A virtual environment is a networked application that allows a user to interact with both the computing environment and the work of other users.
Email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
,
chat
Chat or chats may refer to:
Communication
* Conversation, particularly casual
* Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time
* Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat
* SMS chat, a form of text messagin ...
, and web-based
document sharing
Document and file collaboration are the tools or systems set up to help multiple people work together on a single document or file to achieve a single final version. Normally, this is software that allows teams to work on a single document, such as ...
applications are all examples of virtual environments. Simply put, it is a networked common operating space. Once the fidelity of the virtual environment is such that it "creates a psychological state in which the individual perceives himself or herself as existing within the virtual environment" (Blascovich, 2002, p. 129) then the virtual environment (VE) has progressed into the realm of
immersive virtual environments (IVEs).
References
* Blascovich, J. (2002).
Social Influence within Immersive Virtual Environments In R. Schroeder (Ed.), The Social Life of Avatars: Presence and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (pp. 127-145). London: Springer.
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Computer science