Virtual worlds for Web site visualisation

Internet and intranet Web sites have become an integral part of software development as well as the wider fields of commercial, educational and recreational activity. In order to improve our understanding of Web based software engineering we must first understand how Web sites are used. Information about the structure and usage of sites is valuable to administrators, maintainers, content developers and users. The volume and complexity of the data generated by typical tools is a major limitation. We describe the use of virtual worlds, including a novel extension of the perspective wall, for visualising Web site activity. Examples from our university environment are presented and discussed