Psyberdesign: Designing the Cognitive Spaces of Virtual Environments (1998)
article⁄Psyberdesign: Designing the Cognitive Spaces of Virtual Environments (1998)
abstract⁄Increasingly, we find ourselves spending more time on adaily basis engaged in a variety of virtual environments, rangingfrom those discovered when using the standalone computer, tomore complex distributed networks such as the World Wide Web.Virtual environments are not restricted to the popular and hypednotion of immersive Virtual Reality systems, though, in immersion,such systems provide a dimension of experience sorely lacking inmost humancomputer interfaces. The design of a diverse rangeof virtual environments, from textual through to three dimensional,would seem to require insight from those who habitually createimmersive experiences, whether real or virtual. The former includearchitects, the latter the authors of computer games.Virtual environments such as the Internet, and the WorldWide Web in particular, are becoming increasingly confusing tonavigate. Exploratory behaviour in these environments requiresextensive cognitive effort, and often results in disorientation and asense of anxiety. This paper attempts to address issues of cognitive mapping in virtual environment design, and the exciting rolethat architects should occupy in the creation of better virtual environments.A virtual environment tool, called WOMBAT, has beendeveloped to discover more about the relationship between realenvironment and virtual environment navigation and cognitivemapping, and consequently the degree to which concepts andtheories from real environment design and cognitive mappingresearch can be translated to the virtual environment domain.Both a natural environment and an information environment arebeing investigated using WOMBAT, with the primary interest beingthe cognitive mapping and wayfinding activities that are exhibited during exploration.
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| Year |
1998 |
| Authors |
Strong, James; Woodbury, Robert. |
| Issue |
Digital Design Studios: Do Computers Make a Difference? |
| Pages |
276-288 |
| Library link |
N/A |
| Entry filename |
psyberdesign-designing-cognitive-spaces-virtual-environments |
