Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!arc!steve@apple.com
From: arc!steve@apple.com (Steve Savitzky)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Wiewer's Choice (was Re: A view of CyberSpace)
Message-ID: <12618@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 8 Dec 90 00:55:28 GMT
References: <12295@milton.u.washington.edu>
Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Advansoft Research Corp, Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 50
Approved: hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu


I found Arnaud's view of CyberSpace to be very interesting; it meshes
in many ways with my own.  But I would like to argue strongly against
his contention that everyone should share the same view of virtual
objects. 

I believe that such things as fonts, document formats, icons, images,
and whatever should be *hints*, not demands.  For example, I am
left-handed and nearsighted.  I would like to be able to view a
document that presents itself as a virtual book by holding it in my
right hand and flipping pages with my left, which means that I want
page 1 to be in the "back".  I want the font to be 12-point, not the
10-point that is more usual for books.  I don't like sans-serif fonts
in which I can't distinguish "i", "I", "l", and "1".  And so on.
A blind person would have even more drastic preferences.

Similarly, when meeting people in a virtual environment, I would
generally want to see them in the form they intend to present, but I
might occasionally prefer to present a particular politician with the
head of a toad.  Since I am poor at remembering names, I would like to
display virtual nametags on the people I meet.  Different people might
want to see different information on such nametags.

Preference arguments apply even more strongly to commands (gestures,
magic words, virtual tools, and the like).  I currently have a rather
large and very idiosyncratic collection of private shell aliases and
emacs key-bindings; I would expect no less in a virtual environment.  


In short, a virtual reality should, as much as possible, separate
content from appearance.  This has the desirable side-effect of
greatly decreasing bandwidth, and putting the burden of presentation
on the user's local equipment, thus giving users the the option of
paying for only the level of presentation they actually need.  (We
should neither exclude blind users, nor expect them to acquire
eyephones they can't use and image data they don't need.)

This said, there are of course cases in which a shared view will be
expected.  It would probably be disconcerting if two people sharing a
virtual office disagreed about where things were in it, although they
might indeed prefer different colors on the walls.  Games and other
simulations would probably enforce a uniform view as well.  Sometimes
I might even want to view a document with all of its author's
formatting hints, especially if I knew that that author's designs were
particularly innovative or especially beautiful.
--
\ --Steve Savitzky--  \ ADVANsoft Research Corp \ REAL hackers use an AXE! \
 \ steve@advansoft.COM \ 4301 Great America Pkwy \ #include<disclaimer.h>   \
  \ arc!steve@apple.COM \ Santa Clara, CA 95954   \        408-727-3357      \
   \__ steve@arc.UUCP _________________________________________________________