Virtual Environments for Visualization and 
                   Navigation in Information Space
				   
			 by Gregory B. Newby
	      University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
			   gbnewby@uiuc.edu
 
Visualization offers a solution to some problems of information access
through rich presentation modes for data and relations among data.
Visualization alone is insufficient, though, because information
seekers may not be more likely to understand the placement of items in
an information space or better able to find what they are interested
in.

Conceptual and practical approaches will be introduced for maximizing
the likelihood that a user will be able to find desired information by
navigating an information space.  Different types of information will
be covered, including information without direct physical analog
(e.g., text).  Relations between "information spaces" of information
systems and "cognitive spaces" possessed by humans will be explored.
By understanding the perceived relations among information items,
components of a virtual environment may be organized so they are more
likely to be where a user expects them.

A working environment for navigating a cognitive-based information
space with virtual technologies will be described.  Methods will be
discussed for moving towards information access goals for virtual
environments by focusing on data visualization for navigation,
discovery, and exploration.