CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A collective vision for a shared, three-dimensional, internet accessible cyberspace is rapidly becoming a reality in Silicon Valley. Successful technology companies are coming together and creating standards to support a cross-platform, cross-server, shared cyberspace. Living Worlds is an example of such a standard. Living Worlds builds upon standard connections of a Web browser to the internet to provide a way of sharing 3D virtual worlds with multiple participants. Many Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) based, 3D Web browsers have recently incorporated an External Authoring Interface (EAI) or Application Programming Interface (API) that allow others to write the scripts that make cyberspace come alive. Server technology is rapidly improving the shared behavior routines that allow one browser to see the effects of the actions of other cyberspace visitors. So, it seems time to start building the worlds that 3D graphical technologies will support. How effectively will we be able to communicate, educate, and entertain ourselves in cyberspace over a typical internet connection (using a 28.8 kbs modem)? The question is a wide open one. It is time to begin to build worlds and test out our abilities to collaborate in them.

Collaborative, shared digital worlds have been created in the past. Many have been created on dedicated networks such as the military’s Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) network, Japanese research lab networks, or university laboratory

networks. Past attempts at electronically mediated shared spaces were always created at great cost and with little opportunity to make them available to the mass public. The commercialization of the internet and the advent of the World Wide Web have made mass public access to computer networks a possibility. The internet is not a reliable deliverer of information and, to date, has not been designed to be one. The attempt to port yesterday’s shared digital worlds have failed. Past applications have required reliable and rapid delivery of information. Today, the technology is being built from the bottom up to work with the inherent weaknesses of internet information delivery. The goals may be the same as cyberspace projects of the past, but the delivery strategies are quite different.

We have an opportunity to provide cyberspace access for millions of world citizens. Some of these people will be able to truly participate in a cybersociety where they have struggled to participate in our society to date. Many physically challenged individuals are not mobile. They can’t easily run out and participate in a spontaneous societal event such as a political rally or sports team celebration. Even an average world citizen can’t always physically get to where the educational and entertainment opportunities are available. Instead, they struggle to find the best opportunity in their own neighborhoods. In too many neighborhoods the best opportunities are not nearly good enough. They are limited by the experience and knowledge of the neighbors who live there.

The technologies needed to realize a collaborative cyberspace are falling into place. It is time to build cyberspace as it should be built to reach out to the needs of our society. It is everyone’s responsibility to build it right. I am doing my part by understanding the technology, trying it out, and providing feedback through this project paper. Living Worlds and other 3D cyberspace standards address networking, user interface, application programming interface, and avatar representation issues. I am learning concepts that will have broad, transferable teachings for me.

This project report has six chapters and this introduction. The seven chapters are organized in three main sections. In this first section which includes Chapters 1 and 2, I provide an overall context for my work, review the history of technology supported communication and discuss what adding a third dimension to computer displays affords us.

In the second section, which includes Chapters 3 and 4, I review how the internet assists collaboration between human beings, the current state of the art in internet based, shared 3D virtual worlds, and various strategies for providing intuitive interfaces to computer users to help them interact in a shared virtual world. Basically, Chapters 3 and 4 document the current technologies I had available to me from which to build my own multi-user, shared, internet-based, 3D virtual world.

Finally, in the last section which includes Chapters 5, 6, and 7, I review the goals for the shared world I built, review its design, and document its use through a simple pilot test that demonstrates its fit for purpose. Chapter 5 reviews the design decisions I made, the purpose of the world, and an explanation of the interface I provide to world visitors. Chapter 6 documents changes I made to prepare the world for a pilot test and documents the test design. Chapter 7 concludes this paper with various overall thoughts, pilot test results, and conclusions drawn from my work on this project.

The twenty months which have passed since I first started drawing out a game plan for this project have provided me with an endless number of thoughts and reflections. Many of these thoughts continue to give me great pleasure as I contemplate their potential impact on society. My work would not be possible without the internet, World Wide Web (the Web), and the unique opportunities those technologies offer for communicating with other human beings. In fact, the opportunity to span my advisory council between Rensselaer-Hartford and The University of Washington would have been significantly hampered without the availability of email.