EUGENE, OR - The Reading Together project at Lane Community College brings Jaron Lanier to campus May 23 and 24. He will hold a lecture and book signing on Thursday, May 23, from 7:30-9 p.m. in the Center for Meeting and Learning, Rooms 102-104, free and open to the public. On Friday, May 24, he will hold a conversation with students from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Building 19, Room 226.
Perhaps not a celebrity of the Hollywood order, Lanier is an internationally esteemed computer scientist, artist, musician and author, says Reading Together project coordinator Eileen Thompson. The project has organized and supported the use of his 2010 book, "You Are Not a Gadget," in classrooms across several academic disciplines.
Time Magazine listed Lanier in the TIME 2010 top 100 most influential people in the world and the New York Times listed his book, "You Are Not A Gadget" in the top 10 books for 2010. His latest book, "Who Owns the Future?," recently was released by Simon Schuster.
Credited as the "father of virtual reality," Lanier's most recognizable contribution to the popular culture is the technology he developed when exploring the possibilities of creating physical avatars. His creativity moved forward the technology used to create the motion capture suit that deepens the illusion of computer graphics, such as the character of Gollum in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and which in turn led to the recent development of the XBox Kinnect gaming system.
For more information, go online at http://www.lanecc.edu/readingtogether or contact Eileen Thompson, Reading Together Coordinator, at (541) 463-3394 or thompsone@lanecc.edu
Lane is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. Visit online at www.lanecc.edu or www.twitter.com/lanenews or www.facebook.com/lanecommunitycollege