Scott Fisher (technologist)
Encyclopedia
Scott Fisher is Professor and Chair of the Interactive Media
Division in the USC School of Cinematic Arts
at the University of Southern California
, and a Fellow of the Annenberg Center for Communication
there. He is an artist and technologist who has worked extensively on virtual reality
, including stints at NASA
, Atari Research Labs, MIT's Architecture Machine Group and Keio University
.
Fisher was educated at MIT, receiving a Master of Science degree in Media Technology in 1981. His thesis advisor there was Nicholas Negroponte
. There he participated in the creation of the Aspen Movie Map
.
Much of Fisher's career has been in pioneering virtual reality. Between 1985 to 1990, he was founding Director of the Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW) at NASA's Ames Research Center. They attempted to develop a simulator to enable space station maintenance rehearsal. The gloves and goggles often associated with virtual reality
were developed there, along with the dataglove, head-coupled displays and 3D audio.
In 1990, with Brenda Laurel
, Fisher founded Telepresence Research, a company specializing in first-person media, virtual reality and remote presence research and development.
Fisher was Project Professor
in the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University
. There he led a project to allow users to author and view location-based
data superimposed over the physical world.
In 2001, Fisher moved to the University of Southern California
to spearhead their new Interactive Media Division
within the School of Cinema Television. There, he established the division's research initiatives in the mediums of immersive, mobile and video games. He is presently head of the department.
Fisher is also fascinated with stereoscopy
and 3D imaging, as well as Jamaican music
.
Fisher lives in Southern California with his wife, Mizuko Ito
, a cultural anthropologist studying media technology, and their two children.
Interactive media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, etc.-Terminology:...
Division in the USC School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, and a Fellow of the Annenberg Center for Communication
Annenberg Center for Communication
The Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California promotes interdisciplinary research in communications between the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Viterbi School of Engineering, and the separate USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, also funded by...
there. He is an artist and technologist who has worked extensively on virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
, including stints at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, Atari Research Labs, MIT's Architecture Machine Group and Keio University
Keio University
,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...
.
Fisher was educated at MIT, receiving a Master of Science degree in Media Technology in 1981. His thesis advisor there was Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
. There he participated in the creation of the Aspen Movie Map
Aspen Movie Map
The Aspen Movie Map was a revolutionary hypermedia system developed at MIT by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA.-Features:...
.
Much of Fisher's career has been in pioneering virtual reality. Between 1985 to 1990, he was founding Director of the Virtual Environment Workstation Project (VIEW) at NASA's Ames Research Center. They attempted to develop a simulator to enable space station maintenance rehearsal. The gloves and goggles often associated with virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
were developed there, along with the dataglove, head-coupled displays and 3D audio.
In 1990, with Brenda Laurel
Brenda Laurel
Brenda Laurel is a pioneering writer, researcher, designer and entrepreneur in the fields of human-computer interaction, interactive narrative and cultural aspects of technology ....
, Fisher founded Telepresence Research, a company specializing in first-person media, virtual reality and remote presence research and development.
Fisher was Project Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
in the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University
Keio University
,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...
. There he led a project to allow users to author and view location-based
Location-based service
A Location-Based Service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device....
data superimposed over the physical world.
In 2001, Fisher moved to the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
to spearhead their new Interactive Media Division
USC Interactive Media Division
The University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts's Interactive Media Division first accepted students in 2002. In addition to coursework in film production, screenwriting, and animation, students in the division study across three disciplines within interactive media: immersive...
within the School of Cinema Television. There, he established the division's research initiatives in the mediums of immersive, mobile and video games. He is presently head of the department.
Fisher is also fascinated with stereoscopy
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
and 3D imaging, as well as Jamaican music
Music of Jamaica
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Jamaica's music culture is a fusion of elements from the United States , Africa, and neighboring Caribbean islands such as...
.
Fisher lives in Southern California with his wife, Mizuko Ito
Mizuko Ito
is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. In addition, she is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance....
, a cultural anthropologist studying media technology, and their two children.
Papers and conference proceedings
- O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference (2004).
- Virtual reality worlds continue to develop by Glen Fraser and Scott S. Fisher in ACM SIGGRAPH Newsletter v.32, no.3 1998.
- "An Authoring Tool Kit for Mixed Reality Experiences" in International Workshop on Entertainment Computing (2002),
- "Micro Archiving and Interactive Virtual Insect Exhibit" in Stereoscopic Displays and Virtual Reality Systems IX (2002),
- "Environmental Media: Linking Virtual Environments to the Real World" in Creative Digital Media: Its Impact on the New Century (2001),
- "Environmental Media: Accessing Virtual Representations of Real-Time Sensor Data and Site-specific Annotations Embedded in Physical Environments" in Proc. of the Seventh Int'l Conf. on Virtual Systems and Multimedia, Berkeley (2001).
- Fisher, Scott S. "Virtual Environments: Personal Simulations & Telepresence." In Virtual Reality: Theory, Practice and Promise, S. Helsel and J.Roth, ed. , Meckler Publishing, 1991.
- Fisher, Scott S. "Virtual Interface Environments." In The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, B. Laurel, ed., Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1990.
- Fisher, S. "Telepresence Master Glove Controller for Dexterous Robotic End-Effectors," Advances in Intelligent Robotics Systems, D.P.Casasent, Editor, Proc. SPIE 726, (1986). [SPIE Cambridge Symposium on Optical and Optoelectronic Engineering, 26–31 October 1986. Cambridge, Massachusetts.]
- Fisher, S. S., McGreevy, M., Humphries, J., Robinett, W., "Virtual Environment Display System," ACM 1986 Workshop on 3D Interactive Graphics, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, October 23–24, 1986.
- Fisher, Scott S. "Virtual Interface Environment," IEEE/AIAA 7th Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Fort Worth, Texas, October 13–16, 1986.
- Fisher, S. "Viewpoint Dependent Imaging: An interactive stereoscopic display." Masters Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. October, 1981.
External links
- Official page at the USC Annenberg Center.
- Scott Fisher Personal/Professional Site
- Menagerie Project website at Telepresence.