Declaration 13 Copyright Notice 14 Acknowledgements 15 1

Virtual Reality-based user interfaces (VRUIs) are expected to bring about a revolution in computing. VR can potentially communicate large amounts of data in an easily understandable format. VR looks very promising, but it is still a very new interface technology for which very little application-oriented knowledge is available. As a basis for such a future VRUI-design theory, a taxonomy of VRUIs is required. In this paper, a general model of human-computer communication is formulated. This model constitutes a frame for the integration of partial taxonomies of human computer interaction that are found in the literature. The whole constitutes a general user interface taxonomy. The field of VRUIs is described and delimited with respect to this taxonomy. 1. Introduction Virtual Reality (VR) is getting an increasing amount of attention in both the scientific and business community. While at first only the entertainment value of VR was widely accepted, more and more people are getting now ...

I would like to thank the many people who have contributed in some way to the completion of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my parents, Alfred and Shirley Gourley, for their support over the years. Thanks to my advisor, Dr. Mongi A. Abidi, for his guidance throughout my program. Also I would like to thank all of my committee members, Dr. Mongi A. Abidi, Dr.

ABSTRACT. This paper suggests that from a cognitive-evolutionary perspective, computational media are qualitatively different from many of the technologies that have promised educational change in the past and failed to deliver. Recent theories of human cognitive evolution suggest that human cognition has evolved through four distinct stages: episodic, mimetic, mythic, and theoretical. This progression was driven by three cognitive advances: the ability to “represent ” events, the development of symbolic reference, and the creation of external symbolic representations. In this paper, we suggest that we are developing a new cognitive culture: a “virtual ” culture dependent on the externalization of symbolic processing. We suggest here that the ability to externalize the manipulation of formal systems changes the very nature of cognitive activity. These changes will have important consequences for mathematics education in coming decades. In particular, we argue that mathematics education in a virtual culture should strive to give students generative fluency to learn varieties of representational systems, provide opportunities to create and modify representational forms, develop skill in making and exploring virtual environments, and emphasize mathematics as a fundamental way of making sense of the world, reserving most exact computation and formal proof for those who will need those specialized skills.

: This paper argues for a linguistic explanation of the nature of Virtual Communities. Virtual Communities develop and grow in electronic space, or `cyberspace'. Authors such as Benedikt Meyrowitz and Mitchell have theorised about the nature of electronic space whilst Lefebvre, Popper, Hakim Bey (aka Lamborn Wilson) and Kuhn have theorised more generally about the nature of space. Extending this tradition and the works of these authors, this paper presents a language based perspective on the nature of electronic spaces. Behaviour in cyberspace is based on and regulated by hardware, software tools and interfaces. A definition of electronic space cannot be given beyond its linguistic characteristics, which underlie and sustain it. The author believes that the more users and developers understand the relationship between language and cyberspace, the more they will be able to use specific metaphors for dwelling and inhabiting it. In particular, MUDs/MOOs and the Web are interesting places ...

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Through a technalysis of a group of designers constructing a three-dimensional virtual world we suggest new concepts for understanding our relationship to information technology. By conceptualizing information technology as the organizing structure for social interaction and regarding it as an influential mediator and moderator of human experiences, we arrive at a new perspective that reaches beyond the traditional dichotomy of use and design. In our analysis we attempt to show how being in virtual worlds is guided by the understanding of the system generating the virtual world - the personal cosmology - and desires inherent in the participant that the technology can release. We also demonstrate how being in virtual worlds substantially differs from the traditional view of functional and purposeful use of computers. A number of concepts regarding the habitation of virtual worlds are also discussed. For instance, we suggest that the design of a virtual environment can be conce...

Use cases are the accepted contemporary vehicle for the capture, collection and management of functional requirements for information systems and networked e- and m- commerce environments.While employed widely, use cases lack a critical theoretical foundation. As a result, the applications of use cases vary greatly in practice. We present an analysis of use cases based on the narrative semiotics of Greimas and the narratology of Propp. Our analysis illustrates how these techniques can expose common weaknesses and implicit assumptions latent within use case texts, and can provide a principled basis for the systematic review and evaluation of use cases within information systems development methodologies.

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