Most nodes on the Access Grid are designed to support up to 20 people and some can support as many as 200. Each node consists of a large-format multimedia display, presentation software and interfaces to remote systems. Nodes provide the high-end audio and video technology needed to provide a compelling and productive user experience.
Access Grid Project Home Page: http://www.accessgrid.org/
A version of tkMOO-light is being used with permission and is
distributed as part of the Access Grid Project's standard tool set.
When presentations are in progress a MOO server is used as back-channel
for troubleshooting and coordination between nodes. The Access
Grid Project has developed a plugin for tkMOO-light which allows
a web browser to control the client, and which allows webpages and
user locations in the MOO to be synchronised.
Networked Writing Environment at the University of Florida; MOOville
MOOville is used to support graduate and undergraduate education
in the Networked Writing Environment at the University of Florida.
A diverse mix of courses from English, Womens' Studies,
Architecture, and other departments use MOOville for discussions
and the construction of MOO projects and spaces.
tkMOO-light is useful because its stable, easy to use local editor allows students to build, describe, edit, and even program objects with a familar interface. With tkMOO-light many MOOville instructors have students build on the first day of classes -- making the differences between MOO and "chat rooms" very clear.
From a system administration point of view, tkMOO-light is great because it uses standard libraries and has modest resource requirements. Installation and configuration of the client is simple. Because the same client can be used for Windows, MacOS, and Unix platforms, documentation and support work is efficient, and students can use the same software at home as in the lab.
Networked Writing Environment Project Homepage: http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/writing/
MOOville Project Homepage: http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/writing/help/moo/instructor/what_is_mooville.html
Connections
Connections provides an alternative meeting space for classes and
for other academic and special-interest groups. There you'll find
discussion groups gathered in forests, classes painting murals on
caves, students constructing virtual museums, teachers meeting in
barns and cafes, online conference sessions being held on
beaches...about the only thing you won't find are virtual versions
of traditional school buildings and meeting rooms.
Connections Project Homepage: http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~tari/connections/
tkMOO-light looks the same, and works the same way on every platform and it is easier to support novice users when they all see the same kind of user-interface. tkMOO-light's support for MacMOOSE comes in handy too. A lot of people learn programming skills on Connections and MacMOOSE is a friendly way to get introduced to the MOO language.
Data is collected and analyzed on Social Grounding in Computer Supported Collaborative Problem Solving concentrating on two issues: how constructed visual/spatial references (drawing a diagram) are used during grounding and the role of grounding mechanisms in problem solving.
The collaborators have connections to a specially created environment within TECFAMOO, a shared Whiteboard, and sometimes speech. Their task is to use these tools to solve mysteries in a MOO. In addition to conventional protocols of the langauge interaction, experimenters also have access to the MOO actions that have been performed, and the drawings that are made and manipulated on the shared whiteboard and actions within the MOO.
BOOTNAP Project Home Page: http://tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa/tecfa-research/cscps/bootnap.html
The project makes use of a modified version of the XMCP/1.1 shared whiteboard object which records the player's drawing actions for later analysis. Suggestions made during the evaluation have lead to several improvements in the client's whiteboard GUI.
The emulator is now being evaluated for use with MOOSE Crossing, a collaborative virtual environment which has been designed to help children to become meaningfully engaged in reading, writing, and programming. MOOSE Crossing is a research project of The MIT Media Lab and the doctoral dissertation of Amy Bruckman. MOOSE Crossing was opened officially on October 10th, 1995 as part of The Media Lab's 10th birthday celebration.
MOOSE Crossing at MIT: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/moose-crossing/
The Macintosh MacMOOSE client: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Amy.Bruckman/MacMOOSE/
tkMOO-light's MacMOOSE Interface: macmoose.html
Already accessible to Macintosh users, the addition of the MacMOOSE code to the tkMOO-light client allows users of Windows95 and UNIX machines to interract with the MacMOOSE environment. The development of the emulator suggested several improvements which have been made to the $macmoose_utils code.