Visitor-Oriented Design-Three Studies of Visitor Accommodation and a Call for Action

Abstract

This article proposes and describes a visitor-oriented perspective emphasizing the unique needs of visitors of digital environments in contrast to the user-oriented perspective that emphasizes the needs of users. To do so, the term accommodation is introduced in a technical sense and given a brief explanation. Results are also reported from 3 explorative studies of desktop virtual reality environments. In these studies, the visitor-oriented perspective was adopted and allowed for analyzing how participants perceived the environments as places rather than artifacts for use. In comparison to a web site, it was found that even a rudimentary virtual reality environment can have a positive impact on visitor regard for information content. Implementing teleports increased the efficiency of 1 test environment, but it was not found to have a positive effect on user attitudes to the environment. Many participants felt that the environments were sterile. Another common complaint was about the amount of walking required in the first environment. Five suggestions are given for building desktop virtual reality environments that are better received by visitors. In closing, the visitor-oriented perspective presented here is briefly discussed in relation to Winograd and Taber's (1997) writings on software inhabitants.