Rasika Ranaweera

Tworlds: twirled worlds for multimodal 'padiddle' spinning & tethered 'poi' whirling

Modern smartphones and tablets have magnetometers that can be used to detect yaw, which data can be distributed to adjust ambient media. Either static (pointing) or dynamic (twirling) modes can be used to modulate multimodal displays, including 360° imagery and virtual environments. Azimuthal tracking especially allows control of horizontal planar displays, including panoramic and turnoramic imaged-based rendering, spatial sound, and the position of avatars, virtual cameras, and other objects in virtual environments such as Alice, as well as rhythmic renderings such as musical sequencing.

Static and Dynamic Analysis for Web Security in Generic Format

Further to the milestone we achieved in flagging and logging by using generic abstract syntax format, we applied metadata messaging to identify individual node. In order to explore the concept of generic format, we are currently investigating security automaton, event based trigger, and their interference by means of node identification and state transfer. Our objective in web security is to move black box to white box in enterprise practices. In this paper, we explain how our approaches achieve the goal in terms of static and dynamic analysis. To better explain the framework and roadmap of analysis work, we describe our approaches by using macro and micro views individually. Macro view covers analysis of the abstract syntax structure and block identification are the key in flow tracking. Micro view includes node to node interference, the metadata messaging, security automaton we applied, and interoperability between event and node. The logging outputs produced by static analysis can be further developed for dynamic analysis. This bridge the static and dynamic analysis by using tracking and validation techniques. This can also build up the foundation of the web security governance.

Folkways in Wonderland: A Cyberworld Laboratory for Ethnomusicology

In this paper we describe a musical cyber world -- a collaborative, immersive virtual environment for browsing musical databases -- together with an experimental design launching a new sub discipline: the ethnomusicology of controlled musical cyberspaces. Research in ethnomusicology, the ethnographic study of music in its socio-cultural environment, has typically been conducted through qualitative fieldwork in uncontrolled, real-world settings. Recently, ethnomusicologists have begun to attend to the study of virtual environments, including pre-existing cyber worlds (such as video games). However, in this paper, we adopt an unprecedented approach by designing a custom musical cyber world to serve as a virtual laboratory for the ethnographic study of music. By constructing an immersive cyber world suitable for ethno musicological fieldwork, we aim for much greater control than has heretofore been possible in ethno musicological research, leading to results that may suggest better ways of designing musical cyber worlds for research, discovery, learning, entertainment, and e-commerce, as well as contributing towards our general understanding of the role of music in human interaction and community-formation. Such controlled research can usefully supplement traditional ethnography in the real world.

Narrowcasting and multipresence for music auditioning and conferencing in social cyberworlds

We describe a musical cyberworld, Folkways in Wonderland, in which avatarrepresented users can find and listen to selections from the Smithsonian Folkways world music collection. When audition is disturbed by cacophony of nearby tracks or avatar conversations, one’s soundscape can be refined since the system supports narrowcasting, a technique which allows information streams to be filtered. Our system supports two different kinds of sound sources: musical selections and avatar conversation (voice-chat). Narrowcasting for music enables aesthetic focus; narrowcasting for talk enables cognitive focus. The former is required for dense presentation of musical sound, the latter for virtual worlds in which many avatars are expected to be able to interact. An active listener can fork self-identified avatars using a novel multipresence technique, locating representatives at locations of interest, each clone capturing respective soundscapes, controlled using narrowcasting functions {self, non-self} × {select (solo), mute, deafen, attend}. Likewise one can participate in a conference and at the same time join a global tour of music. Our music browser is architected to use MX: IEEE 1599, a comprehensive, multilayered, music description standard. Using our cyberworld as a virtual laboratory, we evaluated the effectiveness of narrowcasting when auditioning music and conferencing. Experimental results suggest that narrowcasting and multipresence techniques are useful for collaborative music exploration and improve user experience. We also got positive feedback from the participants regarding narrowcasting representations, variously based on colors, symbols, and icons.