Publications
Virtual Nature is the main technical thrust for the design and development of the research program. It is a digital media artifact represented of the real environment, both in quality and accuracy of visual information and data of the real plants. It solves the technical problem of fusing sparse information and data sets of high information accuracy to generate realistic and beautiful representations of nature. As such, virtual nature may be used to study the role of beauty in the human-computer-environment interaction dynamics as it impacts perception, emotion, learning, decisions and actions in humans. These models are constructed in real-time game engines capable of display in AR, VR, walls, and CAVE based installations, as well as integration with various input systems beyond the typical mouse and keyboards on PCs, making several lines of future research possible.
Publications on Google Scholar >>
PUBLICATIONS
Ph.D. in Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh 2008
Simulated Ecological Environments for Education (SEEE): A Tripartite Model Framework of HCI Design Parameters for Situational Learning in Virtual Environments D-Scholarship@Pitt: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/8971/
Chair: Peter Brusilovsky; Members: Anthony Debons, Kevin Crowley, Marek Druzdzel, Susan Kalisz, Toni Carbo
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/816,357 “Simulated Ecological Environments for Education and Methods of Creating and Implementing Same” (June 23, 2006)
Published Journal Articles (Peer-Review)
International
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 13, 2023). Virtual Nature Makes Knowledge Beautiful. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 4. Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540, URL = https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540
Harrington, Maria .C. R., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T. (2021) Designing a Virtual Arboretum as an Immersive, Multimodal, Interactive, Data Visualization Virtual Field Trip. Multimodal Technol. Interact, 5(4),18. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5040018
Harrington, Maria C. R., Tatzgern, M. Langer T., Wenzel, J. W. (2019). Augmented Reality Brings the Real World into Natural History Dioramas with Data Visualizations and Bioacoustics at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Curator: The Museum Journal, 62(2), 177-193. First published in Wiley Online Library (April 19, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12308
Harrington, Maria C. R. (2012). The Virtual Trillium Trail and the Empirical Effects of Freedom and Fidelity on Discovery-based Learning. Virtual Reality, 16(2), 105-120. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-011-0189-7
Harrington, Maria C. R. (2011). Empirical Evidence of Priming, Transfer, Reinforcement, and Learning in the Real and Virtual Trillium Trails. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 4(2), 175-186. https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/lt/2011/02/tlt2011020175/13rRUxjQyrq
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2009). An Ethnographic Comparison of Real and Virtual Reality Field Trips to Trillium Trail: The Salamander Find as a Salient Event. In Freier, N.G. & Kahn, P.H. (Eds.), Children, Youth and Environments: Special Issue on Children in Technological Environments, 19(1), 74-101. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.19.1.0074?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Published In Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)
International
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (August, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Application Design for Immersive Learning Research Using Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful and Accessible with Information Fidelity. In Proceeding of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Talks (SIGGRAPH ’20 Talks), Virtual Event, USA, August 17, 2020; ACM: New York, NY, USA, 2 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3388767.3407318
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June, 2020). Virtual Dioramas Transform Natural History Museum Exhibit Halls & Gardens to Life with Immersive AR. In Proceedings of ACM SIG CHI The ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2020: Demos & Art Exhibition. London, UK. June 21 – 24, 2020: Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 276 – 279. https://doi.org/10.1145/3397617.3402036
Harrington, Maria, C. R.(June, 2020). Connecting User Experience to Learning in an Evaluation of an Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama in a Natural History Museum & the Importance of Story. In Proceedings of the IEEE, iLRN 2020: 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network. San Luis Obispo, California. June 21 – 25, 2020. DOI: 10.23919/iLRN47897.2020.9155202
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March, 2020) Observation of Presence in an Ecologically Valid Ethnographic Study Using an Immersive Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama Application. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), Atlanta, GA, USA (virtual), March 22 – 26, 2020; 813-814. DOI: 10.1109/VRW50115.2020.00257
Harrington,Maria, C. R. (March, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Dioramas and Arboretums for Museum XR Exhibition Engagement and Learning Design as a Lightning Talk. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual MuseWeb conference MW20: MW 2020. Los Angeles, CA. March 31 – April 4, 2020. Harrington, Maria. Published March 28, 2020. Consulted March 28, 2020.
https://mw20.museweb.net/proposal/augmented-and-virtual-reality-dioramas-and-arboretums-for-museum-xr-exhibition-engagement-and-learning-design/
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (April, 2019). Virtual Dioramas Inside and Outside Museums with the AR Perpetual Garden App. In Proceedings of the Annual MuseWeb conference MW19: MW 2019. Boston, MA. Published online February 14, 2019. Consulted March 13, 2019, April 2 – 6. https://mw19.mwconf.org/paper/virtual-dioramas-inside-and-outside-of-museums-with-the-ar-perpetual-garden-app
Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3 – 4, 2017).Ripples in a Pond: How Virtual Reality may be a Tool of Impact for the Humanities. In Proceedings of the HASTAC 2017, UCF, Orlando, FL.
Portnoy, F., Smith, L., Harrington, Maria, C. R., Kremer, K., Nichols, T., & Zammitto, V. (September 19 – 23, 2011). Facing the Human Factors Challenges in Game Design: A Discussion Panel. In Proceedings from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55(1), 520 – 524. Las Vegas, Nevada. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10711813115511061311551106
Harrington, Maria C. R. (May 13-15, 2011). The Virtual Trillium Trail — An Educational Simulation of the North American Forests. In Proceedings of the iED Summit: Immersive Education Initiative: Boston Summit 2011. Boston College, Boston, MA.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (June 3-5, 2009). Meta-ontologies for Learning in Virtual and Augmented Realities. In Proceedings of the ACM-SIGCHI IDC09: The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children Workshop on Children and Mobile Technology: Interface Development for Mobile Touch Devices. Como, Italy.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (March 10-13, 2008). A Demonstration of Virtual Trillium Trail, a Simulation of a Fourth Grade Field Trip to a Wildflower Reserve for Ecology Education. In Proceedings of the Open Learning Interplay Symposium 2008. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (July 30-August 3, 2006). Situational Learning in Real and Virtual Space: Lessons Learned and Future Directions. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Educators program (SIGGRAPH ’06). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 48–es. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1179295.1179344
Harrington, Maria C. R. (June 28, 2006). Trees of Life: Models of Children’s Creative Processes. In Proceedings of the ACM DIS 2006. State College, PA. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1142405.1142464
National
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 22-25, 2018). Improving Psychophysical Well-being and Performance in Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments with Head Mounted Virtual Reality Photorealistic Simulations of Earth Based Natural Environments. In Proceedings of the 2018 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop HRP RESEARCH: THE GATEWAY TO MARS, Galveston, TX.
Larson, S. and Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 1-4, 2012). A Survey of ABET Accredited, Information Systems, Undergraduate Programs in the USA. In Proceedings of the Information Systems Educators Conference (ISECON). New Orleans, Louisiana. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.296.7010
Gennari, J., Harrington, M., Hughes, S., Manojlovich, M. & Spring, M. (June 15-17, 2003). Preparatory Observations on Ubiquitous Knowledge Environments: The Cyberinfrastructure Information Ether. In Proceedings from NSF Post Digital Library Futures Workshop. Chatham, MA.
Regional
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (accepted and in press, 2020). Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented and Virtual Reality Museums Exhibits: Making Knowledge Accessible through Authenticated Information and Story. In Proceedings of The Florida Digital Humanities Consortium (FLDH) 2nd Annual Conference. Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL.
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 31-Febuary 2, 2018). Successful Emergent Team Formation Methods and Process at UCF Digital Media, using Webcourses Discussion Feature and Ideation Techniques. In Proceedings of the 2018 Sunshine State Teaching and Learning Conference, St. Petersburg, FL.
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 10, 2017). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project: Work-in-progress Demonstration of a STEM Teaching Resource, the Website, and Virtual Reality Flowers and Plants. In Proceedings of the Plants Beyond Limits Conference, University of Central Florida, Department of Biology, Orlando, FL.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (March 30-31, 2012). Birds-of-a-feather — Video Game Development: Overview of the Torque 3D Educational Site License. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators, Millersville University, Millersville, PA.
Harrington, Maria C. R., & Kovalchick, L. (March 30-31, 2012). Birds-of-a-feather — Virtual SRU: How a Project Management Class used Google Earth and Google Sketch-up. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Millersville University, Millersville, PA.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3-6, 2011). Virtual Environments, Immersive Learning Simulations, and Serious Games as New Instructional Technology for Information Systems Students. In Proceedings of Information Systems Educators Conference. Wilmington, NC.
Hulick, F. and Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3-6, 2011). The Value of Internships in the Information Systems Curriculum: A Case Study. In Proceedings of Information Systems Educators Conference. Wilmington, NC.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (April 8-9, 2011). Social Networks, Use and Misuse by Businesses: What Information Systems Students Need to Know. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (April 8-9, 2011). Video Game Development, a Serious Educational Component of the Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (March 19-21, 2009). The Virtual Trillium Trail: An Educationally Effective Simulation for Ecology Education. In Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators 2009 Conference, Entriken, PA.
Harrington, Maria C. R. (February 29-March 1, 2008). A Demonstration of Virtual Trillium Trail, a Simulation of a Fourth Grade Field Trip to the Trillium Trail Wildflower Reserve. In Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators 2008. Conference, Ligonier, PA.
Invited Workshops
Harrington, Maria C. R. (2018). “Virtual Nature Workshop.” Game Development and Mixed Reality, MultiMediaTechnology Program of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria, May 14-18.
Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2021). “Virtual Nature and Augmented Reality Application Design and Development Workshop” University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Architecture + Design. March 30, – April 2, 2021 (invited).
Invited Talks and Conference Presentations
National
“Virtual Nature for Immersive Museum Exhibits” Games for Change Festival 2020, New York City, NY. June 14-16, 2020. (submitted 2019).
“AR and VR Virtual Nature Models Ideal for Informal Learning,” Presented at Serious Play Conference, UCF FIEA, Orlando, FL., July 24 – 26, 2019.
“Virtual Nature in Augmented reality and Virtual reality for Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences. Pittsburgh, PA. Dec. 2018. https://pitt.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=4b0724b6-4309-4960-a27f-a9af01247fe8
“Reality matters in virtual reality for learning sciences research: The Virtual Trillium Trail empirical data and future fMRI studies.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA; Pittsburgh, PA, April 2010. http://halley.exp.sis.pitt.edu/comet/presentColloquium.do?col_id=700
“The Virtual Trillium Trail: The value of Freedom and Fidelity in the child-computer-environment interface.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute Seminar Series, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA, September, 2008. https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2008/09/virtual-trillium-trail-value-freedom-and-fidelity-child-computer-environment-interface
“Simulated ecological environments for education: Past and future realities.” Presented to the Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2008.
“Tips and Tricks of Building Simulated Ecological Environments for Education: User Centered Design, Activity Analysis, Prototyping, and Techniques.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology Center; Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 2008.
“The Virtual Trillium Trail: What if you could fly over your favorite park, and explore the ecosystem from any vantage point that you wished?” Presented to the Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Chapel, PA, July. 2008.
“The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design.” Presented to Art Institute of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 2008.
“Virtual Trillium Trail and Opportunities for Education in Metaverses and Virtual Environments.” Presented to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Phipps Education Committee, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2007.
“Generating High Fidelity, 3D Computer Graphic Models from Transects and Plot Population Data for Trillium Trail.” University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences: E&E Seminar, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2007.
Regional
“Virtual Nature in AR and VR: The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project and the AR Perpetual Garden App Demonstration.” Exhibition, Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL, January 17-20. 2020.
“Virtual Nature in AR, MR & VR, for Data Visualization, Learning & Decision Support.” Presented at the UCF ORC The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) Poster Session, Orlando, FL, June 25, 2019.
“The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project, Website with AR and VR 3D Models, VR Desktop and VR HTC Vive Demonstration for Orlando Area Educational Outreach and Grant Planning.” UCF CREATE, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. April. 2019.
“Virtual Nature in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums and Graduate Students Course Projects from DIG 6812 Digital Interaction for Informal Learning.” Dean’s Executive Council, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. April. 2019.
“A Virtual Nature Model: Experience Virtual Nature.” Presented at the Otronicon Speaker Series, Orlando Science Center. Orlando, FL, January 18-21. 2019.
“The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Demonstration.” Exhibition, Orlando Science Center; Orlando, FL, January 18-21. 2019.
“Virtual Nature in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Art and Scientific Research, Applied to Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums for Broader Impact.” Biology Seminar, Presented to the College of Sciences, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2018.
“Virtual Nature: AR, VR & MR Knowledge Artifacts for Museums, Botanical Gardens, and Arboretums,” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Faculty Panel on Digital Media for the Fall 2018 Introduction to Ph.D. Text and Technology Program. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2018.
“The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project: An Educational Simulation of the Real UCF Arboretum using VR and Educational Website for STEM.” Presented at the Otronicon Speaker Series, Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL, January, 12-15. 2018.
“The Virtual Trillium Trail Project.” Presentation at Otronicon 2017, Orlando Science Center; Orlando, FL, Jan 13-16. 2018.
“The Virtual Trillium Trail and Educational Simulations.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Faculty Panel on Digital Media for the Fall 2017 Introduction to Text and Technology course. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2017.
“A New Paradigm for Virtual Reality & Simulations for Education, Learning & Creating: The Virtual Trillium Trail Project – Empirical Evidence on Design Factors in Simulated Ecological Environments for Education and Causal Impacts on Emotions, Learning, Priming, Transfer, and Reinforcement.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Institute for Simulation and Training, Modeling and Simulation Seminar; Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-paradigm-virtual-reality-simulations-education-ucf
“Art and Technology.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, SVAD Gallery Artist Talk, School of Visual Arts and Design, Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016. https://www.slideshare.net/MariaCRHarringtonPhD/ucf-svad-art-talk-11162016
“VR and STEM Education.” Presented to the I/ITSEC 2016 Modeling & Simulation Conference: K-12 STEM; Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016.
Technical Reports
Harrington, M.C.R. (2006, May). Simulated Ecological Environments for Education (SEEE): A tripartite model framework of HCI design parameters for situational learning in virtual environments. (Unpublished Dissertation Proposal. School of Information Sciences, Department of Information Sciences and Telecommunications, University of Pittsburgh). Pittsburgh, PA.
Harrington, M.C.R. (2005). Simulated Ecological Environments for Education (SEEE). (Unpublished State of the Art Literature Review Component of the Comprehensive Exam, School of Information Sciences, Department of Information Sciences and Telecommunications, University of Pittsburgh). Pittsburgh PA. “Generating High Fidelity, 3D Computer Graphic Models from Transects and Plot Population Data for Trillium Trail.” University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences: E&E Seminar, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2007
Art Shows
Harrington, Maria, C. R. EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2017. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Aug. 2017
Harrington, Maria, C. R. EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2016. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Oct. 2016