WWW5

Fifth International World Wide Web Conference

May 6-10, Paris, France

Workshops: Call For Participation

Virtual Environments and the WWW

The focus of this workshop is the emerging technologies associated with combining Virtual Environments (VEs) and the WWW. It will look at ways to improve the structures of webbed VEs, to enhance navigation and collaboration within them, and examine where research and development in this area should be directed.

Latest Information

The latest information concerning the workshop: position papers, attendees, detailled program, will be made available by the workshop chairman at the following URL:

Format:

Full-Day

Workshop Committee

Chairman:

Jenifer Tennison
jft@psyc.nott.ac.uk
http://www.psyc.nott.ac.uk/aigr/people/jft.html
Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham

Workshop committee members:

Daniel Schneider
Daniel.Schneider@tecfa.unige.ch
http://tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa-people/schneider.html
TECFA, FPSE, University of Geneva

Gavin Bell
grb@psyc.nott.ac.uk
http://www.psyc.nott.ac.uk/aigr/people/grb.html
Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham

Abstract

The goal of this workshop is to discuss the emerging technologies associated with combining Virtual Environments (VEs) and the WWW. The synthesis of VEs and the WWW has developed from three directions. Firstly, those involved with the construction of text-based VEs such as MUDs and MOOs have tried to make the experience richer by adding other media. Secondly, people working with the WWW need more adaptive and flexible ways of representing the information they want to publish. Thirdly, the desire for a more collaborative, social, browsing experience has led to several adapted servers and browsers which keep track of who is accessing a WWW page, and in some cases allow communication between them. In the last few months, a number of new proprietry multi-user 2/3D worlds as well as the proposed VRML 2.0 standard have triggered wide-spread interest in interactive "cyberspaces". The outcome of this combination of technologies is adaptive, structured, collaborative hypermedia.

The main goal of the workshop is to come up with a series of recommendations for VEs integrating the WWW, or future WWW standards for synchronous and asynchronous extensions. The focus is not on the technical details of webbed VEs (such as WWW-MOO protocols; VRML 2, Moving Worlds & Live3D; or proprietry "World Chat/VR" systems like Worlds Away or Intel's Moondo), but on the common conceptual basis they share. By overviewing systems such as these, we hope to generate a set of guidelines for WWW-integrated VEs to be successful.

The workshop will include an overview talk by one of the chairs outlining users' needs for future VEs; presentation and demos of major systems; and special technical sub-groups according to the interests of the participants.

A WWW-based discussion/annotation forum is available at http://spsyc.nott.ac.uk:5555. This is intended as a forum for workshop preparation and preliminary discussion amongst potential participants so that the workshop itself can concentrate on discussion rather than presentation.

Position papers

Those wishing to attend should have at least some knowledge of VEs, with preferably some experience in running such a service. Prospective participants for the workshop should submit a short position paper outlining their interest in VEs and the WWW, suggesting a couple of important items for discussion and detailing their present knowledge and experience of webbed VEs.

Demos of existing systems are welcome. Position papers attached to a demo should outline interesting conceptual aspects of their systems.

All those who submit a position paper will be registered on the electronic discussion forum, whether they are accepted for the workshop or not.

INRIA EC ERCIM W3C
jft@psyc.nott.ac.uk, Jeni Tennison, Workshop Organizer
Last updated: April 14, 1996