FreeWalk: Supporting Casual Meetings in a Network

FreeWalk is a desktop meeting environment to support informal communication. FreeWalk provides a 3-D community common where everybody can meet and can behave just as they do in real life. Each participant is represented as a pyramid of 3-D polygons on which his/her live video is mapped, and can move freely. Voice volume is proportional to the distance between sender and recipient so that many participants can talk without confusion. Various behaviors have been noted so far, such as approaching a talking couple from a distance to secretly listen to their conversation. Keywords Video conference, casual meetings, informal communication, tele-presence, 3-D space, shared space, community common, communityware, CSCW.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Hideyuki Nakanishi, Chikara Yoshida, Toshikazu Nishimura, Toru Ishida
• Keywords: 3-D Community, CSCW 1996, Desktop Meeting Environment, Informal Communication, Social Sciences