Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp’s NTT Human Interface Laboratories has demonstrated a new networked system to enable multiple users at different locations share a common virtual space. Called CyberCampus, it features an interface environment such as a record store and combines that with a videoconferencing system to enable users to see and speak to each other in that world. It was developed using the WorldToolKit virtual reality authoring software from Sense8 Corp of Mill Valley, California. Using this demonstration, NTT of Yokoshuka City, Japan hopes to evaluate the technical, social, commercial and psychological aspects of this type of service. Eventually, NTT plans to provide a shopping mall of commercial applications, including educational, entertainment, business and retail options. Current demos include Tower Records, a virtual music store where customers can preview music and buy it from a sales assistant in the virtual space. It is running on a Pentium-based Windows machine linked over an ISDN network. Eventually, users will be able to access CyberCampus via the Internet.
