@conference {2719, title = {A Web Based Virtual Community: Funcionality and Architecture Issues}, booktitle = {IADIS International Conference - Web Based Communities 2004, Lisbon, Portugal}, year = {2004}, month = {23 - 26 March}, pages = { 59 - 66}, abstract = {A Web Based Virtual Community is an example of a Collaborative Virtual Environment, which focalizes in providing collaborative functionalities and both synchronous and asynchronous interaction services. This paper describes a virtual community, which aims to meet the requirements of a virtual collaboration space and support autonomous and collaborative e-learning services. In particular, a web-based platform is described, which is able to support communities whose members are able to interact and form groups based on their common interests. The community provides its members with the ability to communicate through enhanced forums and chats, but also, to interact in the social interaction spaces. The users can arrange events, which occur in virtual meeting centers, where 3D avatars represent the users. In these multi-user spaces, extended functionalities are offered, while system agents assist and consult the users.}, author = {Christos Bouras and Vaggelis Kapoulas and Thrasivoulos Tsiatsos and Vaggelis Igglesis} }