Weekend Coverage, Internet and Laptop

Finally back after a rather long weekend. Was rather enjoyable none the less.

Interestingly enough I got up on stage twice for public speaking, both of which were rather large audiences, one was about a room the size of one of the lecture rooms in DB17, the other room was probably comparable to CLT. Strangely though, I found that getting up there and talking was far easier than the debate.

Internet access where I am currently is rather.. painful. In a black spot simply put so the internet is very temperamental, making it difficult to open basic things such as Gmail or even download file attachments. I haven't even bothered to try and upload a file yet, seeing as I couldn't even get a steady enough connection to actually check my account balance for online banking.

The biggest issue by far though is that my VAIO laptop just crashed. It doesn't seem to want to stay on and keeps powering itself off. At one point it flat out refused to turn on. I managed to get it to power on long enough to get my files for my thesis off as well as a few other files I needed. Right now though, I'm really glad for purchasing the netbook. I had expected the laptop to crash so I'm glad I took that into consideration. When I get back to Townsville I'll have to get it dropped off for repair and figure out whether I try and salvage it, replace it completely, or leave a desktop on campus with remote access from my netbook. Will figure it out when I get back anyway.

During the week, I'll be going up to O'Reiley's and hopefully might talk to some people there to get their views on the before and after of tourist development.

I'm also looking at going up to Paluma sometime during lecture recess to get some photos as a backing to help out with starting my modelling for the project. I really want to get that part of my project started and a fair amount of it done before the end of the semester.

For this week, I've got to finish my BU4061 assessment and also get in contact with Bruce (again) to find out what is happening with the presentations. I've still yet to receive confirmation on where I'm to present. Or even when. I also have to find out if Ian did manage to get an example of a Thesis Proposal for me to look at as well... Hm.

Definitely a lot of work to accomplish over the week. Shall see how I go.

Recent Meeting and Thesis Proposal

Had a meeting with Ian earlier over Skype. Strangely enough, that would've been my actual first time using skype for voice/video chat. Good service on the chance that your connection is stable.

So got some interesting points to look at for my proposal. I've got a good idea of my research plan now and also the scale. I'm just hoping that its not too big.

Main concerns is over the GIS data and modelling everything on top of it. Just depends on how the council makes use of the data, if it's an object file or something which I can easily import into Maya or 3DS Max, would make life so much more easier.

Currently sitting in the car updating while on a drive. Wireless is actually better while in the car then in the house. Haven't experienced one drop out yet.

Tomorrow and over the weekend, there won't be any updates from me as I'll pretty much be unreachable all weekend while I'm at an event, so gotta see what I can do before then. (Hence why netbook + wireless in the car) At least this way I'm not losing time twiddling my thumbs in a car ride.

On the subject of netbooks and wireless broadband sticks - fantastic investment. The best $400 I've ever spent. At some point I wouldn't mind writing up a full review on the netbook just simply because I don't think many people realise how good they really are.

Back on subject of thesis. The way I want to 'start' with my project is ideally when I get back to Townsville to jump into modelling right away. That's going to be one of the tasks that is the most time consuming. There's two options for that; modelling using Google Earth Pro (similar to what is happening with a model of the JCU campus) or doing it through 3DS/Maya and either creating an environment within the application (will be extremely slow due to the volume of polygons in any one scene) OR porting the models into something like a game engine. I just need to make sure I have an environment in which a user can navigate through successfully. The other thing with the game engines is making sure it supports stereoscopic 3D and is direct X 10 enabled.

A few different things to look at, but things to think about none-the-less.

Thesis Proposal

Been working on the thesis proposal today... There's a lot more information in there that I need that I really don't have, so will be emailing Ian after this to get some info.

I've decided to format it as per the IT Honours Guide guidelines as it makes more sense to me in terms of data flow and I'll email a copy to Philip to check to see if he is happy to keep it the same or if he wants it to stay strictly with the Business format.

Coming up with all the information in a cohesive manner is.. well, I wouldn't say 'difficult', but not something you can exactly whip up very quickly. I keep going back over things and changing them simply because I'm not satisfied with the level of work/information in there.

The title though... I keep changing the title. Currently I have "Examination of Computer Visualisation Techniques in Tourism and Development Scenarios" but earlier I had "3D Modelling of the Paluma Range for Tourism and Development"... I like the second one more, but I have to run it by my supervisor first. Titles always get me though. Even when writing stories, I take ages when picking titles.

I seriously have to find out what is happening with BU4061 with regards to assessment and Brisbane. I did mention to Philip that I'd be in Brisbane in April, and I've emailed him today about it but still haven't heard back from him. Just a bit worried about the assessment which is due anyway.

Waiting on Bruce to get back to me about Thursday for the presentations as well, so as of yet, I have no idea if I'm presenting or not... Or even where.

I think I may try and get an early night now... Have had a headache all day and either there's something wrong with my screen or I'm seeing double with the text... Doubt it's the screen.

Will have to finish off the proposal tomorrow. *was hoping to get it done today*

Brisbane, EEE PC and Internet

Landed in Brisbane about an hour ago.

Also got an EEE PC (1005P) yesterday. Battery life on it - FANTASTIC! Have yet to charge it again, but has lasted the whole plane ride (playing movies) and about an hour of surfing on wireless while doing a system backup - and it's still going. (With four hours more to go apparently)

I read through the following paper while on the plane: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=833826

Nifty stuff. It's a paper from 1995 and basically talks about Virtual Geographical Information Systems and how it could be used for military operations. At the time, they only had 2D visualisations and the concept of creating it in 3D was very new. Now, its something you can see in pretty much any game. Call of Duty for instance, mini map with building views that corresponds to the surrounding environment.

I've still yet to 'decide' on two other papers for my review. I had two others I was looking at (links in a previous blog) but I found them not to be exactly what I'm looking for. One was about immersive interaction techniques, the other was about 3D Map Building with Stereo Vision. I need to read that second paper more in depth as the maths in there really throws me off so I only really skimmed read it..

I may have mentioned this already but I would really like to get a paper about the 'experience' a person gets out of immersive technology compared to standard viewing, still yet to find anything.

Also have to finish off my thesis proposal draft tomorrow and get that sent off. Hopefully will get that done tomorrow between everything else that's happening.

BU4061: Thesis Proposal Document

Thesis Proposal Document

This document should be a maximum of 6 pages in length. (excluding references) It should consist of:

Page 1

Title page with your name, subject, and proposed thesis title.

To make your title effective as a communication tool please try and link the major independent variable with the key dependent variables and possibly add the context. eg

The influence of colour image enhanced maps on visitor satisfaction for rainforest long walks. OR

Effects of temperature and vegetation on visitor mood in major tourist attractions in X’ian, China.

Page 2 & 3

The next two pages should be a succinct statement of the key references and ideas which shape the project. These references and ideas should be organised hierarchically, that is from the most general concerns and issues to the specific focussed references bearing most directly on your thesis. At this stage 10-20 core references should be shaping your project. For the thesis itself a longer, more expansive discussion of points will be needed. An example of how to present your references is given below, first for a general background reference and secondly for a reference close to and pertinent to your actual study.

Zube (1980) considered the techniques and methods for exploring how people reacted to their immediate physical environment. He pioneered the use of photographic simulation of altered environments to assess people’s attitudes. This work is part of an environmental tradition in studying people and their settings.

Moscardo (2000) explored visitor reactions to a specific tourist environment, the floating pontoon. She found visitors were concerned with safety and temperature of surfaces. Some of the questions about surfaces and physical comfort will be employed in the present research on visitors’ comfort at Chinese tourist attractions.

Page 4

At the end of the 2 pages of references and related comments as above, you should proceed to a fourth page which clearly states the aims or objectives of the project. If you are able to state clear hypotheses then please do so at this point.

An example of page 4 would be:

Aim 1: To explore the preferences and comfort levels of all visitors to well vegetated and less well vegetated major tourist attractions in X’ian, China

Aim 2: To test for preferences and comfort level differences between Chinese and Western visitors to attractions which are well vegetated versus less well vegetated.

Aim 3: To relate physical comfort levels of both Western and Chinese visitors at tourist attractions to overall satisfaction with the attractions.

You should probably have no more than 5 major aims. A detailed set of aims for each demographic or visitor profile variable, would for example, be excessive at this stage.

Page 5

On page 5 you should attempt to specify the measurement or operationalisation of the key variables in your study.

What will you measure and how will you measure it (examples follow the case).

“comfort level” will be defined by a) visitor’s rating of their physical comfort on a 9 point scale and b) by taking measures with a wet bulb thermometer of temperature and relative humidity scores and scoring these measures from thermal comfort charts

“preference” will be operationalised as visitors’ choosing one of four digitally altered photographs of the 2 tourist sites which differ in the amount of vegetation in the waiting and plaza areas of the site.

“Chinese” will be defined as people who state their residence as mainland China

“Western” will refer to people with residence in UK, Europe, United States and Australia.

Page 6

On page 6 you should write a 1 page brief of your proposed procedure. Who will you study, where, how many people or businesses, what will you ask them to do. The page 6 statement should finish with a brief timetable of your planned work. A Gantt chart would be appropriate; that is a grid of activities by the time you will work on each activity.

You should expect to receive feedback on your document within 1 week of submission. Clearly you will need to work with your supervisor to achieve these targets. Good luck with the work.

A statement saying whether or not you will have to complete an Ethics form is a required final item for this document.