Virtual reality
Definition Computer-generated simulation of
experience designed to mimic actual
experience
In the late 1980’s, the term “virtual reality” was popular-
ized by Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL Research, which built
many of the early virtual reality goggles and gloves.
Virtual reality, also known as artificial reality, is a
technology designed to enable users to interact with
fabricated environments in ways that resemble the
ways in which they interact with real environments.
This interaction may be limited to one dimension,
such as movement, or it may seek to replicate the
entire experience of being in the world. In the
1980’s, nascent virtual reality technologies appeared,
and users interacted with these three-dimensional,
computer-simulated environments by means of spe-
cial goggles or gloves that provided the experience
of directly manipulating the computer world. While
the worlds were usually depicted only visually, some
environments went so far as to have auditory or
tactile components.
While virtual reality technology was fairly primi-
tive and quite rare during the decade, fictional rep-
resentations of virtual reality were more common.
The concept of virtual reality captured the imagina-
tions of many, as it seemed to be the ideal form of
representation, a form that would eventually replace
film, literature, and most other media. However, it
was generally the dangers of simulated reality, rather
than its benefits, that most fascinated science-fiction
authors and filmmakers.
Impact Virtual reality became a mainstay of science
fiction, where it was quickly juxtaposed with the re-
lated concept of cyberspace. Cyberpunk authors
thus led the vanguard of portrayals of the possibili-
ties and hazards of the nascent technology, as did the
television programStar Trek: The Next Generation,
which featured a virtual reality system called a
“holodeck” in several of its episodes. Later, as tech-
nology progressed, more real-world applications for
virtual reality technology would emerge, including
military, medical, therapeutic, and architectural uses.
Further Reading
Burdea, Grigore C., and P. Coffet.Virtual Reality Tech-
nology. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Kalwasky, R. S.The Science of Virtual Reality and Virtual
Environments: A Technical, Scientific, and Engineering
Reference on Virtual Environments.NewYork:
Addison-Wesley, 1993.
Krueger, Myron W.Artificial Reality. New York:
Addison-Wesley, 1991.
Markley, Robert.Virtual Realities and Their Discontents.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Sherman, William C., and Alan Craig.Understanding
Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design.
San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 2003.
Teixeira, Kevin, and Ken Pimentel.Virtual Reality:
Through the New Looking Glass. 2d ed. New York:
Intel/McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Cat RamboSee also CAD/CAM technology; Computers;
Cyberpunk literature; Gibson, William; Inventions;
Science and technology;Star Trek: The Next Genera-
tion;Tron; Video games and arcades.Voicemail
Definition Centralized telecommunications
technology in which spoken messages are
recorded for later retrieval by the recipient
The popularity of voicemail in the 1980’s sped up business
and family life.
Prior to the invention of voicemail, phone users
employed answering machines, which were cumber-
some. Voicemail originated in 1975 with Steven J.
Boies of International Business Machines (IBM),
and the concept caught on in the early 1980’s when
it was commercialized by Octel Communications. In
the late 1980’s, after the American Telephone and
Telegraph (AT&T) breakup, Scott Jones of Boston
Technology found it possible to make the system
more accessible to everyone.
Voicemail added a large number of features that
answering machine systems lacked. In the corporate
realm, it allowed each member of a business to have
a separate storage for incoming messages. Even-
tually, companies were able to centralize their voice-
mail work on one system. Voicemail was easy to use:
Messages could be left even if the recipient was on
another call, and users could hear instructions on
the phone about how to use it. Each employee was
assigned a mailbox, and a person could record a per-
sonal greeting for callers.The Eighties in America Voicemail 1025