Screen Scenery: Learning From Architecture and People’s Practices of Navigation in Electronic Environments

Abstract

Three-dimensional on-line electronic environments allow people from globally distributed locations to “meet” (e.g. Activeworlds, Cyberworlds, see also Drozd et al., 2001). The character of such meetings can be anything from casual encounters between strangers in public spaces, through on-line games, to interactive TV or drama. The environments themselves differ with regard to the visual and physical qualities of the “material” structures they provide, the embodiments or avatars that users can employ, and the means of communication that are available: video, audio or textual chat.