distribute documents. makes me think about content while others think about selling, ecommerce, ebusiness and more selling. Convergence might drive the creative people and the technology people together, or it might widen the gap. Creative people have the option of making new material that can "play" on the upcoming fast connection appliances. Technologists have the option of using new tools to make "content" with or without the creative vision of an artist.

How easy is it to make content? Have you seen the Journal of Plumbers' Poetry? Once the plumbers union figured out it was only a short step on a digital printer from designing, setting up and printing invoices, it put out a call for poems and other original written works. The union was determined that the voice of the plumber would be heard in our land. And lo, the Journal of Plumbers' Poetry was born; and it was good; and it was sent out on the net; and plumbers in Africa, and Tierra del Fuego, and Colombo and Mombasa read the JPP, and the word was set forth.

Both groups believe these new computing-washing-machines-hairdryers-video-phones will run faster with more "bandwidth" - a wider pipe so that more information can come through per second. Convergence will make your plain old TV look like one of those gramophones with a morning glory horn coming out of it.

Most content fails when it doesn't tell a story. That's why I'm reading King and Clancy – to learn by osmosis, rather than by close analysis and deconstruction, about the power and impact of storytelling. I read popular material in newspapers, magazines and even books to see what people are reading about.

Here's the news: King's book, Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV), talks about different worlds which are occurring simultaneously - sometimes in the same geographical space, sometimes in contiguous spaces, and sometimes in the minds of characters.

In Clancy's book, the characters do not simply surf the net in the year 2010 AD. They create their own virtual worlds and surf through those. One surfing agent is in a flat bottomed boat in the Louisiana bayou; and he races down the highway in a Viper; and so on. The software translates one user's world into the idiom of the other user's world, so the guy in the Viper looks like he's in a speedboat if he enters the bayou.

While on my reading spree, I'm also looking around for new consulting gigs. I meet up with the latest incarnations of virtual reality companies. Like other VR fans, I've always believed in the imminent success of VR, but not much has happened so far.

Principals in these companies tell me that investors, the market, telecomm and other internet companies, are looking at VR and considering the kinds of communities that will be built. These are or will be online communities where one gets a piece of turf, builds an environment, creates or brings special possessions to his or her virtual space, builds an 'avatar' or representation of oneself, interacts with other community members and begins to make the laws that govern the communities. These things are already happening at Cyberworld (http://www.blaxxun.com) and Active Worlds (http://www.activeworlds.com) and The Palace (http://www.thepalace.com) and Worlds.com (http://www.worlds.com).

VR is valid and important. But I won't try to convince you of that. I used to try to persuade people about the viability and unprecedented change the internet was bringing. When I got too busy to seek converts, the internet phenomenon took care of itself. I don't need to prove that investors are into VR today. You'll hear about that in the newspapers, online, or from your brokers.

All I want you to do is peruse some Clancy or some King. These guys are close to us. They're not sci-fi writers like Douglas Rushkoff or William Gibson on Neal Stephenson or J.G Ballard. They're the most popular writers today. They speak our language.

And it includes Virtual Reality on almost every page. They can't be making it all up, can they? Convergence is documented in fiction. Virtual worlds exist on the screen and the printed page. Now the hardware and software are catching up. Convergence is happening now.

©1999 Sherry Miller. All rights reserved.

Return to Oldest Woman on the Web

WATCHING TV IN THE AGE OF CONVERGENCE
When your TV is really interactive, when Convergence is here, this is what it might look like. (Written for the Convergence mailing list.)

Dear Jason:

I’m thrilled with your vision of Courtney’s Dress. I’ve got three remotes and a keyboard in my hands now and I'm watching Jerry Springer. I just ordered four of his ties for Father’s Day (we’re an extended family) and six copies of the book on pet incest recommended by hisguest psychiatrist.

Now I’m switching to Friends, as you suggested. I click on the sofa and the Friends sofa, PLUS all the other TV sitcom sofas, appear on my TV in color catalogue format. I can soon be sitting on Frazier’s sofa, Andy Sippowitz’ sofa, the sofa in the ER waiting room or Captain Kirk’s sofa.

Oops. The doorbell is ringing and it’s Wolfgang Puck’s Poulet aux Champignons Rouges (Chicken and Red Mushrooms with a side of Sendak's chicken soup with rice) plus a Mongolian pizza (yak butter and Kashmiri goat meat) and a six pack of Sierra Nevada Apricot Boutique SpecialEdition Light Stout – all delivered in a second from WetGrocer.net.

Now I’m back to Sippowitz. Did you know he has his own interface? You click on his nose and get the Sippowitz Menu. Choose Sippowitz AA meeting; Sippowitz shirt; Sippowitz grief counselor (everyone around him dies on air); Sippowitz special NYC Vocabulary Lessons ($22.50 with tape and bonus NY Accent tape).

This is the plan for year 2000 and tomorrow we’ll send the plan for 2005 when you get in-depth information, games, stats, and more about every converged pixel on your well-hung Flat Panel Wall Monitors. (SpecialOffer ahead of time - one for each room in your house or SIX FPWMs at only $759 each. Offer good until December 31, 1999.)

Sherry Miller


Converging on Virtual Reality By Sherry Miller The Oldest Woman on the Web June, 1999 Although I'm an online freak, I pick up a real book about 6:30 in the evening and read the whole thing without stopping. Is it a great book? Hardly. Do I want to review it? Nope. I want to read a story put on paper by one of the most popular writers of the day. It's Net Force by Tom Clancy. I'm also reading my first Stephen King book, which is taking a lot longer. I choose these novels because I participate in an online mailing list about 'Convergence.' We discuss what kind of content we're going to have when our TVs, computers, phones, washing machines, cars, radios and snowmobiles become one convenient familiar appliance which delivers all our news, schedules, health, financial, family, and secret information in one pass. This future is often called 'Convergence.' Some people call it 'Divergence.' Each person on the mailing list seems to have an idea about convergence that comes from his or her own corner of the ring, looking straight out. Hardly any of us float above the ring and look down to see what is really happening in the whole picture. Then again, floating above the ring might be like skydiving and thinking you are seeing everything from China to Atlantic City to Baghdad, when you really only see Santa Monica to East LA, Washington to Bethesda, or Paris to St. Germain-en-Laye. Part of convergence has to do with the hardware that will deliver information including phone lines, switches, satellites, set-top boxes, computers and TVs. Part of convergence has to do with the software that makes the right thing appear at the right time. And part of convergence is the actual content that might someday (soon) appear in a flat panel on your washing machine. Content, the last item, is the reason I'm reading Clancy and King. There are endless kinds of content, and more every day as it becomes easier to create, print and distribute documents. makes me think about content while others think about selling, ecommerce, ebusiness and more selling. Convergence might drive the creative people and the technology people together, or it might widen the gap. Creative people have the option of making new material that can "play" on the upcoming fast connection appliances. Technologists have the option of using new tools to make "content" with or without the creative vision of an artist.		How easy is it to make content? Have you seen the Journal of Plumbers' Poetry? Once the plumbers union figured out it was only a short step on a digital printer from designing, setting up and printing invoices, it put out a call for poems and other original written works. The union was determined that the voice of the plumber would be heard in our land. And lo, the Journal of Plumbers' Poetry was born; and it was good; and it was sent out on the net; and plumbers in Africa, and Tierra del Fuego, and Colombo and Mombasa read the JPP, and the word was set forth.
Both groups believe these new computing-washing-machines-hairdryers-video-phones will run faster with more "bandwidth" - a wider pipe so that more information can come through per second. Convergence will make your plain old TV look like one of those gramophones with a morning glory horn coming out of it. Most content fails when it doesn't tell a story. That's why I'm reading King and Clancy – to learn by osmosis, rather than by close analysis and deconstruction, about the power and impact of storytelling. I read popular material in newspapers, magazines and even books to see what people are reading about. Here's the news: King's book, Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV), talks about different worlds which are occurring simultaneously - sometimes in the same geographical space, sometimes in contiguous spaces, and sometimes in the minds of characters. In Clancy's book, the characters do not simply surf the net in the year 2010 AD. They create their own virtual worlds and surf through those. One surfing agent is in a flat bottomed boat in the Louisiana bayou; and he races down the highway in a Viper; and so on. The software translates one user's world into the idiom of the other user's world, so the guy in the Viper looks like he's in a speedboat if he enters the bayou. While on my reading spree, I'm also looking around for new consulting gigs. I meet up with the latest incarnations of virtual reality companies. Like other VR fans, I've always believed in the imminent success of VR, but not much has happened so far. Principals in these companies tell me that investors, the market, telecomm and other internet companies, are looking at VR and considering the kinds of communities that will be built. These are or will be online communities where one gets a piece of turf, builds an environment, creates or brings special possessions to his or her virtual space, builds an 'avatar' or representation of oneself, interacts with other community members and begins to make the laws that govern the communities. These things are already happening at Cyberworld (http://www.blaxxun.com) and Active Worlds (http://www.activeworlds.com) and The Palace (http://www.thepalace.com) and Worlds.com (http://www.worlds.com). VR is valid and important. But I won't try to convince you of that. I used to try to persuade people about the viability and unprecedented change the internet was bringing. When I got too busy to seek converts, the internet phenomenon took care of itself. I don't need to prove that investors are into VR today. You'll hear about that in the newspapers, online, or from your brokers. All I want you to do is peruse some Clancy or some King. These guys are close to us. They're not sci-fi writers like Douglas Rushkoff or William Gibson on Neal Stephenson or J.G Ballard. They're the most popular writers today. They speak our language. And it includes Virtual Reality on almost every page. They can't be making it all up, can they? Convergence is documented in fiction. Virtual worlds exist on the screen and the printed page. Now the hardware and software are catching up. Convergence is happening now. ©1999 Sherry Miller. All rights reserved. Return to Oldest Woman on the Web		WATCHING TV IN THE AGE OF CONVERGENCE When your TV is really interactive, when Convergence is here, this is what it might look like. (Written for the Convergence mailing list.) Dear Jason: I’m thrilled with your vision of Courtney’s Dress. I’ve got three remotes and a keyboard in my hands now and I'm watching Jerry Springer. I just ordered four of his ties for Father’s Day (we’re an extended family) and six copies of the book on pet incest recommended by hisguest psychiatrist. Now I’m switching to Friends, as you suggested. I click on the sofa and the Friends sofa, PLUS all the other TV sitcom sofas, appear on my TV in color catalogue format. I can soon be sitting on Frazier’s sofa, Andy Sippowitz’ sofa, the sofa in the ER waiting room or Captain Kirk’s sofa. Oops. The doorbell is ringing and it’s Wolfgang Puck’s Poulet aux Champignons Rouges (Chicken and Red Mushrooms with a side of Sendak's chicken soup with rice) plus a Mongolian pizza (yak butter and Kashmiri goat meat) and a six pack of Sierra Nevada Apricot Boutique SpecialEdition Light Stout – all delivered in a second from WetGrocer.net. Now I’m back to Sippowitz. Did you know he has his own interface? You click on his nose and get the Sippowitz Menu. Choose Sippowitz AA meeting; Sippowitz shirt; Sippowitz grief counselor (everyone around him dies on air); Sippowitz special NYC Vocabulary Lessons ($22.50 with tape and bonus NY Accent tape). This is the plan for year 2000 and tomorrow we’ll send the plan for 2005 when you get in-depth information, games, stats, and more about every converged pixel on your well-hung Flat Panel Wall Monitors. (SpecialOffer ahead of time - one for each room in your house or SIX FPWMs at only $759 each. Offer good until December 31, 1999.) Sherry Miller