Today at 3:30pm PT: I'm Doing a Open-to-the-Public Zoom Lecture on the Metaverse for the University of Miami -- Link to Join Below!

Update, 3/11: Zoom link/access details below:

Topic: Virtual Media Management Association Meeting on Monday, April 11, 2022

Time: Apr 11, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 916 6233 8941

One tap mobile: +16465588656,,91662338941# US (New York)

I'll try to cover the topics mentioned in Comments below; feel free to add more of your own!

Next Monday (March 11) at 3:30pm PT, I'm speaking on Zoom about the metaverse and Second Life to the University of Miami's Media Management Association, and the talk will be open to the public. (I.E. New World Notes readers.) 

I'll post the Zoom link here on Monday afternoon, so watch for that. And for my insanely long COVID-era hair.

Meantime: Are there any topics you'd like to try and cover? Please post in Comments below!

Comments

[Martin K.]

I guess one interesting topic might be: what developments led to the hype about the metaverse in recent years?

Many people would point to the experience of (co-)presence and new immersive technologies fuelled by the mass market for mobile high-resolution displays. While that's part of the story, it's probably not the reason for the massive amount of money that's going into metaverse enterprises currently.

Blockchain technology is another puzzle piece, but currently it's more hype than substance, and that hype alone would not be enough to justify the investments without more tangible success stories.

The most plausible explanation might be that games like Fortnite and Roblox showed that it is possible to make loads of money by selling virtual goods. Let's face it: they succeeded where Second Life had at best lackluster success.

The "metaverse" in this context is then just a placeholder name for a virtual place where a lot of people sell, buy, and use virtual goods - which would help to explain why so many people have so many different ideas about the concept.

[Wagner James Au]

That’s a good one, thanks!

[Luther Weymann]

Topics of discussion:

Single, older, elderly, windowed, housebound, and disabled have found a worthwhile daily hobby by being in SL. The hobby of learning to build and create in SL provides an excellent mental exercise and a purpose to daily look forward to for many whose life has been left with little purpose.

The ability to have a home and land. Something many people have never had the fortune to have and have only lived in an apartment or in a care home.

A place to have interaction with others. Many people in SL have no RL family or are young with no significant other people who are interested in them. Or elderly, widowed, disabled and their social interaction in real life is nearly non-existent.

[Martin K.]

Is a recording available?

[Wagner James Au]

I guess not but here's a fairly good summary:

https://com.miami.edu/2022/04/18/qa-session-about-second-life-and-the-metaverse/