Virtuality is a term used by Ted Nelson for what he considers one of the central issues of software design.
Nelson divides virtuality into two parts: conceptual structure and feel so in every field these have different roles.
But Nelson regards the design of software conceptual structure—the constructs we imagine as we sit at the screen—as the center of the computer field.
However, the conceptual structure of almost all software has been determined by what Nelson calls the PARC User Interface, or PUI, on which Windows, Macintosh and Linux are all based.
In relation to new media, Steve Woolgar[2] has proposed 'five rules of virtuality'" that are drawn from in-depth research in the UK on uses of the so-called 'New Media':[3]