SLA in Virtual Worlds

Call for Programs, Vendors, Volunteers at the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference

The 2012 Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference will be held May 16 (workshops) and May 17-18 (main conference program) at the National Defense University in Washington DC. Registration will be available in January through pay.gov. Registration fees for onsite participation is $75 per day ($75 for workshops and $150 for main conference program). Registration for online participation is free. The new FCVW website will be available in mid-January. An email announcement will be sent out when it is available. Current website is: http://www.ndu.edu/icollege/fcvw/index.htm. Call for proposals and forms are located at this site. Call for proposal information is also located below. Please participate in the FCVW Facebook and join us in Twitter. If you have any questions, please send your questions to FederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu. Please help us by sending this email to anyone you think would be interested in submitting a proposal or attending the conference.

Paulette Robinson

FCVW12 Call for Workshops

The Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds is issuing a call for proposals for workshops on May 16, 2012. A small number of slots will be available for 3 hour workshops. A larger number of slots will be available for 75 minute workshops. Deadline for proposals is March 1, 2012. Notification will be no later than March, 2012. Send any questions to FederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu. Please put FCVW12_Workshops in the subject line for your email.

Name*

Organization*

Phone*

Email*

Description of Workshop* In your description of your workshop, please include learning outcomes and how this workshop would benefit government participants regarding virtual world planning and implementation areas.

FCVW12 - Call for Government Virtual World Project Proposals

The FCVW is seeking government virtual world project poster sessions. The object of this session is to show the number and the diversity of government projects that are using virtual worlds. Projects can be in the planning stage, implementation stage or currently in use. We encourage vendors and /or agencies who are involved in government project(s) to apply. We will be giving awards again this year to the best projects determined by conference participant voting. Poster sessions occur on May 17th and will also have an online presence.

Name*

Organization*

Government agency affiliated with project*

Email*

Phone*

Description of Project* (Please no more than 500 words)

FCVW12 - Call for Vendors The Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds is issuing a call for vendors who wish to participate in our Virtual Worlds Conference: Headed Toward the Future. We expect 450 professionals, who influence their organizations’ decision-making with regards to Virtual Worlds, to attend the conference. We are offering Virtual Worlds vendors the opportunity to network with this audience. Vendor spaces will be prominently displayed just outside of the government poster sessions, circling the food service and reception area. Vendors can participate in the Conference at three different levels. Details will be provided once vendors are selected. Please provide the following information to apply for a vendor space at the Conference. We have limited vendor space available. Vendors are selected based on space available and relevance to government and virtual worlds. Deadline for proposals is March 1, 2012. Notification will be no later than March 15, 2012. Send any questions to FederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu. Please put FCVW12_Vendors in the subject line for your email.

Name*

Organization*

Email*

Phone*

General type of service your organization provides* (e.g. virtual world, development, advertising, security, etc.)

Do you currently support virtual worlds projects with the federal government?* Yes/No Describe your business, how it relates to or supports virtual worlds, and how your organization would or does support federal agencies.*

Beyond Second Life: New Immersive Worlds for Educators and Librarians

Please join the ALA ACRL in SL group for the December program. Joe Floyd and Ilene Frank (SL: Joe Cupola, Ilene Pratt) will present a version of their poster session from the ALA Annual Conference last summer - "Beyond Second Life: New Immersive Worlds for Educators and Librarians". They explored how librarians and educators are using Second Life, but also explored several other virtual world options, including OpenSim grids. This program is of interest to everyone and is open to all, you do not need to be affiliated with ALA or ACRL. If you didn't make it to ALA annual and didn't get to see the poster session, this is a great opportunity to learn about immersive virtual world options. Sunday, December 18, 11am SLT CVL Info Island Auditorium http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/92/145/23</p>

Register Now for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2012

Be Epic is the theme for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference scheduled for March 15-17, 2012.  According to the website: "Epic is being able to attend a virtual conference with cutting edge participants and brilliant bleeding edge presenters and explore engagement, immersion and NPIRL* education." http://www.vwbpe.org

 "Now in its fifth year, this free, grass-roots conference provides opportunities for participants in all virtual worlds and games to share innovative teaching, learning and research practices in 3D virtual environments. The 2011 VWBPE event in Second Life was attended by almost 2,500 individuals representing 91 countries and territories around the globe. This year, sessions and tours will continue to be held in Second Life, other virtual worlds and game platforms. This conference is one of the few opportunities where educational innovators, teachers and designers can gather on a global scale for serious discussions and feedback about what is happening in 3D virtual environments and games. We encourage a wide range of content delivery options including lectures, guided virtual tours across platforms, research presentations, workshops and tutorials, machinima, discussion and round-tables. Included in this event are also friendly people’s choice competitions to celebrate the best in educational machinima, interactive posters and user created games. This three day conference provides opportunities for sharing and further understanding of virtual world technology. Whether your epic adventures take you to Second Life, OpenSim, World of Warcraft, Minecraft or Club Penguin – this is your community event. Attendance is free and thanks to the generous support of our conference sponsors several sessions will be livestreamed and recorded. "

There are contests in machinima, games and simulations and posters.  Deadlines for submissions are February 15,2012.

Marketing and Virtual Worlds-- Books and Halloween Costumes

Today's Google Listings for Virtual Worlds and Libraries offered two different examples of using how to market to different segments of virutal worlds.  Could SLA find a way to use virtual worlds to market libraries and information professionals?

In a seasonal promotion, Virtual Greats has partnered with Universal Partnership and Licensing to bring fully branded Universal  Studios  "Monster" goods into Onverse, a free online world,  Featuring such monsters as "Creatures from the Black Lagoon" "Full-body costumes featuring The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man will be available for avatars in Onverse. In addition, posters for those films will also be available to purchase in the Onverse costume shop titled,The Skeleton Closet." Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/26/prweb8909783.DTL#ixzz1cCKAgtjj    Imagine the Halloween party you could attend as the Teenage Werewolf.

In a different venue, Authors Speaking is offering the first Annual International Book Trailers Award.  Authors Speaking serves as a community of authors, teachers, librarians, teens and tweens, book clubs and bloggers. The site will serve to enable these groups to come together to talk about books. It will also serve as a hub to allow authors to virtually visit classrooms, libraries and bookclubs, and businesses. The awards program is open to book trailer creators and authors  For more info read

 

 

 

 

Fall Issue of Rez Libris Now Available

Rez Libris, the magazine for librarians and educators in Second Life, has published its Fall 2011 edition.

Featured articles include History and Possible Future for the Community Virtual Library, Sim Seeing, Grand Art Collaboration, boook reivews, venue openings, humor articles, and many other informative pieces.

MachinExpo 2011 Scheduled for Nov 19 and 20

Machinima uses 3-D computer graphics rendering programs to create cinemagraphic productions. You-tube abounds with short movies from Second Life and other virutal worlds.

MachinExpo is celebrating its 4th year. http://blog.machinima-expo.com  Deadline for submitting Machinas is Sept. 30.

Each year over 50 films are screened. Activities include panel discussions, interviews and the chance to inteact with international machinimists.  Events take place on the Internet and in Second Life.

Webpage also contains a list of resources of interest to makes and fans of machinima.

 

 



Journal of Virtual World Research- Volume 4, No 1 Metaverse Assembled 2.0

Metaverse Assembled 2.0 has now been published.  http://jvwresearch.org/

From the webpage,, "This issue is the culmination of two years of exploration from across the spectrum from  the university, government and military communities.  Half of the articles are from SLACTIONS 2010 organized by Kathy Keeling and her colleagues at the University of Manchester, and the remainder are from the 2010 Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference organized by Paulette Robinson and her colleagues at the National Defense University. "

The issue includes articles, research in brief pieces, and a "thought piece"

 

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

Each year the Horizon Report , "established in 2002...identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years on a variety of sectors around the globe. This volume, 2011 Horizon Report,examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry."

The 2011 Horizon Report  lists Augmented Reality as one of the midterm (2-3 years) techology trends to watch.  According to the Horizon Report, Augmented Reality "refers to the layering of  nformation over a view or representation of the normal world, offering users the ability to access place-based information in ways that are compellingly intuitive. "

How does Augmented Reality difer from Virtual Reality?  EricK Schonfeld in his January  6, 2010 Blog forTech Crunh, "Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality:  Which One is More Real "  writes

 If virtual reality is a complete immersion in a digital world, augmented reality (AR) is more a digital overlay onto the real world. It enhances the real world with digital data, and therefore it is much more interesting than a completely fabricated environment. There is an element of magic to AR apps because they juxtapose data and graphics where they have no business showing up.

 

Journal of Virtual World Research-Researcher's Tool Box, Part II Now Available

Researcher's Tool Box, Part II , Journal of Virtual World Research, Vol 3, no. 3 is now available http://jvwresearch.org/

"This issue presents peer reviewed papers on research methodologies and case studies of how the particular methods are being developed and used in virtual worlds research both in the academy and industry."

Articles  include

* Collecting conversations: three approaches to obtaining user-to-user communications data from virtual environments by Mika Lehdonvirta, Vili Lehdonvirta, Akira Baba

*Developing an Obesity Prevention Intervention in Virtual Worlds: The International Health Challenge in Second Life by Sameer Siddiqi, Scherezade K. Mama, Rebecca E. Lee

Research Papers Include

Design Principles for Doing Business on Second Life: an immersive ethnographic study
Reza Azeharie, Ravi Shankar Sharma
Virtual Assisted Self Interviewing (VASI): An Expansion of Survey Data Collection Methods to Virtual Worlds by Means of VDCI
Mark W. Bell, Edward Castronova, Gert G. Wagner

Third Places Take First Place in Second Life: Developing a Scale to Measure the ‘Stickiness’ of Virtual World Sites.
Wade Halvorson
Methodology of a Novel Virtual Phenomenology Interview Technique
Ronald M. Knorr, Stephen C. Bronack, Deborah M. Switzer, Lienne F. Medford

And more.

 

Summer Issue of Rezlibris Now Available

RezLibris
Magazine releases Summer issue
RezLibris magazine is proud to announce the release of a new information-rich issue available at: http://
www.rezlibris.com
ISSUE
HIGHLIGHTS:
•A celebration of Tolkien
•History of space travel exhibit
•Handheld librarian conference
•Online learning today… and tomorrow
•Sometimes it’s hard to ask - an analysis of a reference question
•Simseeing: History meets art at Museum Island
•And others
 
This publication is for SL librarians, museum folk, and educators, and we want to help you in your SL
endeavors! So please share with us your:
--Grand Openings
--Special Events
--Book Readings
--Exhibitions
--Best Practices
--Tell us your stories!
 
RezLibris has spring, summer, fall and winter issues that appear in the middle of March, June, September
and December, respectively. Deadlines for stories will be the first of the month of each issue.
And of course, we welcome your feedback! Let us know if you would like a representative to come speak
at your next meeting!