Virtual World Symposium

Portland, Oregon

In the context of this symposium, a virtual world will be defined as a computer-based simulated 3D virtual environment in which users, taking the form of avatars visible to others graphically, inhabit, create and use objects, and interact with each other. Although, the usage of virtual worlds for entertainment purposes might be generally understood, the increased usage of virtual worlds for education, business, professional and commercial applications is not yet well understood. 

The purpose of this symposium is introduce 1) present tutorials and examples of usage of a selected virtual social environment, Second Life®, which is being used by the IEEE® professional organization to educate, communicate, and promote membership collaboration, present examples of Second Life and other virtual worlds being used in a wider range of engineering fields such as architecture, mechanical design, corporate group meetings, 2) present a keynote address by an IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society Distinguished Lecturer on research topics in the area of virtual social environments and multi-player gaming, and, 3) host a “geekfest” event with presentations demonstrating wide-ranging universe of virtual worlds, applications, tools, and situations. 

The symposium will be jamb-packed with entertaining multimedia presentations, fun for attendees and fun for presenters. The symposium will be considered a success if those attending leave with greater knowledge, deeper understanding, and lots of thoughts on how virtual world technology is, could, or might be applied in our world. Finally, it is hoped the symposium will help foster continued cross-generation, cross-discipline fellowship and learning on this topic.

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