ArminasX Heads to Outer Space!

 

Well, not exactly, but it does involve NASA. I’ve been asked to participate in an educational RL/SL mashup panel discussion. It’s actually for a real-life US federal government conference, but in this case the avatar panelists will be appearing on screen in front of a live conference audience of atomics.

Of course, Second Effects readers will be able to attend in SL also by simply teleporting to the conference site at JPL’s Explorer Island. We’re hoping to have a virtual audience that’s a similar size to the real life audience.

The topic of discussion will be basic, as it is an introduction to virtual reality for interested US federal government personnel. They’ll be introduced to the basics of virtual reality, with a specific emphasis on educational aspects. What am I doing there? I’m to speak on how business operates in Second Life.

It could be considered a rather dry topic, but you should know that the majority of the expected real life audience has never seen virtual reality before. I suspect many will be skeptical of the concept, but perhaps they’ll change their mind after hearing what we have to say. At the least, I believe they’ll be surprised when they realize that the in-world audience is close to the same size as the real-world audience (hint!)

Here is the actual description of the session:

Second Life is a 3D virtual world created entirely by its residents, just as Wikipedia was created by its readers. It's a wonderful world full of amazing content that supports experiences that are by no means limited to just entertainment. There are many practical experiences that create strong value for government, industry, educators and entrepreneurs. This panel, which will be conducted completely in the Second Life virtual world, will discuss those experiences from the perspectives of business, government, and academia.

What You Will Learn:

• What virtual worlds are, and their applications in various organizations
• How business in a virtual world can be conducted and what is the return on investment
• The risks associated with using virtual worlds and what happens after the hype

If you have time and interest, please feel free to drop by Explorer Island on Tuesday, March 10th, where we’ll start the discussion at 10:30AM SLT (13:30ET) and continue until 11:45AM SLT.