Feasibility Discussion of a Collaborative Virtual Environment Finding Alternative Ways for University Members Interaction

The paper discusses the potential impact and roadmap for the creation of a Collaborative Virtual Environment. The actual university environment is presented to justify this evolution as feasible. As a particular use, the creation of a virtual incubator to simulate entrepreneurship bias in students, teachers and associates is presented. INTRODUCTION In 1995 University Fernando Pessoa set, as a requirement for admission, that every first year student should have a laptop computer. The University offers courses in areas such as social sciences, psychology, management, literature, advertising, and engineering, and wanted its students to acquire the basic skills to use, interact and survive in an information sea similar to the one that they will encounter in a information society environment. In fall 1997 figures, the University has about 2300 students and 40% of the staff with laptops, and a 400 " plug-in " network to support them. The total University population is 4500 students, and 250 teachers. The "laptop for all" initiative enters its third year. The existing infrastructure provides connection between different locations on campus (classrooms, library and social locations). The infrastructure offers an opportunity to develop an information system that generated a virtual organisation enhancing the University concept of a dialogue community: the so called NetLab (Gouveia, 1998). One technological research area that brings great expectations to support virtual communities A Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) uses distributed virtual reality technology to support group work. A CVE must have simultaneous multiuser access to a virtual reality system that actually supports cooperative work. Also, the CVE must support the needs of users who wish to work together; users are explicitly represented within a shared space where they interact between them and with information resources (Benford, 1997). This paper discusses the potential impact and roadmap for the creation of a Collaborative Virtual Environment where all university members can interact in novel ways. Some actual NetLab figures are presented to justify this evolution as feasible. A related project that uses the potential created by the " laptops for all " action is a virtual incubator to simulate entrepreneurship bias is presented. The main goal is to introduce new forms of educational situations where students and information play the major role. The learning materials are just one of the components and the system itself (NetLab), along with teachers represent the triangular area where the action takes place. The teachers will act as regulators. The underlying …