Jason Challas 
Interview: Brenda Laurel
Brenda Laurel has written and edited several books and articles
on human-machine interface design, Virtual Reality, and the social implications
of computing. Her book, Computers as Theatre (1991 Addison-Wesley,
pub.), is in its second edition. Scientific American recently published
her article on virtual reality in their 150th Anniversary issue. This interview
with her took place in July, 1995.
Virtual Reality and its Technical Problems
JC: As you stated in the 1993 addition to your book Computers as Theatre
titled "Post-Virtual Reality; After the Hype," the fad stage of
VR has passed, and yet the development of VR software and hardware still
has a long way to go. Is VR now on a second wave of popularity?
BL: Yes, it's no longer a cult item, more people know what it is. However,
there are fewer VR installations than I thought five years ago there might
be by now -- arcade applications and so forth. The bottleneck is currently
optics.
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