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Virtual reality (VR) technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s [1]. Yet it is only with the growth of the Internet and other high-bandwidth links that VR systems have increasingly become networked to allow users to share the same virtual environment (VE). Shared YEs raise a number of interesting questions: what is the difference between face-to-face interaction and interaction between persons inside YEs? How does the appearance of the "avatar" - as the graphical representation of the user has become known - change the nature of interaction? And what governs the formation of virtual communities? This volume brings together contributions from social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on social interaction in various types of YEs. Two previous volumes in this CSCW book series [2, 3] have examined related aspects of research on YEs - social navigation and collaboration - although they do not always deal with VRIVEs in the sense that it is used here (see the definition in Chapter 1). The aim of this volume is to explore how people interact with each other in computer-generated virtual worlds.
As the 21st century begins, we are faced with opportunities and challenges of available technology as well as pressured to create strategic and tactical plans for future technology. Worldwide, IT professionals are sharing and trading concepts and ideas for effective IT management, and this co-operation is what leads to solid IT management practices. This volume is a collection of papers that present IT management perspectives from professionals around the world. The papers seek to offer new ideas, refine old ones, and pose interesting scenarios to help the reader develop company-sensitive management strategies.
"Strategies for effectively managing how information technology impacts human and organizational behavior are discussed in this business guide. Covering both the ôsoftö and ôhardö dimensions of organizational development, information is provided on e-communication, virtual teams, and action learning. A framework for increasing crosscultural efficiency and the global economy engagement is provided."
This text examines the use of collaboration technologies in the problem-solving or decision-making process. These systems are widely used in both education and in the workplace to enable virtual groups to discuss and exchange ideas on issues ranging from applied problems to theoretical debate. While some systems are text-based, the majority rely on visualization techniques to allow participants to represent their ideas in a more flexible, graphical form. The text evaluates existing systems, and looks at how the specific needs of users in both educational and corporate environments can be reflected in the design of new systems.
Teaching Middle Years has established itself as the leading text to focus on the adolescent years of schooling. Recognition of the educational importance of this age group continues to grow as research reveals the benefits of programs designed especially for young people's needs. With a renewed approach, this fourth edition includes new chapters on Indigenous Knowledges, STEAM education, and sustainable practices. A trusted resource, the book continues to provide a systematic overview of the philosophy, principles, and key issues in middle schooling, together with an enhanced focus on the emotional and developmental challenges unique to this age group. There is an emphasis on creating positi...
Groupware is a technology designed to help people working in groups to communicate their ideas more easily. While traditional technologies such as the telephone qualify as groupware, the term is usually used to refer to a specific class of technologies that rely on modern computer networks, such as email, newsgroups and videophones. Working with Groupware introduces the basic concepts and brings together ideas from various disciplines to provide an integrated approach to the evaluation and design of groupware technology. Key features include an analysis of the successes and failures of collaborative technology.
Social navigation is an emerging field which examines how we navigate information or locate services in both real and virtual environments and how we interact with and use others to find our way in information spaces. It has led to new ways of thinking about how we design information spaces and how we address usability issues, particularly in collaborative, web-based systems. This book follows on from Munro et al, Social Navigation of Information Space, which was the first major work in this field. It provides a similar broad overview of the field, but is much more practical in focus.
Many factors contribute to the way people view and use information, including task requirements, organizational settings, and personality characteristics. Today it is generally accepted that people are an integral element of an information system. System development methodologies include various kinds of people ? managers, analysts, programmers, support staff ? in the development process. IT could be wasted if various aspects of human behavior were not seriously accommodated. Human Factors in Information Systems addresses pertinent issues by including the most recent research in the discipline, which can be utilized by businesses and organizations when implementing information systems into their policies, procedures and daily tasks.
Beginning with a brief outline of Usenet's general structure and development over the past few years, the book addresses the problems of exploring virtual communities and distributed information systems in general, and of finding information in electronic information environments. It covers traditional approaches such as information filtering, collaborative filtering and information retrieval, outlining their successes and failures, and discusses the prospects of novel approaches such as visualisations of social processes and social navigation.
This book provides practitioners with detailed experiences from industry on the implementation and use of collaboration technologies. Despite the increasing range of applications available - such as video and desktop conferencing systems, workflow management systems and on-line meeting schedulers - there is still little formalized knowledge on how to implement them to maximum effect. This book aims to fill that gap by looking at all the issues from the viewpoint of the implementation team, and focuses on strategies for overcoming various obstacles and measures which can be taken to enable effective use.