CSCI 1951T:

Welcome to CS 1951t!

First class is Thursday, Jan 21, 2021.

Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30 - 11:50 on Zoom (unless specified otherwise)

Professor: David Laidlaw (laidlaw.david@gmail.com)

TA: Ross Briden (ross_briden@brown.edu, cs1951ttas@lists.brown.edu) 

We will be exploring, testing, and evaluating multi-user collaborative virtual reality software that supports data visualization for researchers and scientists.  To guide this exploration, students will select two research projects over the semester pertaining to collaborative VR software and document their findings in the course wiki. The goal of the wiki is to give future VR research developers a way to easily navigate the field, and to identify shortcomings that need to be addressed as the field continues to grow. Furthermore, we hope that this year's research will document and further the state of collaborative multi-user VR software.

Course communications will be through the following slack channel: https://bit.ly/38woKuk 

Prerequisites

While there are no strict prerequisites, programming experience will be useful, especially when following and creating tutorials later in the class. In particular, CS 320 and CS 330 will be particularly useful in this course; knowledge of computer graphics is also recommended, however, not required.

Classwork

• • Editable Link

  • Course Timeline and Homework

  • Journals

  • Ideas for Course Activities

  • Project Ideas

  • Setting Up the Oculus Quest 2

  • Collaborative VR Resources

  • Data Types and Examples

Course Information

• • Syllabus

  • Course Zoom Link 

  • Past course pages: 

    • Spring 2018 – VR Software Review

    • Spring 2019 – VR Data Visualization Tools for Research 

    • Spring 2020 – VR Data Visualization Tools for Research: Hacking the YURT

Templates

• • Templates for creating software evaluations, tutorials, and parent pages

Course Policies

Diversity & Inclusion

Our aim is to provide a welcoming environment to all students who take the class. Course staff have been trained in diversity and inclusion, and all members of the CS community, including faculty and staff, are expected to treat one another in a professional manner. If you feel you have not been treated in a professional manner by any of the course staff, please contact either the instructor, Ugur Cetintemel (Dept. Chair), Tom Doeppner (Vice Chair) or Laura Dobler (diversity & inclusion staff member). We take all complaints about unprofessional behavior seriously. To access student support services and resources, and to learn more about diversity and inclusion in CS, please visit this webpage.

Completing Hours

While there is no strict deadlines for logging hours, the goal is to have 140 hours by the end of the semester, with 10 hours each week as a recommended guideline so that you don't end up getting overwhelmed by an obscene number of hours packed in at the end of the semester.

Laptop Accessibility

We understand that not all students in our class may have access to laptops to complete assignments. In case you need a computer, please email the course staff at cs1951ttas@lists.brown.edu to discuss potential options.