Informing the design of collaborative virtual environments

Abstract

This paper addresses the design of Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs). More specifically, it considers key design issues concerning the use of either real world `facsimile' representations or more abstracted means of delivering CVEs. We suggest that the use of ethnographic studies of the context-of-use of the CVE under development is a useful means of informing these design issues in contrast to more in-principle means of drawing conclusions. This approach is illustrated by informing the development of a virtual environment from and ethnographic study of work.