Mihai Nadin, Professor of Multimedia, Teaches Computational Design at the University of Wuppertal
Bergische Wirtschaft 3/1996. Pages 70-72
"Data networks should make life easier for people," states Mihai Nadin, professor at the University of Wuppertal and head of the Computational Design program. The scholar and inventor wants to change more than the university.
"Knowledge can no longer be transmitted by the same old means. The mathematician cannot get very far today with paper and calculator. The chemist cannot discover new substances in a beeker", Nadin declares. He wants the computer to revolutionize human activity, and not only in the field of design.
Computational Design is a leader in its field in Germany and all of Europe. Students get professional training on the latest equipment. "Few programs are more demanding than Alias/Wavefront," according to Nadin. Thanks to him, Alias/Wavefront has become a campus partner. Other computer firms, such as Autodesk, Macromedia, Strata, and Softimage are also represented at Computational Design. The Program develops its own software, too. Along with student researchers Thomas Overberg and Stephan Lehmann, Nadin developed software and a CD-ROM to facilitate learning design with Alias/Wavefront. Nadin is of the opinion that "Training, not technology, is the most expensive component. And thinking is even more expensive."
Computer-mediated dissemination of knowledge is one of Nadin's dreams. "Current teaching methods are anachronistic. Education will increasingly rely on digital media." To study at home while in touch with all the think-tanks around the world this is his vision of the future of learning. The student will have more control over learning. "A student in chemistry here in Wuppertal, for example, wants to pursue a particular specialization that might be offered only in Berkeley, California. A student in Solingen can access the University of Tartu (Estonia) or a university in Kyoto for the latest in the theory of culture in order to find what is most important to her."
Nadin practices what he preaches. He has a consulting firm on the East Coast of the USA, to which he connects through Internet, which he knows is only at its rudimentary stages. He has made his expertise available to the regional Chamber of Commerce, suggesting they put many of their functions on-line on order to make them more convenient to citizens. Two of his students, Stefan Mähler and Thomas Goecke, have developed software for an international hotel reservation system. Nadin would like to transmit news about the renovation of Wuppertal's famous overhead monorail over the Internet in order to get feedback from around the world. He established the Center for Competence to serve as a focal point where industry can receive information regarding application of new technology to their specific needs. His vision includes making Wuppertal part of the global business community.
Digital Dissemination of Knowledge
Screen Multimedia 5/96, page 127
The Computational Design Program at the University of Wuppertal was established in 1994. Mihai Nadin, the head of the Program, has at his disposal the most up-to-date computers and carries on research with the aim of "meeting the challenge of the rising tide of information and the increasing globalization of knowledge."
Within the past two years, faculty and students have witnessed the first results. A CD-ROM, entitled Hotel Europa - To Sarajevo and Back, presents the 1000-year history of Bosnia. A research network was set up, in which universities in the USA and France, and in other countries the world over participate. SOPHIA Digital Dissemination of Knowledge, as this research project is called, aims to develop new hardware and software for world-wide access to instruction. With the aid of computers, the mind can be addressed through new forms of teaching that Dr. Nadin describes as "mental ergonomy." The laboratory for Visualization and Simulation concentrates on researching new methods for the transmission of data and information through visual means. The Center for Competence was set up as a forum in which industry, business, and educational and training institutions receive consultation on current technology and its applications to their specific needs.
Visual Journey to Sarajevo
Westdeutsche Zeitung, 20 January 1996
A group project of the Computational Design Program produced a CD-ROM about the culture and history of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Pictures of Sarajevo appear on the computer monitor. The cursor flits about the screen, lands on a field and, click, an image of strictly rationed food coupons appears. Quotations from the population appear in the background: "Without UN help, we will not survive here." Music by Chopin underscores the images.
"We have been working on Hotel Europa-To Sarajevo and Back for a year," reports Peter Stephan, research assistant at Computational Design. "We wanted especially to present the land, its culture and history, through graphics, photos, text, and music."
One thousand years of the history of Bosnia are summarized on the CD-ROM. The earliest evidence are the gravestones of the Bogumils, an old tribe that settled in Bosnia. The historical-cultural arch spans over to objects produced in contemporary Sarajevo. "Two of our workers on the project, directed by Professor Mihai Nadin, spent several days in Sarajevo and collected material for the CD-ROM," Stephan explained. Now that they have been put on CD-ROM, a visual journey to Bosnia, via computer, is possible at any time.
The project group hopes to add to the CD-ROM. "But," states Stephan, "we need money for that. Our hope is to display our work through the Internet."
Interface design is the first step in user-friendliness
Excerpt from Spiegel Special, Nr. 6/1996, page 176
For the interface designer of the future, the menu bar, keyboard, and screen are only intermediary aids. Mihai Nadin, professor of "Computational Design" at the University of Wuppertal, is already thinking about the next millennium. "When computer and networking skills will be required in addition to writing, reading, and math without our having to change everything into writing we must find a better solution to the ugly and obstructive computer on the desk."
The interdisciplinary scholar, who has just started working on a comprehensive project for the digital dissemination of knowledge, is thinking about the stronger application of "invisible" interfaces. The prototypes already exist: electronic machines will be controlled through eye-tracking, which will be recorded on a camera and fed to a computer. The human voice will be used as a directional device more and more frequently.
Interface expert Nadin has a very concrete image of a comfort-phone that lives up to its name: "The ideal would be that I speak a name out loud and I am connected to the person."
Plumbers 2020
Page (magazine for digital and multimedia production and services), 2/98, p. 18
How will information be disseminated around the world in 20 or 30 years from now? What do 3D user interfaces and work environments look like? Answers to these and similar questions can be found in Interactive Learning and Teaching Environments, an animation made by Stefan Lehmann and Thomas Overberg for their Master of Arts degree in Computational Design at the University of Wuppertal. Dr. Mihai Nadin, their professor and head of the Computational Design Program, acted as their advisor.
The 7-minute long animation was elaborated using Alias/Wavefront software on the Silicon Graphics workstations at the Computational Design facilities. It recounts an imaginary adventure: Off the coast of X an earthquake damaged a pipeline. The section of pipe, which lies 100 feet underwater, has to be replaced before it bursts. From his workplace, the damage control technician views the area in a 3D hologram. He sends out a message through a world-wide network in order to get the feedback that will tell him how to repair the damage.
The animation presents the data search via Internet, a visualization of a journey through databanks. Intelligent digital agents able to communicate among themselves, search out the exact information needed. The last scene shows a robot going to the scene of the damage to repair the pipe.
The animation won the two students first prize in the Alias/Wavefront contest for the most innovative use of Alias software. It was also shown at perhaps the most prestigious computer animation show, the SIGGRAPH 97 Electronic Theater, held in Los Angeles. "It was a great honor for us to have our animation shown between sequences from Steven Spielberg's Lost World and James Cameron's Titanic," state the two graduates from Computational Design.