Alan J. Munro – författare

That''s a look at an array of social proxies. The purpose was to make it clear that the concept of social proxy is quite general. Social proxies can be designed to support a wide range of on-line interactions, whether they involve conversation or not. They may be synchronous or asynchronous, and they may be associated with activities which are an end in them­ selves (e. g. auctions), or activities which are simply a means to an end (e. g. waiting in queues). We believe that by providing a shared represen­ tation of the activity in which participants are involved, social proxies can help create shared expectations, shared experiences, and can serve as a resource which participants can use to structure their individual and collective interactions. That is, at least, our claim. However, it is important to note that, except for the first, the proxies described so far are concept pieces, meaning that they haven''t been implemented and deployed to real situations. Now, however, we will turn to an implemented system, and look at a real example. 1. 4 Experience: The Babble System In the previous section we introduced the concept of social proxies and discussed examples illustrating the wide range of situations to which social proxies can be applied. In this section, we focus on our experience in designing, implementing and studying a social proxy in the context of an on-line system called Babble.

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are online digital places and spaces where we can be in touch, play together and work together, even when we are, geographically speaking, worlds apart. We can hang out, present alternative selves, interact with realistic and fantastic objects and carry out impossible manoeuvres. In CVEs we can share the experience of worlds beyond the physical. This book offers an introduction to up-to-date research in the area of CVE design and development. A reader might feel that, collectively, the chapters in this book beg the questions "What is a CVE?". And, for that matter, "What isn''t a CVE?". These are good questions, which invoke many different responses. What is certain is that CVEs are the perfect arena for gaining insights into human-human communication and collaboration, collaborative interaction with (virtual and real) objects, the effect of (potentially differing) embodiments, and the nature of place and space. Central to our work and to the work of the authors in this volume is the belief that putting people "into the loop" - explicitly considering human-human and human-environment interaction in the design and development process - is central to the design of any technology, and especially to the design of CVEs. In the case of CVEs this means actually putting people into the worlds, and many of our authors talk explicitly about their experiences and the experiences of study partici­ pants in virtual environments.

Social navigation is a vibrant new field which examines how we navigate information spaces in "real" and "virtual" environments, how we orient and guide ourselves, and how we interact with and use others to find our way in information spaces. This approach brings a new way of thinking about how we design information spaces, emphasising our need to see others, collaborate with them, and follow the trails of their activities in these spaces. Social Navigation of Information Space is the first major work in this field, and includes contributions by many of the originators and key thinkers. It will be of particular interest to researchers and students in areas related to CSCW and human computer interaction. As a thoroughly multi-disciplinary topic, it will also be of interest to researchers in cognitive psychology, social psychology, philosophy, linguistics, sociology, architecture and anthropology.

Social navigation is a vibrant new field which examines how we navigate information spaces in "real" and "virtual" environments, how we orient and guide ourselves, and how we interact with and use others to find our way in information spaces. This approach brings a new way of thinking about how we design information spaces, emphasising our need to see others, collaborate with them, and follow the trails of their activities in these spaces. Social Navigation of Information Space is the first major work in this field, and includes contributions by many of the originators and key thinkers. It will be of particular interest to researchers and students in areas related to CSCW and human computer interaction. As a thoroughly multi-disciplinary topic, it will also be of interest to researchers in cognitive psychology, social psychology, philosophy, linguistics, sociology, architecture and anthropology.

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are online digital places and spaces where we can be in touch, play together and work together, even when we are, geographically speaking, worlds apart. We can hang out, present alternative selves, interact with realistic and fantastic objects and carry out impossible manoeuvres. In CVEs we can share the experience of worlds beyond the physical. This book offers an introduction to up-to-date research in the area of CVE design and development. A reader might feel that, collectively, the chapters in this book beg the questions "What is a CVE?". And, for that matter, "What isn't a CVE?". These are good questions, which invoke many different responses. What is certain is that CVEs are the perfect arena for gaining insights into human-human communication and collaboration, collaborative interaction with (virtual and real) objects, the effect of (potentially differing) embodiments, and the nature of place and space. Central to our work and to the work of the authors in this volume is the belief that putting people "into the loop" - explicitly considering human-human and human-environment interaction in the design and development process - is central to the design of any technology, and especially to the design of CVEs. In the case of CVEs this means actually putting people into the worlds, and many of our authors talk explicitly about their experiences and the experiences of study partici­ pants in virtual environments.