Virtual context - relating media objects to their real world subjects

Virtual Reality (VR) is sometimes used to give the user an immersive, three-dimensional sense of a real-world setting. VR is also sometimes used for information visualization, taking advantage of the perceptual characteristics of VR to convey information. This paper presents the Dam Square Virtual Context, a Web-based VR that is a combination of both these uses. This VR presents mock-ups of both Dam Square in the city of Amsterdam and the city's largest museum, the Rijksmuseum. This VR conveys abstract information that includes the relationships between objects in the museum, such as paintings of Amsterdam cityscapes, and the corresponding objects in Dam Square itself, such as the buildings and neighborhoods shown in these paintings. It is thus a multimedia combining VR wireframes and bitmaps with still images and interface scripts. The principle behind this is that the user learns how to walk through the museum to view objects that together convey a unified view about Amsterdam, which the user can then later walk through

From Distributed Object Features to Architectural Styles

Distributed object oriented software is gaining interest. Nevertheless, developing distributed systems is inherently more difficult than creating single-machine applications. Middleware solutions and distributed object frameworks are intended to help developers in building distributed software. Deciding on which distributed technology to deploy, however, is not straightforward. In this paper, we will introduce three architectural styles to classify distributed OO software. The styles differ in the dimensions of data location and object migration. In addition to a description of the styles we will give examples, discuss guidelines for their usage, and indicate which technologies can be deployed to implement the styles. Thus, by classifying and cataloging distributed OO software in architectural styles and providing guidelines for their usage, we are trying to give some guidance for the development of distributed software