| Or the user could stay in the same place but dial forward to 1773 and hang out with Samuel Johnson and his Scottish biographer James Boswell during their famous trip around Scotland. In a recreation of the Generals' Hut public house in Inverness, the user could dine with them on "mutton chops, a broiled chicken, bacon and eggs, and a bottle of Malaga" [BOSWELL]. Perhaps as s/he follows Johnson and Boswell, the user may be distracted to follow the trips of Mary, Queen of Scots as their paths intersect, or stay in the same place for a while to follow its history over time, or stay in the same time for a while to explore simultaneous events around Scotland. Whatever the user decides to do, s/he will learn much about the history and geography of Scotland.
Since there was not the time and the space for such an ambitious undertaking, we had to content ourselves with footage of Scotland taken from a helicopter with clickable icons representing the various packages of information emerging at arbitrary places through the mist. However, the vision (and a pile of notes and images) remains. No doubt this is the way we (or our children) will learn our history and geography in the future.
The difference between the virtual communities in chat rooms and the virtual communities in virtual worlds is nicely illustrated by two first-person accounts of experiences in chat rooms [FERRARINI] and in virtual worlds [HORN]. Elizabeth Ferrarini wanders around pre-established chat rooms whereas Stacy Horn creates her own virtual world. They both realized their stated goal of "meeting guys" but Stacy Horn was able to take a more proactive approach.
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