ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 1999 BY THE MASSACHUSSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1 Virtual reality as communication tool: a socio-cognitive analysis This is a unrevised version of the paper published by the Journal “Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments”, 8 (4), 462-468, 1999 Journal web site: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journal-home.tcl?issn=10547460 Copyright Notice This paper is included as a means to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work on a non-commercial basis. Copyright and all rights therein are maintained by the authors or by other copyright holders, notwithstanding that they have offered their works here electronically. It is understood that all persons copying this information will adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Please contact the authors if you are willing to republish this work in a book, journal, on the Web or elsewhere. Thank you in advance. GIUSEPPE RIVA Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab. - Istituto Auxologico Italiano P.O. Box 1, 28044 Verbania, Italy Tel: +39-323-580278 - Fax: +39-323-587694 E-mail: auxo.psylab@auxologico.inet.it Abstract Virtual Reality (VR) is usually described by the media as a particular collection of technological hardware: a computer capable of 3D real-time animation, a head-mounted display, data gloves equipped with one or more position trackers. However, this focus on technology is disappointing for communication researchers and VR designers. To overcome this limitation this paper describes VR as a communication tool: a communication medium in the case of multi-user VR and a communication interface in sigle-user VR. The consequences of this approach for the design and the development of VR systems are presented, together with the methodological and technical implications for the study of interactive communication via computers.