Back in London for the second year; VWF08 is three days of congress, expo and optional workshops, brought by the regular Virtual Worlds Salon hosts. VWF08 is the place to make serious business connections, be inspired by three streams of content, participated in the extended expo and demo theatre. For more information please visit: http://virtualworldsforum.com/
Journal of Database Management (JDM)
Special Issue on Virtual Worlds and 3-D Web
Deadline: 19 January 2009
Special Issue Editors
Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE), Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), and other 3-D virtual environments have begun to attract the attention of scholars, practitioners, and the public at large. Although many of these environments originated as games or social networks, numerous scholars have recognized that virtual worlds and 3-D web have the potential to revolutionize how individuals work, play, and use the web, how groups and teams interact, collaborate, socialize, and conduct their work, how businesses market and sell products, goods, and services, and how societal and governmental boundaries and institutions are stretched and redefined. The popularity of games such as World of Warcraft, social networks such as Second Life, and children’s games such as Webkinz has demonstrated that these environments have appeal, and experience thus far has shown that these environments present both opportunities and challenges for individuals, businesses, governments, and societies.
This special issue has the goal of fostering research to examine this important phenomenon by offering scholars the opportunity to publish and disseminate empirical, theoretical, or conceptual papers addressing the importance and impact of virtual worlds and 3-D web. We are open to the use of a variety of research methodologies to understand phenomena
relating to Virtual Worlds and the 3-D web.
Topics relevant to this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
Important Dates:
Submission Procedure:
All manuscripts will be subject to high standards of peer review at JDM. Manuscripts should follow the JDM guidelines for submission. Details regarding the submission format are available at http://www.igi-pub.com/jdm
Please email your submission as an attachment to Dr. Brian Mennecke at mennecke@iastate.edu
Full-time Research Associate position based at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK
Closing date for applications: 21/08/2008
The Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology at the Open University, UK is seeking a post-graduate researcher to work on a JISC-funded e-learning research project: “Design of Learning Spaces in 3-D Virtual Environments”; Salary range: £25,888 – £30,912; 9 months contract available from 1st October 2008. (more…)
Special Issue: Culture of Virtual Worlds
Deadline: September 30, 2008 | Publication Date: November 20, 2008
Guest Editors: Mark Bell, Indiana University and Mia Consalvo, Ohio University
Early users of virtual worlds trumpeted their potential to bring together like-minded groups to create community, to encourage social activism, and to explore facets of identity. Over the past 20 years, we have seen virtual worlds develop from text-based to graphical, and from 2D to 3D interactive spaces. Some spaces have focused primarily on game-related activities, from MUD through Ultima Online and World of Warcraft, while others have concentrated on social aspects of being, allowing users to define their own goals, and often create many parts of the spaces they inhabit–from LambdaMoo to The Palace and Second Life. Virtual worlds have also become big business at the same time as some worlds remain resolutely tied to different goals. Yet what of the cultures that have grown up in, around, and through virtual worlds in this same time period? What do we know about that culture, or more accurately, those cultures and how to define them? (more…)
FINDING THE REAL-WORLD VALUE IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Cutter IT Journal
San Murugesan, Guest Editor
Abstract Due: 20 June 2008
Articles Due: 31 July 2008
Virtual worlds are a hot topic now, thanks to the increased computing and graphic capabilities of personal computers, high-speed Internet access, and intense corporate interest in exploring and exploiting these worlds. These 3D, interactive Web environments are said to deliver an immersive experience that is much richer than what we currently experience with the traditional Web. So is the Web poised for its next major evolution? According to the Association of Virtual Worlds, the answer is yes: “Virtual worlds represent a major information and technological revolution in how we work, play, and live.”
Call for Papers/Participation to join a workshop on learning and research in Second Life(R) on October 16, 2008 in Copenhagen at Internet Research 9.0 (http://conferences.aoir.org/). Deadline June 15th (Individual extensions may be given).
Second Life is a 3d virtual environment created by Linden Lab (R) which has captured the attention of researchers and teachers from around the world from a variety of disciplines. This workshop aims to improve the understanding of Second Life as a Learning and Research environment. It will bring 35 researchers together to collaborate, discuss and workshop diverse topics related to research and learning in Second Life. We will pursue a full-day schedule in which participants will discuss their work and interests on four different topics: learning in Second Life, integrated learning, the contributions of research to the community and ethical research methods
The Swedish Tax Agency posted a statement/ruling on their website, titled “Virtual worlds — value-added tax” (”Virtuella varldar — mervardesskatt”). In it, the agency states that in-game transactions may incur liability for both value-added tax as well as income tax under Swedish law. Read the rest of this article at Virtual-World.org.
From examining the muscular movements of frogs, to understanding the results of chemical reactions, Second Life is a world of scientific inquiry.
Students at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology,are now able to take an architecture course called, “Unreal central perspective.” To quote the following website, “The 3D tools used by Second Life developers are similar to those used by architects, and Lindstrand wanted to explore the relationship between computer gaming and architecture, as well as between design tools and production.” Furthermore, the article continues that in Second Life, the lack of physical constraints of the material world don’t exist. This allows students to stretch their thinking.
This is a reminder that the deadline for the virtual worlds special issue is 31st of May. If you are interested in submitting a paper please check out the call for papers.
The web of links will become the web of virtual streets. That’s how Second Life founder Philip Rosedale wants us to think. As most researchers all can agree, Second Life, in its fifth year of existence, is much like the early World Wide Web. To quote Rosedale, in an interview by the Guardian, “There was a time in 1996 when everybody said: ‘This internet thing is a total bust, it’s a fad, it’s full of **** …’ But the internet kept growing at 10 per cent a month.’
This is also Rosedale’s response to Second Life’s questionable 12 Million registered users. It’s documented most don’t come back. Yet Second Life reports it’s actively growing in usage 10%, or around there, each year. Rosedale continues, “It will become the web. I believe that what we are working on right now will become a more common way of using the internet to retrieve information, or interact or transact.”
This idea of the World Wide Web evolving into a more virtual community of 3D interactivity pegs credence to the online consumer behavior to co-create value. People immersed in information, with easy clicks and links, are more and more wanting not just an end result, but a full on experience to create, experience, and collaborate with any user: be it an individual or business.
The London School of Journalism will offer free lectures on journalism in SL. If you are interested, read more about this here.
Linden Labs announced their new CEO, Mark Kingdon (SL name: “M Linden”).
Good luck!
The US Patent and Trademark Office just published Apple’s patent for an enhanced online shopping atmosphere. In an article posted on The Macintosh News Network and Gizmodo, Apple wants to create a more lively online experience when shopping for Apple products. Apple acknowledges presently their online store allows 24/7 service, the ability to recommend associated products, quick and easy search functionality, and most importantly - allowing customers to shop in their pajamas. However, Apple wants to expand these features with a more lively experience that could more closely match the real world experience of visiting an Apple retail store. To quote the MNN: “one drawback of online shopping is that the experience can feel sterile and isolating. Customers in such an environment may be less likely to have positive feelings about the online shopping experience, may be less inclined to engage in the online equivalent of window shopping (e.g., will not linger in front of a display), and may ultimately spend less money than their counterparts who shop in physical stores.”
The question being asked on the internets is if this virtual world store will promote Second Life, or renew Apple’s failed 1994 eWorld (an exclusive mac-only online community) marketing experiment. I’d like to predict Apple’s investment in Second Life, however knowing Steve Job’s need for control, I sense the economics of the Linden Dollar and the empty streets of major recreations of customer-flocking busy retail streets won’t create the robust virtual-shopping environment Apple is wanting to achieve. If Apple wanted to join Second Life, they would have done so already.
Like many filed patents that don’t find the light of day in the end, this one here reveals Apple’s ambition to figure out this whole new market of metaverses. If something does come of this, I believe we’ll see the start of the next Second Life - actual metaverse websites, self-sustained.
A big debate in the virtual worlds is agreeing exactly how much virtual worlds can be worth? It’s troubling enough to evaluate the worth of Facebook. A benchmark has been set. In Second Life, Amsterdam’s red light district has been recreated. According to InformationWeek, via ZDNET: “Amsterdam is one of the most popular sites in Second Life. It’s detailed reproduction of several streets in the real-world city, including a canal, parked Cooper mini cars, a street car, and bicycles. Other features: a large, European-style public square, canal with canal boats, train station and train, and hundreds of shops.”
The article continues: “Most newcomers to Second Life visit Amsterdam early on, because of both the titillation factor and its attractive, detailed design.” Amsterdam was auctioned off for $50,000.
Jon Stewart hosts the Daily Show, a satire news show on Comedy Central. On April 8th, his show had a segment mocking the United States Congress for their committee to discuss the ’speculation’ that terrorists are using Second Life. You can watch the hilarious video clip on Comedy Central.
Even though this satire clip pokes fun at the concept of virtual worlds, it details the importance of virtual worlds to government. In a prior post, virtual worlds are being used to create a more efficient communication channel between goverment agencies.
IBM are pushing forward on the metaverse front by unveiling a plan to host SL on theirservers as a stepping stone to greater adoption of virtual worlds across the enterprise. Introduced at an early stage April 3 at the Virtual Worlds conference in New York, the Second Life Grid lets companies create public or private virtual environments using Linden Lab’s 3-D virtual world technology. Read more more about this story here.
On Monday, 2nd June, the AVEA project at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) organizes an open research seminar on so- called virtual economies.
In the seminar we focus on the following question: “Why should economists and social scientists be interested in virtual economies?” Through discussion and presentations by academic researchers and industry representatives, we investigate the potential of conducting quantitative research on virtual economies that is of interest to mainstream, “serious” researchers.
If you are interested in a job in the virtual world industry (no the real one!), then try: http://www.virtualworldsjobs.com.