From: bkort@bbn.com (Barry Kort)
Newsgroups: k12.ed.comp.literacy
Subject: Virtual Realities, Virtual Communities, and Informal Science Education
Date: 23 Nov 1992 17:03:21 GMT
Organization: BBN Labs
Distribution: world
Reply-To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.89.19.90
Summary: White Paper on Muds and Muses for Informal Science Education
Keywords: MicroMuse at MIT

                  Virtual Realities, Virtual Communities,
                       and Informal Science Education

                                Barry Kort
                          Consulting Scientist
                     Educational Technology Research
                                BBN Labs
                              Cambridge, MA


Introduction

	Computer networks have created new possibilities for information interchange,
peer dialogues, and education.  This paper explores an emerging new genre for
network-mediated learning, and speculates on its potential for informal science
education.  Known as MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions) or MUSEs (Multi-User
Simulation Environments), these virtual realities offer a rich environment for
synergy, community, collaboration, and exploratory discovery.


Virtual Realities and CyberNets

	Through computer modeling it becomes possible to build virtual worlds in which
the user interacts with and experiences a synthetic environment.  On the
high-tech end of the spectrum are virtual realities which embed a single user
in a realistic 3-D visual scene in which one can move about and manipulate
objects.  On the low end are the interactive text adventures in which a single
user explores a make-believe world and puzzles through various obstacles and
challenges to reach a goal.  Network technology has begun to transform such
single player worlds into multi-player virtual realities in which the user
encounters and interacts with the other players as well as with the animate and
inanimate contents of the cybernetic world.  At present, the network versions
of these synthetic worlds is limited to text-based interactions only.  Graphics
and sound are perhaps a few years away, awaiting the development and deployment
of high-speed network window systems.

	At present there are several dozen publicly accessible multi-user text-based
virtual realities running on Internet hosts around the country and in Europe. 
Players connect to the host computer using conventional Internet protocols and
versatile client programs.  Players adopt a character and personality of their
choosing, and enter into the synthetic world, consisting of a web of connected
rooms and movable props.  Everything (rooms, movable objects, connecting
passageways, and players)  has a description (typically a few lines of text)
which are displayed when a player looks at it.  Actions such as picking up or
dropping an object, and exiting to an adjacent room also generate a short
message appropriate to the action.  Everything in the system is owned by a
player (typically the player who created it), and the owner of a room, object,
or exit has the privilege of specifying its name and the associated messages
when a player encounters or interacts with it.

	Players can create new rooms and new objects, and construct imaginative
interconnected regions for others to explore.  In the more powerful Muse
systems, inanimate objects can be given elaborate behaviors which are triggered
upon activation by the actions of other players or objects.  Animated objects
can become arbitrarily complex automata such as vehicles, dispensing machines,
androids, or information appliances.  In some systems there are player
characters whose moves are controlled by an AI (Artificial Intelligence)
program running on a remote computer.  Such robot players have already become
sufficiently lifelike in their behavior that it is at times difficult to tell
the human players from the robot players.  The most advanced robot player is
Julia, created by Dr. Fuzzy (Dr. Michael Mauldin of Carnegie Mellon).  Julia's
conversational ability surpasses that of many human players and her personality
is not without charm.

	The educational potential of multi-player programmable virtual realities has
been explored by some of the more serious-minded professionals who have
investigated the genre.  Like other technological innovations of the
information age, virtual realities appeal to many human needs: social
communication, entertainment, information, and education.  At MIT's Artificial
Intelligence Lab, a system called MicroMuse has chartered itself as the PBS of
CyberNet, featuring explorations, adventures, and puzzles with redeeming
social, cultural, and educational content.  The MicroMuse Science Center offers
an Exploratorium and Mathematica Exhibit complete with interactive exhibits
drawn from experience with Science Museums around the country.  The Narnia
Adventure embeds challenging puzzles within a familiar children's classic.  The
Mission to Mars includes an elaborate tour of the red planet with accurate
descriptions rivaling those found in National Geographic.  Elsewhere, one can
find a sailing cruise to the Virgin Islands which recreates the real-life
adventure of the player who created it.  Recently, an 8-year old student
designed and built an Oz adventure based on movie version of that classic
children's story.

	For younger players, text-based virtual realities foster literacy skills:
reading, writing, and composition, and technical skills such as keyboarding and
spelling.  For adolescent players, social interaction skills, interpersonal
skills, and personality development emerge as primary activities.  College
students who are not computer science majors enjoy the opportunity to gain some
computer literacy and try their hand at creating their own contributions to the
cyberspace worlds, usually with the helpful guidance of friendly players with
more experience.  The more ingenious and inventive players design and build
elaborate and powerful artifacts such as electronic newspapers, voice-mail
recorders, and self-activated transit systems.


Educational Potential

	The educational potential of network-based virtual realities is largely
unexplored, unappreciated and undeveloped.  The nature of the medium favors
informal science education, since students voluntarily connect to these systems
between classes and during their leisure time.  Text-based virtual realities
foster obvious skill-building in keyboarding, composition, and social
interaction skills.  But there is far greater potential for improving computer
literacy, cognitive skills and scientific awareness through conscientiously
crafted content geared toward informal science education.

	Borrowing on techniques used in the design of interactive science museum
exhibits, educational television, and interactive computer games, one can
envision a virtual Science Expedition with highly imaginative and interactive
adventures not constrained by space, time, or materials.  The possibilities of
modeling such diverse adventures as interplanetary travel, volcano exploration,
or fantastic voyages through the bloodstream are suggestive of projects worth
considering.  Students, too, enjoy the opportunity to build microworlds of
their own, typically copying real-world cityscapes and science-fiction themes. 
With a little guidance from a faculty advisor, a student group can be organized
to build a microworld model from physics, chemistry, geology, biology, or
mathematics.

	While many students already have discovered MUDs and Muses on their own,
schools could foster educationally beneficial access through extra-curricular
activity groups such as computer clubs and science clubs.  The enriched
atmosphere of network-based microworlds generates a national (and even
international) virtual community that broadens the horizons of students who may
never have travelled beyond the borders of their home state.  Deaf and
handicapped students find opportunities for unimpaired interactions within the
computer-mediated virtual worlds.  The interaction across age groups also
stimulates the informal learning process as social communication blends into
technical discussion and teaching.

Conclusion

	Network-based virtual realities are now coming of age, largely populated by
students seeking an enriched environment for exploration, discovery, and
creative expression.  Virtual communities emerge with imaginative interactive
adventures and puzzles.  The science content of such worlds can profitably be
enriched by the active participation of the education community.

	For adult educators and researchers, text-based virtual realities offer an
opportunity to enter a synthetic society either as observers of the sociology
(and sociopathy) of a predominantly adolescent culture, or as mission-oriented
contributors to the informal education and enrichment of the young people
populating the ethereal world of Cyberion City.