Two research teams-- one from the Graz University of Technology in Austria, and the other from University College London (UCL), have converged to create a virtual world that can be explored solely using the imagination.

Sounds mind-boggling, but there's logic here-- the Graz folks specialize in measuring brain signals through electrodes or implants, and the UCL team focuses on building realistic virtual environments. The two teams converged through the PRESENCCIA consortium, to combine the latest in brainwave technology with virtual world exploration. Basically, the research subject sits in a room with electrodes attached to their scalp, and stereo video of the virtual environment projected onto the walls. Glasses help reinforce the illusion of 3D, while the person is essentially able to issue commands to an avatar using only their mind.

The goal is to create a virtual reality experience to help rehabilitate people with serious physical or physiological injury by allowing them to "move" in the virtual world. A man paralyzed from the neck down was asked to test the system, and was able to successfully walk up to other avatars and receive their greetings about 90% of the time.

The virtual environments are ideal for rehabilitation training, because they provide brain stimulation without requiring the patient to actually move. "A system such as this could be very motivational for a patient to use for training," says Jessica Bayliss at Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York, US, who also specializes in brain-computer interfaces and virtual reality. "It reminds me of how people with various handicaps are playing World of Warcraft, because they are able to do things in the virtual world that they can't do in the real world."

[Game|Life via NewScientistTech]

A critical eye's been fixed on virtual worlds and gaming in general lately, with academics, pundits and parents wondering whether such play is constructive-- or destructive-- to children. Examining the issue is London-based Brunel University's School of Sport and Education, where Dr. Simon Bradford and Nic Crowe followed a group of kids ages 13 to 16 for three years, as they played RuneScape, a fantasy MMO from Jagex.

According to the press release, the research found that rather than creating a legion of pale, anemic shut-ins, online worlds "enhance, rather than constrict the imagination of young people," by letting them experiment with different identities and abilities, and try their hands at opportunities and situations they might not have access to in their offline lives.

"We met many players taking part in online role playing, sometimes to extend or to compensate for experiences in the real world," said Dr. Bradford. "For example, young people whose parents could not afford a summer holiday enjoyed virtual holidays online– hanging out with friends, visiting beaches and going to clubs at night to meet new people.”

Further, according to the study, kids seem to be able to reap benefits from interacting in virtual worlds that reach beyond leisure, such as managing virtual currency and property. Bradford noted "how entrepreneurial young players engaged in business deals online, experiencing positive opportunities often not open to them in the material world.”

It isn't immediately clear what specific markers were used to evaluate the study participants, or how many there were. Still, Brunel says it plans to continue its research into gaming, hoping to study behavioral differences in gender next.

Faculty and students at Bowling Green State University and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have created a program that transforms the standard GPS display-- showing a person's position on a map-- into a 3D virtual representation of their surroundings that changes as the user moves.

The program, called Pocket Virtual Worlds, is still in the prototype phase, but project directors Larry Hatch and Jared Bendis are currently working with 239 special photographs they took about a year ago at the Alamo battle shrine in San Antonio. Taken through a mirrored, three-dimensional upside-down cone, the resulting circular images can be unwrapped to create a panorama. Next, the photos are connected in a sequence of paths plugged into a computer program, resulting an image display that changes with the user's direction-- thereby allowing a user to explore the Alamo in the display of a GPS device simply by walking around.

"We had 20 to 25 people surrounding us when we were taking pictures," said Hatch. "They were wondering what in the world we were doing."

"It's really hard to show people the 'wow factor' if you show them the building you work in," Mr. Bendis said, figuring that the nationally-known Alamo site, which not everyone has the opportunity to visit, was "a good place to start."

Hatch and Bendis hope to advance the program into an interactive learning gaming system, with the goal of eventually using the technology to let classroom-bound students take "virtual field trips" of locations like the Amazon rainforest, with classroom projects and discussion launched from what they "see" around them. Since the program can use digitally-created images as well as photographs, students could also theoretically explore outer space or locations in history.

"We lock them into a desk all day, and they don't like it," said Hatch of the average school day.

The group is currently using PDAs as a display unit, but the goal is to have a company interested in the software create a handheld device like the Nintendo DS, wherein students could switch between virtual worlds within the same device as they would switch games.

And like switching games to play, it'd be possible to swap virtual worlds in the same device, Hatch said.

According to Hatch, the team hopes to perfect Pocket Virtual Worlds and have it ready for corporate consideration in about a year, and is heading to Austria with four students from BGSU's Digital Media Research Group to tweak the program at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

[Via ToledoBlade.com]

Educational enterprise software developer Blackboard, Inc. has announced they'll award a $25,000 grant to colleges and universities who integrate virtual worlds into their teaching programs. It's called the Greenhouse Grant for Virtual Worlds, and according to the Blackboard website, it's "designed to help build a collective body of knowledge, and reward clients (including former WebCT clients) who have successfully developed and deployed initiatives that promote best practices in the adoption of Internet technology in the educational environment."

In plainer language, any school program that enhances the student experience by combining virtual worlds with Blackboard software to share-able results is eligible for the grant; submissions are due by September 24th, and the winner will be announced at this October's annual Educause Conference in Seattle.

[Via The Chronicle of Higher Education]

A recent BBC article discussed the ways that social scientists and academics are using virtual worlds to study human behavior. A review in the journal Science reveals that researchers are able to use online societies as "virtual laboratories" to gain insights into real life, and suggests that MMO gaming behavior and online socialization can help scientists studying ideas about government and even the individual sense of self-- while other researchers are beginning to identify behaviors specific to online worlds and how those differ from real-world interaction.

According to the article, Dr. Willian Bainbridge, the head of "Human-Centered Computing" at the US National Science Foundation wrote in Science about how studies in online worlds offer scientists new opportunities by eliminating some of the problems researchers encounter when gathering subjects in the real world-- primarily, Bainbridge said, difficulties finding the right amount of research subjects quickly, or securing funds to conduct the research. The high userbase in popular online worlds (Bainbridge cited World of Warcraft and Second Life as examples) means a ready pool of subjects that can be recruited over long periods of time for little cost.

The worlds themselves also gather statistics on player behavior that scientists can easily analyze, Bainbridge added.

Early studies of online worlds have already begun to reveal the ways in which players' behavior mirrors their real-life-- for example, user avatars keep the same radius of personal space as people tend to in the real world, standing about the same distance apart. Many commentators also highlighted differences between individual online communities -- like the tendency of Second Life users to create a single character with whom they closely identify, while WoW users tend to make several different ones which, Bainbridge observes, they view as possessions. Bainbridge believes variations like these will shed light on people's ideas about self and presentation to others.

The article says online games could also let scientists run large studies of alternative governmental regimes that would be, as Bainbridge wrote, "next to impossible in society at large." out large-scale studies of alternative governmental regimes that would be "next to impossible in society at large," he wrote.

For example, Bainbridge wrote, WoW players' ongoing faction wars over valuable resources could be viewed as a "field experiment" in "how individuals can be induced to cooperate in producing public goods".

Makes you wonder if someone's jotting notes on your gameplay patterns! Many active users of WoW and other online games and communities often note, for example, their own tendency to gravitate towards certain types of characters and experience, and wonder what those choices might say about them. Perhaps we'll soon know more.

[Via BBC News]

A new article in The Engineer explains how researchers at Queen's University, Belfast, are making strides toward developing technology that will bring the sense of touch to virtual worlds. According to the article, a new study in the field of haptic technology makes feasible a future where shoppers can feel the products they want to buy online, or get a sense of force when the ball hits the racquet in a digital tennis game.

The researchers will spend the next three years working on the network architecture needed to support such technology. Specifically, they need to find a way to compensate for network delays that affect the quality of haptic performance -- in other words, the sense of the ball hitting the racquet might be delayed on a slow network connection.

Professor Alan Marshall, the principal investigator of the project, says that haptics can cause an even greater delay than the approximately 50 milliseconds associated with voice. "We know that when we put echo cancelling on voice it can reduce delay time, so what we need to do is to develop the equivalent of an echo canceller for haptics," he explains.

Marshall explains that the stereoscopic images used to create 3D worlds are actually ideal for haptic technology, because they create the dimension of depth essential to touch -- which has exciting implications for adding another of the real human five senses to virtual environments.

IBM recently demonstrated how seriously it takes online worlds when it published official guidelines for its employees' conduct in virtual worlds. Its Institute for Business Value has also conducted research about in-world leadership skills, and how practicing them in games like World of Warcraft or EverQuest can foster corporate growth.

The Institute's 20-page report asserts that the skills required to manage a 40-person guild and conduct them in raids are the same as those required to coordinate human capital at a corporate organization, and that playing the games may in fact offer "fresh insight" into the development of new leadership abilities.

From the report:

The similarities between the online, globe-spanning gaming world and the emerging picture of the globally integrated enterprise of the future are actually quite striking. As technological innovation enables companies to disaggregate and send increasing amounts of work to employees and external partners around the world, organizations are conducting more work virtually. Corporate leaders must both coordinate and motivate individuals who are separated by time zones and cultures. Collaboration – at an individual and corporate level – has become a necessity. And in today’s dynamic business environment, leaders must take more risks and execute with greater speed – briskly connecting talent and moving information and knowledge around the globe to fulfill organizational needs.

The report also highlighted the key factors that MMOs have in common with the corporate world -- for example, both require participants to self-organize and develop skills, require risk-taking, provide performance-based incentives, and require group collaboration under a leader. No word, though, as to whether playing WoW on company time counts as "work," though!

Numedeon's Whyville, a virtual world for kids, has gained some attention with its success over the past year. Now the San Antonio Express-News is reporting that founder and Chief Executive Jim Bower is leveraging his professorship in computational biology at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to help Whyville teach kids about life and science.

According to the Expresss News, the Texas Workforce Commission recently granted Whyville with over $440,000 to build a Whyville Biotech and a Whyville Advanced Manufacturing Center to educate young users in those areas -- kids will work to develop vaccines to the in-world virus WhyPox at the biotech center as they learn about world disease control and prevention, drug design and discovery, and new techniques in computational biology.

"From a work-force standpoint, this is huge," Bower told the Express-News. "We have a 'cool' factor, but we're also doing something very useful for these industries.

In addition to science, Whyville residents are also learning fiscal responsibility. Through a partnership with Toyota to sell Scions to teens and 'tweens in Whyville, kids learn about lending and financial services as they must earn enough in-world "clams" to make the payments on time, and a Whyville Toyota engineering facility teaches kids about advanced design.

"This activity is intended to teach kids how to manage credit and be responsible," Bower told the Express-News. "Every kid in Whyville has a credit score. Better to understand how that works now with clams than figure it out with real money when they grow up."

[Via San Antonio Express-News]

The MacArthur Foundation has expressed in the past the potential it feels virtual worlds hold for philanthropy and education. As part of over $50 million earmarked for digital media and learning initiatives, it recently announced a year-long exploration of those possibilities with a $550,000 grant to the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication. Now, it continues in that vein with the announcement of a new grant, in an undisclosed amount, to the New York-based nonprofit GlobalKids.

GlobalKids, which focuses on educating students in underserved communities about international and public policy issues, will use the grant money to foster discussion around the use of virtual worlds to support philanthropy. Along with fellow grant recipients Common Sense Media, which provides entertainment media ratings for kids, the students will add a special panel to each track of the upcoming Second Life Community Convention, focusing on the increasing presence of social justice organizations in online worlds and how these organizations are using the medium to extend their reach.

“Virtual worlds are already a burgeoning frontier for business and entertainment, but the public sector has been slow to get involved,” said President Jonathan Fanton of the MacArthur Foundation, which recently announced a year-long exploration of virtual worlds. “From MacArthur’s recent experience, it is clear that residents of virtual worlds are hungry for ‘in-world’ opportunities to engage on serious social issues and to act on their philanthropic impulses.”

Virtual life surprised some scientists recently by behaving just like a real ecosystem, when a plague created to challenge high-level players in World of Warcraft actually escaped its containment and spread among the general population -- carried by travel, pets, and stupid behavior, just as a real germ would.

The episode around the electronic pandemic, called "Corrupted Blood," inspired a Journal Lancet Infectious Diseases report on ways the online world might be useful in disease studies. "The disease had spread to the densely populated capital cities of the fantasy world, causing high rates of mortality and, much more importantly, the social chaos that comes from a large-scale outbreak of deadly disease," the article read.

The difference between virtual worlds and prior disease models is that the somewhat random factor of human behavior and how it contributes to the spread of academics could not be studied in such a realistic way before. For example, "No one has ever looked at what would happen when people who are not in a quarantine zone get in and then leave," said Nina Fefferman, a medical epidemiologist who worked on the report.

Fefferman will now incorporate the similar kinds of behaviors into her model scenarios, and will also continue working with Blizzard to model disease outbreaks in other games.

[Via MSNBC]

The SEE3D group at the University of Wales Aberystwyth is busy innovating! We recently reported that they were working on ways to use virtual worlds to help juries see crime scenes; now, they've developed virtual world technology that will allow town and city residents and council to see how their community will look with a wind farm nearby. SEE3D builds virtual replicas (to scale) of towns considering the alternative energy solution, and then lets residents and local government tour the area so that they can better consider the ways proposed wind farms might impact their neighborhood.

SEE3D's virtual worlds allow visuals within a 30 mile radius of the proposed farm, and even allow local officials to fly over the site in an airplane, or drive past it in a car, to see the wind farm from different vantage points.

Seems like the aim is to help convince people to adopt alternative energy solutions, perhaps with the hope that a virtual replica of life beside a wind farm might be more appealing than the imagination?

[Via NewsWales]

Global Kids, the nonprofit organization that focuses on using technology to educate and inspire civic responsibility among underserved youth, recently announced a $550,000 MacArthur Foundation grant to use virtual worlds to support discussion and education on philanthropy; now, it has announced more details about its program for the upcoming school year, including the Virtual Video program which the MacArthur grant funds.

This year, Global Kids will conduct programs at more than 20 public schools and its own new headquarters in Manhattan. Among this year's current initiatives, the GlobalKids Online Leadership Program works with students to create online leadership programs:

Global Kids offers a number of programs that give youth the tools to create educational games, work in virtual worlds, construct machinima (digital movies made using interactive three dimensional environments), and take part in online dialogues. Among these programs are the Microsoft-funded Playing 4 Keeps, an after-school program in which young people create educational online games, and the MacArthur Foundation-funded Virtual Video Project, in which youth create digital movies using the virtual world of Second Life.

“We are very excited to begin another academic year with our strongest lineup yet of substantive, enlightening programs,” said Carole Artigiani, founder and executive director of Global Kids. “But the most exciting and rewarding part comes at the end of the school year, when we see how the youth in Global Kids’ programs have grown, developed a more global perspective, taken action on issues they care about, and gained opportunities to pursue higher education.”

We recently discussed how nonprofit GlobalKids is using its recently-awarded MacArthur grant to use virtual worlds for education -- and how a peek inside their new program reveals a concentration on Second Life, which is surprising, when you consider that there are a variety of models for education-focused environments available out there.

Headway Strategies' Lee Wilson concurs; he's been attending the EdNet2007 educators' conference, and had the following impressions of a panel focusing on education in Second Life:

First off, I find it interesting that Second Life is getting most of the visibility in Education when other virtual worlds (Habbo Hotel, Whyville, etc.) are doing far more with K12 age kids and some have more intentionally educational content on them. Chalk it up to Second Life being a media darling and to good outreach from their Education team. If you are interested in this arena some of these other worlds merit a look.

Second Life is a big investment, but not where you think it will be. The software itself is free and content is inexpensive. It is expensive to train teachers how to use the new tools and it requires a high end machines (this alone is enough to give many schools a pause).

Focus on the interactivity aspects - that is where the power lies. It is a great tool for collaborative interactivity, immersion, visualization, and simulation.

Don’t make 3D PowerPoint sites. This isn’t a good environment for virtual lectures, it isn’t great for media delivery (even with high end machines), and chat is better in RL (real life).

Integrate it into existing practice. It isn’t going to replace what works well, so spend the time to figure out how it can compliment the learning ecosystem.

Lee also points out that Brecht raised some useful alternative platforms to consider for developing in this area; Croquet, Sun's Wonderland, Multiverse and private worlds from Sony and Microsoft; Lee also recommended Muzzy Lane and Numedeon's NICE (on which Whyville operates) as potential options, as they have been built with educational uses in mind.

[Via The Education Business Blog]

While we're on the subject of so-called 'serious virtual worlds' (I think Entropia Universe users would express they take their world very seriously), it's a good time to point out the latest in-depth coverage by The Guardian's Aleks Krotoski from last month's State of Play conference. She interviewed Coventry University Serious Games Institute's David Wortley on serious virtual worlds (Krotoski's questions in bold):

What do you feel is a particularly good example of a serious use of a virtual world?

One of my favourites is the Wheelies site in Second Life. The reason for this is not the site per se, but the empowering effect the development of this site has had on its owner, Simon Stevens. Simon suffers from cerebral palsy and is a very intelligent young man who has endured discrimination and hardship from birth because of his speech impairment. Developing the Wheelies site (where his avatar is in a wheelchair) has had a marvellous transforming effect on his life.

They're not a global panacea - what are some of the criticisms for using virtual worlds for serious ends?
The main criticism is lack of security and control in environments like Second Life. Just as in real life, the human imagination knows no bounds for good or evil and the insecurity and unpredictability of some environments limited their use for business purposes. In a social context, they can also have a negative effect if they become a substitute for human contact.

Like John Brecht and Lee Wilson in The Education Business Blog's EdNet2007 coverage, which we recently highlighted, Wortley also offers his own suggestions for platform alternatives for serious virtual worlds and education:

Second Life has been grabbing most of the headlines lately, but which future platforms do you see with great promise on the horizon?
At the Serious Games Institute in Coventry, as well as working with Second Life, we are developing a relationship with the Forterra Olive platform which has the attraction of a more open interface to industry standard tools like 3D Studio Max. We also like the drag and drop capabilities of Visual 3D which should provide some very interesting applications and we are working with Giunti Labs in Italy and Cisco to explore augmented reality applications.

Closer to home, Blitz Games and PixeLearning have developed their own platforms and companies such as Caspian Learning in Sunderland and Immersive Education in Oxford have provided good platforms for the education sector.

Farther from home, I expect to see some challenges from the Far East.

[Via The Guardian]

The BBC is reporting that IBM students in Ireland are working to create a solution whereby the blind can access and experience virtual worlds -- they've designed audio technology that uses "3D sound" to create a sense of space. Their work is part of the Extreme Blue research initiative which brings groups of students together for 12 weeks to solve a problem set by senior researchers.

According to the article:

The project - called Accessibility In Virtual Worlds - is what the company describes as "a proof of concept" at this stage, but it will be passed on to IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Centre in Texas for further development.

For their work the Irish team decided to use the Active Worlds online environment rather than the more popular Second Life (which has almost 9.5m accounts) because it allowed them more flexibility.

As the article notes, Active Worlds is comprised largely of user-contributed content, which made it ideal for the students to experiment within the world. "When the user comes into the world, the items are described as well as their positions," researcher Colm O'Brien told the BBC. "There is also sound attached - for example, if there's a tree nearby you will hear a rustling of leaves," said Mr O'Brien.

Text-to-speech software also played a role in the research, reading chat from avatars out loud from their text boxes. The research also found success by attaching "sonars" to user avatars so that the blind can determine the proximity, direction and rate of approach from others.

The research team received feedback from blind mentors -- one in IBM's Dublin lab and two based in the company's Texas research center, and also worked with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland. The research proved that the concept of equipping virtual worlds for use by the blind is feasible, and the team made recommendations and set accessibility standards.

"IBM believes that virtual worlds are going to be the next big evolution of the web and if this happens... it's not right for blind people to be missing out on what the rest of us have available," O'Brien said.

Writer Daniel Terdiman has announced a new book, titled The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life. It's all about making money in the metaverse, and while it focuses on Second Life, it seems like it'll be a useful tome for anyone interested in exploring avenues of self-motivated commerce in virtual worlds.

According to Amazon, the book, available on November 5th, overviews virtual world economies and highlights their opportunities and challenges. A chapter devoted to virtual business basics discusses marketing and advertising avenues essential to thriving Second Life businesses, and there are tips and tricks on multi-stage business plans, too. The book also explores less tangible avenues, like machinima, blogs and media, content creation and speculation on virtual currencies.

Terdiman will also be speaking at The Electric Sheep's upcoming Entrepreneur's Club gathering coming up on October 4th, presumably to promote the book and to share expertise.

The Center For Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California has announced a panel titled "What Are Kids Learning In Virtual Worlds?" It's being presented in conjunction with MacArthur Foundation and Common Sense Media, and appears to be a bit basic in nature; from the event site:

Club Penguin, Whyville, The Sims, Second Life.
You've heard these names, what do they mean for kids?
Hear from a panel of experts as they discuss:

* What are kids really doing in virtual worlds?

* How are they learning?

* What does this mean for parents and educators?

This conference is specifically being held to create a balanced conversation between parents, educators, researchers and media. People with an interest in child development, virtual worlds, and the effect media is having on children, will benefit from the information provided in the panel discussion.

Similar events have been cropping up all over the place; it seems like an encouraging sign, in a nascent industry, that early on the use by children as separate from the use of adults is being discussed regularly; perhaps it may allow the online worlds industry to cope effectively and avoid some of the controversy that often plagues the worlds of film, television and video games.

Coventry University's Serious Games Institute has announced a partnership with Cisco and Giunti Labs to build a new learning environment that blends mobile learning with virtual worlds technologies, aiming to give the Institute's students a technology platform on which to build a digital model of the campus building. Ultimately, the goal is to have both the virtual building as well as the real one trigger location-based access to educational content.

The solution uses Cisco wireless location services to track real-world positions and movements integrated within the Giunti Labs Learn eXact learning content management system. The Giunti Labs software also allows repurposing of the digital learning content so that it can be used either in the virtual SGI or via any device connected to the Coventry University Cisco wired and wireless networks.

Giunti Labs, SGI and Cisco are also planning to start working on what they call ‘extended positioning’ - which means position detection systems that are interoperable among real and virtual copies of the facility. According to the companies, these systems will enable students who are visiting a place - either in the real world or online – to meet, despite being physically separated by thousands of miles -- in other words, a student in a virtual hall could connect to a student who is standing in the same hall in the real-world.

SGI says that Coventry University aims to create a "smart campus" by 2010 to attract more doctoral students, improve student and staff satisfaction, and grow its research income by 50 percent annually, among other objectives.

John Latham, pro vice-chancellor for business development at the university, said, "We set ourselves the goal of transforming Coventry University into a destination of choice for students and academics from around the world. Supported by the technology and expertise provided by Cisco and Giunti Labs, our SGI has a number of advanced virtual learning capabilities, such as drag-and-drop positioning of digital learning contents, three-dimensional hotspot positioning, and triggering and tracking of learning content by an avatar."

He continued, “We also have the tools and functionality for the creation, packaging and management of Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)-compliant contents which can be contextualised and delivered to Windows Mobile 5 personal digital assistants within the SGI Cisco Wi-Fi network. And we can also reuse location based content also in other virtual worlds platforms, such as Forterra and Second Life.”

Forterra Systems, whose OLIVE platform is used to develop business and academic virtual worlds, has launched developer programs designed to enable consultants, system integrators, resellers, independent partners and education and business organizations to work with its platform, including a price-adjusted model aimed at production deployments for a smaller user group.

Forterra will offer three different programs focused on training, product development, testing, demo, prototype and pilot for stakeholders ahead of production deployment -- the Basic, Standard and Premium programs also include a non-production developer license of OLIVE that works over a LAN, WAN, and the Internet. Additionally, each package includes various 3D content assets from existing packs. Forterra can also host the development server.

The Forterra Developer Programs are tiered to adjust the support services and benefits according to the company's investment and relationship with Forterra. Tools and resources available through the Developer Programs include: education, developer services, technical support, hosting, account management, and marketing. Forterra adds it has invested heavily in support, training, and documentation services to assist its customers and partners. Learning technology company Vcom3D is one of Forterra's early development partners, and is using OLIVE to develop multi-lingual, culture-specific, virtual communicator characters for situation-based learning.

“The 3D Internet is a disruptive force of change that is transforming how businesses, the public sector, and educational institutions train, research, practice, and collaborate,” said Dave Rolston, Forterra’s CEO. “Our Developer Programs and new pricing allow our customers and partners to participate in this powerful market trend more easily through the creation, delivery, and marketing of 3D content, value-add plug-ins, and complete applications based on the OLIVE platform. The Developer Programs are designed to provide cost effective means to develop and pilot a 3D application, and to accelerate time-to-production. Our goal is to create a vibrant partner ecosystem and marketplace of industry specific, serious virtual world solutions that benefit our customers, and provide new revenue and profit streams for our partners.”

At a pre-summit event for Media Grid's upcoming Boston Digital Media Summit, 54 Second Life residents proposed a three to five-year plan to create a dedicated "education grid" for Second Life, comprised of computers for non-profit learning-focused content.

Second Life News Network, which reported from the pre-summit event, says the idea would be to create a large, meta-tagged database of content specifically for educators so they can implement virtual learning environments quickly in their classrooms.

Sun Microsystems' Wonderland and Duke's Croquet were also mentioned as "immersive education platforms" that could be plugged into the proposed grid, as all three meet open source code requirements, and can be plugged into the proposed grid. Ideally, it would create a consistent cross-platform education experience with standard interfaces and modalities, explains Second Life News Network.

Said initiative director and Media Grid director Aaron Walsh during his pre-summit talk, "The future is not a single platform. Multiple platforms can provide similar experiences, consistent from platform to platform.”

[Via Second Life News Network]

North Carolina-based interactive learning solutions company and online world developer Virtual Heroes has developed an interactive training game for use by Hilton Garden Inn. The company developed a virtual Hilton Garden Inn hotel that features various scenarios for employees to practice interactions with guests.

Called "Ultimate Team Play," the actions that the staff takes in the simulation affects the mood of the virtual guests, implementing the Hilton Garden Inn brand's SALT (Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking) scoring system to evaluate the employees' work and assign them a 1-10 ranking.

Ultimate Team Play uses a branching dialogue system, allowing team members to select a response based on their perception of a guest's attitude. Guests are given value sets with varying degrees of anger, patience and flexibility, At the same time, team members must also manage their regular hotel duties, like telephone and check-in management.

Virtual Heroes uses Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to create collaborative interactive learning solutions and virtual worlds for healthcare, commercial and government applications. Its clients include Intel, Hilton Hotels, Discovery Channel Canada, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, George Washington University Medical Center, Duke Medical Center, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the America's Army game project.

Virtual Heroes founder and CEO Jerry Henghan said, "We are excited to use our advanced learning expertise, technology and artistic talent to help Hilton Garden Inn create the first interactive training game to be used in the hospitality industry. Ultimate Team Play leverages cutting-edge games-based technology in a realistic and immersive virtual Hilton Garden Inn environment where real-world hotel staff can further enhance their training and guest interaction."

Speaking of mobile virtual worlds, NEC Corporation has announced it intends to connect Second Life to the mobile platform. The company says its SCI Platform is able to open virtual worlds communications to real-world phones by placing an "NEC Communicator" in Second Life.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, NEC showed off the technoloy, which it says lets users within Second Life use their avatar to make cell phone calls via the NEC Communicator. Beyond voice, Second Lifers will also be able to send text-based communications like SMS, email and IP messaging to real-world devices.

The company says the technology will provide new Web 2.0 revenue streams for its customers through such "virtual to real world" interfaces that enable connected communication, payment and media distribution. It's part of what the company says is an overall vision for media convergence and evolution.

The company will place its NEC Communicator at its "Tokutoku Pocket Island" in Second Life, which it launched alongside its NEC Island in 2007 for its branding and marketing activities.

The borough council of Barnsley, England, is using ActiveWorlds' software to use 3D environments for education. The environment includes reading and writing exercises against the backdrop of a story, which asks students to follow clues to determine what has happened to the residents.

Each child participating gets an avatar and they can interact with one another. The students can share the information they learn and then discuss in class, as the overall objective is to strengthen reading, writing and comprehension skills.

According to Computer Weekly, which reported on the school's program, 10 schools in total are currently using ActiveWorlds, and these schools say that it's been a success so far, with the borough council considering deploying the program at additional schools.

The council's ICT consultant, Paul Reese, told Computer Weekly, "We thought we could use it to raise boys' attainment, because we thought the computer environment would appeal to them. But the whole class has been more engaged and motivated and the teachers say the quality of their work has been better."

[Schools using virtual world to teach reading and writing skills | Computer Weekly]

In anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michigan State University professor Yong Zhao and MSU Confucius Institute have created Zon, an MMO aimed at teaching Mandarin Chinese and introducing Chinese culture to players, according to university paper MSU Today.

The browser-based virtual world allows players to visit markets, read newspapers, watch television, chat and trade with other players, and find jobs, all in China and with the added twist of using tools to understand the language and culture. Players can access quests and learning materials, including live Chinese tutors, while advancing through different stages of status in China, such as “tourists,” “residents,” and ultimately citizens.

Though Zon is currently free and available as an open beta, a monthly subscription fee is being considered for the MMO. Zhao believes the summer Olympics will generate interest for Zon from children around the world hoping to learn more about China.

Said MSU College of Education dean Carole Ames: “MSU, through our Confucius Institute, has been a leader in the increasing interest for instruction in Chinese language and culture by providing innovative programs that are accessible to people. This game boldly goes to another frontier in learning that has the potential, technologically, to reach our largest audience yet.”

Educational software developer Knowledge Adventure revealed that it plans to bring its 3D virtual world, JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, online on July 31st, according to a report from daily newspaper Daily Breeze.

Based in Torrance, CA, Knowledge Adventure released JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, its software for teach 3-to-5 year olds pre-reading, early math, social studies, art, music, computer skills, and critical thinking skills, in May 2008. Parents are encouraged to participate in the virtual world, and are invited to specify which holidays will be celebrated in the game, upload photos for arts and crafts projects, and track their child's progress.

Though the developer hasn't yet launched the software's online component, over 20,000 children have already become subscribers and can access enhanced content in JumpStart Advanced Preschool World. According to Knowledge Adventure children as spending an average of one hour playing the game each day.

When the paid subscription service starts, the Web site will allow children to explore the learning tools, moving from level to level without having to buy new software. It will also allow Knowledge Adventure to continually add and update content, as well as provide a multiplayer environment with user-generated content.

Once the online component has been made available, users will be able to interact with one another in JumpStart's 3D virtual world, going on adventures, completing missions, earning rewards, and learning. Subscribers will also be able to explore the learning tools, move from level to level without having to buy new software, download new and updated content, and more.

Knowledge Adventure CEO David Lord indicated that the developer is looking to bring its JumpStart brand and other properties to the Nintendo DS, Wii, and the iPhone.

Pointing to the popularity of virtual worlds such as Disney's Club Penguin and the declining sales in the educational software market, Lord explained Knowledge Adventure's move to the virtual world industry: "Here is where the revenue opportunities are. Here are the growth opportunities. Our market's shrinking. Let's make sure we get into the virtual world market."

The YMCA of San Francisco has chosen Dizzzywood, a virtual world designed for children between ages 8-12, to enhance its youth program technology curriculum.

In Dizzywood, players can create, customize, and name a character to explore an enchanted wood. Players can co-operate with others to solve the mysteries of the wood, and can earn rewards, such as items, achievement badges, e-motes, and powers for successful completion of events, or they can just relax and chat with friends, take part in games and explore.

The YMCA is using Dizzywood's virtual environment to reinforce its program emphasis on activities promoting values such as caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. Children also learn about issues relating to virtual worlds through Dizzywood, such as digital citizenship and online safety. Storytelling and team-building exercises are provided to emphasize creativity, writing, and reading skills, as well as working together to achieve goals.

The program is similar to an elementary school program that Dizzywood completed with the Reed Union School district, in which an interactive workshop used activities to reinforce the school's character pillars and core values.

Said YMCA San Francisco's senior director of community environment Troy O'Leary: “Our goal at the YMCA is to provide children with educational activities that challenge them to learn new skills, develop self-confidence and to ultimately help them be successful in the world. Dizzywood’s unique virtual environment offers our kids a wonderful environment in which they can learn important lessons through activities that require thoughtful decision-making. We hope the success of this program offers a model for other youth programs to follow.”

MMO distributor and middleware developer BigWorld has announced that it will implement MMOG and virtual world learning resources and support services for 2009. The company has appointed Adam Shaw as its education program manager to lead the initiative.

The company argues that tertiary institutions and specialist educators have been teaching their game courses using traditional peer-to-peer game engines which are unsuited for demonstrating "how true MMOG’s and virtual worlds are created."

BigWorld's planned resources and services are designed to enable educators to work with their students on "world-class middleware technology" allowing hundreds of thousands of players to interact simultaneously, rather than on engines restricted by the number of players.

Based in Australia, the company recently announced that it had expanded its global presence to both Japan and South Korea with new offices, bringing in former Online Game Services Inc. (OGSi) founder and CEO James Hursthouse as its director of business development and Yoshikazu Furuhata as its new account executive.

Said CEO John De Margheriti: “We have many months of hard work ahead with educational partners to get this initiative off the ground. The industry as a whole needs to make it easier for motivated young talent to gain experience in using today’s industry standard middleware technology. These games are much more complex to develop for and this is a pro-active approach to prevent an industry shortage of experienced MMOG developers, particularly game programmers and game designers.”