From GUI to Gallery: a Study of Online Virtual Environments
Steve Guynup, Georgia Tech, USA
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/idt/index.html

Session: Closing Plenary: Interfaces, New Views

This paper began as an attempt to clarify and classify the development of Web3D environments from 1995 to the present. In that process, important facts came to light. A large proportion of these sites were virtual galleries and museums. Second, these same environments covered a wide array of architectural interpretations and represented some of the most cutting-edge work in the medium. It became clear that there is a relationship between galleries and virtual environments. At a fundamental level, both are information spaces. A primary difference is that the Web3D environments are bound to the computer and currently limited by mouse and screen. Factoring this in, we merge the GUI and the Gallery to create a native foundation for the development of virtual space. This paper discusses the relationship of GUI and gallery, and the impact of mouse and screen, and then showcases the exploration of several on-line virtual museums and galleries.