Topology and Navigation

 

``Topology'' is very important issue since the MOO has a spatial orientation and since ``places'' in real life always have certain ``uses''. By defining a global topology rooster and building rules in a MOO one addresses several related questions:

1. User Interface issues
2. Navigational Issues (how do we want people to move)
3. ``Urban planning'' issues: What activities where
4. ``Social and political Issues'': What can be built?
5. .....

Among educational MOOs one can find several kinds of topologies.

The ``Campus'' Model

The best known example is the Diversity University MOO. It is modeled after a typical American Campus. Another example is the Bio MOO.

The ``Chamber'' Model

Certain activities are confined to areas. At EON for example, those areas are reachable by a train and access is controlled.

The ``City or World'' Model

This is the model adopted by TECFAMOO. There are reserved areas for academic work (both teaching and research) but the MOO is also designed to be a social space. We fully agree with this quote from College Town:

[...] Recognizing that a great deal of real research and learning goes on 'outside the classroom' we are augmenting the classrooms with a realistic nurturant community. Creative thinking may find its freeest play while walking on a beach and a small seminar may become much more meaningful if hosted at a colleague's home in the woods...

A combined Campus and City Model

• Building on CollegeTown
• Building Rules on TECFAMOO