Tech -- Culture -- Humour
For those not in the know, this time of year is huge for the gaming industry. E3 is on and all the major companies are unveiling their latest and greatest. Nintendo has used the expo to unveil its follow-up to the Wii – the Wii U.
In an era where the Microsoft Kinect has broken new ground, it was always going to be a big ask for Nintendo to outstrip that, but I’d argue they’ve achieved just that. Have a watch:
Astounding. Absolutely astounding. What do you think?
The latest issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research has been out for a few weeks now, and I’ve been meaning to posts a synopsis, so here’s exactly that for  the peer-reviewed articles in Volume 3, No.3, with some horribly abbreviated summaries of findings for those too lazy to read the articles or the abstracts themselves.
 Synthesizing Presence: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Literature
 A detailed cross-discipline review of research on presence. 97 citations were found across Mass Communnications, Human-Computer Interfaces, Education and Psychology. Findings: there are very different perspectives on the issue depnding on the discipline and that an agreed framework for understanding the area is needed to move forward.
A very interesting look at how one effectively captures user-to-user communications in a virtual world environment. There’s a focus on establishing accuracy and three methods of collecting data are assessed within a Japanese MMO, Uncharted Waters Online. Findings: All three approaches explored are statistically viable and the choice of method depends on the individual research.
 A detailed look at a Second Life-based health initiative tackling obesity. An in-world exercise program, health information and social support was provided with promising outcomes. Challenges and opportunities of the approach are outlined. Findings: Good participation occurred, there were challenges in recruitment and retention and technical hurdles with Second Life were a barrier to a number of potential participants. Further research is recommended on optimal in-world exercise programs to deliver physical world results.
———-
Aside from those three articles, there’s a group of research papers:
 Design Principles for Doing Business on Second Life: an immersive ethnographic study
Methodology of a Novel Virtual Phenomenology Interview Technique
It’s fair to say that the research being undertaken continues to grow, although I remain a little concerned at the level of research demonstrating detailed qualitative or quantitative outcomes. It’s happening, but unfortunately at this stage the industry is still very fragmented and disseminating that information is challenging. Journals like the JVWR are obviously helping in that regard.
If you’ve got teenagers or are a teen yourself, have a watch of this very powerful video. More importantly, after watching it go and do something productive like changing your behaviour, sharing the video or both!
This story appeared earlier this week over at sister-site Metaverse Health.
As a clinician fascinated by the use of new technologies to achieve outcomes, it’s hard to go past anything that is looking at bridging the divide between human emotions / touch and technology. Telenoid is one such project. It’s aim is to provide an effective way to transfer people’s presence.
The research on telepresence is booming and it’s fairly widely accepted that videoconferencing is superior to teleconferencing and that platforms like virtual worlds provide even better telepresence sometimes. Telenoid is a step further again, providing a tangible means of interacting with someone remotely. In the second video below you’ll see its creator citing a key inspiration was the ability for remotely located grandparents to interact more with their grandchildren. That alone is laudable but for me the clinical simulation potentials stood out pretty strongly.
Real patients as simulation
Imagine the ability to have a ‘patient’ reflecting the emotions and speech of a real person in combination with the current simulation functionality i.e. feedback, monitoring of biometric data etc. Taken a step further: a real patient experiencing a real health issue is able (with consent of course) to have their experience transferred to a simulation exercise in real time. There are already consumer devices on the market able to control avatars via thought processes, this is only a small step beyond that.
A specific example:
a. Marjorie is a patient with bowel cancer who is scheduled to have chemotherapy.
b. She consents to her next outpatient chemotherapy session being used for simulation purposes with third-year nursing students at a local university.
c. On arrival at the clinic for her chemotherapy, Marjorie agrees to wear a discreet headset that both captures her emotions as well as her voice as she goes through the process.
d. At the university the students are in a laboratory environment set up for chemotherapy and the simulation mannikin is reflecting Marjorie’s experience as students use the same clinical pathway as the clinic to simulate providing the chemotherapy. The voice recorder allows the students to hear what the nurse is actually doing for Marjorie, providing the opportunity to contrast practice and to ‘see’ what impact that practice is having on Marjorie.
It sounds a little clunky and requires tight integration betwen education and practice, but the potential is there. Using dementia as an another example (although this is where consent can be fraught with difficulties): imagine the power of a mannikin that spoke and reflected the emotions and movements of an individual with severe dementia. The learning potential is enormous and would have the subsequent benefit of much more confident and confident new practitioners.
Videos
The first video shows a conversation with Telenoid:
This one shows Telenoid up closer and note how easily people interact with it:
ars electronica: telenoid from Fabian Mohr on Vimeo.
Thanks to Meg over at Future of Sex for the heads-up. Yes, the potential for this technology in regards to sex is likely to be the driver for its further enhancement and adoption. Who’d of thought?
A little over a year ago we reported on a research study underway into the link between avatars and body image. That research has been continuing ever since and the initial results were inconclusive. PhD student Jon-Paul Cacioli wants to delve a little deeper on a few things, so there’s a follow-up survey for any male over the age of 18 who has an avatar in a virtual world.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Second Life, World of Warcraft or an OpenSim grid, you can take part. The survey itself will take 15-20 minutes to complete, but all respondents go into a draw for Amazon vouchers.
If like me you’ve attended the odd arena rock show (in my case AC/DC, U2, Robbie Williams and Bruce Springsteen to name four). Next time you go, don’t assume those walls of speakers are for real.
Of course in a lot of cases they are real, although speaker technology has improved so much that you don’t need as many speakers to pump out more than adequate volume. What will bands use as a backdrop if they don’t have the wall of speakers?
I’ve bored friends and colleagues with my stories of discovering the power of MUDS in the early 1990s. I have a massive soft spot for the original virtual worlds (as pictured), but aside from sentimentality there remains a real role for these text-based worlds. Justin Olivetti over at Massively has a great article on MUDs that showcases some of the good ones and the people who play them.
The reason I believe these environments still have relevance is not just because of the dedicated community that still use them. They provide some great lessons in how to create engaging communities and content. Most people tend to think of MUDS as gaming-oriented platforms, which is essentially true. The thing is, their sibling the MOO (MUD, Object Oriented) has that real content creation focus that led to iconic communities such as LambdaMOO. My own experiences were with a MOO used to interact with music collaboration software and its power to engage people was incredible.
So, if you’re interested in getting people excited about a common purpose or just want a great social space, spend some of your development time wandering around a MUD or MOO. I’d also love to hear about your experiences: did you have or do you still have a favourite MUD / MUSH / MOO?
[via Metaverse Journal]
All top ten lists are arbitrary, but here’s another one anyway. Mashups are a very creative process, especially so when they result in a quality outcome. Below are ten of what I think are the best mashups to be found on Youtube. Please add your own favourites in the comments, otherwise enjoy:
1. Royals (Lorde) Vs Roar (Katy Perry)
The iPad 2 has been out for a few months now, and I’ve started seeing some unique or downright weird cases showing up. Here’s a few of them:
DIY iBook mutant
A father/son duo have taken an old iBook and turned it into a cool iPad 2 case:
Foof
Whether it’s Japanese cotton, Irish tweed or corduroy, Foof have a bunch of unusual iPad sleeves. Have a look for yourself.
Vers
If wood’s your thing, then have a look at the Vers for iPad:
AquaPac
Want to get wet with your iPad? This bag isn’t custom built for iPad but will fit one in.
iCade
To finish off, I believe the iCade is simply the sexiest iPad case out there, which would be why stock continually runs out.
I’m really pushing the boundaries of saying this is tech-related, but what the hell. Below is a fascinating video on how croissants are made. Enough said, now watch:
Enough butter for you?
Recent Comments