Collaboratory systems: Taxonomy III
Evolution of chat servers in a collaboratory
- Chat servers multiply and offer 1D, 2D and even 3D interfaces:
- Comic Chat (MS - 2D), Passport (BlackSun - 3D), Traveler (OnLive - 3D), The Palace (2D), MOO’s ………
- While technically similar, these products are geared towards creation of sophisticated and unproven rather than towards increasing functionality of a collaboratory
- Collaboratory paradigm easily breaks when combined with orthodox cyberspace visualization paradigm
- two avatars reading a Word document on a screen of the virtual computer rendered in VRML browser???
- Conclusion: evolving chat servers are not key today to a collaboratory!