Virtuosi: Support for Virtual Organisations

Goal

The project is developing two pilot applications that will serve to test and demonstrate aspects of co-operation in a virtual environment. One application is concerned with improving communications within and between a number of cable making factories. The other application is centred in the fashion industry and provides support for designers, retailers and manufacturers in the discussions needed to bring a garment from the initial idea to a finished product that the customer can buy.

The pilot applications are be supported by a number of more general and theoretical activities. The development of the system infrastructure and architecture is an important aspect and, where possible, general principles are being developed that will be applicable to both pilots and to a range of other applications. There will be studies into the best ways to represent people and information in the virtual environment and, again, the results of these studies will be used in the development of both pilots. The project is not just about technology but the ways in which people interact both with the system and with each other. Sociological and psychological aspects of the pilots are being studied both with regard to the development of requirements for the applications and also evaluating the use of systems that are developed in the project.

Project Structure

The project is divided into 6 Workpackages. These are :-

WP1 Factory Pilot

Workpackage leader:

David Leevers, BICC

The Factory Pilot is hosted by BICC. The aim of the Work Package is to apply the concepts arising in Virtuosi to support interactions between people within a a factory or group of factories.

WP2 Fashion Pilot

Workpackage leader:

Stephen Gray, Nottingham Trent University

The Fashion Pilot focuses on the use of multimedia and virtual reality to support the design and manufacture of clothes. The Work Package is developing a system which will enable people located in a number of different places to collaborate on a design and to view the results of their work as a virtual reality model.

WP3 Models and Metaphors

Workpackage leader:

Steve Benford, University of Nottingham

This workpackage is designed to investigate ways of using and interacting within virtual spaces. Currently this workpackage (coordinated by Nottingham) is exploring models of user interaction in virtual environments, techniques for constructing appropriate representations of virtual spaces and methods for visualizing abstract data sets (such as document stores and databases).

WP4 System Infrastructure and Architecture

Workpackage leader:

Michael Rygol, Division Ltd

This Work Package is responsible for defining and implementing the technologies required in the project. These include the virtual environment, the network infrastructure and mechanisms to find people and information.

WP5 Methods

Workpackage leader:

Tom Rodden, University of Lancaster

The use of ethnography (an offshoot of anthropology) to study how people actually work so that appropriate tools can be constructed to support rather than hinder existing work practices with the introduction of new technology. This workpackage will also evaluate some of the prototype systems constructed by the other workpackages.

WP6 Project Management

Workpackage leader:

Alastair Rogers, BT

This Work Package covers the project management activities.

Status

The project is part of the a joint DTI / EPSRC CSCW Programme in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)

The project commenced in October 1993 and will run for 3 years. The total cost of the project over the three years is in the order of £2.5 m of which the government is supplying just under £1m via the DTI and EPSRC.

Support

Funding:

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) along with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Reseach Council, EPSRC (formerly Science and Engineering Research Council, SERC) have recognised the potential business benefits that could accrue to British industry if Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) could be applied more widely to the every day business process. They see that there are opportunities for British computer and communication suppliers in this expanding global market. In order to support the development of CSCW and group working facilities in the UK, the government has proposed a jointly funded programme in which Industry, DTI and SERC funding is combined to support a number of CSCW projects. Proposals for the programme were submitted in February 1993 and the DTI selected eight projects. The total value of the programme including a ninth project which will promote awareness of the programme and the potential applications of CSCW is in the order of £13m of which £5.7m is government funding.

Participants in the programme are drawn from over 40 UK organisations including multi-national companies, small to medium size enterprises, major information technology (IT) and communication suppliers and university researchers. The programme overall will focus on the use of the latest IT to bring about organisational change. Technologies that will be applied will include virtual reality, intelligent electronic mail, mobile communications and many others.

Partners:

The project is led by BT. It has 7 partners: 4 industrial companies and 3 Universities.

Industrial Partners

• BT is the major telecommunications network provider in the UK. BT Laboratories, based at Martlesham, near Ipswich, Suffolk, have a wide experience in the research and development of the technologies that provide the basis for group working. These include data, voice and video communications, user interfaces and distributed systems. BT Laboratories have been involved in research into CSCW issues and have developed real use, prototype and demonstration group working systems. BT's contribution is led by Alastair Rogers who is also the overall Project Manager.
• GPT Ltd is a major UK supplier of digital networks and associated equipment, and a developer of core network applications. The Telecommunications Systems Group are experienced in the development and implementation of Intelligent Networks. The Business Systems Group has developed a multimedia desktop conferencing system which is supported by ISDN. GPT's contribution is led by John Richardson.
• BICC plc is a major UK-based international company comprising Balfour Beatty and BICC Cables. BICC central development has participated in a number of ESPRIT and RACE projects and has extensive experience of managing application pilots of new technologies. BICC's contribution is led by David Leevers who heads BICC's Multimedia Communications Group.
• Division Ltdis a leading supplier of virtual reality systems. They have a range of commercial products including a flexible and open software environment (dVS) for the development of advanced virtual reality applications. Division maintains an extensive programme of research and development, particularly in the development of dVS. Michael Rygol leads Division's involvement in Virtuosi.

Academic Partners

• Lancaster University has an international reputation for excellence in the areas of CSCW, Distributed Systems and Software Engineering. They have established a multi-disciplinary CSCW Centre that has taken part in a number of European research projects. Tom Rodden leads Lancaster's contribution to the project. He is supported by John Hughes, Professor of Social Analysis, who was a co-founder with Tom of the CSCW Centre.
• University of Manchester The Department of Psychology at Manchester was one of the first to be actively involved in CSCW research in Europe. John Bowers, who has been engaged in a number of European CSCW projects, often with colleagues from Lancaster and Nottingham, leads Manchester's contribution to the Virtuosi Project.
  Also working on the project are:-
  • GEC-Marconi Materials Technologies (GMMT) Hirst Division (formerly Hirst Research Centre) is a core research facility that performs R&D fro product companies, including GPT in the GEC group. Research activities include the application of VR technology to network management, shared working environments and vehicle simulations. Hirst is also a leader in related fields such as image compression and speech recognition. GMMT's contribution is led by Vaughan Stanger who has worked in VR, image compression and computer vision for a number of years and leads the VR research group.
  • The Nottingham Trent University have a high reputation in fashion design, clothing and textiles. Stephen Gray acts as a consultant to the project on the Fashion Pilot. He has a wide experience in the application of computer to the clothing industry. He leads a group at NTU researching the use of multimedia and VR to clothing design and manufacture.
  • Nottinghamshire County Council is committed to a strategy of applying new technologies to assist in the delivery of more efficient and responsive services. the council's Economic Development Divisionis seeking to support the counties two traditional employment sectors - coal mining and clothing manufacture through the new technology. It has a major stake in the establishment of the International Clothing Centre near Nottingham which aims to support and encourage the use of new technologies in the clothing industry. Steve Godfrey, an Economic Development Officer with particular responsibilities for clothing and textiles has been involed in the project and is also supported by Stuart Cunningham, NCC's Telecommunications Manager.

Links

The following are links to related pages: