FCVW11 is over and they have a nice writeup of it over at the Feeding Edge. Of course one major part of the event was the IEEE Virtual Worlds standards group that is slowing forming, but more interesting is the many uses of virtual worlds and real-world cases. I particularly like this creative use of virtual worlds in education:
Dr Dede talked (and showed) some kids education environments that were around explore an eco system at a lake. On the surface it was a lake, trees and some overlays, but there were some innovative ideas that he helpfully referred to as “magic”. This magic is where you move from a straight simulation and help with pointers or tools that would not otherwise exist. The first was a submarine that scales you down to microscopic levels to explore the environment. The other was the ability to virtually geotag a single atom and then a HUD that tells you were it is over time as it is absorbed or moved around the environment. The “magic” layers can conflict with the “real” layers but are essential in the balance of immersive environment use. Otherwise there is little extra that the place give you.
