General Tech – Page 34

Virtual Worlds Research Discussion Group

January 13, 2009 by Editor Leave a Comment

vw-research-discussion

Whilst Linden Lab list their education highlights for 2008, a standout from the past year in an Australian context has been the successful establishment of the Virtual Worlds Research Discussion Group.

Organised by organized by Greg Wadley (Uni of Melbourne), Deb McCormick (Monash Uni) and, Sabine Lawless-Reljic (San Diego State), there are weekly meetings held at alternate locations. The 2009 seminars kick off next Tuesday the 20th January with a presentation by Don Wen titled ‘A study of Avatar Personalization Systems in Three Virtual Worlds’.

Whether you’re actively involved in conducting research yourself or interested in hearing about research underway, these seminars are hard to go past. You can view to future schedule of seminars here. Second Life may be the venue of the discussions but they explore much wider horizons than that.

Filed Under: Australian News, Education, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: deb mccormick, education, greg wadley

Education Faire and School of the Air

January 12, 2009 by Editor 2 Comments

At The Metaverse Journal we’ve repeatedly discussed specific education projects in virtual worlds and also argued that Australian educators are key drivers in the adoption of virtual worlds in a widespread way.

Tateru Nino at Massively asks the question: does virtual education have to get dreadful before there’s widespread adoption by those who determine budgets in the education community? She uses the well-known Aussie icon, the School of the Air to demonstrate how education funding can be used in innovative ways. It’s generated quite a bit of discussion and links to our prediction that there’s unlikely to be a mainstream adoption by the tertiary sector this year.

Monash University’s Virtual Learning Research Project

Whilst the budget and policy-makers drag their feet, Linden Lab are holding their Inaugural Education Support Faire. Aimed at educators and those who provide learning support, it’s being held on the 25th-30th January this year. Linden Lab are inviting educators to present / demonstrate at the event as well.

Over to you: if you’re an educator, how do you see the barriers being broken down at the higher levels so that the self-evident opportunities of virtual worlds become clear to those not at the coalface?

Filed Under: Australian News, Education, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: education, lindenlab, tateru

Anthropology in World of Warcraft

January 7, 2009 by Editor 2 Comments

WoW Insider have a very interesting interview with Alex Golub, an Assistant Professor within the Anthropology department at the University of Hawaii.

Golub is well underway in research on culture of raiding in World of Warcraft, with the final product expected to be a book in 2010. There’s some discussion on behaviour in raids, gender differences and effective communication strategies. One of the most fascinating aspects is Golub’s take on ‘real-life’ versus online behaviour:

One thing about studying WoW and other virtual worlds is that it has made social scientists realize that “real” and “in the same room” are just not the same things. Everyone in my guild knows each other in “real life,” because real doesn’t mean “physical world” — it means “things that people care about,” or as an anthropologist, I’d say, “things that people in a culture care about.” There is a guy in my guild who works in a cheese factory, turning over 90-pound blocks of cheese all day. I bet I know him better than he knows the guys in the control room measuring cheese temperatures or whatever, even if he sees them every day.

Read the full article here.

Filed Under: Education, Gaming Worlds, General News, Virtual Worlds

Sexual expression in virtual worlds – is normalcy achievable?

January 7, 2009 by Editor 2 Comments

From our sister site, Metaverse Health:

For many, the Christmas / New Year period is a time when there’s more regular social contact with people. It’s certainly been the case for me and it’s emphasised a well known virtual world conundrum – personal boundaries. Over the past month I’ve had the occasion to discuss virtual worlds with a handful of people who have no experience with them at all. In each case, the issue of virtual sex would arise – no surprise there. What did surprise me in its regularity in being raised, was the belief that real-world personal boundaries shouldn’t apply in virtual worlds.

One friend, who’s got a postgraduate education, said to me “if you can’t get immediate and free sex in Second Life, why would you bother?”

It’s not an uncommon opinion by any means. It actually sits on the opposite end of the continuum from “virtual sex is wrong / funny / worthy of ridicule”. In the middle is a limited amount of work being done by health professionals and educators on promoting sexual health, particularly in Second Life. Until there’s further work done in the area of establishing the ‘normalcy’ of sexual expression online (with the usual caveats around unacceptable behaviour / child pornography / extreme sexual violence etc), opinions like my friend’s will continue to hold sway. Some would argue that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and there’s still not enough evidence to determine whether acceptable online sexual expression if harmful, beneficial or both.

There’s obviously some appeal in a different set of personal boundaries, it’s just defining the groundwork for alternate approaches that’s challenging.

Filed Under: General News, Health, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: research, sex

Communities come before commerce

December 27, 2008 by Editor 4 Comments

It’s with great pleasure we feature a guest post from Tateru Nino. We’ve profiled Tateru previously for good reason – there are few people who would understand Second Life more fully.

That’s a simple enough fact. Without communities, there can be no commerce. Even the simplest of communities suffices, but in the absence of it, you’re not going to make sales or effectively market your products.

In the offline, atomic world, communities are largely a matter of geography and infrastructure. Communities form because people are, willingly or unwillingly, in proximity. That’s why the corner store does alright. They’re right there, in your community, and they provide the sorts of things you want.

In the online world, however, matters of geography and mobility infrastructure are largely erased. Community becomes entirely a matter of choice. There’s no captive audience online. There are only interested audiences, and if you don’t have their interest, then someone or something else does.

So, we have two rules.

One, you need a community before you can attempt to sell. Two, you need to be providing something that community wants before they will buy.

Both rules are commonly ignored online, and in particular by businesses operating in virtual worlds.

There are basically only two ways to deal with rule one. Either you have to move into an established community, or you have to build one. The latter means you have to get people interested, and keep them interested. Even when they’re not paying you for product. That’s hard, and expensive and pays off big in the long run. It’s not a strategy for those who are into short-term gains or who are undercapitalised or undercommitted.

The alternative, of course, is to cuddle up with an established community. In the offline world, that’s newspaper advertising, billboards, sponsorship and so on. Online this is often done with banner-ads, but banner-advertisers tend to be quite a bit more scattershot. In the offline world, even a poorly-placed advertisement will be seen by many potentially interested people. In the online world, a poorly-placed advertisement may be seen by almost nobody who is interested.

A million impressions in the wrong place may be worth far, far less than a hundred impressions in the right place.

And that brings us to rule two. You’ve got to be selling something that the community wants, otherwise you may as well just be setting fire to your marketing budget. A kiosk promoting mobile phone plans isn’t going to work in a medieval role-playing environment or a historical recreation. It’s so out-of-place that you’ll get negative impressions, regardless of how many eyeballs and apparent engagement you’re deriving.

This is one of the few times that I actually counsel marketers to behave differently online than offline. You need to keep the same offline core fundamentals of marketing: Know your market, do your research, and refine your approach through empirical trials — but out in the virtual environments, you need to stop assuming you have a ready-made community. You’ll have to find an appropriate one, or make one — or go back to print ads and billboards.

Filed Under: Business, General News, Virtual Worlds

The Drums Never Stop

December 25, 2008 by Editor Leave a Comment

A scientific expedition disembarks from its plane at the final outpost of civilization in the deepest Amazon rain forest.

They immediately notice the ceaseless thrumming of native drums. As they venture further into the bush, the drums never stop, day or night, for weeks. The lead scientist asks one of the natives about this, and the native’s only reply is “Drums good. Drums never stop. Very BAD if drums stop.”

The drumming continues, night and day, until one night, six weeks into the trip, when the jungle is suddenly silent. Immediately the natives run screaming from their huts, covering their ears.

The scientists grab one boy and demand “What is it? The drums have stopped!” The terror-stricken youth replies “Yes! Drums stop! VERY BAD!”

The scientists ask “Why? Why? What will happen?”

Wild-eyed, the boy responds, ” . . . BASS SOLO!!!”

Filed Under: Music

The View from a Wheelchair

December 18, 2008 by Editor Leave a Comment

Australian Second Life resident, Seshat Czeret, provides her second guest post. Thanks Seshat!

There is always a lot of talk about ‘accessibility’, so-called ‘making things usable for the disabled’. You also hear a lot about phrases like ‘discrimination’, ‘equal opportunity’ and ‘political correctness’. It can be difficult to work out what is actually needed to help a disabled person live a fulfilling and useful life, and what is excessive ‘correctness’. Hearing what life is like for a disabled person can help.

I’m disabled. I use Second Life extensively. This is my story.

In the atomic world, the fleshworld, I’m almost totally housebound. I can only do chores – or SL work – for a short time before I have to rest. I only have a few hours a day in which I’m functional, and even for those I’m not fully functional. I haven’t been since I was a teenager. Some days – even some weeks or months – I have even less, or am not functional at all.

When I do go out, I have to use a mobility scooter or a wheelchair. I can walk, but walking the length of a mall would tire me out to the point where I’d need several hours of sleep to recover. For various reasons – which would probably be boring – even with the assistance of the scooter or the wheelchair, going out is very stressful and leaves me tired. I have to plan outings carefully.

So I can’t do atomic world work. By the time I got to work, I’d be too weak to achieve anything. I’ve tried, over and over again, many times in the last two decades. I’ve done it, but only at the cost of aggravating my problems.

Fortunately for me, I live in the 21st Century. I can do work from home! I’ve done voluntary work for the Open Source community. I’ve done other sorts of online voluntary work. I’ve written articles, and twice written a book. Unfortunately, the pace of work expected of an author of books exceeds what I can do – the first time I wrote a book, I was more than a year recovering.

But in Second Life, I can be useful.

In Second Life, I teach. I only have to be focussed for an hour and a half or so at a time, which is a stretch of time I can manage. And I don’t have to leave my house, exhausting myself, to do so. I can teach in text, with student questions also in text, so my hearing problems don’t matter. Much of the typing is done in advance, so I don’t overstrain my arms and hands, and only have to type the personalisation of the class for the individual students I’m teaching that day.

In Second Life, I am an NCI helper. I sit and listen in on the NCI chat/questions group channel. When there’s a problem I can help with, I can choose to respond – or not! If I’m having a high pain day, I let others catch that question. If I’ve responded to too many questions and need a break, I let others catch that question. If I can answer, however, I will.

In Second Life, I run a business. I don’t have to be there all the time, I can set things up and then go collapse into my bed. I can create things that other people like, in the times when I am functional, and rest when I’m not. I can do the business management stuff when I’m capable of it, not to someone else’s timeframe.

Best of all, in Second Life, my body works. I can run, and dance, and fly, and ‘talk’, and ‘hear’. I can attend art shows, or watch people creating art in sandboxes.

In Second Life, I am a person and not a disability.

Filed Under: General News, Health, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: disability, health, seshat

Virtual Worlds and the Transformation of Business: Impacts on the U.S. Economy, Jobs and Industrial Competitiveness

December 16, 2008 by Editor 1 Comment

athenalliance Anyone who hasn’t yet grasped the momentum building in the virtual worlds sphere, hasn’t seen the ever-growing pile of white papers being released. Another example from the past week or so comes from the US-based non-profit entity, Athena Alliance.

Authored by Robert B. Cohen, Ph.D, the paper has the title of Virtual Worlds and the Transformation of Business: Impacts on the U.S. Economy, Jobs and Industrial Competitiveness. As its title suggests, the focus is the US economy and the opportunities virtual worlds may provide. Cohen has some credibility in the tech field, having advised former New York Governor Mario Cuomo on technology as well as being an economic advisor for President George H.W. Bush’s National Advisory Commission on Semiconductors.

Given his long stint in the field, Cohen is upbeat on the potential of virtual worlds for the US economy. After an initial read-through, I found there were some fascinating concepts in the report, particularly the concept of a ‘guild system’ approach to business and virtual worlds. I caught up with the author to ask him about that and the impact of the imminent change in US government:

Lowell Cremorne: From a US standpoint, do you see the imminent change of government federally causing fundamental changes in approach to virtual worlds in the short term?

Robert Cohen: Yes, I think that the desire to use technology to make government work “smarter” and more efficiently will certainly lead to more use of Virtual World technology in the US government itself. This might mean a lot of support for efforts such as the AirForce’s MyBase, where a wide range of training from basic through fairly complex, will all be done in a Virtual World setting.

It would also help bring Virtual World technology for medical care that is being offered by Forterra to the military will get a lot of support. Secondly, the emphasis on helping other parts of the economy use new technology, including Virtual World technology could mean that there
would be some effort made to help businesses and universities use Virtual Worlds for training and education and to support the creation of new
platforms that support the technology with more open standards. This is similar to what is being pushed by the Virtual World Roadmap effort.

Lowell Cremorne: You mention throughout your report the ‘guild system’ approach to business and virtual worlds. Could you summarise that approach and would you agree that it’s a significant mindset change for business?

Robert Cohen: The approach contrasts two outcomes for firms of the future. In one, the multi-industry conglomerate, firms get bigger because virtual worlds help them expand their control over more widespread and sophisticated operations in diverse but related industries. So, I might see auto and aerospace firms merge and bring suppliers that serve them under their wing.

In the other outcome, I would expect a rise of smaller, more agile and nimble “technology user” firms that build up an impressive array of expertise within their firm. These “modern” guild system firms differ from guilds because they can track and support the development of expertise within their firm and clearly define their capabilities to others. As a result, a group of these firms can partner to attack a specific project, say to design a new cancer drug. But people in the firm might also work closely with other, similar “modern guild system” firms to decode a gene with an entirely different group of partners. This kind of joining on a specific task, completing it, retaining some of the intellectual property from it, and then licensing it or producing it jointly is the way this type of firm would work. It might have a series of relationships that are built, continued, broken and then rebuilt with different partners. It is kind of a footloose consultant writ large. I would agree that it is a significant mindset change for business, but you do see some firms operating with elements of this today.

—

It’s certainly a compelling vision for businesses to investigate. The need for a business to be agile and innovative and to have a heavy emphasis on intellectual capital isn’t a new concept. What Cohen’s paper does illustrate is the impact of a link between the collaborative power of virtual worlds and the current business environment where nimbleness is key.

You can read the report in full here.

Filed Under: Business, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: athena, business, innovation

NZ: Literature review on virtual worlds

December 16, 2008 by Graham Sabre Leave a Comment

The dynamos at SLENZ have published a literature review titled Engaging with Second Life: Real Education in a Virtual World.

Written by Ben Salt, Clare Atkins and Leigh Blackall, it provides a superb overview of research undertaken to date and covers a wide range of education-related topics including learning design in Second Life, applying behavioural and cognitive theories and the science applications of virtual worlds.

If you’re an educator or someone just interested in the academic underpinnings or work being done in Second Life, this is a more than worthwhile read.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: education, research, slenz

Minding My Own Business

December 16, 2008 by Editor 3 Comments

Today, a guest post from an Australian business owner in Second Life, Seshat Czeret. One of her major goals is to run a sustainable business in SL â€“ one which she can continue to run, and which sustains itself financially. Anyone looking to run a small business in SL for pleasure, rather than for mega bucks, should check out what Seshat has to say about building and running a business.

I’m Seshat Czeret, and I run a business in Second Life. It’s a small business, just me handling it, but it’s bringing in the Lindenbucks.

It started almost by accident. I was in SL to help my friend Tateru Nino with her columns, doing some of the groundwork. I ran into a role-playing environment that I thought I’d enjoy, and made myself a couple of things to help myself with that. Some clothing, and a curtsey animation. Friends suggested I put them up for sale, and Tateru offered me a bit of space at her shop. So I did. And they sold.

Another friend asked if I’d make her an outfit, which I did, which also sold. More friends asked for variations on that outfit, and before I knew it, I had a small – very small – business I was running.

I rented a storefront, and that’s the point where I decided I’d better treat this as a real business. I’m running Ubuntu Linux on a laptop on my computer desk, so I started entering my transactions into GnuCash.

At first, I wasn’t earning enough from sales to pay the rent on the store. I entered NCI’s Show and Tell and Newbie Blitz Builds, and the winnings I made from those covered the shortfall.

As I expanded my range of products, sales improved. Eventually, I covered my rent with sales alone. I expanded into other sims, as recommended to me by my customers. Each such recommendation brought me business – when I’ve let my customers lead me to other customers, it’s always succeeded. Places I tried to find on my own have usually failed.

Another friend gave me space in her store in exchange for a copy of everything I made, which enabled me to have a major storefront. That brought another increase in sales. We recently moved to a larger plot of land: I own the parcel my store is on, though the building extends across four parcels & contains multiple stores. And I pay my own tier, now, as well.

So I now have a major store, and several smaller stores across several different parts of Second Life. The smaller stores are usually in places associated with a roleplay sim, and hold products appropriate for that role-play. It’s convenient for the customers, to have the most appropriate products for them right there.

Despite that, two core products still pay most of my tier – the curtseys, and the courtly bows I created to complement them. Whenever they’re appropriate to a store, I make sure they’re there, and prominently placed.

I started very small, and I’ve grown conservatively. I’m still a very small Second Life business – I haven’t yet earned enough money to be worth changing into atomic-world currency. But by growing the business conservatively, I haven’t acquired obligations I can’t fulfil. I can still run the business by myself, and I can afford my tier.

I’ve learned not to be shy of upload fees. I often see advice for SL businesses saying not to put the price on a product sign, because if you change it you need to upload again. I disagree. Making the price visible lets my customers browse with confidence, knowing they won’t be suffering ‘sticker shock’ when they find the things they actually want to buy. One extra sale covers the upload fees!

I’ve learned to keep close track of the business. Keeping track lets me know when a product line is selling well, and when it might need to be changed in some way. It lets me know which of the smaller stores is doing a good trade in landmarks to the main store, which in sales, and which in both. And it tells me which products my customers like, so I know which ones I should probably do more of.

But for all of that business-y stuff, I do bear in mind that even my most expensive product wouldn’t pay for a cappucino. So most of all, I make products that are fun to make. It’s nice to dream about the possibility of making a living doing this, but the realistic point of view is that it might never do more than pay for itself. So I may as well have fun.

Filed Under: Australian News, Business, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: business