Kaspar's Cyberspace Pointers



Table of Contents



1 About & Disclaimer

2 Topics 3 Events (including past ones)

4 Texts 5 Courses (Syllabi, etc.)

6 Virtual Worlds and Integrated WWW servers 7 Various Software

1 About & Disclaimer

Description: A Cyberspace Index reflecting some of my current interests: basically multi-user virtual environments.

Keywords: Virtual Environments, VR, VE, MUVE, education, learning, collaboration, CSCW, CSCL, Virtual Worlds, Moving Worlds, Java, VRML.

This is just a rather disorganized page started in 1996 and very unfrequently updated (I don't have the time to clean out bad links either ) !! Sometimes in 2002 I decided to stop making updates (didn't do much in the last 2 years). But I keep this page alive, since it got some pointers to really cool stuff and I certainly will update it some day (probably in winter 2005).

The best ressource used to be the HITL (Human Interface Technology Lab). Start with the KNOWLEDGE BASE PROJECT main page. Of particular interests to me are the following documents (mostly produced by HITLs Cybrarian: Toni Emerson): [this project is dead now which is a real shame]

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2 Topics


 
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2.1 Collaboration/CSCW etc:


 
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2.2 Intelligent Agents on the Net


 
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2.3 Interface and other Agents


 
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2.4 Virtual Environments


 
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2.5 Virtual Reality


 
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2.6 Hypertext, Visualization of Information Space, Living books etc.


 
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2.7 Content and document management and retrieval

Other Pointers


 
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2.8 Interactive Web pages

Well it's just Java and alike + plugins + traditional forms/server side script based stuff ;)
 
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2.9 Evaluation/Analysis Methods/Tools

(totally uncomplete!)
 
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2.10 CyberSpace Sociology




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3 Events (including past ones)

See also other indexes. Like everything on this page, updating is done randomly


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4 Texts


 
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4.1 Zines


 
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4.2 Bibliographies on-line


 
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4.3 Overview Texts/Glossaries on-line


 
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4.4 Journals and News Letters

 
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4.5 Books



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5 Courses (Syllabi, etc.)



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6 Virtual Worlds and Integrated WWW servers

A number of 2/3D virtual worlds have come into existence lately. Some are extensions to VRML, some really proprietary. Judging from the time it takes to look at their www pages, those things will be popular enough.

Alternatively there are also several "virtual campus" software that are rather groupware oriented.

This section is not very complete. It's a real pain updating commercial links every few month.

IMPORTANT:


 
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6.1 Indexes


 
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6.2 NON-VRML non-proprietry Virtual Worlds Formats/Systems

  • Meme is an open and non-proprietary standard for VR on the net. Meme is now available for free, with all source code. Meme comes with Metatopia, a multi-user virtual universe. It can be downloaded from http://metatopia.sourceforge.net/ (windows only?)
  • There are others ... I know

 
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6.3 Proprietry Virtual Worlds Formats/Systems

Either chat/News or 3D/graphics oriented. Both kinds usually market themselves as "community building tools" [needs updating]
  • Virtual Worlds group Organization and software sponsored by Microsoft Reasearch (good, but Win 98+, NT+ only)
  • World's Chat One of the leaders of commercial 3D Worlds. Smooth graphics and good messaging features. Worth a visit. No trial client or server available. (Maybe no server at all).
  • Active Worlds. Same kind as above.
    But 30-day DEMO/trial / 8 users version available (Solaris / Win95/NT).
  • DonnyWorld Quote: " Dynamic action content solution for Internet Service Providers!
    Way cooler than conventional chat systems!
    User-controlled characters interact with world objects in real time!
    Automatically synchronized, distributed world databases.
    Blazingly fast animation even over 14400 bps dial-up links!
    Easily add objects, world spaces...applications limited only by your imagination! Flexible, scalable client-server architecture."
    DEMO version available (Win95/NT)..
  • Wyndhaven/Intermoo Quote: " InterMOOTM technology makes Wyndhaven and its associated courseware entirely user-extensible. It supports constructionist pedagogy and empowers educators to develop their own lessons on the computer."
  • Ichat Quote: "chat (pronounced I - chat) was founded to expand the functionality and uses of real-time chat systems on the Internet. First, through the ichat client which makes access to existing Internet chat systems easy by providing an integrated access tool with an easy to use graphical user interface. And through the ichat server, which makes it possible to run a real-time chat server and to integrate it with a World Wide Web site."
    Free clients, no trial server ??
  • Intel had something that now seems to be dead, here is a quote: "Moondo is a Windows* application that lets you visit 3D multi-user virtual worlds and create your own virtual worlds for others to visit. Moondo features VRML rooms and avatars, audio chat, personally-created avatars, multiple views of the virtual world, and URL-based browsing of distributed Moondo servers world-wide".
  • The Palace - Used to be biggest 2D server vendor (standard clients are free). It's well working technology. I don't know if server software is free now. This company is dead since 1999 (I think), but there is still a community: practise
  • WellEngaged A chat/conferencing system provider (server, client (?), hosting) Seems to have sold the system to some important corporations.
  • eShare. A other major player in the conferencing/chat buisness. Trial versions available (Solairs / Win95/NT)
  • Worlds Away Quotes: "Combining the social dimension of chat services with the graphic dimension of multiplayer games, WorldsAway allows thousands of CompuServe members in the U.S., Europe, Japan and 150 countries worldwide, to meet, interact and join together in building a virtual community. [...] WorldsAway users can create and control their own on-line animated identities -- called avatars -- and take part in a variety of in-world events and activities. [...] WorldsAway is built on a distributed object-oriented technology which allows for a limitless addition of both users and WorldsAway regions. " - Access to a worlds away world cost money.
  • Virtual Places Quotes: " Virtual Places is an architecture for a world-wide cyberspace. This cyberspace consists of shared spaces distributed over the Internet. In these shared spaces, information and people come together" ... The Virtual Places family of products transforms any Internet data server, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), from a static repository of information to a network of shared interactive spaces. This means that Web pages, and other Universal Resource Locators (URLs), become addressable, persistent, and inhabitable locations where people can meet, share content, and communicate in real time via voice or text." Now bought by Lotus Notes... will become "Sametime".
  • Superscape's Hounted House. Quote " Superscape VR plc and Black Sun Interactive are proud to present the Haunted House, an exciting new multi-user 3D world integrating Superscape's Viscape and Black Sun's Internet community functionality."
  • Onlive's showcase 3D world: Utopia. (used to have a proprietry format, but is moving towards full VRML 97 ?)
  • CVW . CVW is a collaboration software environment that provides a "virtual building" where teams can communicate, collaborate, and share information, regardless of their geographic location. CVW takes virtual meetings one step further and enables virtual co-location through persistent virtual rooms, each incorporating people, information, and tools appropriate to a task, operation, or service. MOO- based, still alive in 2001 at CVW.sourceforge
  • OZ Quote: "OZ develops Internet software and applications that enable real-time collaborative communications in shared spaces on the Internet. Leveraging our leading-edge technology with a strong focus on creative content production, we offer advanced solutions for the Business Communications, Entertainment and Education markets". A company that has an almost VRML-like solution. High quality 3D and streaming it seems. Free client , don't know about trial servers.

 
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6.4 Virtual Worlds built with commercial servers


 
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6.5 VRML enhanced MOOs

  • BioMOO's "add-on": Quote from Erice Mercer: "If you have a reasonably sophisticated browser (like Netscape with the WebFX plug-in) you can quickly switch between VRML and web views of a room. All VRML scenes are generated on the fly, reflecting real conditions in the MOO. Objects can be given VRML shapes by users, else they appear as simple geometric shapes.
    This VRML system was built by me on top of the BioWeb system for MOOs that Gustavo Glusman, Jaime Prilusky, Paul Hansen and I wrote. We're modifying it now to incorporate the wonderful enhancements of 1.8.0 but it should be available soon. Don't bother writing because we'll announce it here [in the MOO Cows list] first. At that time you can figure out how it works for yourself by getting the package. It's designed to be easily installed in any preexisting MOO."
  • At some point MOOndo (see above) was supposed to that, but then it did not.
  • WAX Web. Edited Quote from Tom Meyer: I've been running a MOO [..] outputing VRML for about a year now (Waxweb, first web server of any kind to be serving up VRML), [...] but have not been that pleased by how suitable MOO is for VRML. I now generate VRML files on the fly from an http-speaking MOO server. Before I added in VRML support, the server worked quite well. Since the VRML files are roughly ten times larger than the HTML files that describe the room, that caused enormous slow-downs in the MOO. [..] I'm very interested in combining the ideas in MOOs and VRML, but feel that generating VRML on the fly in an interpreted language doesn't scale very well, especially when the OODB that's generating it was designed for small, rapid (interactive) updates." See his home page for more details.

 
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6.6 Java/MUD based

  • (Electric Communities) The folks who programmed Lucas Habitat and Worlds Away. - See the E Extensions to Java. Quote: "E is an extension to Java that adds message-based optimistic computation and capability-based security features. [....] E defines a new family of objects, called E-objects, in contrast to ordinary Java objects. In addition to obeying all the rules of regular Java objects (which they ultimately are), E-objects can communicate by message passing. References to E-objects can be passed across the network."

 
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6.7 Virtual Campus (groupware oriented)

This category refers to more traditional groupware techniques. Some products/systems are built with HTML forms and cgi-scripts, others on top of products like Lotus Notes, others use db technology and Java applets. Some include streaming media.

6.7.1 Standards

  • IEEE has a Learning Technology Standards Committee (P1484) with a lot of working groups. Most of their output are Word Documents (!) defing datatypes. Some is very complex stuff. Also available: PPT slides and minutes, no XML but there ought to be :). Note that there is also an ISO group (what do they do ??).
  • LTSA Home Page the IEEE P1484.1 Architecture and Reference Model Working Group. Interesting LTSA Draft spec (1999)

6.7.2 Indexes, Evaluation, etc.

6.7.3 Commercial Systems

  • TopClass (used to be WEST). PC/Mac/Solaris. A lite version demo (up to 4 people/120 days) is free.
  • FirstClass and First Class collaborative classroom PC/Mac (A 60 days evaluation package is available)
  • Hyperwave Elearning Suite free for academics (who offer free courses)
  • WebCT. Runs on most platforms. Free evaluation copies (course creation only)
  • Campus Pipeline Inc.'s " Web platform links existing campus systems to new tools and Web applications allowing schools to leverage current investments in technology and bring all current and future Web applications together in one place" (not tested)
  • LearningSpace A Lotus product
  • COSE "Creation of Study Environments"
  • Virtual-U Virtual-U is an online software system which allows universities and organiaztions to offer their courses online. Developed at Simon Fraser University. Solaris. Free 5-month trial.
  • NetCoach Common Lisp Hypermedia Server based based on ELM-ART and and related projects. A similar system is Interbook.
  • CourseInfojoined blackboard (below)
  • Blackboard Software products for hosting "virtual" campuses, university intranets and on-line corporate training environments.
  • Web Course in A Box PC/Mac. Free for educational use.
  • XLX Developper tools has more of these.

6.7.4 Non-commercial systems

6.7.5 Computer mangaged instruction systems

6.7.6 Components (not just educational)

See also the section on Groupware...
 
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6.8 Other stuff:

  • The Pueblo MUD Client - Quote: "The Pueblo internet client is a multimedia game system which works with existing MUDs and media formats. We are distributing the beta version free. Pueblo can display 2D (GIF, JPEG, BMP) and 3D graphics (VRML), music (MIDI), audio (WAV), hypertext (HTML), and plain text.


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7 Various Software

See mostly all the rest of this page too :)
 
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7.1 Vendors with several products

 
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7.2 VR

  • Maverik a free software system supporting VR applications (most platforms + OpenGL)
  • VR Juggler object-oriented framework for the development of virtual reality applications.
 
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7.3 Free Groupware Systems

See other places, e.g. Web Environments on Source forge
  • BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) enables collaboration over the Web. BSCW is a 'shared workspace' system which supports document upload, event notification, group management and much more.
  • http://www.slashcode.com/to build your own Slashdot-like site :)
  • Eridu Opensource Web-Based Groupware. Outlook like they claim
  • PHProjekt PHProjekt is a modular application for the coordination of group activities and to share informations and document via intranet and internet. Needs php4 and MySQL
  • CVS can be used to build content management systems
  • Zope
  • phpGroupware.org Promising project, beta status (3/2001)
  • Mozilla is a platform with groupware potential. Check modzdev once in a while
 
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7.4 Chats

 
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7.5 Peer 2 Peer

 
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7.6 Commercial Groupware Systems

  • Internet Office A Commercial groupware suite (33 features)
  • QuickTeam an other groupeware suite
  • CollabNet provides several solutions for the collaborative software economiy
  • ... many others :)
 
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7.7 Calendars

 
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7.8 Forums

  • MtNews. Forum system with some information portal features
  • Discus A popular free discussion (news) system
  • At Tecfa we use either NNTP, HyperNews, and a PHP/MySQL Forum called Phorum
  • WWW Threads ($100 education use, $200 commercial), free version with less features available
  • LoudMouth Discussion Forum

Jump to: EduVR Page | VRML Pointers | EuroAIED VR & VLE session
see also: Collaboration & Space in Virtual Environments Pointers (stuff i am collecting right now for a research project, 9/97).
D.K.S.
Modified: 01-Nov-2004