GVU Technical Report Number:
GIT-GVU-97-04
Title:
Browsing the WWW by Interacting with a Textual Virtual Environment -- A
Framework for Experimenting with Navigational Metaphors
Authors:
Andreas Dieberger
Abstract:
This paper describes a system that combines a textual virtual environment
(MOO -- MUD Object Oriented) and a WWW browser. The MOO provides a
text-only but information-rich spatial user interface in which objects and
locations can be associated with pointers to WWW pages. When using a
specialized MOO client, navigation in the MOO causes the corresponding Web
pages to be loaded. The overall effect is the possibility to navigate the
Web using spatial navigational metaphors. Textual virtual environments
support the creation of diverse navigation tools and metaphors. The Juggler
system we describe can thus serve as an experimental tool to explore
diverse navigational metaphors for the WWW. The system uses references to
Web pages which can be arranged in any possible way and allows users to
overlay a new secondary structure on existing Web structures, even using
Web pages not on one's own Web server. Textual virtual environments further
support almost real time communication and interaction between several
users. Because of the extensive interaction possibilities, the Juggler
system can be used to discuss material on the Web, conduct guided tours
through the Web or give presentations using material available on the Web.
Keywords:
WWW, navigation, spatial hypertext, metaphors, collaborative navigation
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