Design Parameters for Awe Video as Life

Awe Video can be seen as the product of a succession of western philosophical and cultural enterprises. And as such, is an emergent property of Life as Culture. Awe Video represents and expresses a Global Movement to Explore the New foundations of Theater and Collective Expression. We unify the local color, the vernacular with feedback through the whole to each be transformed upon the success of the local and the Global. The nature of Awe Video is Mutable yet Self-consistent in structure as to the scale the Whole Matrix of Types of Relationships. It is clear that the real-time and staged interactive digital image processing represents a realization of an aspiration deeply embedded in western culture.

 In modern societies: "... all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into representation. "To quote Feuerbach: "But certainly for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence...illusion only is sacred, truth profane. Nay, sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness."

Awe Video will slip frictionlessly into our culture because our culture has prepared us for it. Every significant media technological development since the renaissance has been employed to create theatres of simulation. This idea is shared by Andre Bazin, who noted mid-century that: " The guiding myth...inspiring the invention of cinema, is the accomplishment of that which dominated in a more or less vague fashion all the techniques of mechanical reproduction of reality in the nineteenth century, from photography to the phonograph, namely an integral realism, a recreation of the world in its own image, an image unburdened by the freedom of interpretation of the artist or the irreversibility of time." We can unite the four-field of space-time as the quantum reversibility with the non-linear relativistic of place and the vector of time as the directing energies. This we throughput the fire of The Divine Plan of Design of and as Principle, the Archetypic molders of that which is the timeless unity of all vectors of possibilities.

The vernacular is emergent, bottom-up, distributed and parallel, hence its veracity. It conveys an irreducible order: making the whole greater than the sum of the parts, a gestalt in effect. Any network that minimizes local (and therefore global) entropy-production (information and energy waste), by fusing passive/active strategies to optimize energy load; in exchange for optimized emergent complexity (or contradiction!), be it fractal detail for the eye at different scales, or minimum structure for maximum strength - or opposing tensile with compressive elements, the dynamic against the static; will be more likely to succeed in its purpose. It will form a better cultural response, a better metaphor for our understanding of reality;
the ultimate goal of all art and science -both of which Awe Video Networks, should epitomize.

Awe Video Network is explicitly Mission-driven, a shared commitment to the Awe of Creation Through the Lens of comprehension. We unify the complex solution of Human Existence with the Means to finally transit from the dream that has become the nightmare of contraction and failed impulse. We bring to the cultural a new life, a new life-impulse, and a new life consciousness. We empower the specific to impress the Mother of All Potential through the acknowledged, the empowering All Awe.

This is not an appeal for the imitation of strict vernacular but rather recognition that just as in the past, differing climates and
cultures should deterministically produce different design solutions, and produce discrete conventions of symbol and signal appropriate to their climatic and cultural environment. This does produce a distinct, profound regional identity and variety for architheater forms throughout the world.

The Modern Movement's main failure was that it became a metaphor for the hubris of the Newtonian mechanistic paradigm while embracing a relativistic nilism. It imposes an anonymous, excessively top-down homogeneity worldwide. It ignores global vernacular diversity of cultural response; to a plethora of conceptual constraints ---so identity is forbidden in the Machine Age. How then do we transcend this failure --- and restore Identification, our empathic self-similarity?

We are liberated to epitomize the Mean where all constraints are optimized as the spectrum of scale through elegance of: structure (the bearing of dynamic forces), efficiency of organization, thematic/contextual resonance, and the economies of vernacular-informed "green" architheater. This is the methodological Genius Loci of Complexity; celebrating diversity and contextual veracity over homogenized anomie, and applying engineering elegance and efficiency as the proper syntheses of the pattern that binds and the dynamics of function with the 3-dness of form.

We find the dynamics of the Golden Mean as the basis of Life properties and the basis of the conditions in complexity space for the emergence of self-reflexive consciousness is in the perfect dynamic mediation. It tells us, is that there is an optimum mathematical paragon of energy-efficiency: this is achieved as an ultimate means of generating the maximum
complexity of information structures of energy and matter, at the lowest energy cost. It is in the creative conceptualization this as Pure Principle through which the Oversoul of Awe Video is hatched.

A dynamic network's architecture can be seen as a dissipative, open system like an organism: which consumes (for example) low entropy electricity and indexing and processing cycles to produce high entropy heat, as an act of metabolism. The less entropy produced, the less energy wasted. This can be achieved by an apt fusion of both low and high technologies, for the benefit of all, at both the local and global scale. Our network operates both on and off the grid. We are inter-dependent on any one carrier of the meaning, the architheater metabolism.

To be self-consistent, mathematics must admit the random - that not all statements are provable ("All Cretans are liars", spoken by Epiminedes, a Cretan). Sometimes a statement is too complex and reflexive to be proven - one falls prey to tautology and paradox. Our highest success will come in the marriage of the surprise and freedom with an elegant field of organizing processes that will allow the spontaneous evolution of the new and the new potential actualized.

Local chance events underlie and create our apparent reality in the most fundamental of ways, and yet they paradoxically are
the basis for the global causality we see all about us. We amplify the local till it has Global Wave-effects.  Reality is the best of
both worlds: somewhere in dynamic equilibrium between. Pure (Newtonian) causality is an incorrect (finite) view, but then again, so is the aspect of complete uncertainty and (infinite) chance.

Suffice to say, maximum Complexity is found at the edge of Chaos, which is epitomized dynamically by the Golden Mean as the principle of least action: therefore its full temporal/spatial representation is analogous to creation itself
.
The edge of Chaos region is the most globally stable, the most true extended transients and also the most locally creative. Awe Video resides in this optimizing boundary zone: between the causality of the branches and the chances of the switching points themselves: between the result of the coin-toss and the initial toss itself. Our Awe Video's super-attractive global orbit is optimally stable because it is mediating between those two optimally unstable local repelling fixed points of the linear and the non-linear, the fixed parameters and chance, the global design and local flavor, the quantum and relativistic. Space-time itself can be seen scene the Edge of Chaos Region.

This local energy-minimizing behavior, when applied to the large numbers of shift-operations implicit within say, the complex neural and metabolic processes of individual organisms - allows global stability to be maintained in the face of an environment in constant flux. This stability has just enough creativity in it to deal adaptively with most new situations. A flux between order and randomness, with not too much of either extreme, is the key to any act of both evolutionary adaptivity and/or homeostasis.

The Root Principle of Awe Video as incarnating the characteristics of The Golden Mean can certainly be reconciled with the new science, which reveals a profound dynamical aspect to its action. The Mean as the most primary mediator and the only perfect pathway to the optimized stability is likewise the core metaphor for Awe Video in That embedded function in the greater evolutionary imperative. This Principle can be found to mathematically describe the behavior of nature in at least three major idealized models.

• Firstly, the stability of quasi-periodic KAM tori.
• Secondly, the universal behaviors and constant scaling relationships of the period-doubling Feigenbaum diagram.
• Thirdly, the most complex region of cellular automata behaviors.
• And Fourly, Art as Life.

All locate the Mean as the route to, and on the edge of, Chaos, in the realm of maximum complexity - as exchanged for
minimal energy waste, or entropy production.

For Awe Video the first emergent feedback-led application is in the design process itself; the form (al cause) of a structure being the result of the consultative process that informed it. If this process fully involves the user and all other concerned parties, and takes full note of all the site and brief constraints and histories; a democracy of rich mutual feedback will result.  The director then acts as mediator, co-ordinator and catalyst for the emergent, complex forms that arise, which appropriately should epitomize the "final cause" of least action in being the optimum artifact for its role, and hopefully, also by being energy-efficient. Speaking metaphorically, one could say that the director in this light almost personifies the optimizing imperative of Phi in his or her role in the design process.

A facade incorporating video that is linked into a central processing unit with a parallel-processing neural network can instantaneously regulate delivery by. Our Awe Video Network can also minimize overall delivery load by only storing localized clips. Such systems may display a form of metabolic homeostasis, "emergence"; allowing for simple system-memory and learning capacities. This has everything to do with recursive feedback loops being employed in communications services design. Dynamics can synthesize clearly, with statics. The question is one of the appropriate levels of automation.

For example, the people using the network form their own interface, their own dynamical sub-system. They should be included
as an integral part of the feedback processes involved in the network's global performance. So the ability to manually override
a delivery management system by regulating its relationships will play a major part in mitigating such current problems as "overload". By virtue of its emergent homeostatic qualities, the directors will be able to adapt readily to these perturbations, and the people will feel more in touch with, and in control of, their environments.

Chaos creativity shows how appropriate it is to term our age one of information: one which increasingly exists to exchange and enhance pure information to higher levels of complexity at minimal expense (just recall the internet itself, priced at local phone rates), just as the irreversibility-driven evolution imperative of the Universe and of life itself demonstrates.

Awe Video is a globally networked, computer sustained, computer generated, multi-dimensional, artificial, or virtual reality field. In this world, onto which every computer screen is a window, actual, geographical distance is irrelevant. Objects seen or heard are neither physical, nor, necessarily, representations of physical objects, but are rather - in form, character, and action - made up of data, of pure information. This information is derived in part from the operations of the natural, physical world, but is derived primarily from the immense traffic of symbolic information, images, sounds, and people, that constitute human enterprise in science, art, business, and culture.

We foresee that our computing environment will be very widely distributed, ubiquitous, open-ended, and ever changing. All Awe computers in the world will be mutually connected. New services will be added from time to time, while old services will be evolved as new computers are connected, and the network topology and capacity changing almost continually. Users will demand the same interface to the environment regardless of login sites. Users will move with computers and will move even while using them. Users will demand much better user interfaces, so that they will be able to communicate with computers as if they are communicating with humans.

Awe Video's design architecture, as a cultural artifact inevitably will be imbued with the current zeitgeist, should assimilate as much of the implications of Phi/Chaos dynamical symmetry.  We have the opportunity to (re)present the Golden Mean to communication design in entirely novel ways, beyond statics and state, but rather via dynamics and process: as tension, as paradox, as a dynamical unity of opposites, linking the finite with its reciprocal, the infinite, fusing the linear with the non-linear, the ordered with the random - and causality with chance. This is the Logos of Heraclitus of Ephesus, or the Tao of Lao Tsu. It is a universal archetype, in the Jungian sense.  James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis is a paradigm for a truly global homeostasis based on Complexity, where the whole planet is posited to minimize its entropy-production at the edge of Chaos because of the cellular automata-like action of the biosphere. In like measure the Local Directors of Awe Video will adhere a new Cultural Imperative to The Collective Direction.

The Director is a "fabricator of archetypes"; these ideas as discussed above are as profound as they are pressing. If we are to mitigate our worst ecological, social and political excesses we had better understand and replicate nature, or to create better metaphors and analogies of reality (with these archetypes), we must assimilate the lessons of the sciences of Complexity, for they are the laws and emergent properties of nature itself.

Includes Holographic Imaginery and the concept that the whole network of knowledge and connections is everywhere distributed for instant and deep access. This will allow the instant re-creation of extended reality everywhere linked with any other place anywhere. This will allow for the fusion of the local vernacular and new spontaneous vernacular processes into new self-educating global form.

Awe Video

Introduction to Video Virtual Internet

Global Theater of Awakening

Ta panta rei --- all is flux

Heraclitus of Ephesus, sixth century B.C.

...to (in)form buildings with thematic meaning, they must convey a gestalt, the whole must be more than the sum of the parts, and there must also be an ambiguity and paradox immanent within that gestalt, as a tension.

(Quoting Heckscher on composition...)

It is the taut composition which contains contrapuntal relationships, equal combinations, inflected fragments, and acknowledged dualities. It is the unity which maintains, but only just maintains, a control over the clashing elements which compose it.

Chaos is very near, its nearness, but its avoidance, gives ...force.

Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, 1977
   

The Future is Dynamic Adaptive Intelligent Architheater!

Imagine stepping through a looking glass in constant surprising, entertaining change. Wherever you move the Space adapts and changes. You become completely immersed in an Extended Reality Universe. Extended Reality becomes the entire ambient Form of Experience. You Are The Space! The Space is Creative.

The idea is not to simulate Science fiction, Fantasy and Futuristic Adventure but to be Science fiction, Fantasy and Futuristic Adventure Itself.

Many recent discussions of virtual reality have revolved around the technology used. I have chosen in this section to include investigations into the philosophical implications of virtual reality thereby expanding the definition to include more than data glove and headset experiences. Cross-fertilization of ideas is an important component in the evolution of any technology or art form.

The fusion of disciplines is the basis for collaborative authorship of virtual Video. In the context of this section I shall use Vi'Deo to represent the Virtuality of Video, in the Character sense and in the suddenness. The construction of the V-Vi'Deo Spaces involves the collaberation of visual artists, architects, computer-aided design teams, computer programmers, musicians and various recording specialists as well as other disciplines.

As far as architectural application is concerned, we must look at the temporal as well as the spatial, at how quite literally, the dynamics (of systems applications) can inform the statics (forms) of building. The aesthetics of the banal imitation of some motif of some fabricated "Hip Scene" is simply not the picture!

The Whole Architectural Structure Functions as a Single Form and Sign of Connectivity.

Aristotle implied over two millennia ago that the proper investigation required for Truth was one of Telos, form being the result of the processes that engendered it. Now we can Say in This Time, Process, Form and Relationship are Unified in The Realization of truth.

Here are some brief indications of how the assimilation of new dynamical systems knowledge, married with new environmental and structural engineering, plus materials and information technologies, might Emerge Architheater. All are systems (or functions) leading a potential emergent form.

The first emergent feedback-led application is in the design process itself; the form(al cause) of human environment being the result of the consultative process that informed it. If this process fully involves the users and all other concerned parties, and takes full note of all the site and brief constraints and histories; a democracy of rich mutual feedback will result.

The System Designers can then act as mediators, coordinators and catalyst for emergent, complex spontaneous and entertaining forms that arises, which appropriately should epitomize the "final cause" of least action in being the optimum artifact for its role.

The Whole Experience will expand to an Extended Real-time Community.

Members will be able to tune-in at anytime through real-time Internet video and community links.

Experiential control will increasingly become a hybrid of feedbacks between active elements, such as movement, and the passive, such as walls and tables. Low-tech, vernacular strategies for environmental control, fused with the higher technology of computerized control will fuse into the total experiential domain.

A facade incorporating electrochromic glass that is linked into a central processing unit with a parallel-processing neural network can instantaneously regulate solar gain by adjusting facade opaqueness or well as a myriad of Image Forms, depending on the facade's orientation. Such systems may display a form of metabolic homeostasis known in artificial intelligence circles as emergence; allowing for simple system-memory and learning capacities. This has everything to do with recursive feedback loops being employed in environmental services design. Dynamics can synthesize clearly, with statics. The question is one of the appropriate levels of automation. The same is true for Architheater.

For example, the people using the building form their own interface, their own dynamical sub-system. They should be included as an integral part of the feedback processes involved in the building's climatic and environmental performance.

By virtue of its emergent homeostatic qualities, the environment will be able to adapt readily to these perturbations, and the people will feel more in touch with, and in control of, and interactive with their environments.

Polyvalent facades will, using liquid crystal technologies (glass is made from silica --- as is the LCD and the silicon chip) convey graphic information on the skins of buildings for the external world to observe. Chameleon buildings will for example, be able to react to passing clouds, altering facade U-values and values for solar gain, to compensate for those clouds, or the tracking shadows cast by neighboring buildings. The pixel-like elements of a facade might communicate ambiently in the manner of some cellular automata, feeding back continually with environmental stimuli. A similar ambient music real-time soundscape might therefore truly `melt' the `Frozen Music' of architecture: defining it as a musical instrument itself, as played by its environment.

A major design constraint (and therefore, opportunity) for environment control is that strategies and final design solutions must adapt to the local moment (and therefore inevitably, the cultural readings) of sites: hence the use of the term `Vernacular', as a methodology, not an aesthetic, of Complexity, as applied to architecture. Vernacular buildings transform information. They are appropriate, creating a symbolic rubric of materials and forms connoting a cultural response to a particular environment. The vernacular is emergent, bottom-up, distributed and parallel, hence its veracity. It conveys an irreducible order: making the whole greater than the sum of the parts, a gestalt in effect. Any architecture that minimizes local (and therefore global) entropy-production (information and energy waste), by fusing passive/active strategies to optimize energy load; in exchange for optimized emergent complexity (or contradiction!), be it fractal detail for the eye at different scales, or minimum structure for maximum strength - or opposing tensile with compressive elements, the dynamic against the static; will be more likely to succeed in its purpose. It will form a better cultural response, a better metaphor for our understanding of reality; the ultimate goal of all art and science - (both of) which architecture ideally, should epitomize.

This is a recognition that just as in the past, differing climates and cultures should deterministically produce different design solutions, and produce discrete architecture appropriate to their climatic and cultural environment. This does produce a distinct, profound regional identity and variety for architectural form throughout the world, as we are already seeing.

The Modern Movement's main failure was that it became a metaphor for the hubris of the Newtonian mechanistic paradigm. It imposed an anonymous, excessively top-down homogeneity worldwide (the International Style is also the most internationally loathed). It ignored global vernacular architectural diversity of cultural response; to a plethora of environmental constraints --- so identity was forbidden for the Machine Age. How then do we transcend this failure --- and restore Identification (which is a form of empathic self-similarity)? Rather than merely imitating the statics of past and nostalgia (Planet Hollywood), we are now also liberated to epitomize the elegance of structure thematic/contextual resonance, and the economies of vernacular-informed architecture. This is the methodological Genius Loci of Complexity; celebrating diversity and contextual veracity over homogenized anomie, and applying engineering elegance and efficiency as the proper syntheses of the dynamics of function with the statics of form.

Architecture, as a cultural artifact that inevitably will be imbued with the current zeitgeist, should assimilate as much of the implications of Harmonic Chaos Dynamical Symmetry. We have the opportunity to (re)present architecture in entirely novel ways, beyond statics and state, but rather via dynamics and process: as tension, as paradox, as a dynamical unity of opposites, linking the finite with its reciprocal, the infinite, fusing the linear with the non-linear, the ordered with the random - and causality with chance. This is the logos of Heraclitus of Ephesus, or the Tao of Lao Tsu. It is a universal archetype, in the Jungian sense.

Immersive Pods can be of all sorts and alternatively private and communal with different levels of technology with not 3 or 4 programs but 100's continually being updated and perhaps created real-time. We will invite VR artists to contribute unique VR experiences for public experience and over time to be licensed.

Architecture is both an existential and ideological enclosure. In the latter half of the 20th Century we have witnessed the progressive dematerialization of architecture - a search for singular lightness and mutability.

A curriculum of these transformations could be:

Responsive soft architecture in the 60's

Kinetic luminous sculpture in the 70's

Virtual architecture in the 80's

Televirtual architecture in the 90's

Holo Extended architecture of the 21st century

Firstly - examples of responsive soft architecture in the late 60's, early 70's. These are inflatable structures - built up from air - thin skinned - transparent - lightweight - compact yet large scale - responsive - mobile - personal and sensuous.

A second stage of development of these inflatable structure was the incorporation of other media - light, slide projection, film sound. Architecture becomes event structure - the projection surface becomes expanded cinema - the public jumps into the screen and into the image - here is a literal immersion in the pictorial/cinematic space - we can see that expanded cinema was clearly the precursor of the Immersive VR strategies today.

In the 70's a kinetic luminous architecture - abandoning even the skin - just the apparatus that are the carriers of light. Then the discovery of laser technology - side by side with holography the ostensible avatar of a total architecture of light.

In the early 80's, the discovery of virtual architecture.

The Narrative Landscape, then the Legible City, builds whole cities out of virtual matter. Solid architecture is replaced by an immaterial structure of letters and words and sentences. The city then as density of visualized information - and the cyclist as a reader of this city. The Legible City mirrors the objective world into a virtual imaginative space - it deconstructs the literal and evokes a fluid poetics of place, person and intimate apprehension.

Similarly the Virtual Museum deconstructs the literal museum, and in its last room proclaims the total evanescence of form and the supremacy of those digital techniques that now can illuminate the A to Z of virtual formations.

The step from virtual to televirtual architecture by showing you TELEVIRTUAL CHIT CHAT which was an interactive televirtual installation in 1993 between two sites - the IMAGINA in Monte Carlo and the ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe.

Two players who were geographically distant from each other shared a virtual image space. Letters could be chosen from a simulated computer keyboard. The position, size and shape of these letters could then be interactively manipulated over a three-dimensional game board whose surface was divided into the familiar grid of 64 squares. A map on the surface of the game board showed Europe between Monte Carlo and Karlsruhe - representing the geography that separated the two players.

In TELEVIRTUAL CHIT CHAT the two players face each other in a televirtual space of alphabetic forms, so that their formal interaction became at the same time a tentative exchange of letters, syllables, and words. Here text has detached itself from the surface of the page and assumes an autonomous existence, taking on the status of a fictitious language which at the same time constitutes the shared virtual environment where this communication takes place - a telematic graffiti which becomes itself the architecture of an interactive and evanescent televirtual city.

Like Italo Calvino's literary multiformities of Venice, a superfluity of new cities can now by constructed in Cyberspace, boundaried only by the limits of what we can propose. But even at that boundary, we can then create algorithmic architectures that will autonomously extend those cities beyond our imagination.

Critical to the project is the development and implementation of networking approaches, including modem-to-modem, server, and high bandwidth connectivity. Telecommunications specialists collaborate with the design team to resolve problems of connectivity in immersion environments.

The application of artificial intelligence, in the form of agents (or guides) and smart objects, is an essential area of development. The inclusion of investigators in the areas of interface design, smart objects, and artificial intelligence is a major component.

Multi-user interaction and groupware performance, establishes protocols within networked immersion environments, and suggests standards. The contribution of communication specialists addresses aspects of documentation and standardization.

The Fun House Metaphor

Fun house: a building in an amusement park that contains various devices designed to startle or amuse. Webster's Dictionary, 1992

A Fun House has been designed. While making metaphorical reference to the 'fun house' found throughout traditional amusement parks, the application is an investigation of interaction and perception employing networked, immersion based Vi"Deo1.

The fun house metaphor is particularly applicable as a container for virtual experience. Upon entering a fun house, one is acutely aware of being cast into a different world. And one's senses are amused and assaulted by a number of devices - trick mirrors, fantasy characters, manipulation of gravity, spatial disorientation, mazes and sound, for example. In the virtual Fun House, various traditional devices are adapted and some new ones are offered.

Key attributes to be found in the Fun House include:

• Objectification of 'self' within an immersion environment.
  Users can select their image from a library including Frankenstein, Dracula, and a doctor, among others. When entering the Fun House, users can see their image reflected in real time in a mirror. They can also see the images of other users. Users can extend their hands and wave at each other - a basic and highly communicative form of human expression.
• Interaction with a client (or agent) that has an 'artificial intelligence.' When entering the Fun House a client greets you and speaks. It has a polite behavior and is programmed to face you, follow at a certain distance, and to stay out of your way. After a while, it stops following and says goodbye. Smart objects are also incorporated; touching them calls events within the program.
• Interaction with multiple users in real time.
  Networked telecommunications allow for the simultaneous support of multiple users within the Fun House. Each user can see the other, have an independent point of view, and move objects.
• Links to moving objects.
  The Fun House features a Merry-go-round; users can grab hold and catch a ride while music plays.
• Objects attach themselves to users. The Fun House features a Flying Saucer ride, where users are transported up into the spacecraft, and they can pilot its flight. The event calls the 'beaming up' of the user and a whirring sound associated with flying saucers.
• Attributes of physical laws.
  The Fun House features a Ball Game, where users pick up a ball and throw it at targets. The ball falls, bounces, and loses velocity. Thus gravity, velocity, and friction are articulated. The motion of the ball is sound intensive.

New directions

The Music Room, Construction Room, and Painting Room. These are friendly and intuitive environments that require little learning curve to utilize. Instructions are multilingual, and the environment is co-habited by small agents or 'beasons' that are programmed with a low level artificial intelligence. There are guides to the various interactive objects, and they demonstrate how the environment functions by literal illustration. In the Music Room they run around and make contact with the instruments, and thus play music. Users can see which instruments produce what sounds and how to perform them. Intuitive controls are available for navigating around in the room.

The Music Room contains basic instruments. The largest is a large six-note keyboard attached to a wall. This instrument plays a pentatonic scale in three voices - orchestra, choir, and percussion. It is performed by touching the keys, or by simply waving ones hand within close proximity. The other instruments are a drum and shakers.

The Construction Room is designed for young children. It contains building blocks which can be assembled to construct objects, sort of a virtual Lego set. In this case, there is a nearly infinite supply of blocks, and one can enter into some of the objects created, such as a house. The 'beasons' co-inhabit this site as well, bounce merrily on the blocks, and illustrate how to stack them.

The Painting Studio is quite literal - a site for making paintings or graffiti. The user can select from a number of 'brush' effects, and choose colors.

The Virtual City

Another application currently under design is a virtual city. Inspired in part by the Music Room type applications, the city is an actual city, inhabited by a multitude of participants, and each with their own purposes. Imagine a virtual city complete with private spaces or domiciles, parks, stores, entertainment centers. As much as a grand social experiment, it also is a far-reaching graphical user interface (GUI) for electronic home shopping and entertainment.

The salient points of the virtual city include:

• A distributed, three dimensional inhabitable environment
• Investigation of tele-existence in a distributed virtual construct
• Capability of supporting potentially unlimited participants
• Private spaces, property and moral code
• Exploration of tools to alter the environment, while inhabiting it
• Interface (GUI) for home shopping and entertainment.

The idea of a distributed application based on the notion of an inhabited city, is fascinating. Traversing the city and encountering other inhabitants from all over the world will be a startling experience.

Telentainment and design

The last area of investigation includes distributed virtual reality as an interface for telentertainment and design. The range of possible applications is broad.

(Education can benefit with regard to long distance learning, and the industry can gain from a higher level of video teleconferencing. This raises the question, what is the advantage of distributed virtual reality over video teleconferencing. And the answer is, the relationship to the subject.)

In a telentainment session employing distributed virtual reality, multiple participants can share a dynamic relationship with their subject. For an example, imagine a team of automobile designers discussing options via video teleconferencing. To look at the subject, they might program a pre-recorded videotape, highlighting the desired aspects.

The following are salient aspects of a design studio which would employ distributed virtual reality:

• The virtual environment supports interaction among networked remote players, for the purpose of telentainment.
• The application establishes a relationship between an actual workstation, and a virtual workstation, operators have the capability of switching back and forth, employing a windowing method.
• Tele-existence is made evident thru synchronous voice communication, and the capability of each member to 'see' the other members in the virtual environment.
• Stations consist of display, stylus, keyboard and mouse; additional input devices include head mounted displays, data gloves, and machine vision for voice and gesture recognition.
• Design teams utilize freely available software.
• Peer-to-peer networking

The advantages of, distributed design stations are numerous, but an essential point is economy. The other key point is human experience. Teams located in remote sites and benefit from a collective design experience.

Connectivity

The basis for distributed virtual reality is a function of telecommunications. Two or more sites are joined by an operating system, which can employ a number of telecommunication delivery services

• Direct dial up lines
• Internet computer network
• High band networks
• Cable television
• Wireless
• Pre-programmed Templates

Select functions for point to point include:

• Providing all functions of the virtual world creation software in a distributed manner; the world and its attributes are distributed to each node, and one node is specified to be the controller
• Providing constant views and updates of each user's object manipulations; users can move objects, including themselves, and updates to position and change occur with imperceptible update cycles
• Writing and saving files to record the manipulations to objects; users can change worlds and carry an object with them into another world.
• The formation of a client-server model, where multiple users can simultaneously share immersion environments
• The servers or nodes are to be located across the world and can be updated automatically via the Internet
• The nodes will offer sites for access and distribution of virtual reality software
• The nodes will support multiple platforms.

Distributed virtual reality has a history and has been given many different forms, shaped by varied intentions. It also has the promise of a future, marking the advancing edge of a new industry.

Further Introduction to Holo'Extended Reality (HER)

Includes Holographic Imaginery and the concept that the whole network of knowledge and connections is everywhere distributed for instant and deep access. This will allow the instant re-creation of extended reality everywhere linked with any other place anywhere. This will allow for the fusion of the local vernacular into new spontaneous vernacular processes.

And in the bloodlit dark behind his eyes, silver phosphenes boiling in from the edge of space, hypnagogic images jerking past like film compiled from random frames. Symbols, figures, faces, a blurred, fragmented mandala of visual information... A gray disk, the color of Chiba sky... Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding... And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity. Inner Eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America, and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach.

-William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984

These lines are culled from a science fiction masterpiece in which human existence is intertwined with virtual worlds and existence, computer images generating a secondary but no less real plane of reality. However, the roots of human virtual experience go much farther back, and are not solely the domain of silicon systems. The founding and exploration of virtual worlds is something people have been fascinated by since the dawn of language and storytelling, and the vibrant VR systems which are showcased today, held up as the best and brightest of human technology, actually have much in common with older, universally experienced and much more down to earth forms of education and entertainment.

Virtual reality does not only mean headsets, data gloves and intricate computer programs to fool the human senses. Virtual reality and virtual experience are anything that presents a realm different from the everyday world that the viewer, for a time and in a certain scope, can accept as real. These realities can be grouped along lines such as textual vs. visual, passive vs. (inter)active, and many other less obvious divisions.

Historically, theatrical drama and the novel is the first popular, portable form of virtual reality experience designed for entertainment and education and made widely available. Such extended literary works provide a reality distanced from what the reader can physically experience by history, geography, or imagination. Decorated with visual imagery, populated with characters, and given narrative dynamic by plot and conflict, literary worlds can be the most realistic virtual experience--the world can become personal because the reader must create the mental images themselves.

Novels are a textual, passive VR experience; the world is conveyed through written language, and the reader passively "experiences" the events. Nonetheless, they have historical pull on all types of virtual experience--the basis for most types of immersionary experience is storytelling.

Movies are arguably the best-developed and best-known form of virtual experience. A fantasy world and an act of escapism, cinematic narrative uses complex system of continuity and analytical editing to provide complete immersion in the VR world; the viewer is presented with plot, mis-en-scene, and stars as denizens of this virtual world. Cinema can even seem more realistic than the everyday world--manipulating time and space to provide a seamless and perpetually active panorama for the viewer.

Movies are a visual, passive VR experience. They are VR because they provide immersion in a powerful virtual world, in a way which is common to nearly everyone in a technological culture--nearly everyone has gasped and felt their their throat go dry at a slasher or horror film, or cried while watching a romance or war film...

Interestingly, cinema has also demonstrated that the immersionary quality of virtual experience is subjective and dependent upon the viewer's culture and prior experience with the media. The disorientation a US movie viewer often experiences while watching a foreign film (even if the movie is made in English) results mainly from something as simple editing conventions--shots not framed by Hollywood standards, dialogue cuts not standardized shot/reverse shot, continuity and eyeline matches not present. Similarly, a viewer who spends their entire cinematic life watching Young German Cinema of the 1960's would feel a similar sense of disorientation watching contemporary Hollywood fare, all because of minute and often imperceptible production decisions.

MUDs, MUSHes, and MOOs are all online, interactive virtual forums where users communicate in real time through typed and attributed text, speaking through virtual characters of their own creation and description and living in complex virtual worlds limited only by physical disk space on an intangible server and the imagination of the citizens. They are used for entertainment and games, social interaction, and even professional conferencing. Traditional senses of persona & ego do not apply here--a person's concept of themselves or your perception of them (their "description") can change at a character's whim. In a very real sense, subjects create and define their own existence. In a world this personal and interactive, true feeling and emotion become a part of the experience--a user can laugh or cry at the keyboard, be excited or bored, feel loved, sympathetic or spurned. It is an experience that cannot really be described or understood until you've thrown yourself into it.

Home video games on personal computers and dedicated game systems represent a turning point in the development of virtual reality--they are the first experience that many consumers and families unfamiliar with computer technology have with computer VR in any sense. These types of systems, while they may not seem like virtual worlds, actually can provide a very intense (while self-conscious) immersion--man a letter to parenting magazines deplores the addictive qualities of video games and possible psychological ramifications on the young. Sega, Nintendo, Atari and the like are actually paving the way for VR systems to be accepted into our culture, familiarizing consumers with technology and firmly establishing computer generated virtual experience as a form of entertainment. Whether or not this unquestioning assimilation of VR experience into contemporary culture is warranted, however, is a question worthy of debate.

The height of VR computer gaming technology at this time is the First-Person Perspective game, a format that presents the screen image as the protagonist's line of vision, and the player in a sense is the involved character. The viewer controls movement and action, which usually consists of a variation on the "run through a maze and find bigger guns while shooting anything that moves" theme. These games are a richly visual and auditory, interactive form of virtual reality, although the plot is almost always linear--the viewer is simply finding a way through a predetermined path, not actually controlling the outcome of the scenario in any way.

The immersionary aspect of these games is among the most intense available in any form of virtual reality. A well-written and crafted game playing experience can result in psychologically and physiologically real experiences of panic, anxiety, accomplishment and relief, and if the authors bother to construct an equally textured plot to accompany the action, real character empathy and interaction take place as well.
 
 

VR Virtues and Vices

 She drifts into the gray room. As she waves her hands over the walls, they change to a bright yellow. Sticking her hand through the wall, she pulls open a large picture window and the afternoon sun now streams into the rapidly changing room. A few more gestures of her hand and a door appears across from the window, a couch and chairs fall into place in a neat semi circle, and a hanging light sprouts from the ceiling.

"Now the finishing touches," she says to herself. "Some plants over by the window, a fish lamp in the corner, and some paintings on the wall." With her words, the objects appear. She brings her client into the newly created room and as the client walks around the room, picking up the objects, sitting in the chairs, and looking out the window, his smile signals his approval. Finished with the showing, they both remove their head-mounted-displays and sensor gloves and they are back in the architect's office, having left it only in their perceptions.

This image of the future is the newest hype of the present: virtual reality. The technology to implement this type of mental space travel exists now or will in the next few years. Its uses include architectural design, product design, entertainment, surgical simulation, flight simulation, education, and cyber sex. And some people predict that virtual reality may completely change the world as much as the first telegraphs or even the first languages, by allowing people to be mentally in any reality, actual or completely imaginary, without having to move one inch physically. They argue that by allowing you to be anyone (or anything) with anyone, anywhere, new undreamed of forms of communication and understanding will be opened up. Virtual reality can be considered socially acceptable electronic LSD.
 

 Basic ideas and equipment

Since virtual reality is such a big fad in the world of technology of course every one wants to use to describe everything from a Viewmaster 3D viewer to simple video games just so that they can get on the latest bandwagon. The true definition of virtual reality is still under a lot of debate, but the simplest explanation is that it is any media where you are completely immersed in the data, where you feel that you have actually been transported to another world, not just looking at one on a screen.

To achieve this most systems involve a helmet that contains two little television screens or liquid crystal displays as in protable TV's. A computer controls that image that is produced on these screens, and since the image presented to each eye is slightly different, the image appears three dimensional as with 3D movies. The computer tracks where in the room your head is and which way it's pointing, so that as you move your head around, the computer recalculates the image canceling any movement you've made. This makes the virtual world appear stationary as you walk through, just as the real world does. In other words, if you swing your head to the left, the entire computer image is rotated to the right to give you the feeling of looking around a virtual room.

Usually the view of the external world is blocked off, so the reality you enter is completely composed of the computer generated images, but some people are trying to create helmets that mix a view of the external world in with the computer images, allowing virtual objects to be interspersed with real objects. These are called see-thru or half-silvered displays.

Some people like to make a distinction between immersive and non-immersive virtual reality. Immersive virtual reality would be where the user feels totally enclosed in the environment as with the head mounted display described above. Non_immersive virtual reality would be where you are still looking at an image on a television screen in front of you of a model of a building or some other object. The display may still be three dimensional, but it does not surround the user by 360 degrees. This distinction was made so that companies that made normal non-immersive three dimensional modeling programs on a flat computer screen could call their programs "virtual reality" since it is such a hyped technology. It is easier to just consider virtual reality as the immersive version. Otherwise it is too general a term, applying to computer aided modeling programs among other myriad programs.

To make interaction with the virtual objects around the user as intuitive as possible a glove is usually used as input. The glove has sensors on it that allows the computer to tell the position of the entire hand and each of its joints. With this data, the computer can create a virtual copy of the user's hand floating in front of them in the displays. Sometimes full body suits lined with sensors can be worn, so that the entire body can be used for interactions, but these are prohibitively expensive right now and very bulky, making entry and exit painful.

Once the hand is part of the virtual image, the user can then just play with objects as they do in the real world, picking them up, turning them around, throwing them etc. This is supposedly easier than using a keyboard or joystick for input as with conventional computers, but the vast differences in people's hand sizes and motions make it difficult for the computer to always interpret correctly what the user is attempting to do.

Some of the more advanced systems include 3D or binaural sound which make the user feel immersed in a three dimensional sound environment just as the computer images make the visual environment immersive. With stereo sound, there are just two signals, one for each ear, and certain sounds are louder in different ears, making those sounds seem to come more from one side. Stereo sounds still seem to come from inside the head, just closer to one ear or the other. The sounds are not externalized. With binaural sound on the other hand, the sound is externalized.

To do this, a computer is given the position of the two ears and the position of certain sound sources. It then computes the different sounds that would arrive at the two ears given their direction, intensity, etc. A large part of our ability to discern the direction of sounds has to do with the pinnae, the external parts of our ears that we can see. The pinnae change the quality of the sound depending on its direction relative to the ear, and the computer simulations add this factor into the equations when determining the sound arriving at the ears. The final calculated sound is then played into the ears through normal headphones, but the sounds seem to exist in the outside world, adding another element of realism to the outside world.

Some very expensive systems incorporate force feedback so that when the user grabs a virtual object, their hand is stopped and they can feel the texture of the object. This is often done with bulky motors that are slow to respond. This is one of the big problems with current virtual reality systems: you hand just seems to go right through everything you touch, so to accomplish anything with your hand, you have to be looking at it at the same time, since you can't just feel your way.

Other senses have been largely ignored. There are only one or two devices that can produce tactile senses such as heat and cold. There are no odor simulators or gustatory output devices currently in existence, probably because most virtual reality investigators feel that taste and smell are primitive senses and they aren't really necessary to accomplish most tasks. But since these senses are so primitive, there are often most effective at bringing a flood of emotions with a single scent or flavor. Taste and smell seem most directly linked to memory of all the senses. A single whiff of a flower can bring back an entire scene of a childhood house or a certain food can make us remember every detail of a great restaurant, so perhaps these senses should be looked into more to add a more emotional side to virtual reality. But what scientists want their million-dollar piece of high-tech gadgetry compared to a scratch and sniff?

What is most important with all of these various pieces of hardware to read from and send signals to the body is to produce a sense of reality. As long as the user is convinced that they have actually been transported to another place, the concept of virtual reality is successful. Often the study of perception is brought in to measure this. If we can measure how accurate a certain sound or image has to be so that the user can't tell the difference between the simulated stimulus and a real stimulus we have succeeded in fooling that sense. Once a certain amount of accuracy has been achieved in a stimulus, we know we can stop working on that and apply our time to a different sense that has been ignored.

But none of the stimuli are good enough yet to be considered a solved problem. Most common virtual reality displays have so a low image quality that the user is effectively legally blind in the virtual world. Sound is often ignored and force feedback is only taking its first steps. It will be a long time before we could wake up inside a virtual reality and not be able to tell that it wasn't reality. That doesn't mean that virtual reality isn't useful right now. Television is not convincing enough to fool us into thinking it is real, but it still can convey a lot of ideas that a drawing cannot. Analogously, virtual reality is one more step convincing than television or movies or records or any conventional technology.

As virtual reality becomes a more mature technology, we will have more and more sensors and output devices strapped on to our body: gloves, helmets, headphones, force feedback suits, etc. Soon, the user will be so covered in apparatus the will look like some suffocating robot. They will be so encumbered by the equipment that they won't be able to move to accomplish anything. To alleviate this problem, eventually the computer will plug right into the user's sensory system; there will be a direct neural connection. Instead of produce images for the eyes to see, the computer will produce the same nerve signals on the optic nerve that those images would have elicited. There needn't be any mechanical sounds produced. The aural nerve will be sent electrical signals instead.

Entering a virtual reality will involve sticking a big plug into the back of your head. This is a scary image to many people, but then again, so is a ten-year old transfixed in front of a television for five hours at a time. At least virtual reality involves interaction, thought, movement, and action. It is an active media rather than a passive media. 

Just as the military experiences hypothetical battles with virtual reality, architects and their clients can use it to take tours of unbuilt buildings. Instead of designing a building on a flat blueprint, and architect can take a more direct approach and design a building from inside a virtual reality. As described in the opening paragraph,

The architect can construct a building as a sculptor, manually creating the different rooms and placing them where they please. They could even scale themselves up to the size of a giant to design the large-scale features of a skyscraper, shrink themselves down to two feet tall to get a baby's-eye-view of a house, or fly thousands of feet up in the air to get a feeling for a building's place in its environments. And this can all be done with the flick of the wrist.

Once the architect is happy with a design, the client can experience the house just as they would the finished product, walking down the hallways, opening cabinets, moving furniture around. Even better than looking at a real house, they can change the time of day or even the season in a few seconds to get a year round feel for the house. The client could also rearrange the order of the rooms if they weren't happy with them.

In large-scale consumer product design, immersive virtual reality is already being used. Several car companies have systems where a car can be completely designed and prototyped on computer. Then prospective customers can take the car for a test drive even if the car doesn't physically exist. They can then give feedback to the designers about the feel of the dashboard and the responsiveness of the car. Car manufacturers could save millions on car redesigns this way. Many companies, such as Mercedes-Benz, already use simulators that bounce the car around just as if it were on the road. These simulations will improve until you'll be able to get your driver's license without ever having driven a real car.

Virtual reality may also help surgeons get their licenses. How can a doctor learn to do open heart surgery when the first couple of attempts may be fatal to the patient? One way is to operate on cadavers, but they lack a lot of the real qualities of a living human, like blood flow or respiration. Therefore many doctors are excited about surgical simulation where student surgeons could learn how to perform new procedures on an electronic model of the human body. The computer running the simulation would contain a detailed model of workings of the human body: how skin reacts when it's cut, how blood flows and clots, how drugs spread throughout the body. The body model that the student surgeon operates using a head mounted display and gloves would react almost exactly like a living human would. If they slip and cut the wrong way, they can backtrack and try again without having to waste a cadaver, or a living person. Just as flight simulators thrown in exploding engines and other such emergencies, the surgery trainer could also add problems that might crop up during certain surgeries, such as blood clots and allergy to anesthetics. This would prepare the future surgeon much better than working on predictable cadavers.

But experienced doctors as well as students to design and try out new surgical procedures could use the surgical simulators. A doctor may ask what might happen if a certain ligament is cut and moved, or how blood pressure may change if an artery is bypassed. If a specific patient's body could be scanned-in in enough detail, the surgeon could try out an operation on that patient's model before the actual operation is done. Problems might show up that could then be planned for.

It will be a while before we understand the workings of the human body well enough to make detail models of how it will respond to every possible surgical procedure, but already certain areas of the body are being modeled with good results. There are models of the leg and arm muscles that can predict changes in strength and in a person's walk if certain muscles are cut and moved. There is also a skin model that shows how sutured incisions will heal after reconstructive or plastic surgery. These more mechanical systems are easier to understand right now than the more chemical systems of the blood and hormones. Those models may take decades to be accurate.

If virtual reality becomes cheap enough, it may be used to teach high school students as well as surgeons. But this is a big if. One of the big blocks to use this high technology for education is the price. However a bigger problem seems to be training teachers how to use it. Right now, although many schools could afford video and computer equipment, they do not use it because teachers are not properly trained in how to incorporate these technologies into their curriculum. Many teachers seem most comfortable sticking to using a chalkboard and books to do their job. So the price of virtual reality will eventually come down to the level that small schools can afford. That is inevitable, but the bigger question is whether or not there will be a bigger emphasis made on using high technology in high school.

If the jump to high technology were made, there would be many uses and benefits to education. For one, virtual reality would be able to hold the supposedly waning attention of today's students. We all remember how in high school we were all ecstatic when the teacher told us we would be watching a movie or a video that day instead of having a lecture. Virtual reality would have this draw and it would also be more beneficial than just watching a video because virtual reality is not passive. It involves being active and interacting with the surroundings, just as you walk around and pick up objects in your real surroundings.

What traditional museums cannot do and what interactive computers can, is restore the cultural context to a work of art--refer to literature, music, historical events, even politics. In its simplest form, interactive audio/visual tapes provide fingertip access to megabytes of contextual information as visitors physically tour the galleries. More sophisticated interactive computers, CD-ROMs, the Web offer everything from straightforward encyclopedic systems to detailed multiple pathways exploring hundreds of specific topics in depth.
The future, however, is young and experimentation is very much a part of today's interactive digitized art scene. Some works are scholarly--the Whitney's CD-ROM on Edward Hopper for one; some virtual--The Guggenheim Museum Soho's installation of five separate virtual reality "worlds," including artist Jenny HOLZER's first virtual artwork, featuring" a cavernous world in which souls alternately flee from and engage the viewer." Some works are engagingly informative--The Minneapolis Institute of Art's gallery-based interactive multimedia programs, for example. "We try to contextualized objects for people," says SAYRE.
CD-ROM and Virtual Reality experiences lend themselves nicely to the task. The collective goal, then, is to seamlessly integrate these micro-chipped inter-activities with more traditional museum experiences.
One of the most sophisticated interactive museum experiences can be had in the recently opened Micro Gallery at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Modeled after a system installed at National Gallery, London in 1991, the American version exploits a four-year technological growth spurt.
The short story is: visitors who opt to interact with any one of 13 computers in the Micro Gallery can navigate a labyrinth of electronic pathways to access detailed information about a sweep of subjects. A touch-screen accessing system, innovative animation and graphics, high resolution images, 24-bit digitized color and elaborate zoom capabilities combine to educate users in vastly entertaining ways "My big emphasis is on content," says Micro Gallery Curator Vickie POTER. "Trying to use the technology as a tool. That's what this is to me, a teaching tool."
Chris RIDING, artist and theorist, is not so sure. Writing of his Micro Gallery experience in London in his critical essay "Drowning by Micro Gallery," Riding worries that "the key to the seduction of the Micro Gallery lies in navigating the information and not in the information itself."

Awareness requires a rupture with the world we take for granted; then the old categories of experience are called into question and revised.

Shoshana Zuboff

The design of such intimate technology is an aesthetic issue as much as an engineering one. We must recognize this if we are to understand and choose what we become as a result of what we have made.

---Myron Krueger

The potential of virtual reality technology to free us from the constraints of time and space appeals to a human longing for transcendence. We want to experience other circumstances without any real threat of danger. We want to be gods, to be able to change shape and form at will. Virtual reality assures us that we can---that we can reach the sun without melting our wings.

One of the oldest forms of virtual reality---a rhetorical device originating in Greece of the fourth century called the "Art of Memory" enriches our understanding of "the relationship between artificial reality, history and fiction."

Immersion in narrative space from another perspective... Her "theater without actors" engages the audience in environments that are based on flow rather than on cinematic cuts. Dove discusses her extensive work in this arena, concluding with a description of her collaborative virtual reality installation, The Archeology of a Mother Tongue, created at the Banff Center for the Arts with Canadian playwright Michael Mackenzie. "As artists working in the theater . . . we do not believe in goggles." Nai Wai Hsu and his theater group, Wan Shi, based in Taiwan, have exemplified this stance in their recent theater pieces incorporating virtual reality. In these plays, based on ancient Chinese myths about the universal themes of love, betrayal, death and rebirth, "the performers and audience can 'interact' with the setting or can even change the entire environment."

Marianne Petit describes her multisensory piece, The Mutant Gene and Tainted Kool Aid Sideshow, and her role as the audience's shamanic guide through altered realities where "boundaries between environmental and psychological states are disrupted" and "issues of normality" are explored in a Janus-faced, hallucinatory experience of revelry and dirges.

Dan O'Sullivan with his depiction of his interactive piece, Mirror Play, produced for Apple Computer, as well as three interactive works seen on cable television in New York City: Dan's Apartment, Being There with the Melons, and The Electronic Neighborhood. His description of "facilitating the imagination to create virtual worlds from very sparse sensory props (rather) than fooling it by blanketing the nervous system" is the back-to-the-future approach that all of us interested in the transcendent possibilities of virtual reality should keep in mind.

A VR Artists are engaged in making previously solid boundaries permeable. They are interested in creating spaces and spectacles in which the participant is transported, in the sublime sense of the word. The "consensual hallucination" involved evokes the "exuberant portals" and "glittering palaces" of the fantastical worlds of another turn-of-the-century phenomenon, the "Age of Fairs" in Europe and the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s

The quests of the artists parallel the aesthetic and metaphysical journeys of many before them. In expanding multimedia's accepted definitions of choice, response, interaction, navigation and immersion, these modern alchemists continue to herald the power of the imagination to construct experience.

Cyberspace is a globally networked, computer sustained, computer generated, multi-dimensional, artificial, or virtual reality. In this world, onto which every computer screen is a window, actual, geographical distance is irrelevant. Objects seen or heard are neither physical, nor, necessarily, representations of physical objects, but are rather - in form, character, and action - made up of data, of pure information. This information is derived in part from the operations of the natural, physical world, but is derived primarily from the immense traffic of symbolic information, images, sounds, and people, that constitute human enterprise in science, art, business, and culture.

Michael Benedikt,
Collected Cyberspace Abstracts,
1990

We foresee that computing environments in the next decade will be very widely distributed, ubiquitous, open-ended, and ever changing. All the computers in the world will be mutually connected. New services will be added from time to time, while old services will be replaced. New computers will be connected, and the network topology and capacity will be changing almost continually. Users will demand the same interface to the environment regardless of login sites. Users will move with computers and will move even while using them. Users will also demand much better user interfaces, so that they will be able to communicate with computers as if they are communicating with humans.

Mario Tokoro,
Toward Computing
Systems for the 2000's,
1991

Welding together these various tacks contributes significantly toward the framing of a 'matrix,' a 'computer-sustained, computer-generated, multi-dimensional, artificial, or virtual reality,' that is 'widely distributed, ubiquitous, open-ended, and ever changing.' They also suggest three essential areas of recent cultural and technical development:

 

1. The formation of a cyber culture, which includes individuals who prefer to inhabit the domain of distributed digital media - electronic bulletin boards, databases, and multi-user simulation environments, including virtual reality. These inhabitants more or less live in such domains; the majority of their time is occupied within them. There they can alter their identities, their manner of social interaction, and their relationship with society. They become virtual beings in a virtual place. By living in such domains, a society becomes established, and a morality may emerge. What kind of morality will this be? Will it be governed? By whom and for what? This line of questioning becomes even more involving when one considers distributed virtual reality as a three dimensional environment, that may contain private spaces or residences, which contain personal objects and possessions.

2. The emulation of the physical world, and private spaces may have doors, closets, and windows that look out onto multi-dimensional vistas. Toolkits allow for the transformation of the world, and extensions of it are comprised of a never-ending field of pure data. The field of data can include all walks of commerce and produce worlds that do not fit our present descriptors. Some experiences will be familiar, like going shopping, or going to a concert. Other things will be unusual, like going to an ancient place or another planet.

3. The pervasiveness of the data field is everywhere, and people move about with computer devices. Interfaces become intuitive. Guides or agents co-inhabit the domains. Agents acquire knowledge, become familiar, and grow old with us.

While this could read as science fiction, extensive research is already being conducted in networked or distributed virtual reality. It currently constitutes a very small industry, but one with great potential for growth.

Contrary to the imputations of technophilic rhetorics, it is clear that the real time interactive digital image processing known as Virtual Reality represents a realization of an aspiration deeply embedded in western culture. Jaron Lanier once remarked that Virtual Reality was the 'culmination of culture'. This is true, not in the sense that it is perfect, or that it is the digital gesamptkunstwerk, but that it can be seen as the product of a succession of western philosophical and cultural enterprises. This essay asks: how is VR continuous with historical aspects of western culture? I intend to sketch some of the significant landmarks along two related historical trajectories, of pictorial representation and the perspective illusion; and of theatrical spectacles and immersive simulations. These trajectories are themselves underpinned by a consistent train of philosophical ideas, which include Christian religious thought, renaissance humanism, Enlightenment rationalism and the condition of consumer culture. A central motivation for this essay is to emphasize that technologies do not simply happen, they are products of specific social and cultural histories. Technologies embody philosophical ideas. Here I have attempted to assemble some critical approaches to reveal the ideas reified in the technology we call VR.

RENAISSANCE HUMANISM

The developers of VR have, perhaps unwittingly, inherited a humanistic worldview (an attitude to life and a way of making pictures) that places the eye of the viewer in a position of command, a privileged viewpoint on the world. As such it is integrally connected with the rise of the notion of the individual. Asian imagery offers us alternative ways of looking or of picture construction, medieval European imagery offers another. Television offers third, with its multiple viewpoints and rapid cuts that dissolve the body.
What if VR had developed along principles other than renaissance humanism? Could we feel we could inhabit it at all? How much is any so called VR dependant upon culturally acquired knowledge in order to be decipherable? Western perspective, or any system of pictorial representation, is in no sense innate, but a learned (often arduously) convention. But this is much more than a drawing technique. Inscribed into the conventions of renaissance perspective is a system of values that place the viewer at the single authoritative location. The power of the gaze. Virtual Reality has taken the limited technology of renaissance perspective (limited because it only works for a 10-15 degree angle of view) and has wrapped it right around the (powerful) viewer.
A recent article on Indian dance relates: "The sense of space was wholly different...no long runs or soaring leaps or efforts to transform the stage into a boundless arena, a kind of metaphysical everywhere, but content within the realm of the body, comfortable with dimension and gravity, all ease, all centered." The author described the attitude of the dance teacher to the body "...no sense of elevation or extension... body self contained ...inwardness, inwardness ...In Hinduism" said the teacher "there is no beyond." This is an understanding of the relationship between the body and space antithetical to that inherent in VR. The corporeal sense of touch requires immediate physical contact with its object, not so the eye. VR arms the eye, it allows the eye a hand of its own, propelled (appears to be propelled) by the gaze itself. The primacy of the visual: action at a distance, the authoritative viewpoint of renaissance pictorial space. The entire body is propelled by scopic desire.
VR, as currently formulated, is a direct continuation of the tradition of illusionistic pictorial representation that was already in evidence in Pompeii. It was rediscovered in the renaissance along with classical optics. These two became integral ideas in the formulation of the renaissance humanistic worldview, a view upon which our contemporary culture still depends. In the following centuries this illusionism became technologized, first through the use of optical drafting devices and through the development of photography, both mono- and stereoscopic. This drive toward 'complete' or 'immersive' illusionism gained a time dimension with the development of cinema.
Parallel with this technologising of illlusionism is the long tradition of grand theatrical spectacles and of world's fairs, amusement piers and theme parks: these present another continuity of increasingly sophisticated simulation. This desire for the spectacular, the simulated, runs deep in western culture, and has always been carried as far as the available technology would allow. The following loose string of historical examples will serve as viewpoints from which VR may be considered.
Grand theatrical spectacles were regular occurrences through the renaissance and the baroque. In 1548 the Queen of Hungary welcomed Phillip II of Spain with a grand two-day event spectacle that began as a dance tournament. During the dance, 'savages' attacked and carried off a number of the women when repelled. The next day 'knights' attacked the castle in which the 'savages' had barricaded themselves. During the battle that ensued, Phillip was served a banquet by nymphs and naiads, in the middle of the raging battle. The king sat safely at the center of the immersive spectacle.
Baroque ceiling painting must properly be included in this history of technologies of simulation. The vertigo inducing draftsmanship constructs for the viewer the sense of 'peering up into heaven; the pictorial illusion dissolving the physical architecture. This historical utilization of advanced simulation technologies by the church to present a persuasive representation of realities other than those we experience day to day is a clear example of the long interest of the church in Virtual Reality.
The latter part of the nineteenth century saw an extraordinary explosion is invention in technologies we might call proto-cinematic. It was not until 1838 that the British scientist Wheatstone built the first stereographic image projection system. The first multiple user stereographic projection system was exhibited in Lyons on 1890. Along with the well-known time-lapse photography of Marey and Muybridge, Edisons' kinetoscope and the cinematograph of the Lumiere brothers; numerous more or less bizarre optical/mechanical theatres were constructed.
Daguerre's Diorama was one such mechanized theatre, in which the audience was propelled on a revolving viewing platform, past enormous scene paintings which were painstakingly painted with differing degrees of transparency, such that by controlling lighting from the front and the back, the illusion of the transition from daylight to dusk to night, could be effected. After a faltering career as a hack realist and theatrical scene painter, Daguerre found great success in this invention, the revenue from which funded his photographic experiments, for which he is better known today.
The World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 sported several of these optical mechanical theatres. The Mareorama simulated a sea voyage from Nice to Constantinople via Venice. During the simulation, two screens, 40ft high and 2500 ft long were to be unrolled while the viewers stood on a pitching ships deck. The inventor of this system was yet another minor realist painter, Hugo d'Alesi, who spent a year on board ship painting the sections of the screens. A contemporary newspaper report trumpets: "Few visitors to the Exhibition will be able to resist the temptation ... to make an inexpensive voyage which involves no hazards whatsoever, yet is so natural.... even on the high seas, amid raging elements, one can get out and tread on terra firma at any moment."

A simulated Trans- Siberian Railway was another mechanical theatre that utilized a complex system of moving backdrops at the Exhibition. The railway was placed strategically nearby the Russian and Chinese pavilions and was built by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. There is recognizable here a certain historical continuity in the utilization of high tech for corporate PR. The EPCOT scheme is not significantly different.
About the same time, the scholarly Marquis de Selby seems to have been engaged in experiments into a more truly 'virtual' tourism:
"During his stay in England, he happened at one time to be living in Bath and found it necessary to go from there to Folkestone on pressing business. His method for doing this was far from conventional. Instead of going to the railway station and enquiring about trains, he shut himself up in a room in his lodgings with a supply of picture postcards of the areas which would be traversed on such a journey, together with an elaborate arrangement of clocks and barometric instruments and a device for regulating the gaslight in conformity with the changing light of the outside day. What happened in the room or how precisely the clocks and other machines were manipulated will never be known. It seems that he emerged after a lapse of seven hours convinced that he was in Folkestone and possibly that he had evolved a formula for travelers which would be extremely distasteful to railway and shipping companies."

TECHNOLOGICAL UTOPIANISM

The technophilic rhetoric characteristic of VR, like other aspects of VR is not new. Utopian techno-hype seems to have been an aspect of technological PR since the beginning of the industrial revolution, as is evidenced by this piece of C19th doggerel:

Lay down your rails, ye nations near and far--
Yoke your full trains to Steam's triumphal car.
Link town to town; unite with iron bands
the long estranged and oft embattled lands.
Peace, mild-eyed seraph--Knowledge, light divine,
Shall send their messengers by every line...
Blessings on Science, and her handmaid Steam!
They make Utopia only half a dream.

The infiltration of the machine into western culture has induced the formation of an oppositional rhetoric, utopian and dystopian. The dystopian side is characterized by a panic at once psychological and pragmatic: the fear of redundancy, both as labor and as mind. On the Utopian side, Theodore Roszak notes the "salvational longings ... entwine themselves around new technology" and give rise to artistic pinnacles such as these. This verse encapsulates the Enlightenment calculus: Peace, Knowledge, Science and Technology the sum to Utopia.
Thomas Edison imagined that his phonograph would find its niche as acoustic 'happy snaps', a way of preserving the voices of beloved relatives after they died. He had no conception of the uses that corporate capitalism would put his invention to: i.e. the music commodity industry. Bazin makes similar observations regarding the cinema: " Those who had the least confidence in the future of the cinema were precisely the two industrialists Edison and Lumiere. Edison was satisfied with just his kinetoscope and if Lumiere judiciously refused to sell his patent to Melies it was undoubtedly because he hoped to make a large profit for himself, but only as a plaything of which the public would soon tire. Brecht eulogized over the emancipatory potential of radio. Television, contrary to the idealistic rhetoric of the early years, evolved not into an ideal democratic information network, but into a fantastic way to sell commodities and inculcate values. VR has inherited the liberationist, democratic rhetoric that has surrounded these previous waves of new technologies. Sadly, in these cases, the rhetoric stands as a bleak counterpoint to institutionalized application of these technologies, which tend to result in a greater degree of domination, manipulation and control. We must recognize that the current condition of utopian euphoria for VR represents a stage in the familiar history of the development of technologies in a laissez faire capitalist economic context. The utopian rhetoric, no matter how heartfelt by the inventor community, is ultimately very useful PR for the corporate merchants.
It is common knowledge that tobacco and junk food corporations pay substantial amounts of money to have their product appear on Hollywood movies. Back in the '70's Richard Serra noted that in order to receive the delivered television broadcasts, the consumer pays $40 for every dollar invested by the networks. In the face of this, only a fool would wallow in the illusion that Virtual Reality will be any different. One can imagine possible Disneyland-style consumeristic virtual worlds with interactive and quasi-intelligent cans of Coke and cuddly giant hot-dogs with sexy giggles. A virtual supermarket where the products lean out at you from the shelves imploring you to buy them, explaining how you will be happier, healthier, sexier, wealthier...
In terms of corporate economics, VR serves the computer industry very well. It is intuitive (no learning curve, no consumer resistance) and calls for unlimited computer power. It thus fulfills the industry's need for Technological Desire: the transference of libidinal desire onto fetish objects which offer the promise of ecstasy but never finally consummate, driving the consumer to the next purchase the next purchase in a continual process of delayed gratification.

CONSUMER CULTURE

As early as 1967, Guy Debord observed that in modern societies: "... all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into representation. He quotes Feuerbach: "But certainly for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence...illusion only is sacred, truth profane. Nay, sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness."

VR will slip frictionlessly into our culture because our culture has prepared us for it. I have suggested that every significant media technological development since the renaissance has been employed to create theatres of simulation. This idea was shared by Andre Bazin, who noted mid-century that: " The guiding myth...inspiring the invention of cinema, is the accomplishment of that which dominated in a more or less vague fashion all the techniques of mechanical reproduction of reality in the nineteenth century, from photography to the phonograph, namely an integral realism, a recreation of the world in its own image, an image unburdened by the freedom of interpretation of the artist or the irreversibility of time."
This readiness for VR has been produced by such phenomena as Disneyland, Hollywood, Liposuction and Nintendo. Conceptually vacuous theme parks, anesthetizing cinema, interactive games that perpetuate the myth of the individual and the cult of violence-as-liberty. And perhaps most significantly, the acceptance that the body may be customized at will like some kind of hotrod. US culture now customizes its bodies the way it used to customize its cars. The body is a representation only, an external appearance, and may be adjusted to suit the taste of the owner. The absolute malleability of the Virtual Body is different only in degree. The attitude to the surgical customizing of the flesh, "body sculpting" and the designing of the Virtual Body both assume and reinforce the Cartesian duality by restating the body as pure representation. Thus VR is an easy step because the body is already a representation. I understand that during early April 1992, daytime TV host Jeraldo Rivera had liposuction live on TV in front of a studio audience. Gobs of yellow fat were sucked from his buttocks and injected into his lips and around his eyes.
How real is VR? The cultural underpinnings already in place induce a general acceptance that VR does adequately represent 'reality'. TV and cars have done it. To a culture that thinks you can "experience" the countryside from inside an air-conditioned car traveling at 60mph: very real. VR is as real as a picture of a toothache. A reality in which you can walk through walls with impunity, a reality that has no odor or temperature isn't very real. And construction of more and more complex and expensive interfaces is beside the point.
There is a paradoxical aspect to increased verisimilitude of simulation: as the representation becomes increasingly complex, the gap yawns: the greater precision only more clearly defines the ways and degrees in which the representation will not stand for the reality. This is all rather reminiscent of Arthur Dent's tea dilemma: "After a fairly shaky start to the day, Arthur's mind was beginning to reassemble itself from the shell-shocked fragments the previous day had left him with. He had found the Nutri-matic machine that had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea.

MIND/BODY SPLIT

One of the claims made of VR is that it constitutes liberation from the mind-body duality. It is argued that VR achieves this by sidestepping the process of translation into, and out of, symbolic representation. This is called post-symbolic communication by William Bricken and others. This claim is, in my view, questionable. My sense is that it reinforces the Cartesian duality, replacing the body with a body image, a creation of mind. As such it is a clear continuation of the rationalist dream of disembodied mind, part of the long western tradition of denial of the body.
Lanier argues, "The way you talk to your body doesn't use symbols". Fair enough, but what is then suggested to be a logical corollary doesn't follow: "you can make a cup that someone else can pick up...without ever having to use a picture or the word 'cup'...you create the experiential object 'cup' rather than the symbolic object". But a cup in VR is a representation it is a stereographic image. You can't drink out of it.
There is clearly a paradigm shift in the VR experience, but it does not replace the symbolic with the 'real' (in the sense of experiential), rather it nests one within the other, or superimposes them, so that the object is simultaneously a representation and an experiential phenomenon. VR is a communications technology that on the one hand directly interfaces with the body, the kinesthetic, bypassing 'language'. But on the other hand, any VR is itself a giant (albeit interactive) representation, and thus just as subject to critical analysis as any other representation.

Now it is fair to say that the possibility of handing a co-participant in a shared VR a virtual object in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid is a more directly communicative gesture that to offer a written algebraic equation that must be decoded by the mind of the receiver. The Virtual form is doubly useful as the object is itself a visual representation of precisely that data encapsulated in the equation, and this mathematical information remains available. A plaster cast of the same form does not offer this fluid access to information. In fact William Bricken maintains that all the operations of symbolic logic can be performed in VR without recourse to symbolic languages, that logic is equivalent to inference in visual programming. Set theory, number theory, and algebra can all be represented as objects in space that is non-symbolic and totally math-rigorous! Binary logic can be represented as open and shut doors, knot theory as fish swimming upstream over dams. "All computation is algebraic pattern matching and substitution (proven)" What is required is a new critique, a way of thinking about the meeting point between the immediate physiological reality of the body as lived in, and the critique of representation.

DOUBLE BODY

Although some military and industrial simulator systems utilize force-feedback or hydraulic motion simulation, the available 'civilian' systems synthesize only the visual and auditory sense inputs. But we live in our bodies, and a large portion of our sense of 'being in the world' is derived from our internal body senses, the sense of balance and the kinesthetic or proprioceptive sense in particular; not to mention the body surface senses that relate temperature, texture etc. A fully simulated 'body' experience would need to simulate all theses senses, but this is way beyond the range of current technologies. Thus Virtual Reality technology splits the body in two. The visual and auditory simulation presents a representation of a body to the eyes and ears, while the 'meat body' remains in the chair.
VR replaces the body with two partial bodies: the corporeal body and an (incomplete) electronic 'body image'. In terms of the rhetoric there is no question which is in the ascendant. This is a kind of sensory apartheid. A confirmation, rather than a liberation from, Cartesian dualism. The body representation of VR is, in this sense, a culmination of western culture. When we go into VR we enter a realm of pure mental abstraction, populated with 'ideals' Plato would recognize. Going into VR is like going to Christian heaven, we finally leave the troublesome, messy body behind. All that remains of the body is the powerful gaze, the gaze that travels and conquers without physical limitation, the authoritative viewpoint of renaissance perspective finally freed to act.

Virtual environments (VEs) are a broad multidisciplinary research area that includes all aspects of computer science, virtual reality, virtual worlds, teleoperation and telepresence. A variety of network elements are required to scale up virtual environments to arbitrarily large sizes, simultaneously connecting thousands of interacting players and all kinds of information objects. Four key communications components for virtual environments are found within the Internet Protocol (IP) suite: lightweight messages, network pointers, heavyweight objects and real-time streams. Software and hardware shortfalls and successes for internetworked virtual environments provide specific research conclusions and recommendations. Since large-scale networked are intended to include all possible types of content and interaction, they are expected to enable new classes of interdisciplinary research and sophisticated applications that are particularly suitable for implementation using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML).

Overview

Virtual environments (VEs) and virtual reality applications are characterized by human operators interacting with dynamic world models of realistic sophistication and complexity. Current research in large-scale virtual environments can link hundreds of people and artificial agents with interactive three-dimensional (3D) graphics, massive terrain databases, global hypermedia and scientific datasets. Related work on teleoperation of robots and devices in remote or hazardous locations further extends the capabilities of human-machine interaction in synthetic computer-generated environments. VE construction can include concepts and components from nearly any subject area. The variety of desired connections between people, artificial entities and information can be summarized by the slogan "connecting everyone to everything." The scope of virtual environment development is so broad that it can be seen as an inclusive superset of all other global information infrastructure applications. As diversity and detail of virtual environments increase without bound, network requirements become the primary bottleneck.

The most noticeable characteristic of virtual environments is interactive 3D graphics, which are ordinarily concerned with coordinating a handful of input devices while placing realistic renderings at fast frame rates on a single screen. Networking permits connecting virtual worlds with realistic distributed models and diverse inputs/outputs on a truly global scale. Graphics and virtual world designers interested in large-scale interactions can now consider the worldwide Internet as a direct extension of their computer. A variety of networking techniques can be combined with traditional interactive 3D graphics to collectively provide almost unlimited connectivity. In particular, the following services are essential for virtual world communications: reliable point-to-point communications, interaction protocols such as the IEEE standard Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol, World-Wide Web (WWW) connectivity, and multicast communications.

Existing Infrastructure Technologies

Layered models. The integration of networks with large-scale virtual environments occurs by invoking underlying network functions from within applications shows how the seven layers of the well-known Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) standard network model generally correspond to the effective layers of the Internet Protocol (IP) standard.

Process/Application Layer. Applications invoke TCP/IP services, sending and receiving messages or streams with other hosts. Delivery can be intermittent or continuous.

Transport Layer. Provides host-host packetized communication between applications, using either reliable delivery connection-oriented TCP or unreliable delivery connectionless UDP. Exchanges packets end-end with other hosts.

Internet/Network Layer. Encapsulates packets with an IP datagram that contains routing information, receives or ignores incoming datagrams as appropriate from other hosts. Checks datagram validity, handles network error and control messages.

Data Link/Physical Layer. Includes physical media signaling and lowest level hardware functions, exchanges network-specific data frames with other devices. Includes capability to screen multicast packets by port number at the hardware level.

These diagrams and definitions are merely an overview but help illustrate the logical relationship and relative expense of different network interactions. In general, network operations consume proportionately more processor cycles at the higher layers. Minimizing this computational burden is important for minimizing latency and maintaining virtual world responsiveness.

Methods chosen for transfer of information must use either reliable connection-oriented Transport Control Protocol (TCP) or nonguaranteed delivery connectionless User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Each of these complementary protocols is part of the Transport layer. One of the two protocols is used as appropriate for the criticality, timeliness and cost of imposing reliable delivery on the particular stream being distributed. Understanding the precise characteristics of TCP, UDP and other protocols helps the virtual world designer understand the strengths and weaknesses of each network tool employed. Since internetworking considerations impact all components in a large virtual environment, additional study of network protocols and applications is highly recommended for virtual world designers.

Internet Protocol (IP). Although the variety of protocols associated with internetworking are very diverse, there are some unifying concepts. Foremost is "IP on everything" or the principle that every protocol coexists compatibly within the Internet Protocol suite. The global reach and collective momentum of IP-related protocols makes their use essential and also makes incompatible exceptions relatively uninteresting. IP and IP Next Generation (IPng) protocols include a variety of electrical, radio frequency and optical physical media.

Examination of protocol layers helps clarify current network issues. The lowest layers are reasonably stable with a huge installed base of Ethernet and FDDI systems, augmented by the rapid development of wireless and broadband ISDN solutions (such as ATM). Compatibility with the Internet Protocol (IP) suite is assumed. The middle transport-related layers are a busy research and development area. Addition of real-time reliability, quality of service and other capabilities can all be made to work. Middle-layer transport considerations are being resolved by a variety of working protocols and the competition of intellectual market forces. From the perspective of the year 2000, lower and middle layer problems are essentially solved.

Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS). The DIS protocol is an IEEE standard for logical communication among entities in distributed simulations. Although initial development was driven by the needs of military users, the protocol formally specifies the communication of physical interactions by any type of physical entity and is adaptable for general use. Information is exchanged via protocol data units (PDUs) that are defined for a large number of interaction types.

The principal PDU type is the Entity State PDU. This PDU encapsulates the position and posture of a given entity at a given time, along with linear and angular velocities and accelerations. Special components of an entity (such as the orientation of moving parts) can also be included in the PDU as articulated parameters. A full set of identifying characteristics uniquely specifies the originating entity. A variety of dead reckoning algorithms permit computationally efficient projection of entity posture by listening hosts. Dozens of additional PDU types are defined for simulation management, sensor or weapon interaction, signals, radio communications, collision detection and logistics support.

Of particular interest to virtual world designers is an open format Message PDU. Message PDUs enable user-defined extensions to the DIS standard. Such flexibility coupled with the efficiency of Internet-wide multicast delivery permits extension of the object-oriented message-passing paradigm to a distributed system of essentially unlimited scale. It is reasonable to expect that free-format DIS Message PDUs might also provide remote distributed connectivity resembling that of tuples to any information site on the Internet, further extended by use of network pointer mechanisms that already exist for the World-Wide Web. This is a promising area for future work.

World-Wide Web. The World-Wide Web (WWW or Web) project has been defined as a "wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents". Fundamentally the Web combines a name space consisting of any information store available on the Internet with a broad set of retrieval clients and servers, all of which can be connected by easily defined Hypertext Markup Language (.html) hypermedia links. Humans or autonomous entities can conveniently utilize this globally accessible combination of media, client programs, servers and hyperlinks. The Web has fundamentally shifted the nature of information storage, access and retrieval. Current Web capabilities are easily used despite rapid growth and change. Directions for future research related to the Web are discussed in. Nevertheless, despite tremendous variety and originality, current Web-based interactions are essentially client-server: a user can push on a Web resource and get a response, but there are no standardized mechanisms for a Web application to independently push back at the user.

Multicast. IP multicasting is the transmission of IP datagrams to an unlimited number of multicast-capable hosts that are connected by multicast-capable routers. Multicast groups are specified by unique IP Class D addresses, which are identified by 11102 in the high-order bits and correspond to Internet addresses 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255. Hosts choose to join or leave multicast groups and subsequently inform routers of their membership status. Of great significance is the fact that individual hosts can control which multicast groups they monitor by reconfiguring their network interface hardware at the data link layer. Since datagrams from unsubscribed groups are ignored at the hardware interface, host computers can solely monitor and process packets from groups of interest, remaining unburdened by other network traffic.

Multicasting has existed for several years on local-area networks such as Ethernet and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). However, with Internet Protocol multicast addressing at the network layer, group communication can be established across the Internet. Since multicast streams are typically connectionless UDP datagrams, there is no guaranteed delivery and lost packets stay lost. This best-effort unreliable delivery behavior is actually desirable when streams are high bandwidth and frequently recurring, in order to minimize network congestion and packet collisions. Example multicast streams include video, graphics, audio and DIS. The ability of a single multicast packet to connect with every host on a local-area network is good since it minimizes the overall bandwidth needed for large-scale communication. Note however that the same multicast packet is ordinarily prevented from crossing network boundaries such as routers. If a multicast stream that can touch every workstation were able to jump from network to network without restriction, topological loops might cause the entire Internet to become saturated by such streams. Routing controls are necessary to prevent such a disaster, and are provided by the recommended multicast standard and other experimental standards. Collectively the resulting internetwork of communicating multicast networks is called the Multicast Backbone (MBone).

Improved real-time delivery schemes are also being evaluated using the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) that is eventually expected to work independently of TCP and UDP. Other real-time protocols are also under development. The end result available today is that even with a time-critical application such as an audio tool, participants normally perceive conversations as if they are in ordinary real time. This behavior is possible because there is actually a small buffering delay to synchronize and resequence the arriving voice packets. Research efforts on real-time protocols and numerous related issues are ongoing, since every bottleneck conquered results in a new bottleneck revealed.

The MBone community must manage the MBone topology and the scheduling of multicast sessions to minimize congestion. Currently over 1800 subnets are connected worldwide, with a corresponding host count equivalent to the size of Internet in 1990. Topology changes for new nodes are added by consensus: a new site announces itself to the MBone mail list, and the nearest potential providers decide who can establish the most logical connection path to minimize regional Internet loading. Scheduling MBone events is handled similarly. Special programs are announced in advance on an electronic mail list and a forms-fed schedule home page. Advance announcements usually prevent overloaded scheduling of Internet-wide events and alert potential participants. Cooperation is key. Newcomers are often surprised to learn that no single person or authority is "in charge" of either topology changes or event scheduling.

Software Infrastructure Needs

The "grand challenges" of computing today are not large static gridded simulations such as computational fluid dynamics or finite element modeling. Similarly traditional supercomputers are not the most powerful or significant platforms. Adding hardware and dollars to incrementally improve existing expensive computer designs is a well-understood exercise. What is more challenging and potentially more rewarding is the interconnection of all computers in ways that support global interaction of people and processes. In this respect, the Internet is the ultimate supercomputer, the Web is the ultimate database, and any networked equipment in the world is a potential input/output device. Large-scale virtual environments attempt to simultaneously connect many of these computing resources in order to recreate the functionality of the real world in meaningful ways. Network software is the key to solving VE grand challenges.

Four key communication methods. Large-scale virtual world internetworking is possible through the application of appropriate network protocols. Both bandwidth and latency must be carefully considered. Distribution of virtual world components using point-to-point sockets can be used for tight coupling and real-time response of physics-based models. The DIS protocol enables efficient live interaction between multiple entities in multiple virtual worlds. The coordinated use of hypermedia servers and embedded Web browsers allows virtual worlds global input/output access to pertinent archived images, papers, datasets, software, sound clips, text or any other computer-storable media. Multicast protocols permit moderately large real-time bandwidths to be efficiently shared by an unconstrained number of hosts. Applications developed for multicast permit open distribution of graphics, video, audio, DIS and other streams worldwide in real time. Together these example components provide the functionality of lightweight messages, network pointers, heavyweight objects and real-time streams. Integrating these network tools in virtual worlds produces realistic, interactive and interconnected 3D graphics that can be simultaneously available anywhere.

Application layer interactivity. It is application layer networking that needs the greatest attention in preparing for the information infrastructure of the near future. DIS combined with multicast transport provides solutions for many application-to-application communications requirements. Nevertheless DIS is insufficiently broad and not adaptable enough to meet general virtual environment requirements. To date, most of the money spent on networked virtual environments has been by, for and about the military. Most remaining work has been in (poorly) networked games. Neither is reality. There is a real danger that specialized high-end military applications and chaotic low-end game hacks will dominate entity interaction models. Such a situation might well prevent networked virtual environments from enjoying the sustainable and compatible exponential growth needed to keep pace with other cornerstones of the information infrastructure.

Lightweight Interactions. Messages composed of state, event and control information as used in DIS Entity State PDUs. Implemented using multicast. Complete message semantics is included in a single packet encapsulation without fragmentation. Lightweight interactions are received completely or not at all.

Network Pointers. Lightweight network resource references, multicast to receiving groups. Can be cached so that repeated queries are answered by group members instead of servers. Pointers do not contain a complete object as lightweight interactions do, instead containing only a reference to an object.

Heavyweight Objects. Large data objects requiring reliable connection-oriented transmission. Typically provided as a WWW query response to a network pointer request.

Real-time Streams. Live video, audio, DIS, 3D graphics images or other continuous stream traffic that requires real-time delivery, sequencing and synchronization. Implemented using multicast channels.

Next-generation DIS. A successor to DIS is needed which is simpler, open, extensible and dynamically modifiable. DIS has proven capabilities in dealing with position and posture dead reckoning updates, physically based modeling, hostile entity interactions and variable latency over wide-area networks. DIS also has several difficulties: awkward extendibility, requiring nontrivial computations to decipher bit patterns, and being a very "big" standard. DIS protocol development continues through a large and active standards community. However the urgent military requirements driving the DIS standard remain narrower than general virtual environment networking requirements.

A common theme which runs through all network protocol development is that realistic testing and evaluation are essential, because initial performance of distributed applications never matches expectations or theory. A next-generation DIS research project ought to develop a "dial-a-protocol" capability, permitting dynamic modifications to the DIS specification to be transmitted to all hosts during an exercise. Such a dynamically adjustable protocol is a necessity for interactively testing and evaluating both global and local efficiency of distributed entity interactions.

Other interaction models. Many other techniques for entity interaction are being investigated, although not always in relation to virtual environments. Intelligent agent interactions are an active area of research being driven by artificial intelligence and user interface communities. Rule-based agents typically communicate via a message-passing paradigm that is a natural extension of object-oriented programming methods. Common Gateway Interface (cgi) scripts function similarly, usually using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) query extensions as inputs. Ongoing research by the Linda project uses "tuples" as the communications unit for logical entity interaction, with particular emphasis on scaling up. MUDs (multi-user dungeons) and MOOs (MUDs Object-Oriented) provide a powerful server architecture and text-based interaction paradigm that is well suited to support a variety of virtual environment scenarios. Passing scripts and interpretable source code over the network for automatic client use has been widely demonstrated for the multiplatform Tool Control Language (Tcl). Recently the Java language has provoked interest over the possibility of simple and secure passing of precompiled program object files for multiplatform execution.

Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The Web is being extended to three spatial dimensions thanks to VRML, a specification based on the Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) OpenInventor scene description language. Key contributions of the VRML 1.0 standard are a core set of object-oriented graphics constructs augmented by hypermedia links, all suitable for scene generation by browsers on PCs, Macintoshes and Unix workstations. The current interaction model for VRML browsers is client-server, similar to most other Web browsers. Specification development has been effectively coordinated by mail list, enabling consensus by a large, active and open membership.

Discussion on incorporating interaction, coordination and entity behaviors into VRML 2.0 has been very active. A great number of issues are involved. In order to scale to arbitrarily large sizes, peer-to-peer interactions will be necessary in addition to client-server query-response. Although behaviors are not yet formally specified, the following possible view of behaviors extends the syntax of existing "engine" functionality in OpenInventor. Two key points in this representation follow. First, engine outputs only operate on the virtual scene graph, so behaviors do not have any explicit control over the host machine (unlike CGI scripts). Second, behaviors are engine drivers, while engines are scene graph interfaces. This means that a wide variety of behavior mechanisms might stimulate engine inputs, including OpenInventor sensors and calculators, scripted actions, message passing, command line parameters or DIS. Thus it appears that forthcoming VRML behaviors might simultaneously provide simplicity, security, scalability, generality and open extensions. Terminology will change as consensus is reached but it appears that most or all proposed behavior mechanisms can compatibly share this common level of functionality. Finally, as the demanding bandwidth and latency requirements of virtual environments begin to be exercised by VRML, the client-server design assumptions of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) will no longer be valid. Users will not be satisfied with network mechanisms that fail to accommodate high-bandwidth information streams or break down after a few hundred players. A Virtual Reality Transfer Protocol (vrtp) will be needed to take advantage of available transport layer functionality and overcome bottlenecks in http. Experimentation and quantitative evaluation will be essential to better understand how to practically deal with the new dynamic requirements of diverse inter entity virtual environment communications.

Vertical interoperability. A striking trend in public domain and commercial software tools for DIS, MBone and the Web is that they can seamlessly operate on a variety of software architectures. The hardware side of vertical interoperability for virtual environments is simple: access to IP/Internet and the ability to render real-time 3D graphics. The software side is that information content and even applications can be found that run equivalently under PC, Macintosh and a wide variety of Unix architectures. One important goal for any virtual environment is that human users, artificial entities, information streams and content sources can interoperate over a range which includes highest performance machines to least common denominator machines. Here are some success metrics for vertical interoperability: "Will it run on my supercomputer?" Yes. "Will it run on my Unix workstation?" Yes. "Will it also run on my Macintosh or PC?" Yes. This approach has been shown to be a practical (and even preferable) software requirement. Vertical interoperability is typically supported by open nonproprietary specifications developed by standardization groups such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Hardware Infrastructure Needs

Research testbed. The National Research Council report on Virtual Reality made few recommendations for funding virtual environment hardware research due to active commercial development in most critical technologies. However the report also has a notable hardware-related recommendation regarding networks:

"RECOMMENDATION: The committee recommends that the federal government provide funding for a program (to be conducted with industry and academia in collaboration) aimed at developing network standards that support the requirements for implementing distributed VEs on a large scale. Furthermore, we recommend funding of an open VE network that can be used by researchers, at a reasonable cost, to experiment with various VE network software developments and applications."

The cost of high-speed network connections has precluded most academic institutions from conducting basic research in high-performance network applications. Those sites with high-performance connections are rarely free from the reliability requirements of day-to-day network operations. A national Virtual Environment Network Testbed for academia and industry is proposed as a feasible collaboration mechanism. If rapid progress is expected in the near future, it is clearly necessary to decouple experimental network research from campus electronic mail and other essential services. The International Wide-Area Year (I-WAY) project is a proposed experimental national network that is applications-driven and ATM-based. It will connect a number of high-performance computing centers and supercomputers together. I-WAY may well serve as a first step in the direction of a national testbed, but additional efforts will be needed to connect institutions with lesser research budgets. Finally it must be noted that design progress and market competition are bringing the startup costs of high-speed local-area networks (e.g. FDDI, ATM) within reach of institutional budgets. At most schools, it is the off-campus links to the Internet that need upgrading and funding for sustained use. Numerous commercial efforts are targeting low-bandwidth dialup connections so scarce research community dollars are not needed in that arena.

Other problems. In order to achieve broad vertical integration, it is recommended that proprietary and vendor-specific hardware be avoided. Videoteleconferencing (VTC) systems are an example of a market fragmented by competing proprietary specifications. Broad interoperability and Internet compatibility are essential. Closed solutions are dead ends. In the area of new network services such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), some disturbing trends are commonplace. Supposedly standardized protocol implementations often do not work as advertised, particularly when run between hardware from different vendors. Effective throughput is often far less than maximum bit rate. Latency performance is highly touted and rarely tested. Working applications are difficult to find. Network operating costs are often hidden or ignored. Application developers are advised to plan and budget for lengthy delays and costly troubleshooting when working with these new services.

Applications

Working applications will drive progress, not theories and not hype. In this section we present feasible applications that are exciting possibilities or existing works in progress. Many new projects are possible and likely to occur in the near future if virtual environment requirements are adequately supported in the information infrastructure. Several conjectured scenarios follow.

Sports: live 3D stadium with instrumented players. Imagine that all of the ballplayers in a sports stadium wear a small device that senses location (through the Global Positioning System or local electrical field sensing) and transmits DIS packets over a wireless network. Similar sensors are embedded in gloves, balls, bats and even shoes. A computer server in the stadium feeds telemetry inputs into a physically based articulated human model that extrapolates individual body and limb motions. The server also maintains a scene database for the stadium complete with textured images of the edifice, current weather and representative pictures of fans in the stands. Meanwhile, Internet users have browsers that can navigate and view the stadium from any perspective. Users can also tune to multicast channels providing updated player positions and postures along with live audio and video. Statistics, background information and multimedia home pages are available for each player. Online fan clubs and electronic mail lists let fans trade opinions and even send messages to the players. Thus any number of remote fans might supplement traditional television coverage with a live interactive computer-generated view. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this scenario is that all component software and hardware technologies exist today.

Military: 100,000-player problem. "Exploiting Reality with Multicast Groups" describes ground- breaking research on increasing the number of active entities within a virtual environment by several orders of magnitude. Multicast addressing and the DIS protocol are used to logically partition network traffic according to spatial, temporal and functionally related entity classes. "Exploiting Reality" further explains virtual environment network concepts and includes experimental results. This work has fundamentally changed the distributed simulation community, showing that very large numbers of live and simulated networked players in real-world exercises are feasible.

Science: virtual worlds as experimental laboratories for robots and people. In separate work, we have shown how an underwater virtual world can comprehensively model all salient functional characteristics of the real world for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in real time. This virtual world is designed from the perspective of the robot, enabling realistic AUV evaluation and testing in the laboratory. Real-time 3D computer graphics are our window into that virtual world. Visualization of robot interactions within a virtual world permits sophisticated analyses of robot performance that are otherwise unavailable. Sonar visualization permits researchers to accurately "look over the robot's shoulder" or even "see through the robot's eyes" to intuitively understand sensor-environment interactions. Theoretical derivation of six-degree-of-freedom hydrodynamics equations has provided a general physics-based model capable of replicating highly nonlinear (yet experimentally verifiable) response in real time. Distribution of underwater virtual world components enables scalability and rapid response. Networking allows remote access, demonstrated via MBone audio and video collaboration with researchers at distant locations. Integrating the World-Wide Web allows rapid access to resources distributed across the Internet. Ongoing work consists primarily of scaling up the types of interactions, datasets and live streams that can be coordinated within the virtual world.

Interaction: Multiple CAVEs using ATM and VRML. A CAVE is a type of walk-in synthetic environment that replaces the four walls of a room with rear-projection screens, all driven by real-time 3D computer graphics. These devices can accommodate 10-15 people comfortably and render high-resolution 3D stereo graphics at 15 Hz update rates. The principal costs of a CAVE are in high-performance graphics hardware. We wish to demonstrate affordable linked CAVEs for remote group interaction. The basic idea is to send graphics streams from a master CAVE through a high-speed low-latency ATM link to a less expensive slave CAVE that contains only rear-projection screens. Automatic generation of VRML scene graphs and simultaneous replication of state information over standard multicast links will permit both CAVEs and networked computers to interactively view results generated in real time by a supercomputer. Our initial application domain is a gridded virtual environment model of the oceanographic and biological characteristics of Chesapeake Bay. To better incorporate networked sensors and agents into this virtual world, we are also investigating extensions to IP using underwater acoustics. As a final component, we are helping establish an ambitious regional education and research network that connects scientists, students from kindergartens through universities, libraries and the general public. Vertically integrated Web and MBone applications and a common theme of live-networked environmental science are expected to provide many possible virtual world connections

Projections

If one considers the evolving nature of the global information infrastructure, it is clear that there is no shortage of basic information. Quite the opposite is true. Merely by reading the New York Times daily, any individual can have more information about the world than was available to any world leader throughout most of human history! Multiply that single information stream by the millions of other information sources becoming openly available on the Internet, and it is clear that the Internet does not lack content. Mountains of content have become accessible. What is needed now is context, a way to interactively locate, retrieve and display the related pieces of information and knowledge that a user needs in a timely manner. Context further permits selectively culling large volumes of information that can otherwise overwhelm any person or process.

Within two lifetimes we have seen several paradigm shifts in the ways that people record and exchange information. Handwriting gave way to typing, and then typing to word processing. It was only a short while afterwards that preparing text with graphic images was easily accessible, enabling individuals to perform desktop publishing. Currently people can use 3D real-time interactive graphics simulations and dynamic "documents" with multimedia hooks to record and communicate information. Furthermore such documents can be directly distributed on demand to anyone connected to the Internet. In virtual environments a further paradigm shift becoming possible. The long-term potential of virtual environments is to serve as an archive and interaction medium, combining massive and dissimilar data sets and data streams of every conceivable type. Virtual environments will then enable comprehensive and consistent interaction by humans, robots and software agents within those massive data sets, data streams and models that recreate reality. Virtual environments can provide meaningful context to the mountains of content that currently exist in isolation without roads, links or order.

What about scaling up? Fortunately there already exists a model for these growing mountains of information content: the real world. Virtual worlds can address the context issue by providing information links similar to those that exist in our understanding of the real world. When our virtual constructs cumulatively approach realistic levels of depth and sophistication, our understanding of the real world will deepen correspondingly. In support of this goal, we have shown how the structure and scope of virtual environment relationships can be dynamically extended using feasible network communications methods. This efficient distribution of information will let any remote user or entity in a virtual environment participate and interact in increasingly meaningful ways.

Open access to any type of live or archived information resource is becoming available for everyday use by individuals, programs, collaborative groups and even robots. Virtual environments are a natural way to provide order and context to these massive amounts of information. Worldwide collaboration works, both for people and machines. Finally, the network is more than a computer, and even more than your computer. The Internet becomes our computer as we learn how to share resources, collaborate and interact on a global scale.

Conclusions

• Virtual environments (VEs) are an all-inclusive superset of the exponentially growing global information infrastructure.
• Any workable VE solution must address scaling up to arbitrarily large sizes.
• Lower and middle network layer problems are basically solved.
• Four key communications components are used in virtual environments:
  • Light-weight entity interactions (e.g. DIS PDUs)
  • Network pointers (e.g. URLs), usually passed within a light-weight entity interaction that includes identifying context
  • Heavy-weight objects (e.g. terrain databases or large textured scene graphs) which require reliable connections for accurate retrieval
  • Real-time streams (e.g. audio and video), usually via MBone
• The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) will take the Web into 3D and make powerful applications available across platforms that were previously restricted to expensive graphics workstations.

Recommendations

• It is the upper network application layers relating to entity interactions that most need active research work.
• An international Virtual Environment Network Testbed is needed to enable research schools to cheaply connect and test high-bandwidth experimental services without jeopardizing production networks.
• Behaviors for VRML will allow 3D graphics objects to be driven by
  • Internal algorithms (e.g. OpenInventor sensors)
  • Scripted actions (embedded or live via network streams)
  • Message passing (by user or agent, e.g. MUDs/MOOs)
  • Open extension mechanism (e.g. http attributes)
  • DIS (or superior) entity interaction protocol
• Virtual Reality Transport Protocol (vrtp) will soon be needed
  • Bandwidth, latency and efficiency requirements will change relative to the design assumptions of current http servers
  • Light-weight objects, heavy-weight objects, multicast real-time streams
  • Small sets of servers will combine to serve very large client/peer base
• Compelling applications will drive progress, not protocols. Some examples:
  • Sports: live 3D stadium with instrumented players, user chooses view
  • Military: 100,000 player problem
  • Science: virtual worlds as experimental laboratories for robots, people
  • Interaction: affordable linked CAVEs for remote group interaction

I.                 Awe Video Scripting Terms

 

Script - This business document functions as the script for this project. This document is part of the concept and implementation field of this business in the context of a great theater piece with a great many directors and producers and actors. The materials will be delivered as script to the participants.

Awe Video - Awesome, cool, spiritual, vast and great. See Section on the "Name".

Awe VIPcard -Pronounced "Veep" Card, means Video Internet Postcard, a short single purpose video transmission typically 30 seconds or less communicating a specific message. The message could be a greeting wrapped in the experiencing of the tourist-actor in the in the moment of his dream vacation. The message might be we have this great office available for rent. Want to take a quick tour, right now? Or, we have extra plants at our nursery. Please take a look.

Ebook - Integrated Electronic book with embedded hyperlinks, multimedia networking, forms and other content.

IV-Book - Internet video book

VIPClip

Video Postcard

Codec

Marketing Machine

Certification

"Free The People"

Wav File - Sound file used for our automated telemarketing program

Experience Economy - Value-added, work as theater, People want the experience not just the good or service. See Section "Work as Theater".

Storyboard  -

Holomid

The Video VIP Business Opportunity Ebook/CD Package - Turnkey information in a multimedia format on how to create a successful Awe Video business.

 

The Branding - Our brand is the heartbeat of our business.

Affiliate Program

MD..XL.. - Multi-Dimensional Exchange Link

ISP -Internet Service Providers

Ezine - Electronic Magazine

VIN - Video Internet Network

Portal - Entry to The Internet usually with multiple possible of directions of offerings

 

Cookbook - An "A to Z" how-to-do information and support package

A Wee Video, Wee Videos - Little Videos or Short clips

Director - Individual or business that offers VIPcards locally.

Director's Network - Our aggregate group of directors who are offering the Awe Video services locally or are functioning as more extended marketing agents for the project.

"Mpeged" - Pre-compressed formatted for fast Internet video access

Tagged - Identified for server side addressing for the availability of the clip

Viral Meme Marketing - From one to many to multitudes form of delivery of ideas and opportunities that spreads organically and non-linearly

Intermercial - Internet or interactive marketing forum using mixed media and mass media together.

Global Theater - Overarching Cultural Movement, Awe Video is Promoting through the Mass Re-owning of our Own Life and Work as our Own Theater Work. Work is Theater. We will carry this Model through the whole operation of Awe Video.

History and Description

Awe Video was conceived the purpose of initiating a network of on-site local video production distribution outlets. Awe Video can be characterized as an educational source and a clearinghouse for short videos directly forwarded from our servers by email through our director's network. This network of directors will produce and sell the content using our Awe Video portals and through our marketing technologies and methodologies. We are structuring the Awe Video Network to be robust and completely decentralized using a Peer-to-peer structure

Our primary product line, "{A Wee Video, Wee Videos}" will be marketed directly to end users via a network of entrepreneurial directors (referred to as "directors or agents" in the financial statements and agreement documents).

Awe Video is established to market and promote a network of on-location VIP (Video Internet Post) card sales and distribution outlets. Our objective is to propel the company into the prominent "Wee" video market position. We are using the principle model of "one to few"

Our first step in production is to create The Video VIP Business Opportunity IV-book/CD/DVD Package.  This package will be a total turnkey cookbook for success. Included will be special video training clips to be a professional director. We project a minimum sale price of $79.95 per complete package with sales of 20,000 packages over the first 12-month period. This equals a gross income of $1,600,000 with a project profit margin of over 75%. The potential market for sales is in the millions of copies. Test marketing of the packages through classified ads and other marketing outlets can be ready as the E-book is completed. Depending on response we will prepare and launch an infomercial/intermercial marketing campaign.

Our Awe Video Business Opportunity packages selling for $49.95 or more will have a commission per sale paid to re-marketers included. Re-marketers include ezines publishers, other web site owners and local advertisers. Directors will be given a sub domain such as johnsmith.awe-video.com. This is their storage account and for their local marketing. We will be creating a two-stage affiliate program. The first stage is a straightforward down level approach for all referral to the program. The second level is our original MD..XL.., Multi-dimensional Exchange Link structure. This is a cooperative decentralized format.  

We will be supplying the portal for our directors network composed of local agents who want an informationally rich turnkey opportunity without the problems on the processing side of a business coupled with the value of labeling. Our viral marketing strategies include the Directors as our forward agents to push this program and opportunity into the mass consciousness. We will compensate them using a straightforward referral downline. On a $70 sale we can give the affiliate $5 first level $5 second level and $10 third level commissions leaving Awe Video on those sales with a $50 net with close to zero marketing and distribution costs for the sale.

Processing fees for Awe Video VIPcards will be an expected average fee of $0.25 to $.50 per VIPcard sold by our sales director network on a prepaid basis. The other option we are exploring is the subscription model where they pay so much a month to have access to our technology and system and storage and delivery. If sales directors receive an average of $10 per clip this would amount to 2.5% of the income. Reasonable.  A million processed VIPcards creates a gross revenue of $250,000 to $500,000 to us with a projected gross revenue at $10 per clip price of $10,000.000 to the directors giving them another powerful incentive to make this a success for them and for us.

We will offer the option of Awe Video taking the credit cards for an additional % of the total sale.

We will make our service what the Director's Network want to use. Excellence is the key to our long-term success. The more they use us the deeper becomes their loyalty. With our mass-market approach, no director should account for more than a tiny percentage of Awe Video's total sales income.

5 major portals spaces will be opened.

1. .com is the business opportunity module. Focused, no outside links. Take prospective directors deep to the E-Book sale and them as our agents where they are. More serious.
2. .net is the direct consumer VIPcard portal. Contact rich. Low-key advertising, High traffic. Fun and experiencely interesting. Clickthrough Advertising at web site is projected to average $.08 per hit per banner.
3. .org is our service portal, providing a pathway to us through our outreach into the communities. Through this portal we can provide a forum for the sharing of activist ideas and other communications such direct video to policy-makers.
4. .tv infomercial/intermercial marketing campaign.
5. .biz are designated for the commercial users such as boat brokers and real estate agents

Projected gross revenues for Awe Video for first year is expected to top $1,000,000. Monthly growth is projected to average at least 20% per month. We feel that within 1 year Awe Video will be in a suitable position for possible profitable acquisition with a projected minimum sale price of $20,000,000. If we reach all of our goals the business could be worth in the 9 figures.

We will use the latest in promotion technology and marketing methods to reach millions of persons to interest them in this business opportunity awhile making it easy for them to become involved and successful.

Income streams include:

1.     Sale of business opportunity packages.

2.     Banner advertising on the web site

3.     Processing of the VIPcards

4.     Creation of automated marketing and delivery outlets

5.     Businesses using our services for sales, marketing and promotion purposes

6.     Launching our own marketing campaigns

7.     Long term storage of clips

8. The value of branding Awe Video and products
9. Acceptance of Credit Cards for the Directors
10. Use of The Holo'Script modules

Components of The Business

1.     Educational E-Book

a.      Delivery of the VIPClips

b.     Equipment

c.     Specific Video Problem solving

d.     Local Marketing

                                                              i.      All The Forms Needed

                                                            ii.      Specimen Contracts needed

                                                          iii.      Marketing Materials for filling out of forms and then printing out or ordering from Awe Video

e.      Awe Video Marketing Program

f.       Glossary

g.     How The Script and Tell a Story

h.     Lighting

i.        Props

j.        Lens

k.     The 30 second message

2.     Director's Interface

a.      V-Chat (Video Chat)

b.     Simplified interface with Awe Video

3.     Holo'Script - Data Management for The Media Production

4.     Marketing Machine

a.      Telemarketing

b.     Email Campaigns

c.     Press Campaigns

d.     Affiliate Programs including MD..XL

e.      Auto-responders

f.       Chat feedback

g.     Customer Service Department

5.     Peer-to-Peer Network Structure

6. Delivery of The VIPClips

Email is falling out of favor as Internet users return to face-to-face meetings, according to an annual survey. More than 16 million Britons now use the Internet - an increase of nine per cent in the past year - but the number of people who prefer email to any other method of communication has dropped by two thirds in the same period. Paul Kitchen, the author of the Which? Online Internet survey, said: "Internet users are increasingly rejecting both the telephone and email in favor a more personal approach."

IV. Background

For many years people have shared their experience of vacations and travels have via postal service using postcards and through home movies or videos and more recently email.

The "state of the art" of this converging service industry is such that anyone with basic equipment can become a director and marketer of Awe Video. Included also will be automated kiosks and photo booth type outlets. For these outlets we will use a VIPcard system with time encoded into it.

Completing the design and development of our product and experience service line -- a novel and proprietary information distribution system through the Internet is our next step.

Now, Awe Video is at the point where we must integrate the elements of the business model and create the marketing package with our unique look and feel. We have at this time little direct competition. The success of this venture will be through a massive communication thrust for the enlistment of directors as a business opportunity through all possible channels, public relations, press releases, interviews for radio and TV, classified ads, ezines, co-op advertising, emails, "viral marketing", referrals and so on.

The main thing to keep in mind is to find or create a product or service where a MARKET and a DEMAND for it already exists. This reduces risk tremendously ... and there is less effort and money spent. 

We will focus on our core competencies and the kernel of our business.

Customer Service

We will be setting up an operation both localized and decentralized to handle directors or future directors with their questions and concerns. A local service agency charges approximately $1 a minute to handle customer service functions. We can internally handle this for a third of this cost. Additionally, we will explore the option of having an inexpensive 1 900-type number for questions and for training over the phone. 

What Does Awe Video mean?

Awe Video can be understood as a play on words and has multiple connotations.

1.      "Awe" Video - Has the communication of amazing and also spiritual.

2.      "A We" Video - We interactive as in sharing together an experience

3.      "A Wee" Video - Little video short, a video clip that has a beginning, middle and an end or solution.

4.      "Oui" Video - French for "Yes".

5.      "All" Video - That's all we do or we feature ultimately all levels of video

6.      "AU" Video - 1. Au for audio. Multimedia. Sound bite clips with our visual background 2. Chemical and alchemical term for Gold

7.      I do WEAVE - Re-arranging the letter spell this out, weaving us together.

V. What We Need To Do Next?

Funding is our first priority. Awe Video will issue LLC memberships. The membership will have a re-purchase clause for $10 a share by the LLC out of a percentage of gross revenues giving the investor a minimum 1000% return on the redeemed memberships. Our start-up costs to get to market are between $50,000 and $75,000.

Integrated Intellectual Audit

1.     Copyrights

2.     Trademark Names

3.     Service Mark Names

4.     Slogans

5.     Logos

6.     Object Patents

7.     Design Patents

8.     Process Patents

9.     Public Domain

Names to reserve include for the Internet and for trademarking.

Awevideo.com	Awevideo.net	Awevideo.org	awevideo.tv
Awe-video.com	Awe-video.net	Awe-video.org	Awe-video. TV
Awenet.com	Awenet.net	Awe-net.org	Awe-net. TV
Awe-net.com	Awe-net.net	Awe-net.org	Awe-net. TV
Weevideo.com	Weevideo.net	Weevideo.org	Weevideo.tv
Awe-network.com	Awe-network.net	Awe-network.org	Awe-network. TV
Au-video.com	Au-video.net	Au-video.org	Au-video. TV
Vip-card.com	Vip-card.net	Vip-card.org	Vip-card.tv
Weevideo.com	Weevideo.net	Weevideo.org	Weevideo.tv
vipcardibook.com	Vipcardibook.net	Vipcardibook.org	Vipcardibook.tv

These are not all the variations of the name. The cost for the names should no more than $400 a year and the trademarks several thousand dollars more.

First Stage Development Costs

 

Legal               

Incorportion

Trademark

Domain name registerations

Equipment

            Computer

                        Scanner

                        Monitor

                       

            Camera

            Office

                        Chairs, Desks, File

DSL Connedtivity

Space

Software

            Press Release

            E-book Compiler

            E-book Research information

Office Supplies

Mock-up of Web front end

Logo Designs

Serverside design and scripting

Deposit on the server side

Phone Calls for research etc.

Office set-up help

Writing copy for ads

Writing copy for the E-book

VI. Management Team and Staffing

Attracting Committed Top Talent

• Ownership!!!
• Upfront Security
• Creative Supportive Workplace
• Exciting
• Making A Difference
• Intelligent
• Model of Decentralized Empowered Management

Technology and Science and Art are in constant evolutionary upheaval. We must structure our network of locations to accommodate and use these changes to our advantage.

In-house Management

• Marketing and Sales
• Finance
• R&D
• Operations
• Controller

Board of Directors

This will come from qualified members of the LLC.

Staff

Awe Video is projected to employ up to 10 employees by six months from launch. Critical skills required by our business include:

• Bookkeeping
• Computer programming
• Operations management
• Writing
• Sales and Marketing

Outside Team Support

Additionally, our outside advisors will provide support for management strategy, decisions and creativity. These include:

Key alliances and joint ventures are planned with the following types of companies:

1. Video equipment manufacturers
2. Activist groups
3. Companies with already existing networks of outlets
4. Photo booth manufacturers
5. Barter Organizations
6. Publishers
7. Marketers
8. Webmasters
9. ISPs

VII. Product Strategy

Current Product / Service Status

Awe Video our principal product, consists of the on-site local creation of short videos that are compressed, tagged and uploaded to our web site for viewing by interested and/or authorized parties. The URLs of the videos are linked to their site or are emailed forwarded to parties the originator wishes to have see them.

Our business model is based on creating a large base of local directors who offer our product and service line to local parties for their own profit. Awe Video receives a small processing or storage fee for each VIPcard sold. Our server network will be optimized to provide the video at near real time speeds.

Our service includes the streamlining and simplifying of the entire procedure from upload to removal from our server. We are using all reading existing solutions to the various problems in providing this product and service to the public.

A further market would be in third world countries where we would through our Director's Network agencies allow them to offer to the public a means to deliver video messages to other areas of the country of around the world to family members and others. School kids could offer this as a service at the schools. Countries and other geographical areas could offer their communication interests to the world at large.

Conference organizers will offer this service as a bonding and communication tool at the conferences or other similar events.

VIII. Future Product and Service Plans

In response to demonstrated interest our products and services will be expanded to include all types of experience venues, kiosks and all types of businesses.

Holo'Script

The Holo'Script is a comprehensive web-based turnkey data management system for the directors. Our format is extremely simple to use and understand being completely intuitive for the tying together of all factors necessary in producing high quality productions in the most cost effective manner.

Holo'Script will provide a multimedia interactive cascading communication and tracking interface with complete software support. Included also will be a comprehensive and evolving database of information, tricks of the trade, feedback and contacts. We will explore creating pre-formatted projects and the possibility of creating a network of decentralized peer-to-peer script generating teams. We will provide the literary material. They will use our templates break the material into "holographically" organized scenes we can further digest. The scripting teams will share in any royalties the program generates.

The Holo'Script is a design system for the automation of the media production especially for the individual to have the tools. The Holo'Script is a fully integrated system using the script as the organizing document for the entire cycle from concept to scripting to budgeting to videoing to editing and distribution by linking together all areas allowing the information generated in the creative process and decisions to collate into logistic modules.

Benefits for the various production functions

Scripting

Bridge the gap between literary and cinematic forms using logistic modules for the pre-production, production and post-production stages.

Directing

Total flexibility as to organization on the shot and scene level. Assists in the creative decisions seeing how these decisions affect the logistic parameters of production. Can continue to modify creative plans on the set while generating communication as to the changes to all involved parties.

Allows more informed choices using the production of breakdown sheets automatically generated following the preset guidelines provided by production necessities. Allows dynamic tracking of all changes, revisions and decisions in creative and logistical areas.

A rate book assigns a cost to every required item that flows to the budget spreadsheet and invoices and to a graphic financial trend analysis tool. This tool will allow the small director to create a cost generation analysis with the capacity to explore multiple options in relationship to creative input.

The Holo'Script is an information bridge to post-production eliminating redundant activities. The Holo'Script also facilitates complex processes such as digital sound and electronic compositing of special effects.

Provides:

1.     Cast and crew updates

2.     Element updates

3.     Conflict identification

4.     Real-time budget adjustments

5.     Electronic logs linked with a master clock. Invoice summaries for client billing Invoicing document is generated as the results going through the Holo'Script steps.

"Free The People" - As an expansion f the infrastructure we are designing a new certification label, analogous to "The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for consumer items of all sort and types certifying that the items with this label have been produced under sweatshop and slavery-free conditions and as much as possible under co-operative conditions.

It has been estimated that over 500,000,000 persons live in slavery or near-slavery conditions. This is an opportunity for socially conscious companies and individuals to support the liberation of Earth from the bondage of slavery.

Barter Opportunities

Organizations partner

1.     Bartertrust.com

2.     Bigvine.com

3.     Lassobucks.com

4.     Ubarter.com

IX. Production and Delivery

The key factors in our delivery of Awe Video Network include:

1.     We are developing a peer-to-peer model of decentralized storage and delivery of the VIPClips

2.     Firm processing capability

3.     Clear presentation modules

4.     No significant materials and supplies are needed in the delivery of our product and service.

5.     Our current product and service will be produced local locations where they are uploaded to our site and then moved to peer computers for the more rapid and secure delivery to other interested parties for focused distribution.

6.     Because of expected high volume interest our operational facilities will need to expand.

7.     Our biggest advantage is lack of direct competition coupled with our clear marketing and delivery strategy.

8.     Secure Video Delivery Services - This certified that this is non-tampered video information

X. Market Analysis

Projected Marketplace

Our marketplace is completely unlimited. There are millions of potential customers and hundreds of thousands of potential outlets limited only by our imagination and our ability to implement our plans.

1.     Malls

2.     Hotels and motels

3.     Real estate offices

4.     Fairs and carnivals

5.     Weddings

6.     Stores

7.     Activists campaigns

8.     Tourist attractions

9.     Political campaigns

10.            Events

11.            Special sales

12.            Fundraisers

13.            Events promotion

14.            Kiosks and photo booth outlets

15.            New music groups

16.            ISPs

17.            Webmasters

Market Description

The tourist market alone is a trillion dollar a year industry. The market for the delivery of customized and mass market video information amounts to nearly a billion dollars daily.

The overall worldwide market for Awe Video is projected to be over $1.5 billion over a ten-year period.

In the next 10 years our goal is to distribute over 300 million Awe Video, Video VIPcards. The retail market potential for Video VIPcards with a current retail price of $10 per unit is approximately $3 billion! This translates to Awe Video's projected market share of 20% of the market by 2004. Our projected revenues of $0.25 per Video Postcard would amount to $150 million with a projected 50% profit margin.

We intend to reach the disenfranchised, the dissatisfied, those yearning for a change.

XI. Competitive Position

Currently, this specific market is shared by 0 participants, with NO market leader. There are no other companies that compete directly in this market.  

The key factor of newness of this technology for the mass market has resulted in the present competitive advantaged position.

Compared to competitive products such as postcards and videotaping our Awe Video Network will provide a personalization coupled with immediacy and the ability to freely replicate the product through email distribution and still shot printouts. This faculty to provide a product where the consumer is located for an inexpensive cost will make this items a popular item. The additional exceptional business opportunity with extremely low entry to participate makes this an item for nearly instantaneous distribution.

Our strategy for meeting the new competition is to be the first, to aggressively lower prices to process, to give excellent support to the director network and to provide an easy seamless internet experience coupled with a first rate ebook opportunity package.

We will create the demand for local customers by providing good promotional materials, training and strategies to the director agents.

XII. Customer Profile

Awe Video's target market includes many and diverse types of customers. The typical customer is anyone who wants to communication via video and Internet at a distance easily and inexpensively. 
  

A partial list of major end user customers with % of sales
Tourists	20%
Conventions and Conferences	20%
Fundraisers	10%
Business Outlets	20%
Activists and Politicians	10%
Other	20%

XIII. Risk

The top business risks that Awe Video faces as it begins to enter and expand into the global market are:

1.     Capitalization and adequate funding for hyper growth.

2.     Reaching the public in a way that will create a favorable response

3.     Jumping in of competitors that are well positioned and/or well capitalized or many smaller competitors

4.     The business has not been prototyped and tested extensively.

XIV. Marketing Plan

Responses from customers indicate that our product and service will enjoy an excellent reputation and demand and we fully intend to amplify this perception. Relationships with leading companies and directors will substantiate the fitness of Awe Video for considerable growth and accomplishment.

Awe Video's marketing strategy is to aggressively promote and support the marketing of Awe Video's presence through

1.     Unique, attractive and simple features, look and feel

2.     Benefits clearly communicated

3.     Establishing a strong or dominant market position

4. Joint Ventures with all sort of allies

THE POWER OF BRANDING AWE VIDEO

It has been said that if you systematically dismantled the entire operation of Coca-Cola Co. and left them with only their brand name, management could rebuild the company within five years. Remove the brand name, and the enterprise would likewise die within five years.

That's the mark of a brand-first enterprise. More than a framework for marketing and communications efforts, the brand is the emotional source of the organization itself. People are guided and inspired by the company's purpose, expressed in the brand, which generates energy, personality, and order. All of the company's actions -- from advertising and collateral to customer service calls to operations practices to employees' interactions -- express the same message.

The reason: In the brand-first enterprise, everything about the company is derived from an emotional blueprint, a central organizing principle, a compelling essence, the Brand DNA. Virgin calls it Virginity. Disney calls it Magic. Nickelodeon calls it Kid Power. It's the yin that balances the yang of the business plan; the mantra against which every consumer-facing move the organization makes is evaluated.

The challenge of modern business, and the real job for marketing-driven organizations, is the creation of a true brand-first enterprise. To some, this sounds obvious-yet few have achieved it. To others, it sounds simple-yet it requires a degree of self-examination that proves a true test of corporate resolve.

The Age Of The Brand

The creation of the brand-first enterprise is nothing short of essential today, in an age where consumers have increasingly less time and more options; and where every contact with a company represents a brand-defining experience. Either you create a brand-first enterprise, or you are vulnerable to myriad threats stemming from consumers' reactions to an increasing array of lifestyle options pursued "at Internet speed."

Today's consumers are increasingly self-actualized. They have full bellies, warm clothing, reasonable accommodation and a passable mode of transportation. They aren't looking to buy things that simply do something anymore - that was the age of the product. They're looking for things that help them be something, express something, or fill some unmet higher need state - and that is the age of the brand.

People drink coffee in Starbucks partly because on an emotional level it represents the new village green, the third space between work and home that has disappeared in modern culture. They tap away on their iMacs because they fancy themselves lateral thinkers, mavericks, iconoclasts.

Brands aren't so much products to hawk anymore; they're vehicles to an emotional connection people want to make. Success looks like this - either there's chemistry, or there's not. That small, incredibly valuable piece of emotional real estate in these consumers' hearts and minds is the one territory that marketers can meaningfully own.

So let's just forget rational product differentiation. Today's technology creates parity in everything from distribution to the aroma of a product, before the ink on the packaging has dried. Something, though, has to remain fixed as a foundation for organizations that morph constantly to meet changing demands. Something has to serve as the center from which every point of contact that forms a customer experience springs. That something is the brand, which must act as the central organizing principle in this "New Economy."

The Brand-First Test

The first step to brand-first enterprise is knowing your starting point. Are you brand-first? If not, what specific elements can you build into the organization to get there? The following is a simple test that has paid off in powerful brand turnarounds for companies such as Winstar and Motorola.

1.     If you had to give up one and start from scratch, would you give up your brand or the entirety of your business operations? In a brand-first enterprise, the brand is the source of the organization, and all you need to rebuild it.

2.     Does your brand report to one person who has authority over individual functions and final say over all communications and operations decisions that affect the brand? One final authority and a single chain of messaging are critical to achieving a brand-first enterprise.

3.     Ask a random sampling of 25 employees to articulate your brand in five words. If your total list of words is longer than 10, your Brand DNA is not established.

4.     Can you clearly articulate your brand vision without mentioning the advertising? There's no backing into brand generation through advertising.

5.     How do your building, office lobby and business card communicate your brand? These are two of the most visceral, frequent brand impressions your company makes, and they should follow through on a specific purpose.

6.     What do your core loyalists think of your website? If dedicated brand champions don't get an enriching brand experience online, you don't have a brand site.

7.     Name three major on-going societal trends that confirm the need for your brand?

8.     If your brand were a perfume, what would it smell like?

9.     Name five things your brand would/should never ever do. It's impossible to screen all organizational actions against a principle you can't articulate.

Our brand is the heartbeat of our business.

In light of the U.S. economy deceleration that has sent multinationals scrambling for operational streamlining and other cost-cutting measures, brand-first reorientation is a critical need. Rarely have companies cost-cut their way to greatness; they need some solid center from which to expand, predictably and profitably. The place to start? Shift brand thinking from the tunnel vision of advertising and promotion, and move on to how the company operates in its entirety.

MD..XL.. -The Anti-MLM movement

Holomid

XV. Sales Strategy

There is no upper limit as to Awe Video's potential sales volume

1. We will be reaching a Global market
2. Non seasonal
3. No geographical limitations
4. Non economically limited as to the location
5. Not limited as to creative opportunities to promote and distribute
6. Ease of enlisting a virtual army of salespeople and promoters
7. Opportunity for a lot of free publicity

Our sales strategy will address specific market and environmental conditions in the following ways.

1. Press Releases
2. Articles,
3. Sophisticated and state of art internet networking
4. Email
5. Classified advertising
6. Business Opportunity Packaging
7. Ezines
8. 800, Fax and email delivery on information and opportunity to become a director

Tracking of The Advertising and Promotion

Once we've designed the site, integrated the order processing system, etc. and everything is working properly, we then prepare to start advertising (the marketing campaign). No matter how we promote (free or paid sources), the MOST IMPORTANT factor is we make sure we have our tracking systems in place so we know what's going on once the promotions begin and the traffic hits. We are spending valuable time and money on this and we do not want to do any guesswork. We want SCIENTIFIC numbers telling us what's going on, what's happened and what we need to do to increase sales and profits. We want to know which of your ads and promotions are generating the most traffic, and even more importantly, the most sales (what's making you money - plain and simple). These are just a few that come to mind, but without this information you're really just flying blind and wasting your time and money.

In order to maximize our return on our investments (ROI) in advertising, we will carefully monitor: 

1.     Unique visitors generated by each ad or promotion

2.     Number of sales generated by each ad or promotion

3.     Which ads are generating the most traffic and sales

4.     Cost-per-click, cost-per-sale, and clicks-to-sales ratios for each ad or promotion

5.     Return on investment, or ROI, for each ad or promotion

6.     Those are the most important bits of information that we will monitor on a minute-by-minute basis. Aside from ROI, our most valuable stat is the clicks-to-sales ratio because it gives a great indication of the "quality" of traffic that is being generated by each ad or promotion. For example, we run the same ad in 2 different but supposedly "targeted" e-zines. One of the ads is resulting in an average of 1 sale per every 36 visitors, and the other ad is only generating 1 sale out of every 152 visitors. This tells us, which of these e-zines we prefer to advertise in.

7.     We can make just as much money off of our "free" promotion tactics as we do with our paid (maybe more). It's not just about saving money, it's about saving time as well. That's why we will track every and any type of promotion. For example, let's say we have a newsletter or e-zine and in it, you have links for various affiliate programs or articles at your own site that sell something indirectly. You can track to see which TYPE of article or promotion did the best. If an article about e-zine advertising was 3 times more effective at bringing traffic BACK to your site then an article on banner advertising, you will know to spend the majority of your time posting and distributing the e-zine article. 

8. Once we have the tracking system setup, it will only take minutes to analyze the results and know what's working, what isn't and WHY.

Some Services Awe Video will use and make available to the entire network

XVI. Distribution Channels

Awe Video's marketing strategy incorporates plans to sell our Video Products through multiple channels using multiple types of directors. Includes:

1. Public Outlets
2. Conferences
3. Businesses

The determining factors in choosing these channels are the interests and location of the director. Our mix of distribution channels will give the directors and us the advantages of multiple income sources.

XVII. Advertising and Promotion 

Our advertising and promotion strategy is to position Awe Video as the leading provider of local Internet videos.

We will utilize a full array of media and methods using all kinds of creative positioning of the name in the marketplace and to reach our director customer base: During launch phase Awe Video will focus on these publicity strategies:

1. Press Releases
2. Co-op advertising
3. Per inquiry advertising

Over the next year advertising, promotion and publicity will require 30% or more of cash flow.

On an ongoing basis we will budget our advertising, promotion and publicity investment as a % of total sales.

Marketing Campaign Scripting

Simple ad campaigns, not just simple messages. Pick something that works and stick with it. Each time an ad runs, it builds on the time it ran before that. The secret to becoming a household name is simple -- repetition, repetition, repetition.

It is better to advertise with simple messages and have everyone understand you, than to advertise with complex messages and have only 20% of viewers understand you. When considering how we want to phrase our advertising copy, don't tailor the message to what would impress YOU. Tailor the message to what would sell to everyone.

The fact is, most people only read, listen, and watch advertising with a tiny percentage of their brain. When I'm watching TV and it comes time for the advertisements, I usually head to the kitchen for a handful of M & M's -- but I can still hear the TV.

The human brain takes in everything that goes on -- sights, sounds, feelings -- so whether your viewer is consciously paying attention to your message or not, some level of their psyche is taking it in. But whether your message is stored away in the long-term memory depends on the clarity of your ad. I don't remember things I don't understand. No one does. So your advertising will only make a long-term impact if the message is clear. Otherwise, it will be forgotten within minutes. That is why it is important to keep your advertising copy as simple as possible. One of the top two reasons marketing fails is because the ad isn't clear.

Here are some imperative tips to keep in mind when we write and design our ads:

1. No jargon. Many advertisers make the mistake of using their own industry jargon and buzz words when writing their ads. As much sense as they make to themselves, they may not be making a bit of sense to the common consumer. Remember, our advertising isn't just targeted at our fellow video friend. We are talking to administrative assistants, mechanics, artists, hair stylists and teachers. If we want their attention, speak the same language they do.
2. Smaller words, bigger impact. In an effort to look smart, we sometimes try to flex our vocabulary muscles too hard in advertising. But advertising speaks to people the same way you speak to a friend. You want to be on the same level, so don't use five syllable words in your copy. It will only come off as condescending and confusing. After we write something, try speaking it out loud. If you sound like you are reading an excerpt from a literary essay, change it to sound more natural, like your normal style of speech. Remember, as Stephen King advises, "Never say emolument when you mean tip."
3. Don't lose your message in overly complicated copy. Searching for the message in some advertisements can be like separating sand from sugar -- you really have to work to find the good stuff. Only say what you need to say. Keep your message concise. You don't need to tout every magnificent quality of your product or service. Pick one or two of the best features and focus on those.
4. Use phrases that sell. These are familiar phrases that don't make people think hard about the implications. When they hear them, they know exactly what is being said and how to respond. These are just a few of the simple, yet effective phrases that spark a listener's interest in your message. Notice that they are all under five words.

The Power of Headlines

To maximize our sales, then our ad copy must open up with a GREAT headline that declares:

"Here's The **BIG** Benefit You'll Get When You Read What's Below!"

It must GRAB our prospect's attention!

But it shouldn't sound the same as your competitors' ads. On the contrary, it should:

1.     Distinguish us from our competition...

2.     Be specific, not vague....

3.     Be believable

In short, your headline is the "advertisement" for everything that follows. If it doesn't tell your prospects WHY they should keep reading... THEY WON'T!

In other words, many of the prospects who might have bought from you will move on, leaving you with

JUST A FRACTION OF THE RESPONSE WE SHOULD BE GETTING!

According to a well-known study, 5 times as many people read the headline of a typical newspaper ad as the body of that same ad. This is why some copywriters spend as much time perfecting an ad's headline as they spend on the entire body of that ad. By simply improving your headline, you can:

INCREASE OUR RESPONSE BY UP TO 500% According to a well-known study, 5 times as many people read the headline of a typical newspaper ad as the body of that same ad.

A full-page newspaper ad with the headline "2/3 Bank Financing On Silver And Gold" was generating $50,000 in revenue for its advertiser. However, when one of my colleagues re-wrote the headline (leaving the body intact), revenue from this same ad exploded to $250,000! That's a 500% increase! The new headline read:

"If Gold Is Selling For $300 An Ounce, Send Us Just $100 An Ounce, And We'll Send You All The Gold You Want. If Silver Is Selling For $100 An Ounce, Send Us Just $33 An Ounce, And We'll Send You All The Silver You Want."

THE INCREASE WAS ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF THE HEADLINE!

When your headlines and offers are truly compelling, they can open our doors to a WINDFALL of new business. There's no sense in settling for a lower response from our advertising dollars than we should be getting.

XVIII. Operations of Command Central

Facilities Needs

Includes:

• Office Space
• Furniture
• Equipment
• Communications

XIX. Awe Video's Business Agreements

• Non-exclusive Directors Agreement
• Exclusive Directors Agreement
• Agreements for the Directors
• NCND

XX. Financial Plan

• Pro forma (projected) balance sheet
• Cash flow by month for twelve months and proforma and loss statements for the next three years
• Outstanding debt or other agreements
• Management salaries and benefits proposed

XXI. References

XXII. The VIP Business Opportunity I-book/CD Package

Table of Contents

Disclaimers

XXIII. Investor Offer Summary 

Director's Network

Awe Video Director's Production and Training Studio

 

Directors will be able to make a "Wee Video" and share it with the world through the Awe Video Network. We will have a Story Department, a Camera Department and an Editing Room. The Studio will be equipped with a special area for teachers, complete with teaching resources, and a chat room for teacher discussions and support. There will be information about grants, festivals and training seminars.

Director's Email Marketing Campaign

Every emailed forward and vipclip has a link coded with the director's account crediting him or her with a proposed amount of. This is a key component in our viral marketing campaign.

·        $5 first level,

·        $5 second level

·        $10 third level

If each one sends out 1000 forwards and has a 1% sales that make another $100 plus $500 plus $2500

Directors can charge to commercial clients a per forwarded vipclip charge maybe $.25 to $1 each.

Setting up Accounts 

Who to contact

1.      Commercial

2.      Social

3.      Consumer to consumer

How To Contact

1)      Your Demo Clips

2)      Emails

3)      Telemarketing Methods

a)      Our WAV-System

4)      Putting It Out there

a)      Do You Need Courage-Enhancement?

b)      How To Begin Something New

c)      Who Are You?

5)      Freebies

a)      Primping The Pump

b)      Experience Teaches us

c)      Never Can Tell

6)      Making a Deal

a)      Barter Can Be Great

Certification program 

Testing to be certified

1.      A series of question using standard web form testing as to understanding of the business and the basic principles of directing, editing, etc. 

2.      They are issued a code to use with the site to upload.

3.      Allowed to put Certified Director on Promotional material

            Training via The E-book gives them special codes to access the VIPclip Series of Trainings. These are adjuncts to the E-Book Training Modules

                        How To Be A Complete Director

1.      Being A Director

2.      The Environment

3.      The Cast

a.       Instructions for the Actors

b.      Getting the Point across in 30 seconds

4.      Give The Audience Their dream

5.      Support Crew

6.      Creating The Story

7.      Allowing The Spark

8.      What is The Script - The Best Scripts Evolve in The Moment of Production

9.      Handling The Production

10.  Awe Video Distribution - You Keep The Profits

Mastering The Tools

Simple Interfaces to More Complex, You Pick Your Level.

Pre-Designed for Download Java-configured Software and for the Instant Ordering of our rock bottom price system with Awe Video Label. What you need

1.      Camera

2.      Computer

3.      Software

"Your Way"

Interfacing that is OK and not OK

 

TERMS OF COMMISSION AGREEMENT 1. User Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms This AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS User Agreement (this "Agreement") contains all of the terms and conditions ("Terms of Use") between AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS and the individual or organization ("User") using AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS ("or the "service"). In this Agreement, "we" and "us" means AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, and "You" means the User. You and AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS are collectively referred to as the "parties." " AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS Web Site" or "Our Site" means the Web site located at http://www.awevideo.com/net/org/biz/tv/ and or http://. PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE CLICKING THE ACCEPTANCE BUTTON. BY COMPLETING THE REGISTRATION PROCESS AND ACCESSING OR USING AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT AS WELL AS THE OTHER POLICIES OF AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, INCLUDING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS SITE AND THE PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST SELECT THE "I DO NOT ACCEPT" ICON, AND AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS WILL PROMPTLY CANCEL YOUR REGISTRATION. CONTINUED ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT ARE A CONDITION OF YOUR USE OF AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. USING AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS AFFIRMS YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS AGREEMENT AND ALL OF ITS TERMS. YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THIS SITE, OR ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, CONTENT, OR OTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THIS SITE, IS TO STOP USING AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. Terms of Service 1.DOING BUSINESS a. It is understood that by joining The Awe Video Director Network Club, (also known as "The Club", or "Awe Video") you are in no way being employed, or to be considered an employee - and can not represent self as being so.  b. All commissions generated through the member promotional activities are considered to be derived on a Contractual basis and that said member is considered to be a contractor and shall be paid as so. c. All DIRECTORS who earn in excess of $600 per year will have to supply a tax number or id for IRS regulations. DIRECTORS are solely responsibly for all taxes that may become owed due to profits derived from this venture. 2. QUALIFIED CLUB DIRECTOR DEFINED The term Qualified DIRECTOR, constitutes ANY member that has completed the sign up process.  A non-qualified member or sign-up is any person who does not complete all the steps of the sign-up process. Purchase of the Awe Video E-Book required in this process. We also recommend the successful taking of the test for certification. All materials used in connection by the Director must have completed the test successfully. DIRECTORS are paid on ALL new DIRECTORS who successfully complete this process (see exceptions below) through 3 levels of a simple downline with a cap of $5,000 paid.  Details of this pay-plan can be found directly on this site. 3. PAYMENT AND COMPENSATION All DIRECTORS will be compensated as per the rules and guidelines of this agreement and by the facts and calculations as explained on the commission page (option 3) on the main site. All monies cleared on sign-ups from week 1, will be paid on the following Friday of week 2 - with a cut off of Monday of that same week for all in-house calculations of profit for the previous week.  All checks are calculated and sent out EVERY WEEK for the prior weeks business. 4. REPRESENTATION You may only represent the AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB in manners that are considered ethical and true.  All media and advertising MUST full in suit with suggested ad copy and artwork samples as supplied in the DIRECTORS area tools section.  Any abuse of this will result in member termination. ZERO SPAM POLICY If you Spam advertise your Prophet URL - WE WILL SHUT OFF YOUR SITE. This only hurts everyone else when one member SPAMS. See below for the full prohibitions. TOOLS / SYSTEMS / AD COPY All tools, promotional systems and ad copy are all copyright AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB and are to be used as given, and only modified in a manner that corresponds to AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB and club member's promotional benefit. All services offered through AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB at no charge are not warranted to perform in any particular manner and all DIRECTORS hold harmless AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB and it's associates and DIRECTORS for any loss or damage that may occur while utilizing these systems or that may come from being associated through and with the Club. PRIVACY STATEMENT Member information will be kept confidential and made available only to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTION Partners for the sake of creating commissions for the AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB. Awe Video Productions partners may not supply this information to anyone other than the original purchasing agent as to keep the member information completely confidential from other marketing sources or promotions. By submitting the user application online, the new member agrees to all terms above.  AWE VIDEO DIRECTOR'S CLUB HAS FULL RIGHTS TO CHANGE OR AMEND THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME - THE MEMBER AGREES TO FREQUENTLY REVIEW THIS AGREEMENT ON THE SITE TO KEEP UP WITH ANY CHANGES THAT MAY OCCUR DURING THE GROWTH OF THE COMPANY AND ORGANIZATION. 2. Service Terms and Limitations     a. Description. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS allows a user to establish video delivery marketing programs to clients or potential clients or to use our system for personal uses. Your access to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS is licensed and not sold. Subject to the timely payment of all Service Fees and the terms and limitations set forth in this Agreement, AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS agrees to provide you with a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive account enabling you to access and use AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS.     b. Accessibility. You agree that from time to time AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may be inaccessible or inoperable for any reason, including, without limitation: (i) equipment malfunctions; (ii) periodic maintenance procedures or repairs; or (iii) causes beyond the control of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, or which are not reasonably foreseeable by AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS.     c. Equipment. You are solely responsible for providing, maintaining and ensuring compatibility with AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, all hardware, software, electrical and other physical requirements for your use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, including, without limitation, telecommunications and internet access connections and links, web browsers or other equipment, programs and services required to access and use AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS.     d. Changes in Service. We reserve the sole right to either modify or discontinue the services, including any features therein, at any time with or without notice to you. We shall not be liable to you or any third party should we exercise such right. Modifications may include, but are not limited to, changes in the pricing structure, additional fee-based services, or changes to limitations on allowable file sizes. Any new features that augment or enhance the then-current services on this site shall also be subject to this Agreement.     e. Limitation on Contacts. Upon registering for AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS and paying the monthly fee, you are entitled to store up to 2000 VIPClips. If you wish to store more than 2000 VIPClips, you may purchase more In submitting this request ("Storage Request"), please include how many additional VIPClips you would like to store. You will be required to pay a Storage Fee for the storage of more than 2000 VIPClips. The Storage Fee will be based on the number of additional VIPClips you request and you will be notified of this fee after you submit your Storage Request. In addition, you may also be requested to acknowledge that none of your contacts will be used for the purpose of Spamming (as defined below in paragraph 6), which is prohibited by this policy. 3. Limitations     a. Security. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account and for any and all statements made and acts or omissions that occur through the use of your password and account, including any mail sent and any charges incurred. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain access to your password and account. You should be careful about disclosing your password to anyone and will not be asked to reveal your password by AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. You may not transfer or share your account with anyone, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate your account in the event of any unauthorized transfer or sharing thereof.     b. Dealings with Third Parties. Your participation, correspondence or business dealings with any third party, including any warranties or representations made by you in connection with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. You agree that AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or other matters of any sort incurred as a result of your dealings with third parties.     c. Privacy. In order to access some of the services on this site, you will require an account and password that can be obtained by completing our online registration form, which requests certain information and data ("Registration Data"). By registering, you agree that all information provided in the Registration Data is true and accurate and that you will maintain and update this information as required in order to keep it current, complete and accurate. You also grant us the right to disclose to third parties certain Registration Data about you. The information we obtain through your use of this site, including your Registration Data, is subject to our Privacy Policy, which is specifically incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use. 4. Fees     a. Payment. The fee for use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS ("Service Fee") is stated on the AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS website (www.awevideo.com) & www.awevideonetwork.com, and in the order form you completed. In addition to the Service Fee, You agree to pay all applicable Taxes. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS expressly reserves the right to change the Fees at any time and without notice to you.     b. Collection and Taxes. All Fees, Taxes and other charges will be billed to your credit card. You shall promptly pay AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS in the event of any refusal of your credit card issuer to pay any amount to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS for any reason. You agree to pay interest at the rate of 1.5% per month on any outstanding balance, together with costs of collection, including attorney's fees and costs. In the event you fail to pay any amount in advance, AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may immediately suspend or terminate this Agreement and your access to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. 5. Your Representations You represent and warrant to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS that: (a) You are over the age of sixteen (16) and have the power and authority to enter into and perform your obligations under this Agreement; If you are under the age of sixteen (16), this agreement must be also signed by a parent of legal guardian. (b) All information provided by you to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS is truthful, accurate and complete; (c) You are the authorized signatory of the credit or charge card provided to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS to pay Service Fees and Taxes; (d) You shall comply with all terms and conditions of this Agreement; (e) You have provided and will provide accurate and complete Registration Data, including, without limitation, your legal name, address and telephone number. 6. Prohibited Uses You are solely responsible for any and all acts and omissions that occur under your AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS account or password, and you agree not to engage in unacceptable use of engaging in any other activity deemed by AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of this Agreement, which includes, without limitation, use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS for:     a. "SPAMMING," WHICH INCLUDES BUT NOT LIMITED TO Sending unsolicited messages in bulk, or sending unsolicited e-mails which provoke complaints from recipients, Sending junk mail, Use of distribution lists that include people who have not given specific permission to be included in such distribution process, E-mailing age-inappropriate communications or content to anyone under the age of 18.     b. "SLAMMING", WHICH INCLUDES BUT NOT LIMITED TO      1. Disseminating or transmitting material that, AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS determines may be abusive, obscene, pornographic, defamatory, harassing, grossly offensive, vulgar, threatening or malicious;     C. "SCAMMING", WHICH INCLUDES BUT NOT LIMITED TO Disseminating, storing or transmitting files, graphics, software or other material that actually or potentially infringes the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property right of any person; Creating a false identity or otherwise attempting to mislead any person as to the identity or origin of any communication; Exporting, re-exporting or permitting downloading of any message or content in violation of any export or import law, regulation or restriction of the United States and its agencies or authorities, or without all required approvals, licenses or exemptions; THIS PROVISION GUARDS YOU AGAINST A USER WHO ATTEMPTS TO VIOLATE US LAW THROUGH EMAIL - IT IS A STANDARD PROVISION. Engaging in any other activity deemed by Awe Video to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of this Agreement.     D. "JAMMING", WHICH INCLUDES BUT NOT LIMITED TO Interfering, disrupting or attempting to gain unauthorized access to other accounts on Email Blaster or www.awevideo.com server; Disseminating, storing or transmitting viruses, trojan horses or any other malicious code or program; or                         You further understand that sending bulk email may cause an ISP to terminate your Internet service. You are responsible for complying with the terms of service of your ISP and AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS assumes no liability for your noncompliance with such terms. 7. Term and Termination     a. Term. The Term of this Agreement shall become effective upon acceptance of this Agreement and completion of the Registration process. Either you or AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may terminate this Agreement at any time, for any reason or no reason, by giving the other party written notice of termination.     b. Termination. You agree that AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS with or without notice and for any reason, including, without limitation, breach of this Agreement. Upon termination or suspension of your account, regardless of the reasons therefore, your right to use AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS immediately ceases, and you acknowledge and agree that we may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS shall not be liable to you or any third party for any claims or damages arising out of any termination or suspension or any other actions taken by us in connection therewith. Any suspected fraudulent, abusive or illegal activity may be grounds for terminating your account and may be referred to appropriate law enforcement authorities. Additionally, you agree to report any violations of this Agreement by other persons to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS to misuse@awevideo.com.     c. Refund of Service Fee. If AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS terminates your account for any reason, including the sending of Spam, we are not obligated to refund any portion of your Service Fee. In the event you send Spam and we do provide a refund, AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may charge an Administrative Fee at its current hourly rates for time spent handling Spam complaints against you. If you have prepaid for AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS services and are assessed an Administrative Fee, the Fee shall be deducted from any refund you are entitled to receive. 8. 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If you violate any of these terms, your permission to use the Content will automatically terminate, you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of the Content, and we may end your authorization to participate in the Program. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS retains all rights to its Licensed Materials (and any intellectual property embodied by the Licensed Materials) at all times. Any other use is strictly prohibited, including use of the Licensed Materials in any manner that is disparaging or that otherwise portrays AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS in a negative light. Determination of what is and is not acceptable use is at the sole discretion of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. You may not alter, modify or change the Licensed Materials in any way. We, in our sole discretion, may revoke your license at any time, with or without cause and in our sole discretion, by giving you notice. The license granted herein should not be construed as granting any ownership rights in the Licensed Materials to the respective licensee thereof, all of which rights will remain the property of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. Upon the effective date of the expiration or termination of this Agreement, the license granted herein will expire, You agree to cease using such Licensed Materials, and you agree to cease using all such Licensed Materials. 9. Publicity You shall not create, publish, distribute, or permit any new written material that makes reference to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS without first submitting such material to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS and receiving its prior written consent. 10. International Use Although AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS may be accessible worldwide; we make no representation that AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS is appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States. If you choose to use AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS from other locations, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws. 11. Disclaimer of Warranties AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USE OF AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, NOR DOES AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO ANY RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED BY USE OF AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, IN RELATION TO AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. 12. 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SOME STATES PROHIBIT THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, THUS THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY SHALL BE FOR YOU TO DISCONTINUE USE OF AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. 13. Indemnification You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, its shareholders, directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any action, cause, claim, damage, debt, demand or liability, including reasonable costs and attorney's fees, asserted by any person, arising out of or relating to: (a) this Agreement; (b) Use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, including any data or work transmitted or received by you; and (c) any unacceptable use of AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, including, without limitation, any statement, data or content made, transmitted or republished by you which is prohibited as unacceptable under Section 6. 14. Miscellaneous     a. Independent Contractors. The parties and their respective personnel, are and shall be independent contractors and neither party by virtue of this Agreement shall have any right, power or authority to act or create any obligation, express or implied, on behalf of the other party.     b. Amendment. These Terms of Use are effective as of ---------. We reserve the right to change these Terms of Use from time to time without notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this site and these Terms of Use periodically and to be aware of any modifications. Your continued use of this site after such modifications will constitute your acknowledgement of the modified Terms of Use and agreement to abide and be bound by the modified Terms of Use. Effort will be made to forward to all Directors the updated amendments.     c. Waiver. No waiver of any term, provision or condition of this Agreement, whether by conduct or otherwise, shall constitute a waiver of any other term, provision or condition hereof, nor shall such waiver constitute a continuing waiver of any such term, provision or condition hereof. No waiver shall be binding unless executed in writing by the party making the waiver.     d. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is determined to be illegal or unenforceable, then such provision will be enforced to the maximum extent possible and the other provisions will remain fully effective and enforceable. THIS IS CORRECT. THIS DEALS WITH THE POSSIBILITY THAT A PROVISION COULD ONLY BE PARTIALLY ENFORCEABLE. IF THE PROVISION IS ILLEGAL THEN IT WILL NOT BE ENFORCED BUT THE REST OF THE AGREEMENT WILL REMAIN IN FORCE.     e. Notice. 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The arbitrator shall have the discretion to order that the cost of arbitration, including the arbitrator's fees, or other costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees, shall be borne by the losing party. The award of the arbitrator shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.     g. Attorneys' Fees. If either of the parties hereto (or any successor thereto) resorts to legal action in order to enforce, defend or interpret any of the terms or the provisions of this Agreement, the prevailing party will be entitled to receive, in addition to such other remedies as will be awarded to it in such legal action, reimbursement from the non-prevailing party for all reasonable attorneys' fees and all other costs incurred in commencing, maintaining or defending such action (which will include an allocable portion of the expense of such party's corporate legal department). In addition, the prevailing party will be entitled to recover from the non-prevailing party post-judgment attorneys' fees incurred in enforcing a judgment against the non-prevailing party.     h. Evidence. This document and your clicking on the "I ACCEPT" icon or any act to access or use AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS constitutes your original signature in electronic form, and shall be considered an original document with authenticated signature admissible into evidence unless the document's authenticity is genuinely placed in question.     i. Headings. The captions and headings of this Agreement are included for ease of reference only and will be disregarded in interpreting or construing this Agreement.     j. Force Majeure. If the performance of any part of this Agreement by either party is prevented, hindered, delayed or otherwise made impracticable by reason of any flood, riot, fire, judicial or governmental action, labor disputes, act of God or any other causes beyond the control of either party, that party shall be excused from such to the extent that it is prevented, hindered or delayed by such causes.     k. Survival. The terms and provisions of Sections 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14 shall survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement.     l. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between the parties with respect to AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous communications, representations, statements and understandings, whether oral or written, between the parties concerning AWE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS.   YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND AGREE TO THE TERMS & CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT.   Copyright 2002 Awe Video Productions, Inc.

 

Some E-Book Chapters

 

1. Introduction
2. Story and Screenplay
3. Preproduction
4. Directing  
5. Camera 
6. Lighting  
7. Sound  
8. Editing
9. Editing Video on the Home Computer 
10. Support, Distribution, and the Future 

INTRODUCTION

We are created this training program because many persons wish to obtain basic mastery of the Digital Video field. Recent breakthroughs in video and computer technology allow any student to make a movie that tells a story, complete with dialogue, sound effects, music and titles for, literally, the cost of the DV. With each video the director learns what works and what doesn't work. That director's knowledge of movie making could be light years ahead of where it was when they started. This program gives the director the opportunity to gain real experience, and that experience is pure gold--because experience is the true teacher.  The promise of this book, video and training program is to teach you how to make a video is attractive and tells a story. This program is meant to be democratic, available to all persons.

 STORY AND SCREENPLAY

There are rules to help you build a story, the same way there are rules to help you build a house. After writing several stories, and embodying those rules, you are free to forget them. But, for now, you are learning. Anyone learning to play the guitar, without learning the chords, would be taking the long way around. Likewise, if you grab a note pad and feverishly begin to write a screenplay, you will soon be lost, wandering in the wilderness. Follow these lessons. They will lead you through the wilderness.  You know more than you think you know. Deep inside, you understand movie stories because you've seen so many of them. When I describe, for example, the end of act one, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. You may not have known what to call it, but you'll recognize that beat, or that movement, in a movie story. The same will probably be true for the end of act two, for the climactic scene and for story elements like main character, problem, decision, goal and obstacles.  

The story begins when the problem begins. The story ends when the problem is solved.   Drama is conflict, and conflict is drama. If you don't have a problem, you don't have a story. The audience will allow you a reasonable amount of time to introduce your location and your characters. Soon though, they want to see the main character meet the problem. That is the point where the story, the drama, begins. The climax, where that problem is resolved, one way or the other, is where the story ends. 

PREPRODUCTION

The key to good production is good pre-production. A simple way to define pre-production is "planning." When building a house, the materials, crew and schedule are based upon the blueprint. When building a movie, the equipment, crew and schedule are based upon the script. Hollywood has, over the years, developed time-honored Systems for planning, or "prepping," a movie. We'll cover the basics. 

The Shooting Schedule: Your shooting schedule is determined by many variables. There are days an actor is available and days that same actor is not available. You may also have to schedule around the availability of locations. Let's say that you have a scene inside a drugstore. The owner might be happy to let you shoot in his store, but not during business hours. There are scenes that require night shooting and scenes that require day shooting. There may be a scene that is written for night, but if it's an interior that scene can be scheduled anytime.   Common sense prevails when it comes to scheduling. If you're using an actor who works a full-time job, schedule her scenes on her day off. If you're shooting the interior of a store, schedule all those interiors at once. You don't want to shoot at a location, move to another location, and then come back to the first location unless there is a reason to do so. Most students will be aware that we do not shoot scenes in the order that they come in the script. We shoot scenes out of sequence to keep production time and costs to a minimum.

DIRECTING

A movie director is a storyteller. He creates an experience. A writer tells stories with words. A director tells stories with images, sound, music and actors. If you want me to tell you how to be a good director, we teach you the things a good director has to know:

1. Preparation
2. Master shots
3. Coverage
4. Matching action
5. Continuity
6. Cutting on the action
7. Clean entrances and exits
8. Crossing the line
9. Working with actors

Knowing these basics will not guarantee you'll be a good director, but they will guarantee you a great start.   The thing audiences care about most is the story. So, the most important thing for a director to do is tell a good story. Actually, the director re-tells a story. Has anyone ever told you a joke? And you walked down the hall and re-told the joke? Did you tell it exactly the way it was told to you? No way! You spiced it up with your own style, right? That's what a director does. He re-tells a story, using his own style. To do that, he needs to know how to work with actors and how to choose the "shots" that add up to make a movie.   The Shot List: To make a shot-list, the director closes her eyes and sees the movie in her mind. As she watches the movie on this wonderful internal movie screen, she writes down the shots that she sees, the shots she needs to tell her story.   In order to make a shot-list and ensure that these shots will cut together properly, there are rules every director needs to know. These rules deal with screen direction, matching action, continuity, cutting on the action and clean entrances and exits. 

Digital Video CAMERA

Let The Camera Move. Don't make the camcorder stay locked to a tripod for the sake of being "correct." It can make your movie lifeless. Let your camera live. If that means having a shaky shot every now and then, so what? Given the freedom to move the camera, than they will try to be "correct" on a tripod. If your students want to do the master shot hand-held, then hurry in for coverage, also hand-held, let them! The production will move along faster, and-as long as the story is engaging-the audience won't care about a slightly shaky camera. Use the tripod, but feel free to go hand-held wherever and whenever you want. 

LIGHTING:

Lighting Interiors: Lighting inside is the same concept as lighting outside. Outside, our key light (the main source of light) is the sun. Inside, we make our key light, using electricity. Then, we make another light to fill the shadows created by the key light.   Where do we begin?   We begin with the script and the actors. Watch the actors rehearse the scene with the director. The director decides upon the camera position for the first shot. Once we know the camera position and where the actors will sit, stand and move in the scene, we're ready to light.   The first thing we do is put up a key light, the main source of light in the scene. One promise of this training program is to teach you to make a movie, using equipment you already own. You already own reading lamps, floodlights, etc. These lights can help you achieve dramatic lighting. The "scoop" light that comes with a "scissors" clamp attached works well. Every household has one or two in the basement or garage. If not, you can get them at your local hardware store for a few dollars. They hold different size floodlamps and can clamp to things like a door, an overhead beam, a stepladder or to a 2x4 board your crew might rig as a "light stand." Be aware that when you buy flood lamps, they come in "flood", "spot", and "narrow spot." You might need a "flood" for your fill light, a "spot" for your key light and a "narrow spot" for your rim light. Experiment to see which lamp gives you the lighting pattern that you need. 

SOUND

Let's Record Location Sound: The camera is loaded. We have our script. The actors are prepared. We're ready to record location sound. The first thing we do is look at the needs of the scene.   On the set, the director rehearses the actors. During the rehearsal, the sound person should observe where the actors sit, stand, move-and in which direction they speak when delivering lines. Once the sound person knows this information (and where the camera will be placed), she is ready to choose which microphone she will use and where that microphone will be placed. Only by knowing what the camera will "see" in the scene, can the sound person choose the proper microphone placement. Remember that the camera should not see the microphone, or even a shadow of the microphone. When the actor speaks, the voice waves move out from the face and instantly spread upward and downward. Because of the direction voice waves leave the face, optimum microphone placement is two to three feet in front of the actor and slightly above or slightly below the actors' face.  If the actor is walking and you're picking up footsteps, mike the actor from below to avoid picking up those loud footsteps. Watch the rehearsal and ask yourself, how can I get a pickup pattern close to the actor's voice waves without the camera seeing the microphone, or a microphone shadow?  This is where the fun starts.

EDITING

Editing, Where Do We Begin?  We begin where everything begins, with the script.   The editor gets the revised final draft of the script, and all the footage that has been shot, then sits down to edit the movie. The script is a guide for the editor. The editor does not have to stay, precisely, with the script. Editing is a creative process, too. The editor should ask himself, what is the purpose of the scene? If he sees a way to edit the scene that delivers the purpose of the scene in a more interesting manner than the one described in the script, then he should give it a try. The editor should keep in mind, though, that movie making is a collaborative effort. He might want to edit the "first cut" by himself, but after that he should be open to suggestions from the other members of the team. The "final cut" should include input from, at least, the writer and the director.

For most your Clips the editing is simple.

DIGITAL EDITING

Before you begin this chapter, I want you to make a promise-that you will finish this chapter. I say that because some information in the early part of this chapter can be a little intimidating, especially to a director new to computers. The chapter ends, though, with a simple, workable, affordable solution. My goal is to lead you through the technical forest and onto a clear, doable path. If you read this entire chapter, you'll find that path. A simple way to describe non-linear is to make an analogy to a word processor. The word processor works with word processing software to create letters, words and paragraphs. As you know, because you've done it, those words, letters and paragraphs can be moved anywhere you want. You can cut a sentence from one paragraph and paste it into another paragraph. You can delete a word and add another word. Writing on a word processor gives you the freedom to add, delete or change words anywhere you want. A non-linear editing system (NLE) gives you the freedom to make those same kinds of changes with audio and video.

QUICK FLICKS

In this chapter, we're going to show you how to come up with a story idea, throw up one light, grab your camcorder (forget the tripod for Quick Flicks), plug a microphone into your camcorder and be in business-the movie business, that is.   In Quick Flicks, we're going to show you, step by step, how to start a movie and finish that movie on the same day. 

SUPPORT, DISTRIBUTION, AND THE FUTURE

By the time your finish our tutorials, you will know 90% of the rules of filmmaking that Spielberg knows. I didn't say you know 90% of what Spielberg knows. His experience has taught him vast amounts more than you know. But you know 90% of the basic rules of movie making, plenty enough to get started. Getting started is the most important thing you can do right now. If you wait until you know more, so you can be perfect, you'll never start. It's time to get into action. Getting into action leads you to experience, and experience is the best teacher.  The first movies you make may be just for fun. You won't want anybody to see them but your support group. You'll laugh at the mistakes, and you'll learn.

Marketing Tools

Of Special Interest to Webmasters

1.      Supercharge your site

2.      Charging a premium

3.      How to Interface with Awe Video

4.      Codes You will Need

5.      Link Exchange Opportunities

Work as Theater you will never see work the same again

The Experience Economy

Work as Play

Preparing for success

1.     Being professional

2.     Sell Their dream

3.     Everyone's a star

4.      Success Sites

5.      Team Building  -

a.       We Help Each Other

b.     Director's Support Groups

What equipment do you need?

Templates

Staging for Public environments with lighting, bluescreen
Software needs

Editing software 
 Compression

1.      Marketing set-ups

2.       Marketing material

a.       Banners

b.      Business Cards

c.       Pitches

d.      Classified Advertising

e.       Email copy

Trade and barter opportunities
Getting paid
 Holo'Script Invoices
Your different markets

Awe Video procedures and agreements
Credit cards, paypal checks by email
Prepaid clips

Set-up of the equipment
As The Director

Director's Code of Conduct

            The Negatives

NO SPAMMING, NO SCAMMING, NO SLAMMING

            The Positives

·        Honesty in Forwardings

·        Integrity of Image

·        Professional

·        Give Little More than Asked

·        Tell The Truth

·        Stand for Integrity

·        We Are Responsible Together

Director's Sub-Domains

Software Design Needs

Front end for the Director to process the clips

Total tracking of the sales and marketing program and multiply the investment in those channels and methods

The email marketing Campaigns  

Viral Marketing

Layout of Ave Video VIPclip link

1.      Addressed as from Sender and CC: Awe Video and Director

2.      Subject: Selected by Sender or Defaults to From Awe Video

3.      Has Logo of Awe Video

4.      Link Description that is imputed by the Director

5.      Advertisement space for the Sender

6.      The Link to the VIPcard with the directors sub-domain and the Title clearly readable

7.      Slogan of Awe Video such as "Weave The We"

8.      Link directly to Awe Video with Director's Code Embedded so they can be awarded commissions                     

Allied Market Agents

Surround Awe Video as the infrastructure for the market outreach. Operate through channels that are already open

1)      Press Release Agents

2)      Broadcasters

3)      Speakers and communicators

4)      Internet Technologies

i)        Autoresponders

ii)       WAV file telemarketing

iii)     KC Kakuo

iv)     Search Engines The Best coaching. This is part of our core competencies. The more we are linked through the VIP card deliveries the higher will be our ranking automatically.

Our philosophy is to work with the best it's not much more and the results are nearly guaranteed.

Focused marketing campaigns

               Marketing person assigned to each sector

COPY

An Awe Video Internet Video Postcard, Awe VIPcard is an extremely attractive product and can be sold just about anywhere.

Selling, creating and sending VIPcards couldn't be simpler.

1.     Show some samples. Give them some information. Provided in your E-Book Cookbook

2.     Create the VIPCARDS for the customer

3.     Get Paid You can you accept credit cards if you don't have a merchant account

4.     Upload the Video immediately or later at home or office

You can run your business with minimal effort.

Your income potential can be $500.00 to $5000.00 weekly full or part time. You control your time.

Imagine going to the beach setting up and making $300 for the day while entertaining others and having fun.

Going around and talking to people while camping at a campsite. Make a few hundred dollars even while you are enjoying nature.

Setting up at a festival or street fair and making $500 or more for the day. Charge $20 easy per VIPCard. Do 25 clips and you've made $500! Hand out information for help businesses and get big clients that will pay you $100 to $300 to come out to help them.

Where ever groups gather

Charge for Awe VIPcards as little as you want or as much as $1000.00 from each customer.

Use our simple easy-to-use software and post them at your AWE Video Custom Site yourname.awevideo.net/org/biz.

Each person is forwarded their VIPCard link in their email and forwards it to whomever they wish to it.

Any business can profit from Video Postcards with a minimal amount of work.

1.     Sell AWE VIDEO VIPcards from your location.

2.     Take Video VIPcards during your tour.

3.     Advertise with the power of video and direct mailings.

4.     Awe Video can even help you find you customers who want your emails

5.     Show off rental and for-sale properties.

6.     Make fast cash at conventions. 

Fill out our easy contact us form and we'll be with you shortly to talk about customizing VIPcards to your business model. We can help with all kinds of ideas and suggestions on our 1 900 line.

The basic evolutionary-systemic and constructive principles that have been discussed in my two previous contributions to this

volume can be directly applied to the design of a computer support system that would help Principia Cybernetica collaborators

to develop a coherent system of philosophical thought. In fact the same type of support system might be applied to any

complex problem domains where on the basis of a lot of ill-structured, ambiguous and sometimes inconsistent data a more or

less simple and reliable model is to be built. The problem we are speaking about is one of applied epistemology. A good

epistemology, offering a concrete and general theory of how knowledge develops during individual or cultural evolution, should

also be useful as a guide when a new model is practically to be developed.

Network representations of knowledge

I start from the assumption that a lot of knowledge is already available, in literature and in the heads of different (potential)

contributors to the project, but that that knowledge must be integrated into a coherent and transparent model. The knowledge

will be assumed to be written down in the form of "chunks", containing text, formulas, drawings, sound, ..., whatever media are

most appropriate to express the underlying ideas. I further suppose these chunks to be split up into distinct "ideas" or

"concepts", such that one chunk should define not more than one concept.

Of course, these different concepts will be related and one chunk will in general contain references to several other chunks. For

example, the chunk denoting the concept "dog" might contain the following sentence: a dog is a carnivorous mammal, with a

protruding snout. This means that the concept dog has associations with a least the concepts mammal, carnivorous and snout.

If these concepts are also available as chunks, then we might create a link from the dog chunk to the mammal chunk and so on.

Computer applications that allow such an easy representation and manipulation of chunks connected by links are called

hypermedia systems. The chunk with its text and graphics can be shown in a window on the screen, and it suffices to click on

one of the links to show the next chunk to which the link is pointing (Heylighen, 1991).

Hypermedia system are useful for storing a large amount of complex, interrelated information (e.g. an encyclopedia) in a easy to

handle way. However, there is an inherent ambiguity involved, since it is not a priori clear what a link is supposed to mean: any

kind of association, as well causal, as logical, as intuitive as spatial, ..., might be represented by a link. Therefore we need a

better structured system if we want our networks of concepts to support us more efficiently. By introducing different types of

chunks (nodes) and links we may turn our hypermedia system into a semantic network: the different types of links will

determine (part of) the meaning of the concept to which they are attached. The problem with semantic networks for knowledge

representation is still that of ambiguity: there is an unlimited number of link and node types that may seem appropriate, and their

interrelationships will in general be very unclear. In order to limit the set of types, we need an unambiguous, fundamental

interpretation of what concepts and links in our network really stand for. I will now propose such an interpretation with the

corresponding types, and show how it can be applied to the structuring of knowledge.

Distinction and entailment types

A concept (node) is supposed to represent a distinction: a way to separate phenomena denoted by the concept (belonging to

its class or extension), from phenomena that do not belong to its extension. Defining a concept means proposing a procedure

for explicitly carrying out that distinction. Definition will be assumed to be a bootstrapping operation: a concept is always

defined in terms of other concepts, that are themselves defined in terms of other concepts, and so on. In general there is no

primitive level of meaningful concepts in terms of which all other concepts can be defined. This is in accordance with my

constructive philosophy, stating that any foundations of a conceptual system must be empty of meaning in order to be acceptable as basis for a complete philosophical explanation (Heylighen, 1990b).

One way to define a concept is by listing the set of concepts that it entails together with the set of concepts entailed by it. By entailment I mean an "if...then" relation, which is more general than the logical (material) implication. For example, if a phenomenon is a dog, then it is also a mammal: dog -> mammal. It means that a phenomenon denoted by the first concept

cannot be present or actual, without a phenomenon denoted by the second one being (simultaneously) or becoming

(afterwards) actual.

 

In order to derive fundamental types of distinctions (concepts, nodes) and links (entailments), we will posit two basic

dimensions of distinction: stability (or time) and generality, with the corresponding values of instantaneous - temporary - stable,

and of specific - general. The combination of these 3 x 2 values leads to 6 types of distinction (see table).

 

time\generality                    general               specific 

 

            

 

stable                             class                 object                

 

temporary                          property              situation             

 

instantaneous                      change                event                 

 

For example, an object is a distinction that is stable (it is not supposed to appear or disappear while we are considering it), and

specific (it is concrete, there is only of it). A property is a distinction that is general (several phenomena may be denoted by it, it

represents a common feature), and temporary (it may appear or disappear, but normally it remains present during a finite time

interval). An event is instantaneous (it appears and disappears within one moment), and specific (it does not denote a class of

similar phenomena, but a particular instance).

 

With these node types we can now derive the corresponding link types by considering all possible combinations of two node

types. There is one constraint, however: we assume that a more invariant (stable or general) distinction can never entail a less

invariant one. Otherwise, the second would be present each type the first one is, contradicting the hypothesis that it is less

invariant than the first one. For example, a class cannot entail an object, a situation cannot entail an event. Yet it is possible that

concepts with the same type of invariance, (e.g. two objects) might be connected by an entailment relation. All remaining

possible combinations can now be summarized by the following scheme (the straight arrows represent entailment from one type

to another (more invariant) one, the circular arrows entailment from a concept of a type to a concept of the same type)

 

For example when an object A entails a class B, A -> B, then A is an Instance_of B. When an object A always entails the

presence of another object B, then B must belong to or be a part of A. When a change A entails another change B, then A and

B "covary" and hence A can be interpreted as the cause of B. When an event A entails a situation B, then A must be

simultaneous with or preceding B in time.

The advantage of this scheme is that most of the intuitive and often used semantic categories (objects, classes, causality,

whole-part relations, temporal precedence, etc.) can be directly constructed from it, in a simple and uniform format.

Complementarily, given some of those everyday categories, we can use the scheme to reduce them to simple entailment links

between nodes of specific types. In fact the types themselves can be represented as nodes, and each node of a particular type

will have an entailment link to that 'type'-node. This allows us to reduce a complicated set of semantic categories to an

extremely simple formal strcuture.

 

Knowledge structuring

Given that structure, consisting of a list of nodes and entailment links between them, we can now start to formally analyse the

network. Define the input and output sets of a node:

Input: I(x) = { y | y -> x} = "extension" of concept x

Output : O(x) = { y | x -> y } = "intension" of concept x

The meaning (definition, distinction) of x can be interpreted as determined by the disjunction of its input elements, and the

conjunction of its output elements. Our previous remark about definitions can now be reformulated as the following

bootstrapping axiom (Heylighen, 1990ab):

two nodes are distinct if and only if their input and output sets are distinct:

x != y <=> I(x) != I (y), O(x) != O(y)

("!=" stands here for "is not equal to")

 

However, such a complete definition assumes that all concepts allowing to distinguish between x and y are present in the

network. In practice, the network of concepts we are building by writing down our knowledge in the form of connected

chunks, will be incomplete in some respects, redundant in other respects. Instead of using the axiom as a static description of

how a complete network should be structured, we can use it as a procedure to find ways to make the network more adequate,

by adding missing concepts, or by deleting redundant ones. We can distinguish the following two main techniques (cf.

Heylighen, 1991; Bakker, 1987; Stokman & de Vries, 1988):

 

Node identification

 

When input and output sets of two nodes x and y are identic or similar, the computer support system may propose the user to

either identify (merge) the two nodes, and replace them by one single node, or to add new nodes or links that would more

clearly differentiate between x and y. An algorithm may test the identity or inclusion of the input and output sets, and according

to the results, propose the following possibilities to the user:

 

1) I (x) = I (y):

 

a) O (x) = O (y) => Identify (or distinguish) x and y

 

b) O (x) c O (y) => Identify x and y, or distinguish I (x) from I (y)

 

2) I(x) c I(y):

 

a) O(x) = O(y) => Identify x and y, or distinguish O(x) from O(y)

 

b) O(x) c O(y) => Identify x and y

 

c) O(y) c O(x) => Connect x to y, x  ->  y

 

(" c " stands here for "subset of")

 

Node integration

 

When a cluster of nodes have a common set of "external" input or output nodes (that is to say nodes that do not belong to the cluster), then from the point of view of those external nodes, the nodes inside the cluster are indistinguishable. Hence the nodes,

though not strictly indistinguishable according to the bootstrapping axiom, behave indistinguishably from a certain viewpoint.

 

From that point of view, the cluster may be called closed (Heylighen, 1990a) and it might therefore be replaced by a single

"integrated" node. The integrated node "summarizes" the cluster nodes on a more abstract level, and may hence simplify the

conceptual model. Similar to the case of node identification, the external indistinguishability of clustered nodes may be spurious,

and this should prompt the user to add additional distinguishing links and nodes.

 

There are different types of closure, with different meanings and formal properties, depending upon which sets of external input

or output nodes are common among the cluster, for example: transitive closure, equivalence, cyclical closure, ... If the closure is

only approximative (the cluster nodes have several external neighbours in common, but these do not form a complete set of any

specific type), then this method is similar to the one called "conceptual clustering" in machine learning, where the boundaries

between clustered and non-clustered nodes become fuzzy, and depend on the treshold chosen for the number of common neighbours.

 

In conclusion, the present set of concepts and techniques, when implemented on a computer through a suitable intuitive

interface, should enable an individual or group of users to elicit and structure their knowledge about a domain under the form of

a network of concepts connected by entailment links, and support them to minimize the redundancy, complexity and

incompleteness of their model.

 

The introduction of new nodes and links by the user corresponds to a form of variation by recombination of concepts. The

recognition of a closed cluster of nodes by the system corresponds to the selection of a distinction that is more stable or

invariant than the distinctions between the internal concepts of the cluster (Heylighen, 1990a), with closure as fundamental

selection criterion. The elicitation and structuring of concepts in this manner hence follows the general evolutionary mechanism

that was postulated in my previous papers about evolutionary philosophy.

 

References

 

Bakker R.R. (1987): Knowledge Graphs: representation and structuring of scientific knowledge, (Ph.D. Thesis, Dep. of

Applied Mathematics, University of Twente, Netherlands).

 

Heylighen F. (1990): "A Structural Language for the Foundations of Physics", International Journal of General Systems 18,

p. 93-112  .

 

Heylighen F. (1990): "Relational Closure: a mathematical concept for distinction-making and complexity analysis", in:

Cybernetics and Systems '90, R. Trappl (ed.), (World Science, Singapore), p. 335-342.

 

Heylighen F. (1991): "Design of a Hypermedia Interface Translating between Associative and Formal Representations",

International Journal of Man-Machine Studies.

 

Stokman F.N. & de Vries P.H. (1988): "Structuring Knowledge in a Graph", in: Human-Computer Interaction,

Psychonomic Aspects, G.C. van der Veer & G.J. Mulder (eds.), (Springer, Berlin).

 

1 CsÝnyi defines function as "the ability of components to influence the

 

probability of genesis or survival of the system's other components due to

 

their relationships with the component-producing or component-decaying

 

processes" (p. 19) [1989].

 

 

 

2 As viability we mean the set of modalities under which a network of

 

circular causality keeps its organization or changes it into another

 

organization endowed with a circular causality loop of a bigger or

 

equivalent degree of complexity. That is to say, replacing an identity (a

 

kind of circular organization) with another bigger or equivalent in its

 

degree of complexity (another kind of circular organization with the same

 

or bigger amount of relations and/or components).

 

 

 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a moving picture is invaluable for explaining the complicated content on today's professional world. Share your recordings on a Web site, distribute them via e-mail, an Intranet or CD. The Awe Video suite of tools makes it easy to record, edit and publish high fidelity, compressed videos for training, technical support solutions, product demonstrations, sales presentations and more.

 

Awe Video is perfect for:

 

·        Training, Education and Distance Learning -- Capture, share and manage knowledge. Make and share how-to videos.

·        Help Desk, Online Help, Help Systems -- Handle error recording and reporting.

·        Desktop Monitoring -- Monitor desktop activities, process control and live content.

·        Video and Voice Annotation -- Annotate documents with voice and video for applications like CAD designs, medical images and web sites.

·        Documentation -- Preserve and archive desktop activities.

·        Conferencing -- Record, share and archive conference content.

·        CAD and Simulation -- Record and share animation, CAD designs, and annotation.

 

Use ScreenDraw to draw on your desktop while you record a movie -- just like television sportscasters! Use Awe Video's powerful ScreenPad annotation feature to add callouts, logos and graphics as you record your video. Apply real-time effects like object highlighting, graphic and image annotations, watermarks, time stamps, captioning and audible mouse clicks. Move in for a closer look with Zoom. Pan the capture frame across the screen to show more detail.

 

Awe Video Producer

Awe Video's non-linear editor quickly edits, trims and joins AVI clips. Easily add transition and watermark effects to any video.

 

Include AVI's you have created with Awe Video Recorder or incorporate an AVI file from another source. Produce industry-standard movie files, Microsoft Windows Media, RealNetworks RealMedia, Apple QuickTime streaming formats, Awe Video for Real Player Plug-In videos, or Animated GIFs with Awe Video Producer. Compress your videos into an e-mail format friendly executable using Pack and Show upload.

 

Add Audio

Narrate your Awe Video while you record your movie. Or, use DubIt (included free of charge with Awe Video) to add narration and sound effects to any AVI movie while you view it.

 

Awe Video Live Broadcast

Live Output broadcasts your screen over the Internet in real-time. Our screencam simulates a hardware PC camera and works with streaming media encoders, video conferencing and webcam applications. All of Camtasia's special effects such as annotations, watermarks and cursor highlighting are available using this feature.

 

Industry Standard

 

Awe Video supports the AVI format and standard video for Windows audio and video codecs. Modify videos created with other AVI editors and use AVI files from any source in the Awe Video Producer. From the vendor neutral AVI format, you can produce Microsoft or RealNetworks streaming media files. Then explore Awe Video Player - an easy to use, standalone movie player that guarantees high quality playback of your AVI movies. Or play your Awe Video with Windows Media Player and RealNetworks RealPlayer.

 

Several videos created with Awe Video are available for viewing by clicking here.

 

Awe Video offers exact video renderings of and superior file compression in industry standard formats. TechSmith accomplished this by developing the TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (TSCC) expressly for screen recording. Unlike lossy video codecs designed for movies, the TSCC codec provides exact video renderings coupled with excellent compression ratios and performance. Clips encoded by TSCC preserve image quality through multiple decompression / recompression cycles. We recommend always using the TSCC Codec for screen recording and editing -- no other codec can give its results. Of course, Awe Video is fully compliant with the Video for Windows specification, so you can choose the TechSmith codec or any other video codec for final distribution. Awe Video also allows you to use the audio codec of your choice.

Purchase our Comprehensive E-Book today!

Prototype Phase

The Prototype Model -

Multi-prototype through Multi-campaign Testing using specified marketing Channels and Sectors. These are the Functional Storyboards upon which we compose the Storylines. We Amplify "What is working". This Strategy allows us the benefits of both prototyping along with the speed of Direct-to-Market. 

Prototype Design Parameters

·        Testable

·        Elegant

·        Fully Functional

·        Fully Reconfigurable.Mutable Architecture

·        Trackable

·        Viral 

What will the "Prototype" look like?

·        Mapping of Complexity Space Through Form

·        Downloadable E-Book with all communication functions operative

·        Director's Interface Face Software - Java Enabled

·        Server Software Installed and in testing mode

·        Delivery Systems Installed and Operative

What Are The Uses of The "Prototype"

·        Proof of Concept

·        Debugging

·        Coordination of The Components

·        Testing of Parameters

What Are Key Features for The "Prototype" to Demonstrate?

·        Workability

·        Smooth Delivery

·        Spirit of Cooperation

Benefits of Prototype Process

·        Work out relationships

·        Develop the Tue Team

·        Prove the Commitment

·        Strengthen The Field

Production of Prototype

·        Fusion of Function

·        Simplicity of Design

·        Intelligence Increase Applications

Prototype Specifications

Timeline Development

Design of the Directors Front End

As the basic tool we optimize a Templated interface with an established and proven editing package most likely either

·        Cinematics 

·        Or Studio 7 

The Java Script directly interfaces with the Director video processing interface software to create a unified interface. We make available access to the Software for cost. This is a Market driver, the application of the interface, so as a principle we want to minimize the entry costs for our Awe Video Directors to maximize the Director Network Growth.

Developmental Process

 

Consultation and conceptualization

 

Information Architecture

 

The workhorse behind any Web-based project is the structure of the information. Information architecture makes a Web site navigable and useful for an end user.

Structure the materials gathered from both the company and  research. We then organize a unique system for the company to use and manage Information architecture is often the first thing forgotten when designing Web sites, making the Web the cumbersome beast that it is today. However, as the Third Wave of Web sites begin appearing, information architecture is receiving the respect it demands.

 

Creation of graphics and development of form

 

we bring shape and form to the information architecture created in the architecture phase. This involves visualization meetings with other designers, working with pencil and paper drafts, developing graphics on high-end computer graphics programs, and, crafting general visual standards for the Web site project.

Graphics designed will be Web-friendly: they are small in byte-size which means they load quickly on any browser, they are focused on a central visual standard that reflects the company, and they are inherently useful to the site.

 

Alignment and implementation

 

Team implements.

 

Marketing

Online marketing and use of other media of Web sites is the ways a Web site is located in the vast realm of cyberspace. Knowledgeable experts will be on the team to market the site on the Web and elsewhere.

Objectives For The Sites

 

Totally Unique Look and Feel

            Typeface

            Logos

            Distinct Image

            Qualities to Express

                        Nurturing

                        Easy and simple to Navigate

Easy Sale Methods

            Go Cart Service

            Credit Card Service

            Secure Site

Multi-million Dollar Look

            Sense of Credibility      

Done fast

Complete source for the database management of the company

Stay in Touch with Customers

Easy place for email contacts to know everything about the company, people and products.

Encourage timely purchases

Cultivate referral Sources

Strong, Cohesive and Creative Team

Site actively attracts opportunities

Attractive to Businesses and Users

            Features

            Benefits

            Uniqueness

            Performance

Distribution of information via multiple channels

            Email

            Fax

            Print

            Audio and Video

            Conferencing

            Commercial Bulletin Boards

Marketing Audiences

Governmental Agencies

Consumers

Philanthropic Organizations

Industrial Buyers (SIC Codes)

 

Site Components

Image Maps of Site

Streaming Audio

Streaming Video

Images

            Photos

                        Principals

                        Product

                        Comparisons with non-use of products

                        Manufacturing Plant

            Design Graphics

            Charts

Data Base Management for Company

            Cookies

            Referral Program

Links Page - Strategic Partnerships

            Latest Agricultural Findings

            Environmental Sites

           

           

Testimonials

Research Documents

            Graphs and Charts

Firewalls

Search Engine Software

Awards and Contests

Fax link through site

Internet Telephony

Forms

            Price sheet

            Order Sheets

            Capture of Information of Prospects

            Credit and Banking

            Money Transfer Procedures

Bios

            Written

            Audio  

            Video

Creating entry portals

            Mauitopia

            Strategic Exchanges

            Bulletin Boards

Tracking of contacts and sales against forecasts

Chat Room

 

Strategic Tasks

 

Design Look

Email Marketing Program

Posting on the Trade Boards

Research

Cross-linking

Search Engine

Defining Target Markets

Positive Customer Perception Factors

            Product/Service Features

            Quality

            Image/Style

            Social image

Print ads to point to site

Promotion Kits

 

Information for background knowledge

 

Competition

            Strength and Weaknesses

Market size and segments

Costs and prices breakdown

What is new

What is better

Underserved and new markets

Integration

General Trends in industry

Strategic Opportunities in industry

Technological Changes in Industry

Regulations and Certification

Barriers to Entry

Trends

Product Advantages

Price

            Volume Discounts

            Seasonal rates

            Value-added Special Services

            Optimal Internet Price Structure

            Bundling

            Right Rate of Growth

           

Procedures to Create Site

 

Design Intensives

Server Information

 

Search Engine Information

 

Opportunities in industry

Technological Changes in Industry

Regulations and Certifications

Information for background knowledge

 

Costs and prices breakdown

Underserved and new markets

Integration

General Trends

Strategic Opportunities in industry

Technological Changes in Industry

Regulations and Certification

Trends

Product Advantages

Price

            Volume Discounts

            Value-added Special Services

            Optimal Internet Price Structure

            Bundling

            Right Rate of Growth

              

Procedures to Create Site

 

Design Intensives

 

Some of the areas we will need to develop detailed plans around during this phase include the following:

 

1. Evaluating your existing image in the  marketplace
2. Defining your desired image for the marketplace
3. Identifying the goals and objectives of our Internet efforts
4. Defining our intended audience(s)
5. Determining strategies and tactics to achieve our online goals
6. Evaluating the business opportunity
7. Identifying sources of information and content
8. Determining messages for your audience(s)
9. Defining criteria and methods for evaluating your effectiveness
10. Identifying risks
11. Identifying the contacts of authority and an approval process how to handle uncertainty and how to prioritize our requirements
12. System requirements -- what the Web site should offer and do
13. Interface requirements -- how it should look
14. Data requirements -- databases your Web site might use, registration or authentication it might require
15. Support requirements and content schedule  -- what's needed to operate, maintain, and update the site
16. Business processes and workflow -- procedures for productively using or maintaining the site
17. Risk analysis -- risk areas worthy of close attention
18. Outsourcing -- how and where hiring out can help
19. Effort estimate, including dependencies and tradeoffs -- our time-to-market, factors that affect it, and resources we will need to meet it.

 

Website Marketing and Promotion Basic Tasks

 

Develop an On-going Internet Marketing Action Plan

Search Engines

Announcements to targeted e-mail lists and newsgroups

Include your website address in all communications with customers and prospects.

Internet marketing plan should be totally integrated with other marketing efforts.

          Business cards

          Advertising

          Billboards

          Storefront signs

          Your web site address should be on every piece of paper that your customers see.

Include a signature file on all your e-mail messages.

Be sure to use your full website address (http://www.awevideo.net, not www.awevideo.net).  Some e-mail programs will hypertext your website address allowing the user to click on it and go right to our website.

 

· Researching the WWW for strategic sites to place your links, including: specialty directories, malls, bulletin boards, yellow pages, classifieds and complementary sites.

 

· Press releases into the 1200 national news mediums detailing the web site.

 

· Establishment of the LinkExchange (LE) program. Visitor tracking service detailed on a daily basis. Co-op advertising throughout the LE network (100,000 web sites)

 

· Newsgroup Posting - There are over 15,000 USENET Newsgroups and many are comprised of people who would like to hear about your product or service. Researching the Newsgroup universe and identifying those that are relevant to your site.

 

· Research and recommendation of targeted e-mail lists to purchase

 

· 25,000 (additional 25,000 blocks are $300) banner advertisements placed throughout the LE network for a one month period

 

· E-mail Discussion List Participation - There are thousands of e-mail discussion lists discussing thousands of topics. Participation in discussions on these lists provides exposure for you and your web site to a well-defined and highly targeted community.

Criteria

 

·     User-friendly - Common template appearance making display of products user-friendly.

·     Products sorted by category - Product specific categories can be listed as line-by-line, single item search, or browser method display.

·     Search feature - Search by product code, category description, like-name user search, etc.

·     Database driven - Product descriptions are maintained in an individual customer database with pointers to specific, changeable image files.

·     Easily updateable - Easy to use online edit function displays each item with description

      and image. Descriptions can be changed instantly online and images can be FTP

      uploaded for an immediate change. Client can make changes or add or delete     products

      online and real time.

·     Secure Socket Layers (SSL) encryption for sensitive credit card information.

·     Automation - Automatically figures taxes, shipping, and discounts, if applicable.

·     Email notification - Orders are automatically emailed to selected address.

·     Order numbers - Assigns a unique order number for ease of tracking.

·     Payment options - Customer may choose payment options.

 

 

Local-based currency - Issued on the local resources - The local set-up kit and manual.

MD..XL..

 

Holomids - Design of a structure to contain the path of humanity. Diamond Rings. Begin with a ring of four. Four that agree to

share energies and resources with the whole. Join with 12 more for 16. U&! instant re-emergence of  Laborization of 400 trillion.

Seed Matrix. - From this create the superstructure. It does not matter if this is completely rendered obsolete.

Imagine each of these are huge gateways into another way of life, another seed of organization.

 

We must think in another way to understand this new type of form. You can convert any kind of resource you want into an holo, holoing. We then liquadate the currency by returning it.....we then issue holos with a fair Whole-Basket market value. We  begin where we are. As we initiate others we will unite with other rings. Join together. Inititate an

alignment with each other. Every time you do that your personal power and our collective power will increase.

Holomid is a healing works.

 

MD..XL.. Movement Generating the Motion

        Multi'Dimensional XChange Link

        Holo'Midal Energies

        Revenue Sharing Gift Pools -

        Dimensional Rings -

        Diamonds and Rings

        Structural Transmutation

        Royalty Notes

        Free Marketers

        Membership Unit Warrants

        Key-Holders

        Pre-Launch Notes

        Key-Holder Positions

        World Servers Group of Freentrepreneurs

Mutual Exchange Network Gift Club

www.muten.net

Muten Gift Club

What is a Gift Club?

Copy for The Site
 

Your Videos of ___________________ for sale Through Our Awe Video Network.

We will put your ________ video on the net, for viewing by thousands of prospective customers all over the country and the world, 24 hours a day! It couldn't be easier. And we have so many other benefits!

Beat your competition for the attention of the serious prospective ____________ buyers and owners out there! While the customers are waiting for the competition's regular videotapes to land in their mailboxes, they can view YOURS immediately, any time of day, from any computer with Internet access!

Google Wealth Pyramid

The fortunate thing about the Internet is that you can guarantee yourself a certain level of traffic, and certain profitability. This is usually impossible with many other businesses - but not the Internet. Here, is one sure-fire way of not only guaranteeing your profits, but pyramiding them, starting right now.

We shall proceed step-by-step.

1. Monthly unique users: Analyze your server log files using a good server log analysis software package that can tell you how many unique users come to your web site every month. Some web hosting service providers already give you log file analysis. Ask your web hosting provider whether they do. If your provider does not, download one from Download.com. For our example here, let us assume that you get 1,000 unique users a month.

2. Number of sales per month: Next, you need to find out how many sales you make per month on average. This is the number of units that you sell, not the sales value in dollar terms. For our example here, let us assume that you sell 50 units per month of whatever product or service it is that you sell.

3. Conversion ratio Calculate your conversion ratio by dividing your monthly unique users by your monthly sales units and converting that into a percentage. In our example, that is 50 divide by 1000 multiplied by 100 which is equal to 5%.

4. Next, write down your gross profit on sales units. For example, if you sell downloadable software for $80 per unit, and your per unit costs are $15, then your gross profit per unit of sales is $65.

5. Now you know that for every 100 people that visit your web site, five percent of them by something on your web site that has an average value of $65 and that brings you a gross profit of $65 x 5 = $325. This means that you can afford to spend a maximum of $3.25 per visitor if you were to pay someone to bring you visitors to your web site ($325 divided by 100).

6. Find out what keywords people used to search for your web site. Again, analyze your server log files to find out what keywords were used to find you. That kind of information is there. Also, go to http://inventory.overture.com and see what keywords related to your web site are popular.

7. Go to Google.com and click on the Ad Words Select link. More than 150 million times a day, people use Google to find what they're looking for. You can buy adverts on Google that appear whenever your chosen keywords are searched for. You pay only when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times it's shown. And from our research above, you know the maximum you can afford to pay and remain profitable. In our example, that was $3.25 per click (per visitor). Google's system is very easy. Set up your ads, select the keywords you wish to have them appear, and select the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click. Often, you will discover that you need far less than your maximum amount - perhaps just $0.07 to $0.80 per click, meaning your profitability is high. To increase your ads effectiveness, make an ad for each keyword and place that keyword in the title of your ad. For example, if you are buying an ad for the keyword 'wedding gowns' make a specific ad for that keyword and make sure that your ad title contains the words 'wedding gowns' so that the user mentally associates it with a good find.

8. As soon as you are all set up, your ads start running within minutes! You can do this in the next 30 minutes! And your card is only charged after you reach your pre-selected daily limit, so you actually get started without having to place any money up front. A true no cash down start!

9. You are guaranteed profits if you did your calculations correctly in the steps above. And as your money rolls in, increase your daily limit on Google until you reach the maximum point for your keyword. For example, you may find that your keywords are being searched for 9,000 times a day but initially you can only afford to pay for 500 clicks a day. As your profits roll in, increase your daily spending on the ads until you reach the 9,000 a day limit. Then, increase your keywords to cover other related areas. For example, if you are selling wedding gowns, the keywords 'bridal registry' may also be good for you. When you have fully exhausted Google, move to the other big fish of the pay-per-click game: Overture.com (formerly GoTo.com). Repeat the same process there. You may also do well to look at services such as www.keyword-bid-optimizer.com and www.gotoast.com. These services will save you considerable time and money and point you to may good pay per click engines.

10. As the money rolls in and you keep pyramiding the advertising as we have seen above, it will be time to move on to ezine ads. Find newsletters and ezines that run articles related to your site's topic. Contact their owner and see whether you can run advertising on these newsletters. Ads in ezines usually have a very good return because they are targeted at people with a keen interest in the subject, people who have gone as far as to subscribe to the ezine. Pennmedia.com lists all newsletters that accept advertising and also places ads in them for you. Other similar services and sites include Postmaster Direct, e-zinez.com, liszt.com, ezinestoday.com, ezine-universe.com, and topezineads.com.

There you have it - a way to start from nothing and pyramid your wealth by pyramiding advertising that can be specifically calculated. If you would like to know more, see The Complete Internet Marketing Outline and other titles at http://www.ImagesOfOne.com.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZING

The Food Script

The Food Script has well over 8000 different IP addresses that exhibit crawling behavior in their database. Other software ARE two or three times more expensive than the Food Script and do exactly the same thing.

The biggest factor in using The Food Script is that John Heard is a well-known public figure. He writes for the Planet Ocean Newsletter. He regularly speaks around the globe at search engine conferences in support of cloaking. He's one of the premier people in the business. There are also many fortune 500 companies that rely on his software and expertise. So you can't go wrong when you're in the company of genius. John's company has also given great customer support in the past. I tested the waters with some search engine related questions, and I received detailed answers explaining why something was happening. Not simple yes and no answers.

To me, a very good indication of what customer service is going to be like is in the treatment of a stranger asking questions by e-mail. A couple of the other companies didn't even respond to my e-mail. I certainly wouldn't give them my business in the future.

The Main Reasons to use The Food Script

• People steal pages and entire sites.
• We also want to have an optimized home page for each search engine. With so much emphasis on the home page these days, it's almost impossible to have one design that works well in all engines.
• We can give the customer a very design friendly site and optimize it for ease of use. We can increase the sales message in our ad copy and focus on the conversion ratios, not worry about how the wording will affect the search engines. We could even move to a frame based site for what the visitor sees and feed the search engine something totally different, without sacrificing either keyword placement or design elements.
• Bottom line is that we no longer have to write our HTML to the constraints of the search engines. As technology has progressed to active server pages, dynamic content, JavaScript, PDF and Flash, the engines have done little in their efforts to spider and index such content. Now we can give the search engines the basic HTML they want, and give our customers the rich interactive experience they want, without sacrificing either.

We are really limited in what you can do in terms of design, if we DON'T have the Food Script.

Setting Up The Software

The actual script is easy. John Heard has a really easy set up guide. Basically it's like a quick guide. It takes you through it step by step. It tells you what lines of code in the script that you need to modify and what each modification does. I read the guide and had a complete understanding of how the software worked in about 20 minutes. To make the changes to the script took only a couple more minutes. Safe to say that most people could read the guide, install the script, and double check that everything is working properly in under an hour.

The only legwork we have to do is contact our hosting company. We'll need to answer a couple of questions on how their server is configured before you can get the software up and running properly. If your host provider is any good, they'll get back to us within the hour, or at least that same business day.

Setting up the software is actually the easy part. Once the script is installed the real work begins. For every page you want to run the script on, you'll need to copy and paste that page ten times, then modify each of the ten pages for ten different search engine technologies. So you'll need 10 versions of your home page and any other page that you want to run the Food Script on. Your five-page web site becomes a 50-page web site, and so on.

It is a time consuming task for a big web site, but it's relatively easy to throw manpower at it considering the many benefits. It's easy to create a batch file those copies and renames all the pages and directories for you. Then you can optimize and tweak individual pages as time and priority permits. But at least your publicly accessible code gets protected immediately. It is a very basic script and once you read the quick guide, it's fairly easy to install.

We also get a one-year free subscription to the IP Alert when we purchase the Food Script. It's not like a newsletter; it's a file containing a list of all the spiders that are crawling the web. In my opinion, the IP Alert is one of the greatest benefits of owning the Food Script instead of other cloaking software. They have a huge network of spider traps. The moment any IP address exhibits a crawling behavior, it is identified, the crawler list gets updated, and out comes the Alert. Usually it all happens within 24 hours.

Other owners of the script also gave good tips and advice. It's quite a good community.

The Food Script allows us to optimize our pages for the search engines, while at the same time not limiting your customers to the design constraints of search engine technology. It is definitely the way to go. We can do a much better job of site navigation using visual symbols, colors and graphics. We no longer have to be stuck in text link land because that's all the engines reward you for. When I can stop worrying about the search engines and design for the human experience, the Internet becomes a friendlier and more engaging place. I can focus more on the message and make people feel more comfortable about making a purchase, not about keyword densities and search engine limitations.

Our HTML code is protected. $995 allows us to protect $8,000 or more worth of investment in optimization secrets. Without the Food Script, somebody can just come along, copy and paste our top scoring HTML code, cloak it, shove it into a 48 hour spider, or paid spidering system, and start kicking our butt in the search engines using your very own page.

Serving up pages without protection these days is just plain dumb. I won't take on any client that won't protect themselves. It's like not locking the door to your home. But the Food Script is far more than just a lock; it's like having a mansion of rooms (one for each search engine), a big nasty dog, a metal safe, an alarm system and an insurance policy too.

Here's what the Food Script can do

1.     Protect your html code from theft

2.     Stop competitors from using your code against you

3.     Serve keyword pages optimized to each search engine technology

4.     Serve graphically rich "common" pages to the public

5.     Update information on your pages without affecting positioning

6.     Increase your conversion ratios through better communication

7.     Increase your sell through ratios through better human experience

8.     Break yourself free from search engine design limitations

How Does The FoodScript Work?

Every computer connected to the Internet has a unique number that identifies it from all the other computers connected to the Internet. It's known as an IP address.

It's similar to the address where you live, it's unique. It makes sure postal mail gets to you instead of someone else. The search engines also have IP addresses that they operate from, just like any machine with a dedicated Internet connection.

When a spider, crawler or browser requests an HTML page from a server, It announces itself and makes a request. The machine making the request states, "I'm IP address 123.456.789.123 and I'm requesting your index.html page." On a normal web site the request is granted and the index page is served. What happens on a cloaked site is very different.

The cloaking software doesn't just serve up a page with no questions asked. It quickly looks into a list of IP addresses to find out if the IP address of the machine making the request is a known search engine spider or not.

If the requesting IP address does NOT appear in the list of known search engines, the request is considered to be a human just like you or me, sitting in front of our computer, innocently surfing the web with a normal browser.

If the IP address IS a known search engine, the cloaking software quickly identifies which one and serves it a custom designed web page. The spider gets fed a web page that was optimized specifically for it.

This means when a Hotbot IP address makes a request, it gets shown the Hotbot page. When an AltaVista spider makes a request, it gets shown the AltaVista page. When you or I, or anyone else makes a request, we get shown the "common" page.

This "common" page does not need to be optimized for the search engines. It is free from any design constraints and if someone steals the HTML code from your common page, they are getting what you have chosen to serve and show the public. They do not get the HTML code that got you to the top of the search engines.

My Conversation With Paul Edwardson

The first thing that I needed to do was to be sure that cloaking software would be ok with several hosting companies. I checked various hosting agreements and didn't see any reference to cloaking or IP delivery software.

I asked Paul if his company supports cloaking and he maintains an attitude of ambivalence, neither liking or disliking the idea. Paul said, "Cloaking software is no different in nature than bulk e-mailer software. You can either use it to spam people or send a monthly newsletter to your permission based opt-in subscribers. Cloaking and bulk mailers are both very powerful tools, it all depends on how they are used."

Although Paul does not have an official policy posted on his site at the time of this writing, he says, "So long as the software is being used in an ethical manner, delivering relevant content, he doesn't have a problem with people using IP Delivery software on his servers, neither should any webmaster. If it helps optimize your pages while protecting the HTML code that's fine. Just so long as the person is not spamming or delivering unrelated content."

I uploaded the Food Script for Paul to look at, and he said the software will work fine on his servers. He said, "It would be easy to install, any 'tech head' could do it."

On most servers, "Any hosting account from a Basic Version on up will work, so long as you have your own cgi area. You should be able to get the software running on your own, if not, it looks like there's extensive help from Beyond Engineering."

- Paul Edwardson is a webmaster, self proclaimed CGI guru, and owns a privately held hosting company in San Francisco, California.

My Conversation With John Heard

My first mission with John was to find out how easy the software would be to use and what kind of help was available. After all, tech stuff and servers are not my forte.

John explained, "There are detailed step by step instructions and screen snap shots to assist you in installing the software. If you try installing it and can't get it going, my people will go so far as to FTP into your server to see what you've done." They'll do everything they can to get you up and running.

Whether you need help or not, depends on your area of expertise. If you run the server and are comfortable installing scripts, you are the type of person that his tech support people usually deal with.

If you are a business owner, a designer or writer (like me), your web master - the person that looks after your servers - should be able to install the script for you.

(By the way, the documentation was good. I didn't mind reading it. It was a very good experience. It gave me a clear idea on how to name my files and where to store them on the server to make the Food Script work. But when it came time to install and edit the actual CGI code, I slipped my webmaster a few bucks and let him do it. :)

John strongly suggests that you try and install the software yourself, and only if you run into a stumbling block to ask for assistance. If they install it for you, you won't understand how the software works. If you install it yourself, even though you might run into a few snags, at least you'll fully understand it.

John will answer your support questions either over the phone or in the support forums. They deal with all sorts of people at various technical levels. At the very least you'll need to read the documentation so you'll know how to name your web pages and where to store them.

Once you have the software installed, that's when the real work begins. Think of cloaking as a multidimensional web site. You'll eventually have ten different versions of the same site. So where you once had a 5-page web site, you'll now have a 50-page site. 10 different versions of the same 5-page site. One cloaked site for each major search engine technology.

I asked John about public statements by companies like Google, that say cloaking is spamming. John said, "It's the word 'cloaking' they are equating with the word 'spam'. Even though the pages that are being shown to the search engines and the pages that are being shown to the humans are NOT spam, they are still saying that the word 'cloaking' is synonymous with spam."

Sure enough, if you mention cloaking to a search engine technician, the hair on their neck stands up, they stomp their feet and fling dust into the air. If you say, "I provide highly relevant content delivery specific to a particular browser's interest." Well alrighty, that's ok then. They'll nod their heads in agreement. They like it. It's not even an issue then.

What about my favorite shareware download site? It knows I'm on a Mac and only shows me Mac stuff. Windows users get a VERY different page. Is this cloaking or spam? Yes, according to their definition, any time two people - or human and spider - see the same page a different way, it's spam.

This brings up the issue of personalization software that remembers what you purchased on your last visit to a web site. It might say, "Hi Michael, last month you bought these books, might we suggest these? " This page - when spidered - will look different to a search engine, so technically it's spam.

Where are the lines drawn? It's a very hard to determine thing. Is it spam or not? The search engine company might think so. And its difficult to know where all this is going to lead.

John told me, "There are so many things you can do that are spam free. For example, a lot of people use a left hand menu with images, which is great for people, but lousy for search engines. On the search engine page you can replace that imagemap with text links that contain keyword data. It's a little thing that can make a big difference in search engine positioning."

So you could feed the search engines very basic HTML, like nothing more than page title, headline tags and paragraphs of text. No graphics or font tags or style sheets, just real basic stuff, so they index every single word on the page. Every single word on the page has a specific purpose of building just the right theme and keyword density.

John says, "The real issue or question for the search engine companies is, 'How far can we deviate from the human content versus the search engine content?' That's the big question. Google and Inktomi are discussing the issue right now. Exactly how much difference can there be between what their spider sees and what a human sees?"

I agree with John that these things should be posted as a matter of policy. Surely a search engine company should be able to make an official post on their web site as to what constitutes spam.

But that's the major issue, most search engines don't have a policy. It's being determined by the search engineers on a case-by-case basis, whenever they have a need to review a site. It's vigilante vengeance at its finest.

John has been trying to get definitions from them, since instances of what the human sees and what the spider sees are all over the place. "What about sites that have dynamically generated news and weather information. If a spider comes and indexes the page, then comes back 10 minutes later, the page will be different." How true indeed.

So if the search engines do make a filter that compares content, there will be all sorts of legitimate pages getting caught in it and filtered out. A narrow filter would catch any site with active content, a broad filter would catch heavy spammers only. It all depends on how they are going to approach the issue of what is spam and what isn't.

Bottom line, should you cloak or not? IP Delivery is a controversial and very powerful tool. You have to be very careful how you use it. My personal opinion regarding cloaking? Be fair, honest and ethical. Do not spam. Do not steal pages from other web sites. Cloaking can be a good or evil. It all depends on how you use it.

Like I said in one of my earlier rants, one of my so called friends noticed I was high in the search engines for a particular product. Being too lazy to write his own ad copy, he copy and pasted my web page into his and is now competing with me to sell the same product, using my very own words! But what's surprising is how many people are taking it a step further.

Not only do they steal your page, they then cloak it, so you don't know they've stolen it. Then they compete against you in the search engines using your very own page. When you click on their link in the search engine, you're directed to the thief's "common" page. But in reality the search engine - through cloaking - is being fed what used to be your top scoring page. Yes, be concerned... this is happening every day!

Now what if they subscribe to one of those services where the search engine will come and re-spider their page every 48 hours? They steal your page, cloak it, tweak it slightly and come out ahead of you in the search engine, within 48 hours. Pretty sickening I agree, but that's just a sampler of what's going on out there.

John tells me the number one reason people are calling him is that they are tired of people ripping off their code. There's a lot of page theft going on. There's even reports of search engine optimization firms and pay per click companies engaging in this stealing and cloaking of pages.

So is it safe to use cloaking software? John says, "I've used the Food Script Software as a webmaster since 1995 and have never had a single one of my domains banned." John further suggests you can stay out of trouble by following these two simple rules:

1) "If you go down the wrong end of IP Delivery and try to mislead somebody, or get irrelevant, or if you use content that is not your own, then you're just asking for trouble. If you use cloaking software to protect stolen pages, it's not going to help you either. Sooner or later you will get caught."

2) "If you use your own original content, that is totally relevant to the search phrase, and you're giving the user of the search engine exactly what they're looking for, without misleading them or taking them down the wrong path in any way, then you're helping the search engine, the user of the search engine, and your company."
-- John Heard is the president of Beyond Engineering, creator and maintainer of the Food Script IP delivery software.

The Building Blocks of an Internet Publishing System

An Internet Publishing System has at least four major components: the Information System, the Maintenance System , the Ordering System, and the Monitoring System.

The Information System is the set of Internet server applications that serves information to potential customers across the Internet, track individual usage of the publication, and provides the additional support for transaction processing

The Maintenance System is the set of tools and processes that translate information from internal corporate information databases to the Internet on a continual basis.

The Ordering System takes requests for product orders from customers on the Internet and inserts them into internal corporate order processing systems.

The Monitoring System provides feedback to the corporation on the usage of the Internet Information System, the demographics of its users, and the desirable directions for enhancements to the Internet publication.

Internet Publishing System Architecture

Requests for information (user input) flows from the Internet customer to the Internet Information System. If that request is a product order that information is passed onto the Internet Ordering System and eventually to the Order Processing department.

The usage of the Information System (and the Ordering System) are passed to the Internet Monitoring System. This system generates reports that are passed on to Marketing and Sales. New information is constantly being uploaded from Production through the Internet Maintenance System to the Internet Information System so the latest information can always be provided to the Internet customer. Understanding the details of this architecture requires a quick review of how the Internet is used. Implementing this architecture also requires a brief overview of the physical components of Internet connection.

Our Design Philosophy

Information - Innovation - Investment - Velocity

Bottom Line: Different people see the world differently. Some people are more visual, others need to hear it, and others need a lot of analysis. In working with clients, we strive to create web presentations that give your customers what they want. If they want a lot of text: we make it easy for them to find it. If they want pictures, we'll give them that too. The bottom line is, put people first. Technology second. That's our philosophy in a nutshell. Details, for those who choose to read, follow:

Information: Once the world's information truly is at everybody's fingertips, the only thing that will distinguish the rich and powerful from the merely struggling is what's in their heads - the knowledge of what information to call for and how to put it to work. Knowledge is what makes mere information valuable. When we talk about the new economy, we're talking about a world in which people work with their brains instead of their hands. As a result, people and business increasingly demand immediate access to, secure storage and flexible delivery of information to effectively communicate and compete in the new world order. Information, however trivial and exchanged, not only gives us knowledge, but also affects our beliefs about the world.


Innovation: The only source of sustainable growth. Constant innovation has long been recognized as vital to healthy economies, somewhat less so for individual companies, whose success has often depended on making one great innovation and then milking it. Milking the status quo has little application in the New Economy. In a world in which innovation has become more important than mass production, innovation is the lifeblood pumping through the New Economy.


Investment: In the New Economy, investment buys new concepts or the means to create them, rather than new machines. It takes R&D investment to successfully establish digital ventures to compete effectively in the New Economy. Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe Systems, Intel, and AT&T together commit about $1 billion to online ventures outside their companies. They invest not only to secure their future but also to learn from startups, online marketplaces and new technologies. More succinctly stated: "What's my ROI on e-commerce? Are you crazy? This is Columbus in the New World. What was his ROI?" - Andy Grove, chairman and former CEO of Intel.
Velocity: Velocity to achieve results in a timely and prudent manner. The Internet has narrowed the communication distance gap. In fact, it has vanished. The world is now everyone's customer and competitor. The opportunity -and threat- has never been greater. As time zones are collapsing, the notion of time also is being fundamentally altered. Instant interactivity is critical, and is breeding accelerated change. In a world of instantaneous connection, there is a huge premium on instant response and the ability to learn and adapt to the marketplace in real-time. The Internet has redefined the equation d = vt.

THE E-BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Commerce among businesses on the Internet could grow to more than $300 billion by 2002. Traffic on the Internet is doubling every 100 days.

Innovative enterprises are using the Internet, electronic commerce, and other emerging technologies to build new business models, access new markets, and re-configure the balance of power in entire industries. Someone in your industry is going to profit from e-business. The big question is, will it be you?

Electronic business - using technology to build relationships and commerce globally - is the greatest opportunity for developing new business models for the New Economy, and challenge to existing business models since the industrial revolution. E-business or E-commerce is driving a fundamental reconfiguration of every industry. Customers have more choice than ever before. Relationships are being changed, distribution channels exploded, and channel conflict is increasing. The survivors of the evolution of the industrial revolution will be those that leverage technology and innovative digital solutions to increase the value of their customer, partner, and supplier relationships.


We are an Internet system integration specialist, which focuses its high-level consulting services to help innovative organizations identify and implement digital initiatives to enhance top line revenue growth. We focus exclusively on Internet and electronic commerce technologies and services, which include determining how businesses can best use the Internet to reach customers and personnel, creating back-end systems that connect a client's legacy applications to the Internet, authoring new applications to enable online sales, and designing attractive and functional Web sites. Our intelligent service model pilots clients through a collaborative, iterative process that encourages big ideas while mitigating the risk in developing, testing and implementing those ideas. Our unique professional services approach intricately fuses business strategy, interactive design and technology implementation to quickly move clients from insight to action.


DIGITAL DESIGN STUDIO

We define "good design" as the effective visual communication of an intended message to a target audience.

We excels at identifying target audiences, helping clients focus on their intended message and developing conceptual & engaging creative visuals.

At the core of our competency is our creative ability to foster and generate interaction between a piece of visual communication and its intended audience.

We craft visual imagery that strategically SELL messages, ideas, products, services & brands using fundamental design principles & the inherent technological attributes of the communication medium - print | CD-ROM | web.



BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES


Risk and reward aren't so simple anymore. Old methods of modeling business opportunity have been re-worked to apply to the New Economy. Leading businesses of today are following new rules of the New Economy: lifetime customer value; laws of increasing return, value chain disintermediation and other dynamic models which are driving fundamental change. Accordingly, creating business models for the emergent digital world requires a complex set of disciplines that includes business strategy, interactive design and technology implementation. Our professionals collectively draw on a diverse wealth of experiences and skills to efficiently and effectively provide value to our clientele by developing interactive digital solutions that may include or strategically relate to:

• Developing business plans
• Modeling of pro-forma financials
• Planning of operations facilities and personnel resources
• Researching optimal practices and benchmarks
• Writing and presenting case studies
• Analyzing competitors, industries and market trends

VALUE DESIGN COMPONENTS

We are builders of digital businesses. The digital businesses we build together add value to our client's organization by helping our clients make their mark by creating their digital brand or by extending their existing brand into the digital world. The successful implementation of a digital business model also allows our clients to develop stronger relationships with their customers, partners, and suppliers.

We create a customized work architecture for each engagement that weaves three distinct competencies together to frame and drive toward a creative and business-centered solution. The success of strategy, design, and technology fusion is demonstrated through our value design component-based and field-proven service model. Our value design components are targeted to the client's agenda and the pressing questions each face. We seek to develop long-term digital solutions that will enhance our client's organization and overall market position by employing the strategic evaluation of the following digital design components in the development of each client's digital business model:

• IDENTITY DESIGN
• INTERFACE DESIGN
• WEB DESIGN
• DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN
• PRODUCT DESIGN
• RETURN ON INVESTMENT DESIGN

PROCESS

Virtually every business is struggling with e-business and looking for experienced talent to help them more effectively compete in the New Economy. Our hands-on an interactive process has been developed to:

• Collectively define with our client their e-business strategy
• Implement e-business systems and digital technology solutions
• Mitigate the risk of deploying emerging technologies
• Continually enhance and extend their tailor-made digital solutions

Phase 1: Clarification
Together with the Client, we clearly define the Project and collectively establish digital communications objectives relating to same. Phase 1 will focus on a rigorous process of inquiry and analysis resulting in a comprehensive needs assessment, including identifying challenges facing the Client and its customers. At the end of this phase, we will prepare clearly stated objectives, a strategy by which to achieve them, and a high-level Project plan.

Phase 2: Architecture
During Phase 2, we define the solution in terms of functions, features, technologies, branding, and design. In doing such, there will be a collective exploration of ideas, options, and concepts. Thereafter, we test and refine the concept and overall structure of the solution. At the end of this phase, we will present its creative and technical directions, along with a functional requirement document.

Phase 3: Design
Based on Client participation and feedback, we design and adjust the entire solution. This process includes content development, user interface design, technology design, and marketing plan. At the end of this phase, we deliver a functional system prototype. We also conduct usability and/or market tests and make necessary adjustments during this phase.

Phase 4: Implementation
During Phase 4, we build the system identified under Phase 3. Critical quality assurance and beta testing also are conducted during this phase to ensure the integrity of the system design. Prior to launch we se proven methods to test the code that is developed and the user interface. Beyond the implementation of the Client's solution, we perform supporting online and/or off-line marketing, client staff training, and develop maintenance documentation.

Phase 5: Enhancement
Following the system launch under Phase 4, we are committed to working with the Client to continue to analyze and monitor the performance of the Project system against the Client's objectives as defined at the onset of the Project. ensure that focus is maintained on increasing the value of the Client's digital solutions, including providing recommendations on third-party technologies that may effectively augment the digital solutions and overall Project system. It is understood that should the Client wish to employ any such third-party technologies that the cost of implementation, including applicable licensing fees, is the sole responsibility of the Client.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

With the explosive growth of the Internet and the potential of media channels such as digital television, digital cable, IP-satellite, and other distribution modality, content is rapidly becoming the principle currency of global business and media. Moreover, the forces of convergence melding together digital distribution mechanisms, businesses and consumers, will benefit from greater choice, richer interaction, new commerce opportunities, and new forms of communication and entertainment. Now more than ever, convergence is forcing content management to be the watchword for the new millennium, and the corresponding financial stakes are huge.

• The ability to repurpose content for delivery over multiple distribution channels with optimization for different bandwidth limitations.
• Scalability will be a crucial factor in tomorrow's multimedia applications. The networks of tomorrow will be composed of many different distribution channels, from high-speed satellite links to low-bandwidth modem connections. In addition, people will use a much wider range of devises to connect to distributed applications, including PCs, digital televisions, online kiosks and numerous mobile devices. Each will have varying display capabilities. Effectively managed convergence applications will need to be transparently scalable and capable of delivering content in the right resolution and in the proper format.
• Appropriate levels of security and scalable quality of service.
• Most business critical applications like e-commerce and online transaction processing are affected by issues of access, confidentiality and integrity. As such, four major security requirements need be addressed:
  • Data Confidentiality - ensures that the contents of sensitive programs, files and transactions are disclosed only to authorized personnel;
  • User Authentication - computer systems rely on user authentication to verify the identity of a user requesting access;
  • Non-repudiation - ensures that personnel does not have the ability to deny having sent a message, or a written document, particularly when it relates to a business transaction with high associated financial value or to competitive confidentiality; and
  • Data Integrity - prevents anyone from changing the contents of a program, file or transaction.
• Convenient and intuitive access to personalized content.
• Convergence is bringing new media and services to customers who have little or no experience with computers or the Internet. New devices with embedded microprocessors promise to bring intelligent functionality to a wide range of home and office appliances. As computing becomes increasingly pervasive, access to content must become more specialized and transparent to the end users.
• A means to track usage of content for billing and research.
• Billing must become an integral part of the process of distribution, and not just an administrative afterthought. In addition, since a variety of businesses may play a role in the distribution of content over public networks, new schemes will have to be devised for compensating both content providers and the companies that provide the infrastructure. Today's billing systems also must be flexible enough to handle real-time, online transactions and must take into account new technologies, some of which have not yet been developed. The billing system must therefore be planned, managed and implemented extremely carefully.
• Robust interoperability across diverse systems and networks.
  • Today's Internet is already plagued by enormous integration challenges. The entry of broadcasters and telecommunications companies into the mix will only add to the complexity and variety of the electronic marketplace. Object Oriented software environments, advance directory services and/or active networks will likely ameliorate current integration problems.
• The ability to provide links across the content lifecycle, from creation to management to distribution.
• Ultimately, no multimedia or digital distribution solution will be effective unless it includes the ability to create vital links between media production tools, content management solutions and digital distribution channels.
• Streaming audio and video to facilitate video conferencing, distance learning, Electronic Downloading Software or other Web-based media delivery services.
• Streaming media is data that can be distributed and processed as a steady and continuous stream. This technology has been very useful for transmitting media over the Internet, where bandwidth limitations prevent users from downloading files quickly. Applications that understand the streaming format can start to display the data before the entire file has been downloaded. There are many competing formats for handling streaming media, but they fall essentially into two main caps: formats optimized for the Web and formats used by enterprise videoconferencing applications.
• Intranets to extranets: Linking the enterprise to partners, customers and suppliers.
• Extranets and other network-centric business models link a businesses intranet with those of its partners and suppliers to create new, highly efficient virtual supply and distribution chains. As the Internet forces markets to become increasingly global, competitive and dynamic, companies are undergoing fundamental changes, becoming more information-driven an