Human Mosaic Systems Blog

The role of embodiment in student success in virtual worlds by Mark Childs

 

The focus of the study presented here is how learners’ individual experience of virtual worlds contributes to the success or otherwise of virtual worlds as a learning activity, and particularly the role that presence and embodiment play in learning and teaching. It is based on a series of five case studies which ran from 2008 to 2009, with some additional information from learning activities conducted in 2010. These were all at different higher education institutions, across a range of subject disciplines. All took place in Second Life.  Firm conclusions about the role of learners’ experience are difficult to justify, due to the small numbers of students from whom data were gathered (a total of 35 across all the cases). However, (to the extent to which conclusions can be drawn) factors such as institution, subject, sex and age appeared to be less influential than the time spent inworld, and the nature of the activity.

The article here can only present the barest outlines of the work, for the full descriptions of case studies, methodology etc.; the full study is available for download. The work presented here will also form the basis of a keynote at the SOLSTICE conference at Edge Hill University, Liverpool, on 8^th June.  ..........More

The Predictive Power of Virtual Worlds by Dusan Writer

Virtual worlds didn’t so much predict the future as provide a giant sandbox in which to explore the different ways that the future could unfold.

In presentations, I often say that I could have learned about social media from Facebook, or user-generated content from youTube, but I ended up in Second Life instead – and by ending up there, was able to see that the future isn’t necessarily what the conventional wisdom says it will be.

I can’t imagine having any particular interest in things like on-line governance, privacy, identity, virtual commerce, law, economics, or 3D content development if it wasn’t for Second Life. By thinking about these things I started to realize that there were wider implications – that these weren’t just digital communities, these were pathfinders to a broader cultural change that might awaken us to the challenges in the way we organize our lives and enterprises.

And, through Second Life at least, we come to realize that the responsibility for how technology turns out is in large measure our own. We have the right and the obligation to lend our voice, energy and passion to whatever vision we have for the ways in which technology informs our lives, whether we view it simply as a tool or extension of who we are, as a site for culture, as platforms for enterprise and governance, or as just another gadget that we struggle to learn and adopt.

Through our often frustrating relationship to the companies who have their hands on the controls of these digital domains, we can learn that it is our personal responsibility to come to informed decisions about whether to invest our time, passion, and identity within someone else’s sandbox, or whether we prefer to strike out on our own.

We start to realize that the idea of the ‘State’ has an increasingly tenuous tie to government because we start to realize that the places where we derive value are controlled by non-state actors. As a result, we also start to rethink the nature of the enterprise and the interdependence we have on platform owners, communities, and wider ecosystems of value. Companies, schools, and organizations are no longer confined to geography or to the walls that contain them. (... More)

 

ScentScape system adds an olfactory dimension to gaming and home videos

 

http://www.gizmag.com/scentscape-system-adds-smells-to-games-and-videos/17615/    

Retailers, hotels and real estate agents have been using aromas to entice us to part with our cash for years now and there have even been a few attempts to transmit smells via the internet and mobile phones.    

California-based company  Scent Sciences is now looking to bring an olfactory dimension to computer games with its ScentScape personal digital scent delivery system.

Scent Sciences’ President and CEO, Bill Wiles, told Gizmag the ScentScape system uses a combination of hardware, software & algorithms and chemistry – all covered by patents – to produce the smells. The system consists of a unit that plugs into a PC or gaming console via USB and generates smells using scent cartridges....    Wiles says that gamers will also be able to use the company’s SDK along with the ScentEditor application to create their own scent-enabled games. Players will even be able to share the code they have created with other gamers who have their own ScentScape system to allow them to enjoy their creation. (will enable more immersion in the simulation space)

Microsoft Kinect on WoW: evolutionary steps

This post comes from Metaverse Health,  devoted to everything related to health and virtual worlds. 

" Here’s a great video showing the use of the Kinect to play World of Warcraft using a software framework called FAAST. After the initial demo there’s some useful discussion by the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies on its potential applications. Those applications are something discussed here regularly: rehabilitation and physical activity. Imagine the impact of the technology shown in the video for someone who plays a dozen or more hours of an MMO each week? Let alone someone with a chronic disease or multiple lifestyle risk factors. "       

Or returning veterans needing physical therapy. And can more cheaply create muscle memory for soldier training than PointMan can currently. ( PointMan: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/content_images/09_FA1.pdf  )

 http://www.metaversejournal.com/2011/01/02/microsoft-kinect-on-wow-evolutionary-steps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sloz+%28The+Metaverse+Journal+-+Australia%27s+Virtual+World+News+Source%29    

Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1KJAXM3xYA

http://www.ted.com Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.

A Brief Explanation Of Why Minecraft Matters by Devin Coldewey

A Brief Explanation Of Why Minecraft Matters by Devin Coldewey on January 15, 2011

On Wednesday, it was announced that a game called Minecraft had hit a million sales. This probably isn’t the first time that you, a denizen of the internet, have heard that word. But unless you’re in the habit of following up on every indie game mention you happen to see, there’s a good chance this particular title might have slipped under your radar. So what is Minecraft, and why is everyone talking about it? ....

(rest of story:  http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/01/15/a-brief-explanation-of-why-minecraft-matters/  )

conclusion: 

.... With gaming threatening to unseat cinema and TV in terms of time and cash invested, this change from a top-down to a bottom-up development process isn’t just a curiosity, it’s a momentous change. The time has come when not only are the tools for creation available to the dedicated independent developer, but also the means of distribution and popularization. The heavy hitters in the industry will find themselves much more under threat soon from the proverbial two guys in a garage. Minecraft’s success may seem a lark born of big-budget backlash and social media, but pretty soon, that kind of success won’t be a lark, it’ll be a back door to a billion-dollar market.