EGVE Symposium (2008) Posters B. Mohler and R. van Liere (Editors) An Approach to Interaction Interoperability for Distributed Virtual Environments Hussein M. Ahmed 1 , Denis Graˇ canin 1 , Ayman Abdel-Hamid 2 and Krešimir Matkovi´ c 3 1 Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA 2 College of Computing, Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt 3 VRVis Center, Vienna, Austria Abstract We present a preliminary framework for interaction interoperability in Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs). The goal is to allow each user to use a different input devices and interaction techniques and yet collaborate seamlessly. The framework adopts Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and use a knowledge base in the form of three ontologies. The ontologies use Web Ontology Language (OWL) to describe input devices, interaction tech- niques and interaction tasks. In addition, two directories contain application and user profiles. An inference engine searches for the best possible combination of input devices, interaction techniques and tasks. The resulting user’s mapping file is then accessed using web services. Two proof-of-concept framework implementations demonstrate how to develop a new application and how to support a legacy application. Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): H.5.3 [Group and Organization Interfaces]: Collabora- tive computing I.3.6 [Methodology and Techniques]: Interaction techniques H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: User-centered design 1. Introduction Today there are many successful Distributed Virtual Envi- ronments (DVEs) in the areas of entertainment, education and business. However, collaboration in such DVEs is still somehow hindered by compatibility issues among interac- tion devices and techniques. A user is obliged to use cer- tain input devices — mostly a keyboard and a mouse — and very specific interaction techniques. Such a limitation can adversely affect different DVE characteristics such as per- formance, usability and even joyfulness [BSC * 97]. In this paper we present a preliminary framework (ref- erence implementation completed and tested), with the goal of facilitating interaction interoperability. Having this achieved, DVE users would have the freedom of using their own input device and their preferred interaction technique to collaborate with other users and yet accomplishing tasks afforded by the environment. Our main contribution, in contrast to previous work, is that we are not concerned with how to categorize devices and techniques, but how to choose the best ones for the user. An- other major difference is that we are aiming for a distributed system that could be accessed by any platform, catering not only applications aware of the framework, but also legacy applications built just for WIMP interfaces. 2. Related Work In their taxonomy of input devices, Foley et. al. [FWC84] classified input devices based on their physical structure. Buxton [Bux83] added lexical and pragmatic considerations indicating which device is used to measure rather than how the device is built. Card et. al. [CMR90] provide a design space for input de- vices identifying each by a six-tuple record with the possibil- ity to represent discrete devices. Bleser and Sibert in [BS90] developed an AI application in Smalltalk holding a class hi- erarchy of devices defining input and output domains, phys- ical actions afforded, and their physical packages. Jacob and Sibert [JS92] proposed discrimination between integral devices with movement is in Euclidean space, cut- ting across all the dimensions of control, and separable de- c  The Eurographics Association 2008.