The Eduverse Foundation

The Waag Society has been kind enough to offer us the Theatrum space in its prestigious and historic building at the Nieuwmarkt for the Eduverse 3D Web meeting on Feb 25th at 1 pm - 4pm. the goal of this meeting is to discuss how to facilitate a 3D Web environment which is (more) accessible to all.

The meeting will address questions like:

“What should the 3D Web look like?”, “How could we create a 3D version of Wordpress?”, “What should the 3D Web be capable of doing?” and “What roles can Flash 3D and Unity 3D play in Web 3D development?”

The meeting will be an informal roundtable discussion and will include members of the Flash 3D and Unity 3D communities as well as interested business and knowledge institutions.

Entrance is free but space is limited (25 attendees max), those who wish to register can do so by sending an email to: 3Dmeeting (at) eduverse (dot) org - they will be processed on a first come first serve basis.

Last Wed Jan 21st, there were 2 MEP meetings. First with members of the Waag Society and secondly with IBM and Kennisnet (the two main sponsors of the project). Both meetings went quite well and it is worth noting that much has been achieved in the 2 months since the project’s inception. The primary reason for this is that we are able to draw on the huge body of work already done by the project’s chief programmer, Don Hopkins. A special note of thanks also goes out to Albert Hofkamp (U. Eindhoven) who has done incredibly valuable work on cleaning up Don’s old code.

We are also looking for educational organizations to get involved and various groups have expressed interest, The Wikimedia Foundation and iearn among them.

I would also like to thank the ABC treehouse for hosting us and for offering us their space for the weekly Eduverse meetings.

anyone who is interested in knowing more about this project is welcome to contact me at: MEP (at) eduverse (dot) org

Yesterday’s meeting (19.11.08) with ijsfontein went quite well. It was a good first step towards developing, something I describe as, a tool to both test and encourage a child’s CQ (creative quotient).

Imagine a web environment in which a child could choose to explore different aspects of creativity such as: animation, story telling, 3D design, social networking, educational gaming, etc. In this environment, all things created would be reusable, so an object created in 3D could be implemented in a story or as an element in a game. Imagine that it could happen in a web based environment (no heavy client downloads). These are the main goals of the collaboration and with creative partners like Ijsfontein, Paperworld, My naam is Haas and the Eduverse, a valuable result is ensured.

————————–

The OLPC/VR project will have its 2nd meeting next week and should be quite interesting in terms of defining goals. The objective is to develop some kind of virtual platform for the OLPC to aid in education. This would allow for diverse groups in developing countries to bootstrap themselves to the web without first having to learn English. This is based on the idea that it must be possible to create visual references (symbolic language) which is not wholly dependent on English (or any one specific language) - if I can show you a tree, I do not need to use the word “tree” for you to understand its significance. Conversely, if I show you a tree and allow you to experience it, then describing it as a tree will have much greater value and be more intuitively understood. At the moment the parties interested in developing this project are: IBM, Kennisnet, Eduverse.

I am very hopeful about where these two projects can go and would welcome other interested parties to contact me about them (rob [at] eduverse [dot] org)

Yesterday’s meeting (19.11.08) with ijsfontein went quite well. It was a good first step towards developing, something I describe as, a tool to both test and encourage a child’s CQ (creative quotient).

Imagine a web environment in which a child could choose to explore different aspects of creativity such as: animation, story telling, 3D design, social networking, educational gaming, etc. In this environment, all things created would be reusable, so an object created in 3D could be implemented in a story or as an element in a game. Imagine that it could happen in a web based environment (no heavy client downloads). These are the main goals of the collaboration and with creative partners like Ijsfontein, Paperworld, Mijn naam is Haas and the Eduverse, a valuable result is ensured.

————————–

The OLPC/VR project will have its 2nd meeting next week and should be quite interesting in terms of defining goals. The objective is to develop some kind of virtual platform for the OLPC to aid in education. This would allow for diverse groups in developing countries to bootstrap themselves to the web without first having to learn English. This is based on the idea that it must be possible to create visual references (symbolic language) which is not wholly dependent on English (or any one specific language) - if I can show you a tree, I do not need to use the word “tree” for you to understand its significance. Conversely, if I show you a tree and allow you to experience it, then describing it as a tree will have much greater value and be more intuitively understood. At the moment the parties interested in developing this project are: IBM, Kennisnet, Eduverse.

I am very hopeful about where these two projects can go and would welcome other interested parties to contact me about them (rob [at] eduverse [dot] org)

For detailed info please click the Symposium3 tab at the top of this page

The Eduverse has scheduled an event which promises to be the most comprehensive look at virtual worlds ever. It will take place on the 23rd of Sept. (noon to 10 pm) in De Balie (www.debalie.nl)

Philip Rosedale (former CEO of Linden Lab) will be present in person to talk about his latest projects. Other speakers will include Julian Lombardi (head of opencroquet at Duke University www.opencroquet.org), Christian Renaud (virtual guru), Chuck Hamilton (IBM Centre for Advanced learning), Karl Kapp (noted virtual worlds author), David Williamson Shaffer (founder of Epistemic Games), Tim Johansson (head of Opera 3D develeopment), Philippe van Nedervelde (Foresight Nanotech Institute), David Burden (Daden Ltd), plus many more.

The highlight will be a panel discussion of the future of all the major virtual platforms, including: Second Life, Opencroquet, Adobe 3D, DEEP, 3Dxplorer, ExitReality and many more.

The Symposium will be divided into 3 main sections:

1. Serious Gaming and the Future of Game Technology.
2. New Virtual Platforms and the 3D Web.
3. The Science of Education - Virtual Learning in the 21st century.

Aside from the Symposium, there will also be a separate space dedicated to the “hands on” experience which will include demonstrations of supportive 3D technologies like: 3D printers, tracking devices, virtual glasses, mobile technology, etc.

Any questions can be directed to: symposium3 (at) eduverse (dot) org

For more detailed info please look at the Symposium 3 tab at the top of this page

Yippee!!!!!!

Robert Shepherd (Eduverse Founder) together with Reinder Rustema (reinder.rustema.nl) won the Digitale Pioniers competition last Friday. Their proposal was to develop the first stage of an immersive political game which will be called “Emocracy” and it is being housed at www.emocracy.nl (the wiki is now online)

“If you want something done give it to a busy man”

The Eduverse is gaining momentum. We are now involved in organizing 2 symposia in the coming months (see agenda to the right). There are also a number of projects which are in the works. These include: setting up a virtual Parliament, creating a virtual education facility for a US university, developing a RL to SL interactive space, designing a large scale RL/SL musical instrument for museum nacht in Nov, speaking gigs and an interview in SL (Caerleon Isle Lecture-Workshop Series), designing a mobile virtual interface to demo at the IBC, designing a serious business game and the list keeps growing.

I am buoyed by the fact that The Eduverse becomes more integrated in the world ideas network and helps others gain clarity.

Rob Shepherd

For almost a year I have wanted to stream in and out of SL and today I managed to get all the bits together. Granted there is a min 3 sec delay it seems but it all works and that’s amazing. If you look under the stream tab, you will be able to see the different possibilities. *Note, I will only be streaming for now by appointment - if you would like a demo, please contact me via video (at) eyestream (dot) org.

After a considerable amount of time transcoding, uploading and and messing with WP plugins, I have managed to get the entire first symposium parsed and online. The videos are viewable on the “Symposia” page or as a direct link here:

Symposia

Special Thanks to Ze Moo for his recording efforts and to all the other EF members and Balie staff who helped make the event a success.