Adaptation and Evaluation of 3-Dimensional Collaborative Information Visualizations Katy Börner Information Science & Cognitive Science Indiana University, SLIS 10th Street & Jordan Avenue Bloomington, IN 47405, USA katy@indiana.edu http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~katy Abstract: This paper reports work in progress on the adaptation and evaluation of 3-dimensional (3-D) Collaborative Information Visualizations (CIVs). It starts with a motivation for 3-D CIVs that adapt to single users as well as user groups. Next, a sample adaptive CIV is introduced – a virtual 'Document Space' that provides access to online documents (Web pages, papers, images, videos, software demo's) for faculty and students at the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. In order to evaluate the Document Space and its adaptation over time, user interaction data is visualized in a second space, the UserInteraction Visualization Space. The paper details the adaptivity of the multi-user 3-D space as well as the associated single-user 2-D Web space. Last but not least, we outline and discuss the planned evaluations of the system. 1 Introduction Interactive computer systems that can be adapted or adapt themselves to their current users are expected to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of human- computer interaction (Fink & Kobsa, 2000). Today, most research on adaptable Web-based ap plications concentrates on single users. These applications maintain a model of the goals, interests, preferences, and knowledge of the individual user and apply the model throughout the interaction to adapt the system to the needs of that user. However, a growing number of projects are collaborative efforts that bring people with different skills and expertise together. Domain experts are often spread out in space and time zones, and consultation and collaboration has to proceed remotely instead of face to face. In addition, the low cost and ease with which information can be placed, for example, on the Internet means that much of it is of questionable value, creating a serious need for annotation and evaluation by others. While computer systems exist that support collaborative activities, very few of those adapt to the needs of their user communities.