3D Web Meeting
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.
MEP (Micropolis Eduverse Project) meeting
Last Wed Jan 21st, there were 2 MEP meetings. First with members of the Waag Society and secondly with Kennisnet (the sponsor of the MEP). 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
ijsfontein and OLPC/VR project
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.
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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 (robert [dot] shepherd [at] eduverse [dot] org)
