In recent years, the popularity of virtual worlds has increased significantly and they have consequently come under closer academic scrutiny. Papers about virtual worlds are typically published at conferences or in journals that specialize in something - tirely different, related to some secondary aspect of the research. Thus a paper d- cussing legal aspects of virtual worlds may be published in a law journal, while a psychologist's analysis of situation awareness may appear at a psychology conference. The downside of this is that if you publish a virtual worlds paper at an unrelated conference in this manner you are likely to be one of only a handful of attendees working in the area. You will not, therefore, achieve the most important goal of - tending conferences: meeting and conversing with like-minded colleagues from the academic community of your field of study. Virtual worlds touch on many well-established themes in other areas of science. Researchers from all these fields will therefore be looking at this new, interesting, and growing field. However, to do effective research related to these complex constructs, researchers need to take into account many of the other facets from other fields that impact virtual worlds. Only by being familiar with and paying attention to all these different aspects can virtual worlds be properly understood.

This Handbook, with contributions from leading experts in the field, provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of virtual environments (VE). It serves as an invaluable source of reference for practitioners, researchers, and students in this rapidly evolving discipline. It also provides practitioners with a reference source to guide

A step-by-step guide to identifying and defending against attacks on the virtual environment As more and more data is moved into virtual environments the need to secure them becomes increasingly important. Useful for service providers as well as enterprise and small business IT professionals the book offers a broad look across virtualization used in various industries as well as a narrow view of vulnerabilities unique to virtual environments. A companion DVD is included with recipes and testing scripts. Examines the difference in a virtual model versus traditional computing models and the appropriate technology and procedures to defend it from attack Dissects and exposes attacks targeted at the virtual environment and the steps necessary for defense Covers information security in virtual environments: building a virtual attack lab, finding leaks, getting a side-channel, denying or compromising services, abusing the hypervisor, forcing an interception, and spreading infestations Accompanying DVD includes hands-on examples and code This how-to guide arms IT managers, vendors, and architects of virtual environments with the tools they need to protect against common threats.

A Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) is a distributed, virtual reality designed to support collaborative activities. It is a topic of increasing interest to large global corporations, where work teams are often distributed over a large geographic area. Aimed at anyone involved in researching the design of tools for supporting distributed teams of workers, it helps the reader understand the latest technology, state-of-the-art research, and good working practice. Among the topics covered are: systems aspects of CVEs; user centered aspects of environment design; and methodologies for iterative evaluation and design.

A Complete Toolbox of Theories and Techniques The second edition of a bestseller, Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications presents systematic and extensive coverage of the primary areas of research and development within VE technology. It brings together a comprehensive set of contributed articles that address the principles required to define system requirements and design, build, evaluate, implement, and manage the effective use of VE applications. The contributors provide critical insights and principles associated with their given areas of expertise to provide extensive scope and detail on VE technology and its applications. What’s New in the Second Edition: Updated glossary of terms to promote common language throughout the community New chapters on olfactory perception, avatar control, motion sickness, and display design, as well as a whole host of new application areas Updated information to reflect the tremendous progress made over the last decade in applying VE technology to a growing number of domains This second edition includes nine new, as well as forty-one updated chapters that reflect the progress made in basic and applied research related to the creation, application, and evaluation of virtual environments. Contributions from leading researchers and practitioners from multidisciplinary domains provide a wealth of theoretical and practical information, resulting in a complete toolbox of theories and techniques that you can rely on to develop more captivating and effective virtual worlds. The handbook supplies a valuable resource for advancing VE applications as you take them from the laboratory to the real-world lives of people everywhere.

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to enter computer generated 3D scenes that can be navigated and manipulated. Essential Virtual Reality fast shows readers what is and isn't VR. The author provides an overview of the history of virtual reality and explains, in easy-to-understand terms, the concepts of computer graphics and how they are integral to VR systems. The importance of integrating human factors, such as vision, sound, touch and balance, is emphasized. Exploring actual VR systems, readers will learn about all the important aspects of virtual environments, including the hardware, software, and sound systems, as well as the latest VR techniques on the Internet.

Linking the two areas together, this book presents the latest research and development, so as to highlight the potential of information visualisation as an enabling technology in the design of new generations of virtual environments. This will be an invaluable source of reference for courses in information visualisation, user interface design, virtual environments, HCI, and information retrieval, as well as a useful resource for consultants and practitioners. The book contains 144 colour images of intriguing and influential works in information visualisation.