Virtual Worlds

(Notes from Training Tech Solutions Conference 2007)

• Online persistent world that is active and available 24/7.
• To implement for learning, try learning from media companies to see how they integrate real life with virtual life.

Resources

• www.sric-bi.com/vwc

Software

• www.secondlife.com – Virtual world
• www.qwaq.com – Virtual spaces for real work.
• www.forterrainc.com/ – Virtual world technology for the corporate, healthcare, government, and entertainment industries.

SecondLife

• It’s not a game, it’s not web 2.0. Likes to be seen as Web 3D.
• Join for free, don’t need to provide personal information.
• Security; allows private sessions/events, or build islands that allows only authorized members to enter.
• Can be slow if the servers are overloaded.
• Uses voice and IM/chat technology.

Related websites

• www.technologyreview.com
• www.pathfinderlinden.com
• www.advancedrealities.com
• www.mayarealities.com – Maps and traffic analysis in SecondLife.
• www.simteach.com
• http://sl.nmc.org
• www.slcn.tv/best-practices-in-education
• www.simteach.com/slccedu07proceedings.pdf
• www.tinyurl.com/ydvcvo
• www.msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com
• www.slurl.com

Mashups

• www.sloodle.org is secondlife + moodle

Use the Terminology

(Notes from Training Tech Solutions Conference & Expo 2007)

Much of today’s technology is used in bottom-up information exchange, where large groups of people collaborate to produce organized content (think blog, wiki). Types of content organization can be divided into the following categories and examples.

• Discovery – www.boingboing.net is one of the world’s most popular blog authored by a five people on random, strange, and unusual topics.
• Prioritizing – www.digg.com is a blog where people collectively determine the value of the content on the web to be shared.
• Collaborating – www.wikipedia.org
• Flocking – www.flashmob.com and www.meetup.com are sites where people can schedule and create meetings with people that share similar interests.
• Mapping – www.outside.in maps local points of interest, stories, and stories from people for their community.

Terminology

Here are some terms used throughout the conference that may be new to some of us.

• Mobile Web – Refers to the World Wide Web as accessed from mobile devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and other portable gadgets connected to a public network. Access does not require a desktop computer. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Web
• Mashups – A web application that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashups
• Web 2.0 – Refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
• Web 3D – What SecondLife likes to consider their technology to be (it’s not quite an ‘official’ term yet since I can’t find it in wikipedia…).
• MMOG – Massively multiplayer online games such as SecondLife (related to MMORPG massively multiplayer role-playing games)

Other Terms you may want to know

• RSS and RSS Reader
• Ajax
• Moblog and MoVlog
• Folksonomy (tag clouds)