Building bridges: science, the arts & technology

What discipline in science, the arts or technology is truly isolated? The more one delves into their mysteries it becomes clear how inter-disciplinary they are. The mind jumps from one impression to the next in determining how existence is constructed. Though the perception may be subjective, it is an experience that is shared by many.

Science, the arts and technology are three separate disciplines, but have more in common than meets the eye. They are different lenses from which to observe reality.

We may see things differently, but if we share our insights, we build bridges and broaden our understanding.

This is the theme for the May 2009 issue of the SIGGRAPH e-quarter "Computer Graphics", emphasizing the importance of collaboration to improve the way computer graphics is used in different ways.

Elizabeth A. Rega, Department of Anatomy, Western University of Heath Sciences and Stuart S. Sumida, Department of Biology, California State University of Heath Sciences, have written an article together entitled "Anatomical Considerations in Facial Motion Capture", stressing the importance of understanding inherent traits of human facial expression to improve motion capture performance.

"iVisit Agitating for the Evolution of Fixed-mobile Tele-presence and Augmented Reality" by Orang Dialameh, CEO of iVisit, LLC introduces how current mobile video-calling software, spearheaded by CU-SeeMe creator Tim Dorcey, is taking advantage of the HTC (High Tech Computers) smart phone and pocket PC devices to assist doctors in meeting and treating patients remotely and helping persons who are visually impaired.

In the article "A Survey of BRDF Models for Computer Graphics" Murat Kurt, Ege University, International Computer Institute, Turkey and Dave Edwards, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, survey the most popular BRDF representations introduced so far and analyzed the most recent trends in this area. This article follows up an earlier article entitle "Representing BRDFs using SOMs and MANs", also written by Murat Kurt together with Muhammed Gókhan Cinsdikici, Ege University, International Computer Institute, Turkey.

Contributor Carlos D. Correa has written an informative article entitled "Visualizing What Lies Inside" for VisFiles, a very interesting read. My thanks to Kwan-Liu Ma for his continued solicitation of meaningful content for this section of the newsletter.

In conclusion, Jack Lew, Director of Collaborations at the Center for Emerging Media, University of Central Florida, comes full circle through his submission to Education entitled "Connecting the Dots by Crossing Borders", sharing how he, in his new position, sees scientists, artists and technologists collaborating and exploring new solutions in this field we broadly identify as computer graphics. Jack also contributed with the organizational chart used in the design of this issue's cover illustration.