Editor's Introduction: Worlds to Come

The rapid developments in computer and communication technologies during the past decade have been a first step in moving the concept of "virtual environments" out of the realm of science fiction and R&D departments and onto public platforms, be they entertainment parks or the art world. The term virtual environments is currently applied to anything ranging from virtual reality (as simulated three-dimensional world) to the Internet itself or 3D data visualization models. Virtual reality and cyberspace promise to finally provide users with a three-dimensional interaction experience that creates the illusion that they are inhabiting a world rather than observing an image. The attraction of virtual reality also consists in the possibility of remaking the body, of creating digital counterparts released from the shortcomings and mortal limitations of our physical bodies.

Today, the fact and the dream of virtual environments lie somewhere between the flight simulators used to train pilots and the "holodeck" on the Enterprise. But it may not take long until full bodysuits, which allow users to sense the movement of their virtual body in virtual space, are commercially available. We finally may become cybernauts floating in digital space. One also cannot afford to ignore the materiality of the interfaces that are currently being created or the effect these interfaces have on our bodies. We have to pose the question whether the human body has already become an extension of the machine.

The articles selected for this year's Digital Salon issue have an underlying narrative thread: in different ways, they all address issues surrounding the construction of virtual space, information aesthetics, and immersive experience, as well as their effects on our culture. All of these areas raise a variety of issues that we are, at this point, only beginning to explore. When it comes to the creation of virtual spaces, one can identify several trends or major courses of development. The industry producing the technologies to a large extent seems to be focused on achieving the highest possible degree of "reality": from graphics cards and software to displays, the technology strives to reproduce and simulate our existing 3D world as closely as possible. Our virtual worlds are supposed to be as "real" as the physical world. However, even if we want to create virtual worlds that transcend the physical realm, we need a form of "reality" that makes these worlds believable.

Apart from the fact that virtual worlds always establish their own kind of reality, information architecture does not necessarily function best if it is based on the principles and spaces of our "3D reality." Offering possibilities for establishing instant contexts and for dynamic datamining, this new form of architecture may require different strategies and visualization models than the physical world. Data has the potential for seemingly endless recombination, recycling, and reproduction. It can be presented in various ways and contexts, each creating the need for new forms of dynamic visualization. These visualization models create a form of "dynamic mapping," where the map constantly adapts to changes in the data stream and is continually reconfigured in front of the viewer's eyes at any given moment.

The creation of simulated 3D worlds, data visualization, and information aesthetics have all become prominent issues in art that uses digital technologies. Many of the themes and topics outlined above are explored in this year's essay selection. Richard Merritt's essay discusses data visualization, mapping, and their origins in mnemonic devices, as well as the ways in which artists are dealing with a "new paradigm"-new possibilities of defining and interacting with art created with digital technologies. Peter Anders takes a more detailed look at the way in which we experience space and cyberspaces, with emphasis on individual cognition and the anthropology of space. He proposes 12 principles that have a profound impact on our experience of the world and virtual environments. Focusing on the issue of cognition in virtual, immersive environments, Joseph Nechvatal suggests the emergence of a new optical as well as aesthetic perception that entails disembodiment and an expanded form of the "self."

The production of meaning in virtual environments is another important area of inquiry in...