Immersed In Technology

Produced as part of the Art and Virtual Environment Project conducted at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Canada from 1991 to 1994.

Produced as part of the Art and Virtual Environment Project conducted at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Canada from 1991 to 1994.

Highlights key research currently being undertaken within the field of telepresence, providing the most detailed account of the field to date, advancing our understanding of a fundamental property of all media - the illusion of presence; the sense of “being there” inside a virtual environment, with actual or virtual others. This collection has been put together by leading international scholars from America, Europe, and Asia. Together, they describe the state-of-the-art in presence theory, research and technology design for an advanced academic audience. Immersed in Media provides research that can help designers optimize presence for users of advanced media technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, collaborative social media, robotics, and artificial intelligence and lead us to better understand human cognition, emotion and behaviour.

Today's children are being raised as 'digital natives' in a world dominated by popular culture and technology. TV shows, computers, video games, social networking sites, advertisements, and cell phones too often have an unnecessarily strong—and negative– influence on children. But pulling the plug just isn't an option in a world where being connected is essential for success. In Raising Generation Tech, noted parenting and new-media expert Dr. Jim Taylor explores how popular culture and technology shape children's lives. The essential message from Raising Generation Tech is that excessive or unguided exposure to popular culture and technology is not good for children. Rather than offering the usual 'end of days' scenario, Dr. Taylor offers a balanced and optimistic perspective that offers parents insights and practical information they need to ensure that popular culture and technology are tools that benefit their children rather than weapons that hurt them. Six Messages From Raising Generation Tech: Popular culture may be the powerful influence on children today and most of that influence is not healthy to children. Children are being exposed to technology earlier than ever without proper limits or guidance. Excessive exposure to popular culture and technology has been linked to many childhood problems including shorter attention spans, lower grades in school, increased sexual activity and drug use, and obesity. Too early and unguided immersion in popular culture and technology will actually hinder rather than better prepare children for life in the digital world. Key areas in which parents should focus their child-rearing attention include their children's self-identity, values, thinking, relationships, and physical and mental health. The goal for parents is not to disconnect their children, but rather to expose them to popular culture and technology when they are developmentally ready and then give them the perspectives, attitudes, and tools they need to thrive in this digital age. "Raising Generation Tech argues convincingly that children should be raised by their parents, not by popular culture or technology. Dr. Taylor tackles this difficult task with state-of-the-art psychological theory, the latest research, engaging anecdotes, and a healthy dose of sensitivity and humor. Raising Generation Tech is a must read for parents who want their children to thrive in this media-fueled world (which means all parents!). Larry Rosen, Ph.D., author of iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming its Hold on Us "Raising Generation Tech will be an eye opener for parents! Rather than offering the usual 'end of the world' scenario, Dr. Jim Taylor offers a balanced perspective that gives parents the insights and practical information they need to ensure that popular culture and technology are tools that benefit their children rather than weapons that harm them." Michele Borba, Ed.D., TODAY show contributor and author of The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries "The essential message of Raising Generation Tech is that excessive or unguided exposure to popular culture and technology is not good for children. In today's world, parents can't just sit back and play defense. Dr. Jim Taylor empowers parents to prepare their children for life in this digital age." Michelle LaRowe, Author of A Mom's Ultimate Book of Lists,Working Mom's 411 and the Nanny to the Rescue! parenting series

"Over the next few decades, immersive media could fundamentally change the ways humans engage in entertainment, communication, and social interaction. The current volume takes a step towards understanding this potential paradigm shift, combining insights from pioneers of the field of ‘presence’ with bright young scholars who bring a new perspective." —Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford University, USA "This book provides an indispensable contribution to scholars in communication studies, computer science and psychology interested in the modes of being present in different media, and offers a careful historical and theoretical framework to the state-of-the-art research."—Anna Spagnolli, University of Padova, Italy "Bracken and Skalski have assembled a collection of works from the world’s foremost authorities on telepresence, a topic that has gone understudied for years. Someone has finally assembled a comprehensive volume on the subject. This book is a must not only for those interested in telepresence, but for mass communication scholars of all kinds."—Kenneth A. Lachan, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA Immersed in Media highlights the increasing significance of telepresence in the media field. With contributions representing diverse disciplines, this volume delves into the topic through considerations of popular media types and their effects on users. Chapters in the work explain how the experience of presence can be affected by media technologies, including television, video games, film, and the Internet. They also discuss how presence experience mediates or moderates commonly studied media effects, such as enjoyment, persuasion, and aggression. These discussions are accompanied by overviews of the current state of presence research and its future. Ultimately, this work establishes the crucial role of telepresence in gaining a complete understanding of the uses and effects of popular media technologies.

Drawing together a range of international experience in the techniques of planning, design and construction of submerged tubes, this book looks at the many uses of these tunnels - outside their principal application for rail or vehicular traffic - such as services, effluent outfalls, etc.

An anthology of feminist cyberfiction and theoretical and critical writings on gender and technoculture. Most writing on cyberculture is dominated by two almost mutually exclusive visions: the heroic image of the male outlaw hacker and the utopian myth of a gender-free cyberworld. Reload offers an alternative picture of cyberspace as a complex and contradictory place where there is oppression as well as liberation. It shows how cyberpunk's revolutionary claims conceal its ultimate conservatism on matters of class, gender, and race. The cyberfeminists writing here view cyberculture as a social experiment with an as-yet-unfulfilled potential to create new identities, relationships, and cultures. The book brings together women's cyberfiction—fiction that explores the relationship between people and virtual technologies—and feminist theoretical and critical investigations of gender and technoculture. From a variety of viewpoints, the writers consider the effects of rapid and profound technological change on culture, in particular both the revolutionary and reactionary effects of cyberculture on women's lives. They also explore the feminist implications of the cyborg, a human-machine hybrid. The writers challenge the conceptual and institutional rifts between high and low culture, which are embedded in the texts and artifacts of cyberculture.

This is an essential text for students, teachers and practitioners in a range of early childhood education and care settings.