No / PANIVE (PC-based Architecture Networked Interactive Virtual Environments) is an extensible architecture in which various networked virtual environment applications can be realized. This chapter describes our efforts in realizing applications in the area of “3D virtual community building”, in which people can virtually meet each other, speak to each other, interact with each other, etc. in a virtual equivalent of conventional social communities. The overall architecture will be discussed briefly. Some attention will be given to the realization of the audio component in the system (speech input and 3D sound output) that supports intuitive interaction among the participants in a shared virtual environment. The main part of the chapter discusses and illustrates some demonstrative example applications that highlight the potential for realizing 3D networked virtual communities in the architecture.

No / The very word "digital" has acquired a status that far exceeds its humble dictionary definition. Even the prefix digital, when associ­ ated with familiar sectors such as radio, television, photography and telecommunications, has reinvented these industries, and provided a unique opportunity to refresh them with new start-up companies, equipment, personnel, training and working practices - all of which are vital to modern national and international economies. The last century was a period in which new media stimulated new job opportunities, and in many cases created totally new sectors: video competed with film, CDs transformed LPs, and computer graphics threatened traditional graphic design sectors. Today, even the need for a physical medium is in question. The virtual digital domain allows the capture, processing, transmission, storage, retrieval and display of text, images, audio and animation without familiar materials such as paper, celluloid, magnetic tape and plastic. But moving from these media to the digital domain intro­ duces all sorts of problems, such as the conversion of analog archives, multimedia databases, content-based retrieval and the design of new content that exploits the benefits offered by digital systems. It is this issue of digital content creation that we address in this book. Authors from around the world were invited to comment on different aspects of digital content creation, and their contributions form the 23 chapters of this volume.

No / This volume presents state-of-the-art research from a wide area of subjects brought about by the digital convergence of computing, television, telecommunications and the World-Wide Web. It represents a unique snapshot of trends across a wide range of subjects including virtual environments; virtual reality; telepresence; human-computer interface design; interactivity; avatars; and the Internet. Both researchers and practitioners will find it an invaluable source of reference.

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