Supporting Coherence with a 3D Instant Messanger Visualization
Date
2002-04-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Instant messengers have become a popular medium for providing
awareness of others and supporting casual interaction. To smoothly move into
and out of computer mediated conversation, coherence is necessary not only as
a means to represent conversations, but also to afford an awareness of who
is around and if they are available for interaction. We have developed a
peripheral visualization for an instant messenger designed to utilize
people's natural cognitive abilities. Each contact is represented by pictures
for each availability state (eg. online, offline) or video snapshots
embedded within a 3D environment using a space metaphor. Contacts that are
more available - determined as a function of availability state and a
viewer-settable interest level - are placed in the foreground and contacts
less available are placed closer to a single focal point in the distant
space. The viewer is able to move contacts throughout the space to create a
spatial mapping. Contacts that are of interest display conversation bubbles
containing incoming messages.
Description
Keywords
Computer Science