UCF SVAD Art Talk, 11/16/2016

Art and Technology
Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D.
Art: http://mariacrharrington.com/ | Science: http://mariacrharrington.org/ | Tech:
http://www.virtualfieldtrips.com/
Assistant Professor of Digital Media
School of Visual Arts & Design
University of Central Florida
Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor of Digital Media | School of Visual Arts & Design | University of Central Florida | 11/16/2016

Biography
 Maria C. R. Harrington’s experience spans over 20 years, from art
and economics to information science.
 Assistant Professor in the School of Visual Arts and Design (SVAD)
at the University of Central Florida
 Ph.D. and a M.S. in Information Sciences from the School of
Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.
 B.S. in Economics with a minor in Art from Carnegie Mellon
University.
 Professional experience includes financial, strategic, information technology,
and human-computer interaction activities for global corporations and
institutions such as: PNC Financial Services Group, The Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce, Fidelity Investments, University of Toronto,
Alias/Wavefront-Autodesk, DataViews–GE Fanuc, and Federated Investors.
 From 2000 to 2008, she was an Adjunct Professor in human computer
interaction, user centered design, human factors in system design, and
introduction to information science at the School of Information Sciences,
University of Pittsburgh. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor in the Art
& Design Division of Chatham University, and has been an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Slippery Rock
University.

Art and Technology
Research & Scholarship
Intersection of Art and Technology
Future Research and Teaching
Q&A

Research & Scholarship
“What is Beauty…
Truth is Beauty and
Beauty is Truth”

The Virtual Trillium Trail, 2005-2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMIhdzsOlTk

Control with the Real

VR Photorealistic
The Virtual Trillium Trail, 2007

Annotate with Story

Findings
 Technical and Research Design Matters
 Virtual Trillium Trail as Data Generated Virtual Ecologies for
Virtual Learning Environments and as a Planned Orthogonal
Contrast Statistical Framework (POC 2x2 ANOVA)
 Reality Matters: Comparison of Real and Virtual Learning
Environments:
 Ethnographic and empirical evidence prove the transfer of
knowledge from Real to Virtual and Virtual to Real, thus
demonstrating how to use virtual environments for priming,
transfer, and reinforcement for maximum learning gain.
 Gender Differences in Information Seeking and Learning
Behavior of Young Children in Virtual Learning
Environments

VR can be used for learning
 Visual Fidelity and Navigational Freedom and as Design
Factors:
 There is significant interaction, F(1,60) = 4.85, p = 0.0315,
between Visual Fidelity and Navigational Freedom on Knowledge
Gained, so both factors must be in the design for such
results
 Visual Fidelity is strong and significant F(1,60) = 10.54, p =
0.0019
 Navigational Freedom shows a trend, F(1.60) = 2.71, p = 0.105
 The combined conditions of High Visual Fidelity x High
Navigational Freedom result in far superior Knowledge Gained
on tests, (cell mean = 37.44, SD = 13.88) when compared to Low
Visual Fidelity x Low Navigational Freedom condition, (cell mean
= 20.93, SD = 13.36)

Fidelity Matters
37.44
20.93
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
High Fidelity High Navigation Low Fidelity Low Navigation
Mean Knowledge Gained (n = 64)

What this means… I proved
“Virtual Reality doubles
learning outcome.”
~ Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D.

VR impacts exploration and inquiry
 There is no interaction, F(1,60) = 1.48, p = 0.2285), between Visual
Fidelity and Navigational Freedom, on Salient Events.
 Salient Events measure the number of times student behavior changes
from exploration to deep inquiry.
 Visual Fidelity is strong and significant, F(1,60) = 4.35, p = 0.00413). It
alone, is responsible for significantly increasing learning activity.
 Navigational Freedom, as a factor, shows a strong trend, F(1,60) =
3.23, p = 0.0773. The data show that the High Visual Fidelity condition
(Row Mean = 14.46, SD = 6) resulted in more Salient Event counts than
did the Low Visual Fidelity condition (Row Mean=11.31, SD = 6.37).
 The more a virtual reality environment, simulation, or serious game
looks high fidelity and photo-realistic, the more times a child’s behavior
will change from exploration to inquiry. Thus, Visual Fidelity increases a
child’s desire to learn, to understand, and to stop in order to
independently and actively inquire.

What this means…I proved
“Visual Fidelity in VR
increases inquiry,”

VR and Emotions
 Spearman's rho Correlations (N=64) Sig(2-tail)
 This shows the correlation and relationships between Beauty,
whatever it may be for the individual, the emotional reaction
of Awe and Wonder, and the empirical data on test scores,
Knowledge Gained
 Knowledge Gained is correlated to Awe and Wonder
 rho = 0.273, p = 0.032
 Beauty correlated with Awe and Wonder
 rho =0.506, p =0.000
 Beauty correlated with Total Attitudinal Survey ranking
 rho = 0.727, p = 0.000
 A major contribution shows empirical link between
Beauty and Learning.

“Empirical link between
Beauty and Learning in
VR”

Results
VR can be used for simulating the real
world with scientific accuracy
VR can be used to trigger emotions
VR can be used for learning
Awe and Wonder, and Beauty
experienced in VR are highly
correlated with a desire to learn

“The Ambient Array may
be Captured
Mathematically in VR”

Measure Psychophysical

Measure the Geometry

My Research & Scholarship
My dissertation is about the
environmental factors that cause
learning and creativity to occur,
specifically the perceptual-semantic
Ambient Array as environmental
signals with respect to computer
systems and simulations.

“The tool impacts what
we see, feel, learn,
and do.”

Such systems are important as
they influence scientific, human,
social, and cultural
transformations and growth.

I am interested in interdisciplinary
empirical research with virtual
reality, simulations, serious
games, human-computer
interaction, and immersive new
media art.

Of high interest is the
investigation of human factors in
system design research, as it
influences perception, learning,
and creating.

Intersection of Art and
Technology
“What are the Design
Factors that influence,
impact, and cause emotion,
thoughts, dreams, and ideas
to emerge?”

Framing Future Possibilities
 Connection between external world and internal feelings and
thoughts
 Art is the non-technical VR of the past
 It communicated information
 It changed what we knew
 It changed how we felt
 It moved us to take action
 VR is the 21st Century Art of impact if used as such
 A cultural artifact of high information density
 A new form of stories, theater, and opera
 A way to communicate brilliant ideas, vision, and beauty

What is Art?
Art is Beauty
Art is Information
Art is Story
Art is Paradox
Great Art Transcends Time…
and Culture

Cave Art or Training Simulator?
Lascaux Caves
France nearly 20,000 years
ago
Retrieved from the web
11/3/2016:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La
scaux

We know it when we see it
Sandro Botticelli. The Birth of Venus (Detail) 1480. Uffizi Gallery. Retrieved from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Birth_of_Venus_%28Botticelli%29_detail.jpg
What do you see?
What is her
emotion?
What do you feel?

1452
Jean Fouquet. Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, Melun Diptych, (Right wing of the diptych), (1452). Royal
Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melun_Diptych#/media/File:Fouquet_Madonna.jpg

Undisputed
Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa (1503-
1506). Louvre Museum. Retrieved from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_fr
om_C2RMF_retouched.jpg

What is Technology?
 Tools applied to art or science as
a means to an end
 A collection of techniques, skills,
methods, and processes used for
artistic expression or in scientific
investigation
 Computers are used as tools, as
a kind of technology to achieve
goals in calculation or expression
Pedro Reyes, Imagine (Double Psaltery), 2012.
Retrieved from http://www.blog.pedroreyes.net/

Camera Obscura
Camera obscura, from a manuscript of military designs. 17th century, possibly Italian. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura#/media/File:Camera_obscura2.jpg

Game Engines

3D Models
 3D Model, 2D Art, joints rigged for motion and animation
 Character specific behaviors, expressions, or reactions
 UV mapping (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_mapping)
http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/deer-animation-3d-model/542770

2D Art, Textures & Skins
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

Code Rigged & Animated
 http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/deer-animation-3d-
model/542770

Open World Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clakekAHQx0

Are Video Games ART?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuZdHTKzXa8
Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich?

VR as Art -- Char Davies. Osmose
(1995)
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54O4VP3tCoY

The Garden of Earthly Delights by
Hieronymus Bosch in VR – Art?
Burrell Durrant Hifle website (2016, March 16). VR Bosch. Retrieved from
http://www.bdh.net/work/boschvr/

Walk into a Dali with VR – Art?
The Dali Museum (2016, January 21). Dreams of Dali: Virtual Reality
Experience. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nh1itve0AQ
The Dalí Museum in
St. Petersburg,
Florida, or at
dreamsofdali.org.
Opens January 23,
2016.
Go inside and
beyond Dalí’s
painting
Archeological
Reminiscence of
Millet’s Angelus
Experience Dreams
of Dalí in the special
exhibit Disney &
Dalí: Architects of
the Imagination

Artistic Experience in VR
http://vrse.com/

Future Research and Teaching
“The Science of the
Artificial”

Future possibilities for research
and teaching
 Art & Science of Virtual Reality for Education (Virtual Field
Trips for K-12)
 Human Factors Research on the Ambient Array and impacts
on Perception, Emotions, and Creativity as Action (AI of
Creativity)
 Design Frameworks for Collaboration & Co-Creativity
(frameworks that support work)
 Future Cities, Space Stations, and Colonies co-designed and
tested in Virtual Reality (Scenario analysis & Emergent
Design & Consensus decision-making)
 Future Realities, Simulations, Data Visualizations
(Algorithms)
 Landscapes as Art and Virtual Reality Experiences (ART as
Information and Emotion)

Extend Research
 Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2008). Simulated Ecological
Environments for Education (SEEE): A Tripartite Model
Framework of HCI Design Parameters for Situational
Learning in Virtual Environments, Dissertation Abstracts
International. July 17,2008. University of Pittsburgh
 Understanding and modeling the dynamic interaction of the:
 Human
 System
 Environment

Art & Science of Virtual Reality for
Education
 Virtual Field Trips for K-12

Ambient Perceptual Semantic Array
Human Factors Research on Spatial Ambient Array and
impacts on Perception, Emotions, and Creativity as
Action (AI of Creativity)
James J. Gibson, Ph.D. Ecological Psychology
 Visual perception
 Extend his idea of an Ambient optical array into meaning
Extend to creativity research
 How do we know we don’t know?
 How do we perceive the unknown?
 How do we create something new?
 What is Beauty and how does that trigger inquiry and creativity?

Design Frameworks for
Collaboration & Co-Creativity
 Frameworks that support co-creativity
 3 large IRB studies: Investigation and Evaluation of
Virtual Worlds, 3D Environments, and Simulations for
Alternative Learning, Collaboration, Co-creating, and
Decision Support Formats:

How to use Virtual
Reality to co-create the
Future?

Pittsburgh Renaissance
© 2016 University Library System, University of Pittsburgh, “Frank Lloyd Wright’s concept for Point redevelopment,1947.”
Retrieved from http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/exhibits/thepoint/

Future Cities, Space Stations, and
Colonies in VR
NASA website (2016, January 16) Research & Technology Images. Retrieved
from https://www.nasa.gov/content/research-and-technology-image-gallery
Space-grant
University:
Founded in
1963, UCF
opened to
provide
personnel to
support the U.S.
space program
at the Kennedy
Space Center
and Cape
Canaveral Air
Force Station
on Florida's
Space Coast

NASA Concept Art to communicate
ideas, model, and inspire
NASA Ames summer
studies in the 1970s.
Colonies housing
about 10,000 people
were designed. A
number of artistic
renderings of the
concepts were made.
Bryan Yager, Toroidal Colonies, NASA ID NUMBER AC75-1086-1. Retrieved from
http://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/70sArt/art.html

Rama, by Eric Bruneton
3D animation of a
spacecraft freely
inspired from the
book "Rendez-vous
with Rama" from
Arthur C. Clarke.
Making of Rama:
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=wKM2n
D...
See also:
http://ebruneton.free.
fr/rama3/rama.html
Bruneton, Eric. (2009, July 19) Rama. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIQCm54dfY

Virtual Reality in the
hands of an Artist

Intersection of Art and Technology
 I create immersive, virtual landscapes that are dynamic and
responsive to past and future scientific data sets, in addition to
user interaction scenarios
 These tools offer a new medium and process for the artist to
explore and harness, resulting in new cultural artifacts relevant to
our era
 My artwork is an investigation of landscapes, much like the
Hudson River School of the past, Clayton Merrill and Clifford
Ross of the present
 It hints at a powerful connection between art and technology, the
land and the self – artifact form and function, internal mind and
external environment

Hudson River School
Thomas Cole. The Oxbow (The Connecticut River near Northampton) (1836)

Fund
Gremlins In The Studio II, Martin Johnson Heade, Retrieved from the web, 11/16/2016: http://www.martin-johnson-heade.org/

Clayton Merrill
Fire and Sun Smoke, 2012, Clayton Merrill, Retrieved from the web:
http://artscool.cfa.cmu.edu/~merrell/
Lady of Guadalupe, Retrieved from the web, 11/16/2016,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

Clifford Ross
Clifford Ross, "Sopris Wall I," 2015 (Installation view) MASS MoCA

Artistic Statement
The intent of my art is to present
landscapes in different perspectives to
viewers. By doing so, I aim to
challenge them, intellectually and
emotionally, to reflect on their
personal relationships with nature and
with themselves, within the ideals of
truth and beauty.

Artistic Statement
My landscapes intentionally frame
views with impossible, almost
surrealistic perspectives that are
completely unreal, yet made real by
the visualization, and application of
simulation and virtual reality
technology.

Artistic Statement
Placing the viewer into a frame of
reference of the earth—using anything
from a leafy tree to a rippling river—
the viewer is cast in an impossible
role. But it feels natural because it is
perceived as real as the real world,
and thus very familiar.

Future possibilities for research
and teaching with Art
Human Factors Research on Ambient Perceptual
Semantic Array and impacts on Perception, Emotions,
and Creativity as Action (AI of Creativity)
Design Frameworks for Collaboration & Co-Creativity
(frameworks that support work)
Landscapes as Art and Virtual Reality Experiences (ART
as Information and Emotion), Extend Shannon and
Weaver’s Model of Communication to Beauty

What Beauty and Truth will you
Create?

UCF SVAD Art Talk, 11/16/2016

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