From: sressler@dove.nist.gov.ncsl.nist.gov (Sandy Ressler)
Subject: Re: INFO?:  So WHAT IS GOING ON in Washington, DC?
Date: 23 Apr 93 14:28:27 GMT



Well here's some info on what I know is going on in DC. The
Virtual Reality Group of the High Performance Computing and Communications
and Information Technology (HPCCIT) Subcommittee of the FCCSET office, (say
that 5 times fast) is simply a group of government officials, of which
I am a member, that meets once a month to discuss and identify various
federal agencies interests and to formulate recommendation of future policies.

Some of the agencies which participate are DoC/NIST, FBI, OSTP, NIH, NASA,
NSF, and others (no I'm not being secretive). The point of the FCCSET 
committees in general is to coordinate the work in various federal agencies
to avoid duplication and unecessary wasteful work. I think that the moderator's
point asking for how to find out about these activities beside attending
the various conferences is very well taken and I will pursue the various
bureucratic hurdles, if there are any, to posting a more through report
of the VR working group. A report is in preparation and it should be posted
when completed in the June/July timeframe. 

The VR group is struggling now with how to get input from people outside of
government. There are all sorts of bureaucratic regulations concerning
conflict of interest and undue influence which force us, justifiably so, to
be very careful about non-government input. Personally I think the net
might be a good forum.

As to NIST's "Open Virtual Reality Testbed" it is a project I am heading which
is just getting started...so it's no wonder you've not heard of it. We
are initially looking at making a solid connection between the Open Systems
Environment work at NIST and various VR technologies, such as 3D motion
tracking. The role of standards as a mechanism to enable a VR market place
is a major concern. It is a half real project and has minimal short term
funding. We are activly looking for partners to form cooperative R&D
projects, with which we can approach other funding sources.

Hope this info is useful.

Sandy Ressler
sressler@nist.gov