Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.
Advantages and disadvantages of a fixed and a portable communication
support system in a virtual space
Advantages
Disadvantages
Fixed
- It is easy to manage and update
software because the software is in
an object.
- The translation chat can be car-
ried out only in that particular area.
- The language of the other person
is shown clearly by the bench.
- One translation object can be
translated only in one pair of lan-
guages.
- It is easy for users to operate
the avatar because a user can use
translation only while sitting on the
bench.
- The translation bench can be
shown clearly using a translation
function.
Portable - A user can use the translation
function everywhere.
- A user needs to update the trans-
lation system by himself/herself be-
cause the translation function is in
the object.
- One HUD can support multiple
language pairs.
- The language of the other person
is not shown clearly. A user needs
to ask his/her language in advance.
- A user has to operate the HUD for
translation.
- Because the user is not aware that
the other person is using a machine
translation function, there could be
a lot of confusion.
translation chat system. It was necessary to prepare a separate translation object
for each translation language for such a system
2
. The advantage of this system
was that the other party's language was specified by the place where it sat.
The operation “Sit an avatar” is an easy operation that is often used in
Second Life. The fixed machine translation function was displayed in the three-
dimensional virtual space. Therefore, other users could recognize that the other
party is using the machine translation system. In the case of the portable sys-
tem, the translation object was displayed on the user's screen as a head-up display
(HUD)
3
. This feature of the portable system did not place limitations on where
the user could use the translation functions, and communications that used trans-
lation chat could be carried out everywhere. It was necessary to select the trans-
lation language for a portable system on HUD; further, it was necessary to know
2
This limitation is a problem in Second Life.
3
A head-up display (HUD) is a transparent display that presents information without
requiring the user to look away from his/her usual viewpoint.
