NMC Conversations #2
[download MP3] 13.9 Mb 20:18
In our second podcast, we turn to virtual worlds– as many people know, NMC has been heavily involved these past 15 months with our NMC Campus in Second Life, but wanted to point out developments we are tracking in broader realm as part of of the NMC Virtual Worlds efforts.
For this session, Rachel takes a turn at the host of the show. Also, as we test out our podcasting techniques (we are located in three different states, and depending on the time of year, two or three different time zones!), this type we held our conversation in a Skype conference call. Alan captured the audio using Ecamm Call Recorder (Mac OS X application) which can separate audio input and outputs to different audio channels. So tune in for some sterophonic effects!
As a reference to topics and sites mentioned in this show, see also:
- Eduserv Foundation Symposium “Virtual Worlds, Real Learning?” a conference from London streamed into three Second Life locations, one of them at NMC Campus.
- Workshop on Theater in Second Life
- Media Grid (Grid Institute, Boston College, Sun Microsystems) “a computational grid platform that provides digital media delivery, storage and processing (compute) services for a new generation of networked applications. Built using Internet and Web standards, the Media Grid combines Quality of Service (QoS) and broadcast features with distributed parallel processing capabilities.”
- Project Wonderland (Sun) “Project Wonderland is a 3D scene manager for creating collaborative virtual worlds. Within those worlds, users can communicate with high-fidelity, immersive audio and can share live applications such as web browsers, OpenOffice documents, and games.”
- Burning Man Earth (Google) “a 3D virtual representation of Black Rock City, including theme camps, art installations, structures, and activities, that will be available year round, so you can learn what was done, how, and who did it … you can also contact and connect with people who did your favorite projects. As such, it represents a mapping of the Burning Man cultural genome.”
- Torque Game Engine (Garage Games) “is a modified version of a 3D computer game engine originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 FPS Tribes 2. The Torque engine has since been available for license from GarageGames to independent and professional game developers.” (description from WikiPedia)
- Croquet Consortium “a powerful open source software development environment for the creation and large-scale distributed deployment of multi-user virtual 3D applications and metaverses that are (1) persistent (2) deeply collaborative, (3) interconnected and (4) interoperable” — SDK 1.0 released March 27, 2007
- Second Life Educators Listserv (SLED)
- Second Life Best Practices in Education Conference 2007 (May 25, 2007, free!)
In addition, this story came in after our recording:
- IBM simulates business software in 3D game (CNET news.com) “Call it “SOA” for the gaming generation. IBM on Monday introduced a three-dimensional video game that puts a businessperson in a virtual office with the task of constructing a more efficient company. The game, called Innov8, is meant to address a lack of skills in understanding and improving a company’s internal business processes. “
Read on for a transcript from this conversation…
Continue reading ‘Virtual Worlds (and Beyond): NMC Conversations #2′
