A first glance at the position papers

Structure elements

• Background/Interests
• Detailed descriptions of systems/work
• Introduction/Abstract/Main Topic
• Definitions
• Questions / Issues
• Findings
• Recommendations

Issues

1. Special properties of VEs
   1. What is the common denominator?
   2. Social text-based VEs vs. full 3-D VR and everything in between
   3. Immersion
2. General architecture
   1. Navigation
   2. Organization of space (consistency, magical features, ...)
   3. Responsiveness feedback)
3. VEs and the Real world
   1. Real world metaphors in design
   2. Integration of external standard available CMC
   3. Interaction with real devices and simulations of real devices
4. Interfaces
   1. Interfaces and clients (kind of)
   2. Interfaces and clients (ease of use)
   3. Intrusiveness
   4. Negotiation of communication channels (between clients)
5. Technical issues I
   1. Low level implementation (languages and formats) (JAVA, VRML)
   2. WWW Integration
   3. (Technical) Decentralization
   4. Responsiveness (speed), network latency
6. Technical issues II
   1. Extensibility and programmability
   2. Scalability
   3. Decentralization (fitting together multiple worlds)
   4. Construction facilities, tools and languages
7. The role of users / user management
   1. VEs as praxis (user defined environment)
   2. User adaptation
   3. Ownership, access and security
   4. Characters/Avatars (including identity)
   5. Customization of different views / multiple views
   6. Communities and social interaction
8. Communication and collaboration
   1. Collaborative Environments for education and work
   2. Virtual work space
   3. Integration of of conferencing and CSCW tools (also integration or abstracting of the "real" world)
   4. Internal CMC
   5. Multiple sessions (parallel comm channels used for different purposes)
   6. CSCW tools
   7. Cooperative (3-D) design tools
9. Objects
   1. Smart Agents
   2. Rich 3-D worlds
   3. Objects in VEs (generally)
   4. Objects in VEs (what levels of details, what info is always needed)
   5. Integration of various data streams (media types)
   6. Consistency of object interfaces
   7. History (walls that "talk")
10. Information
    1. Architectures of representations, ideas, concepts
    2. Living documents / collaborative hypertext
11. Practical Issues
    1. Beyond the workshop
    2. Costs