It’s fascinating to watch as new publishing models unfold using digital tools. Coverage is uneven at present, but the day will come when the average conference makes its proceedings available in audio and video format on the Web, with the once essential printed volume now playing a supporting but still vital role in libraries and on the shelves of researchers. On the journalism side, the growth of weblogs and self-publishing tools makes possible the coverage of stories from a wider variety of perspectives than ever before.
We’re a long way from the demise of printed books, but electronic publishing is beginning to offer new options for authors as well. One harbinger is the arrival of an new e-book called Kosmos: You Are Here, billed as “a look at science, life, evolution, cosmology and other fundamental concepts,” and written by a community of online volunteers with proceeds going to support the YearlyKos political conference this June. Cosmology, geology, evolution and climate science are among the topics discussed, with comments from online posts supplementing the science essays and numerous illustrations.
So can ‘virtual communities’ pull together the artistic and literary talents of their members to challenge what used to happen in large publishing houses? It’s early in that game, but the upcoming release of new electronic book readers from Sony and iRex, both equipped with e-ink technology, is also noteworthy. A segment of the publishing world is looking for ways to extend print into truly readable, powerful small devices, a trend that could help those of us who take Web materials with us as we travel, and should continue to blur the lines between online and off. What’s needed most: a realistic solution to digital rights management problems that have made many purchased e-books useless to their owners when they upgrade devices.
Virtual Laboratories and Virtual Worlds
Authors: Piet Hut (IAS, Princeton)
(Submitted on 11 Dec 2007)
Abstract: Since we cannot put stars in a laboratory, astrophysicists had to wait till the invention of computers before becoming laboratory scientists. For half a century now, we have been conducting experiments in our virtual laboratories. However, we ourselves have remained behind the keyboard, with the screen of the monitor separating us from the world we are simulating.
Recently, 3D on-line technology, developed first for games but now deployed in virtual worlds like Second Life, is beginning to make it possible for astrophysicists to enter their virtual labs themselves, in virtual form as avatars. This has several advantages, from new possibilities to explore the results of the simulations to a shared presence in a virtual lab with remote collaborators on different continents. I will report my experiences with the use of Qwaq Forums, a virtual world developed by a new company (see this http URL)
Comments: 10 pages, 2 figures, Conference proceedings for IAUS246 ‘Dynamical Evolution of Dense Stellar Systems’, ed. E. Vesperini (Chief Editor), M. Giersz, A. Sills, Capri, Sept. 2007
Subjects: Astrophysics (astro-ph); Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC); Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:0712.1655v1 [astro-ph]
Submission history
From: Piet Hut [view email]
[v1] Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:05:36 GMT (249kb)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0712.1655