An infrastructure for social software
Rockwell, R.
Spectrum, IEEE
Volume 34, Issue 3, Mar 1997 Page(s):26 - 31
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/6.576005
Summary:In a virtual world, as DVE (distributed virtual environment)
applications are often called, logistic support must be supplied by
software. As the range of DVE applications expands, they will need
software support of a kind rarely envisioned by previous generations of
programmers. A new breed of programs is required: social software. The
overriding point of social software is not simulation but conversation.
Its applications are not substitutes for real-world interaction, but
extensions of it. Its “worlds” are not virtual in the
customary sense; they are real media for meeting others online.
Designers of social software are less concerned with how well their
on-screen objects mimic real-world objects than with how well they
connect their users to each other. Simulation environments can be
thought of as being like the “preview” mode of a word
processor, designed to match the look of a printed document. Social
environments, by comparison, are like hypertext, opening up avenues of
communication that were unforeseen in the media that preceded them. The
disparate programs meant for virtual worlds will need a common platform
to underpin widespread social interaction
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