“Second Earth” by Wade Roush

“Second Earth” was written by Wade Roush. This article begins to describe the virtual 3-D world of Second Life created by Linden Lab. This is a virtual world where people can perform some of the things they do in reality; such as shop, buy property, interact, build, dance, etc. They can also perform activities that are unrealistic in everyday life, such as fly and teleport to different cities in an instant. Roush talks about the virtual weather map that Jeffrey Corbin, a research assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Denver, has created in Second Life. He used 3-D tools to create a real-time weather map that is updated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's network of airport weather stations.

Roush then describes a more professional oriented virtual world, dubbed “virtual globe,” such as Google Earth, Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, and NASA open-source World Wind. These programs are created by companies like Autodesk and ESRI and are accessible to both professionals and average Internet users. “Virtual globes let you plot your city's sewer system, monitor a network of environmental sensors, count up the frequent-flyer miles between New York and New Delhi, or just soar through a photorealistic 3-D model of the Grand Canyon.”

As the popularity of Second Life and Google Earth continue to grow, it becomes quite obvious to speculate what will happen if they actually merge into “Second Earth.” Roush is absolutely confident that they will meet because both Google and Linden Lab grant access to their existing 3-D platforms through tools that let outside programmers build their own auxiliary applications. Observers predict that the first step in merging the two virtual worlds will be integrating Second Life's avatars, controls, and modeling tools into the Google Earth environment. “Groups of users would then be able to walk, fly, or swim across Google's simulated landscapes and explore intricate 3-D representations of the world's most famous buildings.” A second alternative would be to expand the Second Life surface area to accommodate the topographical and surface area of the real earth. It would just consist of adding the Google world to the already existing Second Life world. Although this would be the more difficult solution, I would personally choose this one. Devoted SL users would still get to keep their assets and avatars, only now they will have additional virtual land to explore and live. Also, Google users can now begin to explore SL lands and features. It seems like a win- win situation to me.

The idea of a merge seems stimulating; however there are two main issues that need to be dealt with. Programmer and 3-D modeler Alyssa LaRoche, who created the immersive weather map for NOAA, informs Roush that there will be inevitable glitches that would definitely need to be sorted out. Such glitches might prevent real life data to correctly correlate with the virtual world. Now let’s assume that these inevitable glitches will be addressed; that still leaves a more obvious problem. It is highly unlikely that Second Life and Google will even consider a merge. Both companies have denied any interest in a merge that will combine both of their virtual worlds into one humongous Metaverse. However, there are other possibilities for us to have these worlds combined. SL and Google are not the only programs that will rule the future of virtual worlds; there will be many others. Since the idea of Second Earth is so intriguing, programmers will pursue its development, despite if there’s significant financial reward or not. Jamais Cascio, a consultant who co- founded the futurist website WorldChanging.com, says ‘As long as somebody can find some really strong personal gratification out of doing it, then there is a driver to make it happen.’

Article can be read: http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/18888/page2/

“Exploring Human Factors in Virtual Worlds” by Poornima Padmanabhan

“Exploring Human Factors in Virtual Worlds” by Poornima Padmanabhan discusses the effects that virtual worlds have upon the minds of its users. The author takes a relative neutral stance on the topic of virtual use. She keeps the article informative by neither condemning its use nor encouraging it. Virtual worlds are unique because it doesn’t just provide content to users; it provides an environment in which users can collaborate and compile their own content as citizens. This article is broken up into three sections: human performance efficiency, health and safety and social implications. She concludes that many of the perceptual and safety problems with virtual worlds stem from these three human factors.

A participant’s view of a virtual world can directly be linked to his personal experiences in that specific environment. This means that he will view this environment as being real and his experiences as real occurrences. He will neglect the presence of the supporting technology behind this environment and continue to participate as if it was invisible. I completely agree with this logic because of the increased users that has been attracted to virtual worlds. It is predicted that by the end of 2011, 80% of active Internet users and Fortune 500 companies will be participants in a virtual world. Also, the average video gamer plays a mind-boggling 22-23 hours each week, representing 52 days each year spent in virtual worlds. Possible adverse reactions that can stem from prolonged existence in a virtual world include repetitive stress injury, immersion injury, transmittable diseases, cyber-sickness, neural effects and psychological effects.

I think the effects that a virtual world may have on social interaction will be very significant. For example, if an individual is self-conscious about their appearance, a virtual world will be extremely beneficial regarding social interaction. That individual will be interacting using an avatar which will cause less social stress as if that individual would have to interact face-to-face. The use of avatars will cause an individual to participate in a virtual world environment to his/her full potential by creating a type of anonymity that will free them of any social anxiety.

"Help Me Redesign the Web" by Roger Black

“Help Me Redesign the Web” by Roger Black gives a brief overview of the graphical developments in which the World Wide Web has experienced. Web pages started out as a means for researchers and scientists to share documents and ideas. Users at this time were satisfied with the most basic and simple aesthetics which derived from computer screens and typewritten documents. Black said it best when he wrote, “Early Web users no more felt the graphical limitations of the hypertext markup language (HTML) than they had resented having only one golf-ball font on their old IBM Selectrics. They were so delighted with the Net that the look was irrelevant.”

The turning point of the web’s visual enhancement came at the Seybold Seminar in Boston in 1995. “New Media” was now born when John Gage, the Sun Microsystems evangelist, sowed off the Mosaic browser. This was unlike the traditional approach to designing in that it gave the designer abundant flexibility when creating a page. Black later goes on to talk about the dot-com boom in the lat 1990’s and the rise of search engines. He ends his article with suggestions for future designers to look past designing pages one at a time and start designing using interactive templates that work together in a design system.

I think this is a great article to read for anyone thinking about choosing Web design as a future profession. Black describes the early days of design and what it grew to become. I think his message here is to never remain satisfied with the current advancements; always look beyond it. I appreciate Black’s notion to welcome in the future; “For the rest of us, the possibility of richer forms for Internet media is welcome. Communications will continue on the HTML Web, but now more-compelling storytelling in text and motion pictures is being brought online by new "clients" like Flash and WPF.”

Article can be read: http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/18650/page1/

"The South Beach Dance Contest"

The name of my group is Movin-n-Groovin and the other members of my group are Nicholas Standford and Queena Joseph. The name of our project is the “South Beach Dance Contest.” This is a dance competition where users can teleport to South Beach and either watch or compete for a chance to win $250. Our manual describes various steps in which novice users of Second Life can participate in our event. They will have detailed descriptions of everything ranging from logging in to Second Life, teleporting, performing avatar dance moves and changing their avatar’s appearance. We also included the rules for the competition so that each user knows how the competition will be organized and judged. The judging of this contest will be determined by the spectators’ applause. I think the reader of our manual will enjoy being a SL resident because we included useful tips such as acquiring free clothing and performing the latest dance moves. The overall purpose of our manual is to leave a novice user with abundant confidence so that they can teleport to “South Beach” and feel comfortable participating in our dance contest. You can view our manual at www.movin-n-groovin.wetpaint.com.

Location for the "South Beach Dance Contest"

Two Avatars Dancing

Evaluation of 360degrees.com

The website that I chose to evaluate is www.360degrees.org. This website includes insightful information regarding the American criminal justice system. It analyzes the unprecedented growth of prisons throughout our nation and examines the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. The goal of this website is to educate its readers on how they can help to reduce crime and strengthen communities across America.

The design and layout of this website definitely originates from its name; 360 degrees. 360 degrees represents the measurement of a circle. The menu links and the logo are arranged in a circular pattern throughout the website. The color scheme also remains gray and white throughout the entire site. An interesting link on this site is the “Timeline” link. It contains sub-links arranged in a circular ring pattern listed chronologically. This visual is representative of the circular rings of a tree bark which is used to determine the tree’s historical existence. This website definitely maintains its visual consistency throughout by expressing a common color scheme and establishes its brand by displaying its logo on every page.

G-Speak Technology; Mind-boggling!!!

One of the most intriguing websites that I’ve came across is www.oblong.com. Oblong is a computer research group that is made up of scientists and engineers stationed at laboratories located in Los Angeles and Barcelona, Spain. Their new ground breaking technology is g-speak. It creates a unique spatial operating environment in which the computer user gestures his intent instead of using a mouse or keyboard. It totally neglects the traditional GUI and imposes a completely futuristic approach of interacting with your computer. This innovative g-speak technology was imitated in the Hollywood blockbuster “Minority Report,” whose characters performed forensic analysis using massive, gesturally driven displays. The movie used one of Oblong’s founders as a science advisor, who based the design of those scenes on his earlier work at MIT. G-speak technology will fundamentally change the way people use machines in all facets of their life.