A comprehensive study of the emerging market for mobile and virtual media

1 Convergence, Software Agents and Information Ecosystems.- 2 Interface Issues for Wearable and Mobile Computer Users.- 3 Visual Data Navigators ("Collaboratories"):True Interactive Visualisation for the Web.- 4 The Future of Convergent Computer and Telecommunications Technology.- 5 Towards Autonomous Characters for Interactive Media.- 6 Towards an XML and Agent-based Framework for the Distributed Management and Analysis of Multi-spectral Data.- 7 Learning by Experience-Autonomous Virtual Character Behavioural Animation.- 8 The Development of an Intelligent Virtual Environment for Training.- 9 An Experimental Study of the Effect of Presence in Collaborative Virtual Environments.- 10 Formative Research on the Refinement of Web-based Instructional Design and Development Guidance Systems for Teaching Music Fundamentals at the Pre-college Level.- 11 Unnatural History? Deconstructing the Walking with Dinosaurs Phenomenon.- 12 Trashing the Net: Subcultural Practice Online.- 13 Another Time, Another Place: The Use of Technology to Make the Cultural Heritage of the Organ Accessible.- 14 Synthetic Vision for Road Traffic Simulation in a Virtual Environment.- 15 Eternity.- Author Index.

As the Internet and the WWW impact on corporate and private activities, the human-computer interface is becoming a central issue for the designers of these systems. Such interfaces will decide the success or failure of future technologies, which will have to provide users with easy-to-use 'intelligent' problem solving tools.
'Intelligent Agents' are likely to play a significant role in the design of these interfaces, and this book explores how they are starting to influence media-based systems.
As you read Intelligent Agents for Mobile and Virtual Media, you will discover the considerable advances that have already been made on the long journey towards a day when computers will be truly described as an intelligent aid to our personal and business lives.