Re: PHIL: How to Get Around

Kevin Goldsmith (kmg@monk.colossal.com)
Tue, 14 Jun 1994 11:16:48 -0700


On Jun 13, 9:35pm, Daniel D. Todd wrote:
> Subject: Re: PHIL: How to Get Around
> At 01:55 AM 6/14/94 --100, Jose Pina Miranda wrote:
>
> The problem is that whatever way we decide to connect these 'atoms'
> (AuTonomous Objects in MetaSpace?) has to be laid out from the beginning.
> Is the direction going to be go left three blocks and turn right, will it be
> goto location 12,456,763 (x,y,z) or will it be the old standby,
> www.ucdavis.edu? Until we decide what point of reference we are going to
> use there isn't much use in creating the atoms.
>
I think that these are actually parallel discussions. How I define an
object, and how I create a link from or to that object are two different
discussions.

> I envision a place where I can define where objects go in my space and what
> links show up. It would be really nice to be able to watch other WWWers as
> they traverse space too. I can see objects of a certain color if they are
> unexplored and just grabbed on the advice of another or sent to me by a
> friend. A second color (or texture) would denote areas I've entered but
> only travelled through a couple of the links, a third for rooms which have
> been fully explored and another full series of colors to somehow denote my
> own traffic through these sites so I can quickly find my favorite sites. It
> would also be nice to have these colors (or whatever) alterable on the fly
> so when doing a demo I can change the display to show other traffic patterns
> or current status, or even topic. "All members with sports references turn
> red now." Now I'm starting to blabber. This started out about references
> right? :-)
>
those are some good ideas, as we get further along, we should start
investigating some of the HCI issues. Hey, if anyone is in grad school, this
could turn into a lovely thesis :)

Kevin