The advent of Internet technologies since decades ago has propelled distance learning drastically. In this modern world, knowledge develops so fast that the amount of intellectual information that needs to be learnt before it becomes obsolete again is so huge. Distance learning through the use of Internet technologies has the advantage of being able to get across the information to the students remotely and effortlessly. The other advantage, which is the main focus of this paper, is that students are able to learn from their instructors on an entirely new media platform-the Internet-enabled and tangible user interface. This paper discusses how to use two main new media: multi-modal Internet technologies, namely remote physical interface and remote augmented reality technology in distance learning.

No abstract

________________________________________________________________________________________This article outlines an overview of new paradigms in social and physical interaction in mixed-reality entertainment. Social and physical interactions are constrained, and thus natural interactions are lost in most current digital entertainment systems. In order to regain natural interactions, we argue that mixed-reality technology has great potential for promoting social and physical interactions. In this article we present five research prototype systems, Magic Land, Human Pacman, Kyoto Garden, Poultry Internet, and Free Network Visible Network (FNVN), to explain methods to regain natural social and physical interactions in mixed-reality entertainment. We believe these systems are part of a new form of entertainment based on physicality, mobility, tangible social interaction, and ubiquitous computing. Some details, benefits, and issues regarding design are discussed.

A real-time system for capturing humans in 3D and placing them into a mixed reality environment is presented in this paper. The subject is captured by nine cameras surrounding her. Looking through a head-mounted-display with a camera in front pointing at a marker, the user can see the 3D image of this subject overlaid onto a mixed reality scene. The 3D images of the subject viewed from this viewpoint are constructed using a robust and fast shape-from-silhouette algorithm. The paper also presents several techniques to produce good quality and speed up the whole system. The frame rate of our system is around 25 fps using only standard Intel processor-based personal computers. Besides a remote live 3D conferencing and collaborating system, we also describe an application of the system in art and entertainment, named Magic Land, which is a mixed reality environment where captured avatars of human and 3D computer generated virtual animations can form an interactive story and play with each other. This system demonstrates many technologies in human computer interaction: mixed reality, tangible interaction, and 3D communication. The result of the user study not only emphasizes the benefits, but also addresses some issues of these technologies.

The advent of Internet technologies since decades ago has propelled distance learning drastically. In this modern world, knowledge develops so fast that the amount of intellectual information that needs to be learnt before it becomes obsolete again is so huge. Distance learningthrough the use of Internet technologies has the advantage of being able to get across the information to the students remotely and effortlessly. The other advantage, which is the main focus of this paper, is that students are able to learn from their instructors on an entirely new media platform - the Internet-enabled and tangible user interface. This paper discusses how to use two main new media: multi-modal Internet technologies, namely remote physical interface and remote augmented reality technology in distance learning.