e-Clippings (Learning As Art)

Second Life Gets All Corporate'y.....Finally?

How about "Second Life gets its suit on!"? Or..."Hey, Its take your virtual world to work day!"? Er..."Your avatar got so drunk at the holiday party...?" Help me out here.

What we have are multiple channels (Virtual World News, Massively), including official ones from River Runs Red and Linden Lab, bringing us the news that Immersive Workspaces 2.0 has launched. This news has a couple of important points I think.

First, it links Second Life (SL) with Immersive Workspaces 2.0 - a 2D environment that integrates tools such as screen-sharing, media sharing, note taking, polls, room scheduling and more that businesses will easily be able to see the utility in.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, this moves Linden a step closer to a true, behind-the-firewall solution.While the articles do indicate that this solution allows an enterprise to set up a virtual space that is not connected to the main SL grid in anyway - that's not the same as having an instance running behind the wall. A well-played move is that Rivers Run Red has explained "that if customers buy into IWS 2.0, upgrades toward that end down the line will be included. That future proofing is part of the ROI that Rivers is pushing." 

The only lingering doubt I have is one related to design. As I watched the video, I kept asking myself "what on earth do I need the 3D for?" I still think there is a design gap here. I mean honestly, we still have people putting a "Next" button in the lower right-hand corner of page-turning HTML courses and now we want to go 3D? There is a place for this...but please, let's think it through first.

This reads like an alarmist, local news tease...

"Virtual Worlds: Dangerous Turf?" Really? Really PC World? This is your insightful analysis? This quote is just perfectly hysterical -  "Without proper security, the potential of social networks, virtual worlds and real-time mapping services cannot be fully exploited, according to research house Gartner."

Wow. Good thing something e-mail doesn't expose us to the EXACT SAME ISSUES. Judas, I am sick and tired of these red flag article that act like its the technology's problem and not the humans. The ability to say horribly wrong things to millions of people came out of Pandora's Box along with email people. If you haven't put in place the training and HR policies to dampen this problem already - then let me introduce you to Darwin.

My problem here is the same issue I have with people in the US who think that owning a gun is their most important right. Keep thinking that and don't vote and see where you and guns end up. If you think that the technology is the problem and not un-trained or ill-informed users, that's great  - guess what its never going to get better for you.

Browser-based Virtual World - WebFlock

So the Electric Sheep are out with WebFlock. Browser-based. Flash. Private label. $100K out of the box.

"WebFlock can help you realize your goals for a social, fun and immersive web presence. A basic implementation, which includes the out-of-the-box feature set, custom 3D avatars and 3D space, and 12 months of the application services fees, is available for under $100,000."

Virtual Worlds Management Industry Forecast 2008

(from the site) "This Virtual Worlds Management Industry Forecast 2008           (a 36-page report) brings           together 45 virtual worlds industry leaders, including CEOs of           developers, platforms, and agencies, analysts and thinkers, and           lawyers and government representatives to offer their thoughts on and           predictions for virtual worlds in 2008. Also examined in the report           are the 2008 business goals for many of the leading companies in the           industry. We asked  participants       the following questions:  

1. What are your top 3 trend predictions for 2008?
      2. What business goals have you set for 2008?
      3. What challenges do you expect 2008 to bring for the virtual worlds       industry?
      4. A number of new platforms are launching in 2008. What are the biggest       impacts this
    will have on the industry?
      5. How will the above changes affect your specific segment of the industry       in 2008?"

Small Basket of Virtual World Items

Still playing a bit of catch up from GDC and I have some interesting virtual world notes......

Have you seen the NASA Request for Information for a massivley multiplayer online educational game. I think there are a couple of points of interest here. First, its a request from NASA for an MMOG. Prima facie interesting. Second, look at some of the quotes from the RFI and/or associated Web site:

• "There is increasing recognition that           these synthetic environments can serve as powerful “hands-on” tools           for teaching a range of complex subjects."
• "MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching           the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly           in demand by employers."
• "These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative           analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building         and cooperation, and adaptation to rapid change."

I think the idea here is more like an America's Army, recruiting type experience designed to increase the number of kids involved in science, technology, engineering and   mathematics (STEM).

**I should note here too that the following items come from the Virtual World News - probably the best single news coverage of developments in this area.

Corey Bridges from Multiverse Says Don't Count Out Second Life: How you know your on the bleeding edge....when you start talking about how the first company to mainstream virtual worlds is slipping...judas, most people haven't even been in a virtual world yet. We are just starting to see for-real corporate forays into the space...and yet here we are talking about Linden Lab slipping. IMHO the only thing that is slipping is this incorrect perception I think fostered by people outside of Second Life that Second Life would somehow remain as the only dog in this hunt. The Virtual World market is growing, the pie is getting bigger so relative slices will appear smaller.

Evidence of the above....."$425 Million Invested in 15 Virtual Worlds Companies in Q4 2007"...."venture capital and media firms have invested more than $425 million dollars in 15 virtual worlds companies during the fourth quarter of 2007". Hmmm.....$425 million IN THE FOURTH QUARTER. Yeah, this whole InterWeb thing is just a fad.....

Linden Lab to Beta Lightweight Second Life Client in February....hmmm....allowing access to a system (a virtual world say) from outside that system...where have I read a great blog post about how learning companies should be exploring that concept more?

Worlds for Study: Invitation - Virtual Worlds for Studying Real-World Business (and Law, and Politics, and Sociology, and....) (by Robert Bloomfield)

(link)

"Virtual worlds promise to be an excellent venue for research and education in business and related disciplines. This document provides an introduction to virtual worlds, discusses why virtual worlds are so well-suited to the study of real-world business, and describes how a platform could weave together various types of virtual worlds and virtual spaces to achieve a variety of research and educational goals. I close by inviting instructors, students, researchers, textbook authors, publishers, game developers and others to join in a collaboration to make this vision a (virtual) reality."

How about a Virtual Room instead of a Virtual World?

Back to Webware again.....So I’m reading this article on something called Scenecaster, that kinda looks like a virtual world but is really just “interactive scenes”….then I’m thinking that this represents maybe a lower threshold for deployment than full-on virtual worlds while possibly still offering some of the benefits…I also like how the system is built from the ground up to link room objects to e-commerce – my thinking is that if it is built to link out to stuff referenced by objects in the room then it could just as easily link out to learning assets…..

Mark is very late to the virtual world's big news about SL and IBM...

So yes, I've fallen a bit behind in my virtual world reading but that just means I get to see all the interesting stuff all at once. The good news is that Second Life ne Linden Lab, has announced a partnership with IBM to "develop new technologies and methodologies based on open standards that will help advance the future of 3D virtual worlds."

Yea! The list of items to be worked on is also impressive:
*"Universal" Avatars: Exploring technology and standards for users of the 3D Internet to seamlessly travel between different virtual worlds.

*Security-rich Transactions: Collaborating on the requirements for standards-based software designed to enable the security-rich exchange of assets in and across virtual worlds.

*Platform stability: Making interfaces easier to use in order to accelerate user adoption, deliver faster response times for real-world interactions and provide for high-volume business use.

*Integration with existing Web and business processes: Allowing current business applications and data repositories – regardless of their source – to function in virtual worlds is anticipated to help enable widespread adoption and rapid dissemination of business capabilities for the 3D Internet.

*Open standards for interoperability with the current Web: Open source development of interoperable formats and protocols. Open standards in this area are expected to allow virtual worlds to connect together so that users can cross from one world to another, just like they can go from one web page to another on the Internet today

----How about that last one huh? Here is the Virtual Worlds Weekly coverage and a clarifying post from Christian Renaud. Coverage from the Second Life Insider. Coverage from CNN Money. GREAT coverage from 3PointD of the Platform and Technologies Panel at Virtual Worlds 07, and finally - an nice little  debate (?) between Stephen Downes and Sean Fitzgerald. 

Croquet Virtual World Demo

The development of multiple platforms for virtual worlds like Croquet speaks, I think to the power of these environments to form new mediums. Remember how everyone in Close Encounters knew the same notes, there is a feeling of that here. Beautiful video BTW.

"Virtual Worlds Platform Matrix" (Virtual Worlds Weekly)

Pretty handy layout of the virtual world environment.

Some other great virtual world resources from Second Life in Education