News
Pg. 2 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday. March 2.1994
Virtual Reality: A brave new world
News Briefs
Compiled by Vicki Welch
Neil Lomax, former quarterback for Portland State Uni
versity and the Phoenix Cardinals, will speak at Clackamas
Tuesday at 12:30p.m. in the Gregory Forum. Lomax will discuss
his Christian beliefs in a presentation sponsored by the Fellowship
of Christian Athletes. The public is invited to attend the presen
tation free of charge. Bring a brown-bag lunch. For more
information, call ext. 2418.
Annual Writers' Club Contest deadline has been ex
tended to March 4. Entries may be Action, poetry or creative non
fiction. There may be a maximum of six poems and/or one fiction
or non-fiction entry. Entries must be typed, double-spaced with
three copies of each entry. Entries must have a cover sheet with
name and titles of works and Social Security number on individual
entries. For more information, call Allen Widerburg at ext. 2359.
Now accepting submissions of short fiction and poetry for
publication in future insert of the Clackamas Print. Please bring
your submissions to Barlow 104. Don’t be afraidto submit to The
Print. The last day for submissions to Rhapsody is Friday.
Illusion and reality will take center stage in Clackamas’
winter theater production, Six Characters in Search of an
Author. Performances arescheduledforMarch 3,4,5,11, and 12
at 8 p.m. and March 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the McLoughlin Hall
Theater. Tickets are $6 general, $3 students and staff, and senior
citizens free with reservations. For reservations or more informa
tion, call ext. 2356.
There will be a panel discussion today to discuss “Gender
Issues in the ’90s” in the Gregory Forum aUnoon. The panel will
consist of Loren Ford, Bernie Nolan and Joe Uris.They will discuss
healthy relationships, promoting them and maintaining them,and
will have a debate discussing education, salary, communication
and health.
Tryouts for CCC’s Spring Theater production will be Mon
day from 3 to 5 p.m. Tryouts are open to the public. Three men
and four women will be needed for the production of Neil Simon’s
“Brighton Beach Memoirs.” Audition materials may be picked
up in M-120. For more information, call ext. 2356.
Students in the college’s Theater Arts program will
present three one-act plays March 8 through 10 in the McLoughlin
Hall Theater. The performances are free and open to the public.
For more information or showtimes, call ext. 2356.
Professional Core entrance interviews will be held April
14 and 15 on the Western Oregon S tate College campus. They will
be selecting students to enter the program during the 1994 to 1995
school year. Applications from community colleges are due in the
office by March 24. Candidates should be third-term sophomores
(minimally) who are completing Westem’sLACC requirements or
the Block Transfer. Candidates will be notified of their eligibility
to interview and an appointment time. For more information, call
(503) 838-8471.
Continued from page 1
impression of being inside computer’s database which Could
be sentdirectly to a builder. Voila!
the model.
Despite the reality of You have a custom-designed
these virtual worlds, Shumaker home.
Virtual Reality can work
said they won’t be really real.
“Models in Virtual Reality will the same way for office design.
not in the near future be equal Japan uses Virtual Reality for
with reality because of the limits kitchen design. Despite all the
of computers. The quality of the leaps and bounds made in discov
system you want is directly re ering the possibilities of Virtual
lated to the hardware and the com- Reality, the U.S. is still behind in
plexity of the computer,” the game.
“It was developed in the
Shumaker said.
The software used here, U.S., yet we are the last to use it in
AutoCAD, allows for the drawing a practical way for human ad
of 3-0 models which can be used vancement,” Shumaker said.
. That is just the begin
in the Virtual Reality software.
So now that the software ning. Telepresence Surgery al
and hardware are all set up, what lows doctors to operate on patients
can VirtualReality do for the draft without even being in the operat
ing department? Well, the practi ing room. The surgeon is in a
cal applications of this experience room in one city with stereo eye
are about as limitless as those in wear, hooked up to a satellite.
The patient is in aroom in another
the entertainment industry.
. Imagine walking into an city prepped for surgery and situ
architect’s office and saying, 'I ated beneath apair of robotic arms
want to design my own home.' that emulate the surgeon’s moves.
The architect takes you to the The doctor is only present via
computer,puts thegoggles on you, satellite, yet this new form of sur
puts the glove on your hand and gery has been used, and according
turns you loose inside a model. to Shumaker,is “highlyaccurate.”
Telerobotics is similar to
You then have free reign. You
walk down the hall and decide it is telepresence surgery, except the
too narrow, so you push it out robot is sent into situations that
You walk into the kitchen and humans would not be able to enter
decide the window is too high, so into. “It is dangerous work. You
you lower it. And every time you have the robots do it, but, who
make.iubangeJtos.storeçHnjthç^j^onü^^
working with the 3-D Virtual Re
ality model,” Shumaker said.
While this new form of
technology is intriguing and fun
for many, Shumaker said it does
have its dangers. “With every
‘advance’ made, we lose some
thing. There are negative sides to
everything we do. We sacrifice of
our world, ourselves and our rela
tionships with each other. We
have no plan for the technology
we create. We have not yet to
begun torealize where technology
is taking us. And that is the
dangerous part of where we think
we’re going,” Shumaker said.
Shumaker warns against
becoming too hooked on Virtual
Reality. As it becomes more real
and more detailed, the abuse
people encounter in the real world
can be displaced with the seeming
realities of a self-created virtual
world. Shumaker said it is pos
sible to abuse Virtual Reality and
not want to leave a self-created
virtual world, or to not be able to
distinguish between real life and a
virtual life.
While Virtual Reality is
still hew and exciting there are
limits to what can be done, at least
right now. However, even those
limits aren’t too binding.
“Imagination is the only
limit to the possibilities of Virtual
Landmark class offers glimpse of Virtual Reality
by Kathryn Tongue
Lake Oswego High School
First Place NewsWriting
-
“Thtsis ih&onlyclassof
its kind within several States of
the west,” said Diane Delvers,
news service coordinator for
CCC white speaking of a new,
one-daycourscm Virtual Reality
whichwrilbe offeredat Clacka
mas CommunityCoHcgeonboth
May b and May 20,
. .
The .course will be of-'
fered through theClaekamas
Drafting department and is anon-
<3Editclasseosting$lM It will
introducestudcntstosoftwareand
hardware available to do Virtual
Reality, The class will also in
clude diseusstonsoftheapplica-
tions ofVirtual Reality and will
allow students recreate and navi Reality is expected to become
gate a virtual worfd, iT'
moreavailable to more people,"
•
According to Delvers, said Delvers. “You can expect
severalfaculty members, suchas VirtualReality topopupatmalts
Terence Shumaker, were instru- and theme paries,?*
The college has already
mental in bringing the course to
taken advantage of the increas
Clackamas, ■
’“They wanted, tri ¡offer the ing availability of Virtual Real
course to keep Clackamas on the ity and has created a 3-dimen-
edge of dehvermg new knowl stonai mapof campus. In add*«
edge,” DdvefS said,;.CV;'
tion, Clackamas is planning re
Virtual Reality has al ofiertwo more nine-hour courses
ready been used to perform sur in Virtual Reality next fall,'
There are no prerequi-
gery via satellite, and it will en
ablefire fighteiWextmguish toxic sites for the courae; and any in
fires without endangering them terested high school or college
selves. Inaddition, Virtual Real students, as well as educators,
ity Canbe combined With robotics school administrators and bust-
andsatelltetoovercomeobstacles ncsspeoplcmayenroll. Space is
hunted, however, to 15 students
qf distance and danger,
„
/
*
“This .summer. Virtual per class.
- CFCU -
CLACKAMAS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION INVITES
CCC STUDENTS TO JOIN!
All full-time Clackamas Community College
students are now eligible to join Clackamas Federal
Credit Union, a non-profit financial cooperative.
Once you join, your family members will also be
eligible to become members/owners.
Clackamas FCU offers a wide range of services
such as: Checking accounts with no minimum bal
ance & no monthly fees, free audio response and
. ATM's, savings and investment accounts, auto and
7 other loans with low rates, VISA cards, safe deposit
boxes and more!
If you are 21 and under, you need only to
maintain a savings account of $5, while those 22 and
over will need a $ 100 savings. We have offices in the
Hilltop Oregon City area and the Milwaukie Express
way area. Call 656-0671 or 653-7788 for more infor
mation or simply stop by either office.
Join today and see the difference. We wel
come you to become a member/owner of
Clackamas Federal Credit Union.
.
270 Warner Milne Rd. ■ Or tgon City, OR 97945 - Phone (5«3) 459-4471 FAX (543) 455-7453
4440 SE International Way ■ Milwaukie, OR 97222-4409 - Phone (503) 453-7733 FAX (503) 453-9771
Men and
Women in
the 90's
Rules, Roles
& Responsibilities
Gregory
Forum
Noon
March 2
Speakers include Dave
Campbell, Loren Ford,
Bernie Nolan & Joe Uris
Sponsored by CCC Social
Science & Counseling
Departments