A virtual environment to share knowledge

Many developments were introduced for presenting
information using digital visualisation techniques,
including 3D interactive visualisations and virtual
environments. Additionally, the way a group of people
shares information about the meanings of concepts can
be considered as an important issue for knowledge
sharing. However, visualisation potential for
representing and exploring knowledge has not yet been
totally explored.
This work proposes a general structure for knowledge
sharing to represent knowledge that allows a group of
users to share concept meanings and their relations,
and to organise information about a specific
knowledge context.
The development and evaluation of a prototype is
presented. An empirical study conducted suggests that
users were able to specify structures for knowledge
sharing, using the prototype to explore and enhance
the structure. The prototype can also be used as tool
for collaborative learning.
The work offers a structured approach to how 3D
visual representations, as virtual environment
setting, can be used to support collaboration. It
also present how to evaluate them and reports the
algorithms used to the prototype visual rendering
process.

Autorentext

Luis Borges Gouveia, PhD in Computer Science at University ofLancaster and MSc in Computer and Electrotechnical Engineering atUniversity of Porto. Associate Professor at University FernandoPessoa (PT). Current main research interests are on InformationSociety, its applications and impact - focus on e-learning andinformation management issues.

Klappentext

Many developments were introduced for presentinginformation using digital visualisation techniques,including 3D interactive visualisations and virtualenvironments. Additionally, the way a group of peopleshares information about the meanings of concepts canbe considered as an important issue for knowledgesharing. However, visualisation potential forrepresenting and exploring knowledge has not yet beentotally explored.This work proposes a general structure for knowledgesharing to represent knowledge that allows a group ofusers to share concept meanings and their relations,and to organise information about a specificknowledge context.The development and evaluation of a prototype ispresented. An empirical study conducted suggests thatusers were able to specify structures for knowledgesharing, using the prototype to explore and enhancethe structure. The prototype can also be used as toolfor collaborative learning.The work offers a structured approach to how 3Dvisual representations, as virtual environmentsetting, can be used to support collaboration. Italso present how to evaluate them and reports thealgorithms used to the prototype visual renderingprocess.