IDI Press Release – June 18, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IDI is proud to announce a virtual dialogue with
American Statesman and Hero John Glenn

June 18, 2001 —  Former astronaut and senator John Glenn recounts his life journey from his youth in the mid-west, to his time as a fighter pilot in World War II, to his unique place in outer space history, through the halls of the U.S. Senate and beyond in the latest program in Interactive Drama’s “Conversations with Experts in Cyberspace” series.

The programs in the CD-ROM series blend speech recognition, digital video, and microprocessor technologies in a unique way that gives users an opportunity to conduct “face-to-face” interviews of notable people who would otherwise not be accessible to them.  Users feel as if they are actually meeting and talking with the experts as they engage them in the two-way virtual dialogues. 

In this program, Senator Glenn proves an incomparable conversationalist as he answers questions about his experiences in space and politics.  The user can ask him such questions as: "Have you ever shunned an adventure?” "Describe how you felt climbing into Friendship 7.” “How did your second trip into space compare?” "How do you overcome fear?” "What is most difficult about politics?” “What political issues concern you most?” "What is the future of the space program?” and more.  The dynamic intelligent prompting method in every Virtual Conversations™ program displays a continuous stream of relevant, cogent questions for the user to ask. There is enough information on the CD-ROM to conduct a meaningful, uninterrupted conversation with the Senator for two full hours.

This program is one in a series being developed with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the Department of Defense.  The series will be distributed widely for educational purposes.

About IDI

IDI has been creating voice-activated interactive video simulations since 1984. The company's founders began this research and development at the National Library of Medicine’s Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications. Subsequent R&D has been funded by SBIR grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and DARPA.

The educational effectiveness of the method has been validated repeatedly in rigorous scientific experiments funded by these agencies. In 1991, IDI was awarded U.S. Patent No. 5,006,987 to protect this unique method of dialogue with a virtual human subject. Subsequently, IDI developed a dynamic, intelligent prompting system to help users conduct a focused and informative dialogue with Virtual Conversations™ characters. In 1997, U.S. Patent No. 5,730,603 was awarded to protect the intelligent prompting method. A third patent is pending.

 For More Information Contact:

Marcia A. Zier
Interactive Drama Inc.
7900 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814
Tel: 301.654.0676
FAX: 301.657.9174
Email: mzier@idrama.com