Computational Visualistics, Media Informatics, and Virtual Communities

The study of images and new media from a technical point of view is a subject for computer science, which needs to be complemented with that of other disciplines reflecting on and producing media and images, in particular design, psychology, education, political science, sociology, and philosophy. Interdisciplinary approaches involving two or more areas applied to selected research problems are therefore more and more common. A number of research universities world wide have installed degree programs in which experts from the different areas lead the next generation of scientists toward interdisciplinary research. Such degree programs place a large burden on their students, as they are to integrate in their minds the teaching of various different subjects - often with the goal of achieving a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the subjects than their professors from any one of the contributing subjects might have. In April, 2003 representatives of a group of mostly German research universities offering degree programs in the areas of Computational Visualistics and Media Informatics met for the first time in Magdeburg, Germany. Their goal is to collaborate in research and research-oriented teaching through the exchange of ideas, information and experience. This volume collects information on their views of their own degree and research programs as a starting point for discussions. First examples of interdisciplinary research being carried out in the area are also included.