Cornell Theory Center

Virtual Worlds in Formal and Informal Education

Proceedings

May 20 - 21, 1999

471 Rhodes Hall

This page has been edited to reflect changes in the original program and to provide brief summaries of the talks as well as links to additional documentation when available.

We made every effort to schedule the programs to accommodate the needs and schedules of the entire community of workshop participants. Times noted on the schedule are Eastern Daylight Time.

Day 1

• Registration: 4th Floor Lounge, Rhodes Hall 8:30-9:00 am
• Introductions and Hands-on Orientation 9:00 am
  Direct Teleport provided to SciCentr Ground Zero
• Early Break Room 519 Rhodes Hall 10:30 am
• Overlapping Sessions
  • Hands-on Session: 11:00 am
    Beginning Building (in world instruction)
    Direct Teleport to AWUniv
  • Joint Birds-of-a-Feather Discussion Session with the 15th Twente Workshop on Language Technology, University of Twente, Netherlands
    Interactions in Virtual Worlds
    Direct Teleport was provided to special BOF space in SciCentr. Note: Web Cams and Real Audio link worked for this session, but timing of the meeting in the Netherlands made BOF session impractical.
  • Onsite participants completed Survey 1

Contact Zones: The Art of CD-Rom, an international exhibition of 55 CD-Roms from 18 countries, and curated by Timothy Murray, ran at Cornell University from March 9-April 16, at Hobart and William Smith Colleges from May 7-May 21 and will tour nationally next year. 519 Rhodes Hall Morning Break and Lunch Hour Joint Sessions Open to Remote Participants

• Welcome 1:30 pm
  Welcome
  Direct Teleport provided to AV98 EduPod presentation space
• Keynote: Bringing Virtual Worlds to Life Bruce Damer 1:45 pm
  Edited transcription of Bruce's talk will be provided
  Direct Teleport was provided to Bruce's customized pod with Web cam and Web links in AV98
• Panels and Talks: Conceptual Context of Virtual Worlds 2:30 pm
  All presentations will be given inworld.
  • Research panel discussion from the Human/Computer Interaction Group (HCIG) at Cornell
    The HCIG panel took turns presenting their interests and perspecitives on research opportunities related to virtual worlds. The session was broadcast using RealServer and a WebCam.
    Introductory Remarks
    Slides were projected in world and presented on a Web page.
    The Chat Log provides some insight into the ensuing discussion.
    Direct Teleport was provided to the EduPod in AV98.
  • Electric Delivery Systems: Virtual Identity and New World Orders: Tim Murray, Director, Cornell Society for the Humanities
    Web sites featured in Tim's talk:
    Horvit Herman Peled; Gaza Check-Point
    Jody Zellen; Ghost City
    Lev Manovich, Little Movies: Prolegomena for a Digital Cinema
    Arlene Stamp, Modern Modern
    Adrienne Wortzel, The Electronic Chronicles
    Keith Piper; Relocating the Remains
    Chat Log
    Direct Teleport was provided to the EduPod
• Stuart Gold, database engineer and designer with Digitalspace.com, presented a tour of IHI world and talked about the future of database-controlled virtual worlds for business training and outreach
  Chat Log

Day 2

Morning Activities for Onsite Participants

• Virtual Worlds for Education 9:00 am
  Brainstorming Session in 508 Rhodes Hall
  Notes from the discussion
• Morning Break 10:30 am
• Hands-on Session 1: Introductory Building Projects 11:00 am
  Direct Teleport provided to AWUniv for inworld tutorial
• Late-Morning Session: "In World" with UCSC
  University of California, Santa Cruz joined in live. Direct teleports were provided to all the worlds for the tours listed below. Please note: Biolearn is a private world under development.
  • Tour the V-UCSC Project: 16 members 12:00 noon
    Virtual Gallery Show for Marine Biology 170
    Chat Log
    
  • Tour of SciCentr World at CTC
    Prepared tour text
    Chat Log
    
  • Tour of Biolearn - Bioregional Learning Center
    Chat Log
  • Tour of Virtual NASA-Ames and Discussion
    Chat Log
    

Afternoon Sessions:

• Open World Tours
• Final Thoughts and Windup 3:00 pm