I have long aspired to reach for the clouds...
Again I come from afar
To climb Ching Kang Shan, our old haunt
But scenes are transformed.
Mao TseTung, May, 1965
(Poem cited in Scientia Sinica, 1976.)
The need for standardization is strongly felt by most people involved in computer graphics. In Malmo, Sweden, in August, 1974 the IFIP Working Group 5.2 asked one of its members to set up a committee to: Initiate an active program directed towards establishing standards for computer graphics.
This committee, which consisted of designers, implementers, and users, after extensive study and several meetings came, in December 1975, to a consensus on the following: No known computer graphics system could be considered suitable as a basis for a standard.
The main reason for this decision was the realization of a lack of clear understanding of many of the major concepts involved in graphic systems (see Report to IFIP W.G. 5.2. pp. 197). In view of this situation the committee felt that it was premature to initiate specific recommendations on standards. Thus a workshop was planned to study more basic issues, seeking to clarify the underlying concepts so that a better understanding of graphics systems might be achieved.
The Workshop was held in May, 1976, in Seillac, France, with the main theme of Methodology in Computer Graphics. Participation was by invitation only, with the intention of avoiding any kind of political influence, all too often associated with the area of standards. The report of this workshop was presented to the IFIP W.G. 5.2 meeting in Visegrad, Hungary in October 1976. The meeting responded to this report by urging that a full document of the Seillac Workshop be prepared and published.
The publication of this volume is in response to IFIP W.G. 5.2's request to circulate as widely as possible the results of the Workshop. These papers will hopefully be of some value for further study on the subject of methodology in computer graphics.
It is fair to say that there has been progress made in our quest for a better understanding of the field; an agreement has been reached on a conceptual framework and a common definition and comprehension of many frequently employed terms has been accepted. However, the end goal is to pave the road for standards and this must be accepted by a consensus. This cannot be reached without a deep understanding; to progress on that hard road, it is necessary to uncover as soon as possible the disagreements and conflicts and put them into the light. As one of the participants put it:
Disagreements produce progress, we discover our disagreements by discussing
The discussions that started in Seillac revealed some of the differences and directed us toward what is hoped is the right track. The Workshop produced something else - quite intangible, but felt by all: the Spirit of Seillac, an expression of co-operation and enthusiasm which is hoped will accompany further phases of this work.
Full text of the quotation:
Reascending Ching Kang Shan
Mao Tse Tung
I have long aspired to reach for the clouds
And again ascend Ching Kang Shan.
Coming from afar, to view our old haunt,
I find new scenes replacing the old.
Everywhere Orioles sing, swallows dart
Streams babble.
And the road mounts skyward
Once Huang Yang Chie is passed
No other perilous place calls for a glance.
Wind and thunder are stirring,
Flags and banners are flying
Wherever men live.
Thirty Eight years are fled
With a mere snap of the fingers.
We can clasp the moon in the Ninth Heaven
And seize turtles deep down the Five Seas.
We'll return amid triumphant song and laughter
Nothing is hard in this world
If you dare to scale the heights.
