Amy Bruckman...Results from the MediaMOO Project... Doors2
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O n l i n e C o l l o q u i u m s a n d F o r u m s
The kind of networking and casual collaboration which occurs at conferences does appear to be taking place on MediaMOO. It seems natural to extend the conference metaphor to literally have meetings on MediaMOO. This has been tried several times with mixed results. Alan (Alan Wexelblat) writes: I've been to the Ball and a few other gatherings. I thought they were OK, but a bit jabbersome.
Conversations in MUDs are often multi-threaded. When large numbers of people all talk at once, each of those threads can become very short, rather like a tailor's scrap bin. Users have experimented with a variety of computational ways to improve the quality of discussion. Wade (Wade Roush) organized a forum on Cyberspace and the Humanities which more than 40 people attended. The forum took place in two different conference rooms, each with a different method for focusing conversation. In one, users are all allowed to talk at once and tag their comments with a relevant subject line. (6) In another, a limited number of people can talk at a time and there is a queue for those wishing to speak. (7) This increases the coherence of the conversation but takes an already slow medium and slows it further. Oracle (Randy Farmer) writes: I attended the Cyberspace and the Humanities get-together for awhile. It was clear that the wide-open discussion didn't work very well, it got a bit nicer in the moderated room. I don't think much came out of the meeting, except maybe that many more experiments in group discussion need to happen. I'll gladly help!
There seems to be interest and potential in exploring new ways to improve the quality of forums and group discussions. However, it is possible that the problem resides in too literal an application of the metaphor of a conference to virtual space. A virtual meeting is not a conference or colloquium; to call it that is a metaphor borrowed from an existing medium and applied to this new medium which we do not yet completely understand. Many early movies were like recorded plays. The camera was pointed squarely at a stage and never moved. It took years of experimentation to develop new techniques such as close-ups and zooms. Early automobiles were called horseless carriages. We are still at the horseless carriage stage of cyberspace. Initiatives for improving online gatherings must not just stretch ways the technology can create a conference, but stretch the metaphor of conference to create a new form of social and intellectual event for this new medium.
It seems likely that online meetings will be more successful when networked video and audio systems become more generally available. Text is a tremendously expressive medium and has advantages over graphics and audio for some applications. For example, in less than a moment one can write: at the top of the hill is a gnarled peach tree, and this conjures up an image in the reader's mind. It would take considerably longer to draw such a tree, and less would be left to the imagination. Audio and video will not replace text-based VR, just as television didn't replace radio or magazines but simply changed what they are used for. Online meetings are one application where the greater bandwidth of audio and video may be needed.
C o n t r i b u t o r y O b j e c t s
Building amusing and/or useful MUD objects is a means of creative expression for the designer, and completed objects promote social interaction for the community. One design paradigm which has proved particularly successful is the idea of a contributory object. For example, in the dressing rooms of the MediaMOO Ballroom, it is possible to design new costumes for the clothing racks:
>northwest You step through the velvet curtain into the women's dressing room. Women's Dressing Room The dressing room is a clutter of gowns, hats, and gloves from all different eras. Type 'examine rack' for more information. Obvious exits: east to Ballroom Foyer and south to The Ballroom You see women's clothing rack and a gold plaque here. >list rack Outfits on the rack:
1: a classic black cocktail dress and snakeskin pumps by Amy (#75) 2: a floor-length, strapless, pink-taffeta, ball gown and long, dangling rhinestone earrings by Amy (#75) 3: a red silk dress with a black, patent-leather belt and high heels by Amy (#75) 4: a marigold, lower calf length dress, with an off-shoulder top and an elegantly pleated skirt by Lenny (#115) 5: a three quarter sleeved, cotton knit dress, in basic blue by Lenny (#115) 6: a ribbed, cotton sweater-dress, cut to mid-thigh, in white by Lenny (#115) 7: a halter wrap dress, cut to mid-thigh, colored in pastels with a distinctly tie-dyed look to them by Lenny (#115) 8: a knit, royal purple trankdress, belted at the waist, with a full, sweeping skirt by Lenny (#115) 9: a black evening dress with long, delicate sleeves, made entirely of lace by Lenny (#115) 10: a ribbed cotton turtleneck and clean, neat, denim jeans by Lenny (#115) 11: a three-quarter's length black leather trench coat, with black stockings by Lenny (#115) 12: an off-the-shoulder black velvet dress with handmade wide white lace all along the slightly veed neckline by Michele (#120) 13: a gorgeous red dress with a slight sweetheart neckline, buttons down the side, a flared, mid calf length skirt, and a slit to the hip by Lenny (#115) 14: black leather one-piece jumpsuit with glistening alloy lapels by Guest (#113) 15: frayed jeans and a rather faded Phish t-shirt by Paul (#559) 16: a floor-length green-sequined evening gown, matching sling-back heels, and dangling diamond earrings by Amy (#75) 17: a narrow-cut, black silk dress with a slit almost up to the waist, and spike heels by Amy (#75) 18: clean but well-worn jeans, a faded Phish t-shirt and a comfortable old pair of Birkenstocks by Drave (#176) 19: black shoes, black socks, black jeans, black shirt, black jacket black earrings by Amber_Guest (#700) 20: a floor-length royal-purple velvet dress with a scalloped neckline, fitted bodice and flowing skirt, with matching purple suede shoes and opaque purple nylons by Robyn (#575) 21: a shimmering jester's costume, in mauve and lavender, with a headdress of orchids and dove-feathers, and turquoise pendant earrings, set off by turquoise high-heels by Mauve_Guest (#702) 22: a slinky, classic little black dress by slim (#913) 23: A glowing violet Indian Sari with Paisleys. by Guest (#113) 24: absolutely nothing by Guest (#113) 25: a sheath-style ball gown made of Shantung silk in deep, hunter green. This lovely dress comes with matching pumps by Tarot (#1749) 26: black leather thong with matching bustier, whip and pink high-heels by Ivan_the_Unstable (#1769) 27: black leather, crotchless teddy by Guest (#113) 28: an ensemble in off-white: two-piece, calf-length dress, high boots, long cape, fake fur muff and hat by Guest (#113) 29: a pair of Guat pants and a Grateful Dead t-shirt by Chartreuse_Guest (#696) 30: a t-shirt reading: Duke- Back to Back National Champions. Blue basketball shorts. Shoes by Nike. Jacket by Starter. by Ochre_Guest (#689) >wear 1 from rack You slip into a classic black cocktail dress and snakeskin pumps.
At the MediaMOO Inaugural Ball, people spent as much time in the dressing rooms as in the ballroom itself. The costumes on the rack are effective conversational props. More important, however, is the fact that it is easy to contribute a new costume to the rack. One can simply type: design 3Cyberconf T-Shirt and mirrorshades for rack and it is added to the collection of available costumes with the designer's name attached. Contributory objects offer a lower threshold to participation than actually programming a new object. The user has a sense of having taken a first step towards mastering the computational environment, and a sense of having contributed something to the community.
There are a variety of contributory objects around MediaMOO, including bartenders that you can teach new drinks, a talking picture that you can teach to come alive when it is looked at, statues of famous sociologists and historians of science that you scribble on (designed to promote discussion of their work), and a projects chalkboard for ideas for new objects and places. The majority of users asked to name one of their favorite objects on MediaMOO cited one of these items.
It is interesting to note that attributing the contribution to a person is an essential feature-it allows the person to take pride in what they have done, and discourages virtual vandalism. Even though guests are effectively anonymous, there have been few inappropriate contributions to the costume racks (as you can see in the unedited list which appears above). However, at one point it was possible to add messages to the bartenders without attribution. One might add something like `Bill starts rearranging the kegs of root beer behind the bar' to the program for Bill, the bartender in the Root Lounge. Unfortunately, people added messages that were trivial or obscene and even deleted other people's contributions since the program allowed it. The software will be rewritten to provide attributions for messages added like the other contributory objects around MediaMOO.
Contributory objects are an example of the application of Constructionist ideas to virtual reality design. Seymour Papert, designer of the Logo programming language, believes that people learn best when constructing personally meaningful artifacts. Papert seeks to empower children by helping them to develop a sense of mastery over computers and computational ideas. The Logo language is designed to have no threshold and no ceiling; it is easy to begin participating, and the system is powerful enough to continue to challenge a more experienced user. A contributory object is an easy route to initial participation which can open up into the greater power of mastering the underlying programming language.
Constructionism involves two types of construction. First, it asserts that learning is an active process, in which people actively construct knowledge from their experiences in the world. (This idea is based on the theories of Jean Piaget.) To this, Constructionism adds the idea that people construct new knowledge with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful products. They might be constructing sand castles, LEGO machines, computer programs, or virtual objects. What's important is that they are actively engaged in creating something that is meaningful to themselves and to others around them.
Constructing a new costume is an act of self expression that benefits the individual and the community. Langdon Winner remarks that Social activity is an ongoing process of world-making [Winner 86]. In MUDs, this is literally true. Contributory objects facilitate this literal sense of world construction.
V i r t u a l R e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f R e a l P l a c e s
In addition to being able to contribute to objects, MediaMOO users can design and program new objects and places. The center of MediaMOO is a virtual copy of the MIT Media Lab. There is a psychological power in the ability to construct a representation of a real place of your own in the virtual world. The challenge was: how do we let people build offices in California and Australia without trying to build everything in between? We developed a virtual Internet as a technique for spatial ellipsis. Users from other places can build their own offices by connecting them via the virtual Internet. You step inside a computer and dematerialize into a collection of packets, and can then travel through a tree-like structure, going down to root and back up through the hierarchy (actually a much more orderly arrangement than the real Internet!) Each user can add his or her own Internet site, if it is not already there.
Daniel (Daniel Rose) writes of his first experience on MediaMOO: I logged in first as a Guest, and came out in the E&L Garden. I had never been to the Media Lab IRL [in real life], so I felt a bit lost... Then I met Michele, and when she found out I was from Apple, she said that someone had constructed our building, and she'd take me there... When we stepped out into the Apple R&D building atrium, I felt this incredible shock of recognition... More than that, I felt a sense of relief that there were places here that were familiar and home to me just as the Media Lab was to you. And all of this was from a couple of lines of textual description. The actual text a user sees when they arrive at apple.com in the virtual Internet and step out looks like this:
apple.com You are in a maze of twisty little passages. You see the back of a computer screen here. Obvious exits: down to com and out to Apple Computer R&D Atrium >out Your packets gather in a glob, and then flow into the screen! You feel yourself rematerializing. Apple Computer R&D Atrium You are in a glass atrium, four stories tall. Offices look out from the walls. Beyond the glass wall to the east, there is some arcane construction taking place. A walkway exits the atrium to the west.
To most people, this is a rather unremarkable description. The idea of rematerializing might appeal to Star Trek fans, but the room description itself is bland--it sounds like an office. However, to Daniel this provoked a shock of recognition and a sense of belonging. Representations of the real give users a sense of comfort and make the medium more appropriable: if your office is there, then you belong there.
A u t h o r C o m m e n t s a n d
C o m m u n i t y C o m m e n t s :
A L e s s o n i n C o n s t r u c t i o n i s m
One of the first additions we made to the MOO software was to allow addition of comments to created objects. We envisioned that this would serve as a kind of documentation. If a programmer hoped others would use an object, he or she could put useful information on the comments message. (Reuse of code is encouraged and facilitated by the object-oriented nature of the programming environment.)
Months later as part of early preparations for a MUD for children, we decided to develop a `Generic Commentable Object. If an object is commentable (made to inherit from Generic Commentable Object), then anyone can type comment on <object name> and anyone can read all the comments that have been made on an object. It wasn't until after Albert (Albert Lin) implemented this feature that it occurred to us that it was similar to the comments message, with one important difference: the comments message is controlled by the owner of an object; the commentable object creates a dialogue among members of the community about the object.
The second design better embodies the participatory philosophy of MediaMOO. It assumes that the community of users have worthwhile things to say; the privilege to comment is no longer reserved for the author of the object alone. Valuing participation and respecting the contribution of each individual are principles inspired by Constructionism.
F u t u r e D i r e c t i o n s :
A M U D f o r K i d s
The MediaMOO Project was conceived in part as preparation for a MUD for kids. We believe that this technology can provide an authentic context for children to learn reading, writing and programming. In these virtual worlds, writing and programming become means of self-expression to a community of peers. MUDs are a Constructionist playground.
Developing good MUD objects is as much a question of creative writing as programming. One hypothesis of this research is that divisions between the humanities and the sciences are often too sharply drawn and counter-productive and a more holistic approach has advantages for many children. A second hypothesis is that the social and contextual nature of these worlds may help young girls to be more comfortable with computers.
If kids are really to make good use of MUDs, however, it will be necessary to improve the programming language and the interface. We are developing a multiple-window client program which we hope will make the system more usable. We are also currently developing a scripting language to make MUD coding easier. We hope to apply lessons learned in the development and use of the Logo language to make a MUD language more accessible to kids.
At the conclusion of Mindstorms, Seymour Papert describes his vision of a technological samba school. In samba schools in Brazil, members of a community gather to prepare a performance for Carnival. Everyone is learning and teaching-even the leads need to learn their parts. People of all ages learn and play together as a community. Papert believes that computers can create a kind of technological samba school, and we believe MUDs may begin to realize that vision.
C o n c l u s i o n : C o n s t r u c t i o n i s m
a n d V i r t u a l R e a l i t y
In much current research, virtual reality is like Disneyland: artists design wondrous creations for users to experience. If this technology is interactive, it is in the limited sense that hypertext systems are interactive: there are multiple paths through the material, and the system has a limited ability to react to the user. However, the ways in which the system reacts are designed by the artists and engineers who constructed it and not by the users.
If the power of this technology is to be unleashed, users need to be the creators and not merely consumers of virtual worlds. We believe that Constructionist principles are of central importance to the design of VR systems. MediaMOO is an exploration of this idea.
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