Journal Article

Ecological Mechanism of User Information Interaction in the Metaverse Environment

GUO Yajun, YUAN Yiming, ZHANG Tengfei

2022

Overview

[Purpose/Significance] Information ecology, as a kind of overall scenario of user information interaction behavior, reveals the basic logic of information flow among information elements in a particular environment. The study of information ecology in traditional information environment has been relatively mature. With the arrival of the metaverse, its characteristics of virtualization, immersion and decentralization have transformed user information interaction behavior, which in turn has brought about changes of the ecological interaction mechanism. We need to analyze the ecological mechanism of information interaction in the metaverse environment, in order to provide reference for relevant information theory research and promote the birth of metaverse informatics. [Method/Process] This paper stands on the information ecology perspective, takes the four ecological elements of information people, information, information environment and information technology as the entry point, and divides the information interaction ecology under the metaverse environment into three layers of architecture: information interaction, information data and information technology. Among them, the information interaction layer contains information users and information environment. Unlike the information ecological chain, each information user in the information interaction ecology under the metaverse environment is an integration of information producer, transmitter and consumer. Unlike the linear information flow in the information ecological chain, the information flow in the metaverse will show a wave-like diffusion. The information data layer provides the information resources in the information interaction ecology, and in this layer, we discuss the process from production to management of information resources under the metaverse environment. The information technology layer is the implementation path and basic support of the whole information interaction ecology, and in this layer we introduce several information technologies commonly used in the metaverse information interaction ecology. Through the above three-layer architecture, we have discussed the ecological composition of information interaction, information interaction logic, and information movement process as a whole to constitute the user information ecological mechanism under the metaverse enviornment. [Results/Conclusions] This paper constructs an ecological mechanism of user information interaction in the metaverse with a hierarchical architecture from the physical environment to the interaction scene, and provides strategies for the development of this mechanism from the perspectives of user, resource, technology, and governance. Taking the metaverse as the theoretical background, this study re-examines and expands the traditional information ecology theory, with the aim to provide a boost to the development of metaverse informatics. It is worth stating that the ecological mechanism of metaverse information interaction proposed in this paper is a theoretical prediction based on existing research, and the empirical conditions are insufficient.

• Publisher: Editorial Department of Journal of Library and Information Science in Agriculture
• Subject: metaverse|information ecology|information interaction behavior|information access|information sharing