Historically, systems for linking and supporting robust social connections between people, whether they are in close proximity or distributed over longer distances, have included point to point solutions (letters, cars, telephone), task-focused or work-modelling solutions (memos, forms, manuals), and one-to-many broadcast solutions (radio, TV, newspapers). More recently, computationally based systems have been designed to support various aspects of collaboration, coordination and community: e-mail, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and shared task tools and other examples. However, the key factor for successful utilization of such communication technologies is whether the users recognize the system as an important interaction place. New knowledge media technologies called smart spaces are emerging to design interactive virtual environments that provide rich facilities for humans to interact with one another for work, education, entertainment, etc
