SL Creativity

Metaverse Meetup #2 at Stanford and in Second Life

For our second Metaverse Meetup we are truly pleased to present Jamais Cascio one the authors of the Metaverse Roadmap. Our first meetup turned out to be very well attended by some very interesting people both at Stanford and in Second Life. We know we have an interesting speaker and topic for this second event and once again will open the floor for some nice and geeky conversation afterwards, so please come join us.

The man: Jamais Cascio writes about the intersection of emerging technologies and cultural transformation, focusing on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking. His work regularly appears both in print and online, and he has spoken around the world on issues such as the global environment, technological transformation, and political change. In 2003, Cascio co-founded WorldChanging.com, the Utne Independent Press Award-winning website identifying models, tools, and ideas for building a “bright green” future. In March, 2006, he started OpenTheFuture.com as his online home. Cascio presently serves as a research affiliate at the Institute for the Future, as the Director of Impacts Analysis for The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and as a founding fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

The talk: The Metaverse — what does it include, where is it going, and how will it change our lives? Based on my work for the Metaverse Roadmap Overview, I’ll look both at the underlying technologies of the Metaverse and at the social, cultural and economic impacts it could have.

• When: Thursday, November ^29th 2007 from 6pm to 7:30pm PST/SLT

• Where: Wallenberg Hall, Stanford University and at Spaceport Bravo in Second Life courtesy of the excellent ISM

A few more bullets for good measure:

• Feel very free to forward this email or blog about this.
• RSVP is voluntary but appreciated
• Write me (Henrik Bennetsen - hbe@stanford.edu) if you have any questions.
• The next of these events has not been scheduled as of yet, but feel very free to suggest speakers or topics
• The Stanford Humanities Lab is delighted to welcome MediaX as cosponsor for this event

Would be great to see you there!

Video from our first Metaverse Meetup is now live!

Of to a good start with a really well attended event last Thursday here at Stanford and in Second Life. Mike Liebhold delivered a very interesting talk entitled: 3D data for real world virtual worlds. You can now see the video right here:

We are very grateful to Mike and eveyone who attended across realities for making this first event so successful. The next Metaverse meetup put on by the Stanford Humanities Lab will be on Thursday, November 28th and will feature Jamais Cascio talking about the Metaverse Roadmap. Watch this space for further details.

Invitation: Metaverse Meetup at Stanford

It is my pleasure to invite you to the first Metaverse Meetup on Thursday November 8th at Stanford University. We want to bring together people from across industry and academia who share an interest in virtual worlds. As our first invited speaker we are thrilled to have Mike Liebhold from the Institute for the Future. His talk will be entitled: 3D data for real world virtual worlds. This will last for about 20 minutes with plenty of time for some good conversation afterwards. We are also having an open mic session, so if you want to pitch a project, find collaborators etc. then here is your chance. The basic idea is a pretty loose format with lots of time for networking built in.

Here is the scoop on Mike:

Mike Liebhold is a Senior Researcher for the Institute for the Future, IFTF, focusing on the mobile and abundant computation, immersive media and geospatial web foundations for context-aware and ubiquitous computing. Previously, Mike has worked for an impressive array of companies including Intel Labs, Netscape Communications & Apple Computer.

Here is the talk abstract:

Abstract 3D data, maps, and software will change the way we compute and interact with spatial services. Moving beyond simple texture mapped terrain and boxes, new 3D mapping frameworks are rapidly evolving into platforms for real world virtual world media, interaction, commerce, and science. In this talk I’ll review work of various groups who are building different components of a 3D Geoweb. I will first describe how their 3D data and software will work as a platform for a 3D real world virtual world, and then, what kinds of new applications and user experiences might be developed on these platforms, and then finish with a brief  discussion of prospects and mechanisms for data interoperability allowing users to create, discover, use, and exchange 3D data across platforms.

• When: Thursday, November 8^th 2007 from 6pm to 7:30pm

• Where: Wallenberg Hall, Stanford University

More practical stuff:

• Feel very free to forward this email or blog about this.
• No need to RSVP but you can write me (Henrik Bennetsen - hbe@stanford.edu) if you have any questions.
• The next of these events will be on Thursday, November 29th and will feature Jamais Cascio talking about the Metaverse Roadmap .

I hope to see you there