A Question about Croquet's Philosophy on Multi-user 3D Environments...
Darius
squeakuser at inglang.com
Wed Feb 12 20:51:30 UTC 2003
I stretched and exercised my imagination to the n-th degree and have developed
these probable scenarios for using Croquet as a virtual auditorium. Also, Ive
excluded scenarios where other media would work just as well.
1. Interactive Forum with free Croquet World give-away
Imagine, for the sake of argument, that the Fields Institute for Research in
Mathematical Sciences invited Alan Kay and Seymour Papert to the (exotic and
far off land of) Toronto for the Mathematics Education Forum Online Meeting
circa 2004.
These two luminaries tasked their minions to set up a Croquet world to
illustrate their talk, challenge their audience, excite their virtual attendees
to action, and proved a foundation toolbox world for all attendees to use to
seed their own efforts.
The minion constituted Croquet for the Education-Forum Team bases the
world on a running simulation of a Squeak workshop conducted by, say, Kyoto
University, Japan, circa 2003.
They create a skybox for their world with a digitized movie created by omni-
directional sensors with a 360º view.
Around the worlds room they place Croquet windows showing each students
Squeak desktop world that also plays the students actions in time with the
background sky box movie.
As the presenters Kay and Papert speak during the forum, they have avatar
representatives that walk around in the Croquet world with laser line pointers
that focus the virtual audiences attention to the individual students,
teachers, and consultants actions and the students desktops as the talk
progresses in real time. The Squeak workshop simulation progresses in matching
time (skipping any boring stretches).
The virtual audience can also analyze the statistics about the students
past PC experience, grade level, PC habits, and post exercise feelings to
formulate questions for the presenters while the forum is in progress.
The audience can watch the students idea sharing and interaction ripple
around the room from student to student as they communicate spontaneously with
friends.
At the end of the forum, the team develops in the Croquet world a conceptual
model of observed student learning behavior (thereby standardizing future cross-
organizational efforts) with:
new hypotheses to test
suggestions for efficient use of time
suggestions on how to know your are accurately measuring what youre
testing
a data structure template to record the results of subsequent real world
workshops conducted later by the virtual audience
a list of the goals such workshops should try to attain if distributed on
a large scale
2. Timed Performance Art
A virtual audience for 3D performance art that is not reproducible on
demand.
3. Create Simulations in Real time during the unfolding of History Events
Collecting and sharing algorithms, formulas, statistical patterns, and
precedents that best explain the situation as it unfolds.
4. Medical Dissection of a Rare Specimen
Create Multiple-camera live video feed to several Croquet windows.
Experts collaborate on what the appropriate next step of the operation
should be.
Facilitate debate with comparative tissue slides presented along side the
video feeds.
Facilitate debate over possible next steps in the procedure as illustrated
with a 3D model of the specimen.
Students watch the dissection in progress.
Blending learning in physical environments and computational environments.
Well
also
eh-ehem [clears throat]
5. For students to Create their own MMOGs.
This allows students to simulate and practice what theyve recently
discovered and learned and present it in a challenging and competitive
environment.
Mix in a little Pop-Culture.
Merchants of Cool: Frontline Report on the Creators & Marketers of Popular
Culture for Teenagers - The symbiotic relationship; the media giants; what's
this doing to kids? - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
Teachers Guide: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/cool/
See Janet Murrays Hamlet on the Holodeck & education -
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~mlhall/teaching.html
http://directory.google.com/Top/Games/Video_Games/Roleplaying/Massive_Multiplaye
r_Online/
http://directory.google.com/Top/Games/Internet/MUDs/Role_Playing_MUDs/
Re-reading Michael Dertouzos The Unfinished Revolution -
http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0128.html?printable=1
and Janet Murrays Hamlet on the Holodeck -
http://web.mit.edu/jhmurray/www/HOH.html
might suggest some more scenarios to me.
Cheers,
Darius
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