 |
|
Editorial The Digital City is as William J.Mitchell quotes a 'City of Bits'; it is a city made up of 0 and 1's the binary code which is the digital equivalent to bricks and mortar. The digital city is a city without solid presence, it is a city which exists in the network of networks which is the Internet. Planners and designers are increasingly using the Internet, and representations of digital cities, to communicate ideas. Abdalla and Cooper in their paper A Complex Organisation on the Cyber Space: A Study of Image and Identity Communication of Official-City Web Sites examine the image and identity of these digital cities in terms of Local Government. As Abdalla and Copper state, the digital city is more than communication. It is a symbolic representation of the city. Communication and representation are paramount to Virtual Reality Simulations. Ayman H. Mahamoud in his paper Can Virtual Reality Simulation Techniques Reshape the Future of Environmental Simulations? explores various types of Virtual Reality in relation to environmental representations. Without doubt Virtual Reality is an important component in the visualisaton of not only environmental simulations but also the digital cities discussed by Abdalla and Copper. Readers may be interested in taking part in the growth of a virtual city online. CASA has developed, as part of Online Planning, '30 Days in ActiveWorlds' a project whereby users can log into a virtual world and start building their own virtual environment. The developing digital city has been mapped nightly, providing and insight into the growth and development of the digital city. A notable aspect of the project '30 Days in ActiveWorlds' has been the development of a sense of community, albeit a virtual community. William George Paul provides a welcome update on the Jackson Ward Electronic Community Project: Politics, Participation and the Internet Richmond, VA examining how internet tools and processes can benefit the real community. By examining issue 4 of the Journal it is clear that digital technologies are increasingly blurring the dimensions between the virtual and the real in terms of simulation, representation and communication. Andrew Smith |
|
Editorial | Articles | Submit | Journal Home | OLP Home |