From Meatspace to Social Virtual Reality

As an assistant professor I lead weeklong workshops at various design, architecture, and business schools, guiding students through the creative process from ideation to running prototype ready to be pitched to different stakeholders. The course covers a range of content from ideation techniques and rating, business- model prototyping, competitor analysis and differentiation, paper prototyping to lean design techniques and Pecha Kucha-style presentations.

Transcript

2. INTERFACES FROM MEATSPACE TO SOCIAL VIRTUAL REALITY
3. CF. URBAN DICTIONARY Meatspace ”noun. a term, originating from cyberpunk fiction and culture, referring to the real (that is, not virtual) world, the world of flesh and blood. somewhat tongue-in-cheek. the opposite of cyberspace.”
4. HISTORICAL PROGENITORS
 CYBERNETICS 3
5. NORBERT WIENER 1949
6. WIKIPEDIA “Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική (kyverni ̱tikí ̱ , ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ (kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’ hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”
7. WIKIPEDIA “Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as ’the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.’ The word ’cybernetics’ comes from the Greek word κυβερνητική (kyverni ̱tikí ̱ , ’government’), i.e. all that are pertinent to κυβερνώ (kyvernó̱), the latter meaning to ’steer,’ ’navigate’ or ’govern,’ hence κυβέρνησις (kyvérni ̱sis, ’government’) is the government while κυβερνήτης (kyverní ̱ ti ̱s) is the governor or the captain.”
8. “Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology in the 1940s, often attributed to the Macy Conferences. During the second half of the 20th century cybernetics evolved in ways that distinguish first- order cybernetics (about observed systems) from second-order cybernetics (about observing systems)” WIKIPEDIA
9. “Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology in the 1940s, often attributed to the Macy Conferences. During the second half of the 20th century cybernetics evolved in ways that distinguish first- order cybernetics (about observed systems) from second-order cybernetics (about observing systems)” WIKIPEDIA
10. 1953 MACY CONFERENCE 1953
11. HISTORICAL PROGENITORS
 CYBERSPACE & ITS INFLUENCE 10
12. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES “Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met electronically, without a face or body. As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading messages from Mars”.
13. DEFINITION & INFLUENCES “Cyberspace” is a term created by William Gibson in his fantasy novel Neuromancer to describe the “world” of computers, and the society that gathers around them. Gibson’s fantasy of a world of connected computers has moved into a present reality in the form of the Internet. In cyberspace people are met electronically, without a face or body. As Gibson mentioned some of his influences were excerpts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which first ”made no sense to him at all” or as he said ”like reading messages from Mars”.
14. WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS 1914, 1997 * †
15. BRION GYSIN, IAN SOMMERVILLE DREAM MACHINE
 HTTP://D.PR/REHX/2HXENBFD
16. BRION GYSIN, IAN SOMMERVILLE DREAM MACHINE
 HTTP://D.PR/REHX/2HXENBFD
17. TIMOTHY LEARY 1920, 1996 * †
18. TIMOTHY LEARY MIT DEBATE HTTP://D.PR/EY2R/60VE7HII
19. TIMOTHY LEARY
 ON THE CYBER WORLD HTTP://D.PR/7ZQM/5TSX35T2
20. PAT CADIGAN (MINDPLAYERS) "One morning in 1979, I was getting ready for work and Gary Numan’s ’Cars’ came on the radio. Afterwards, the DJ said, ’There’s some cyberpunk for you.’ He was making a joke; in 1979, the punk movement was in full flower but the chaotic noise of punk music was starting to evolve into electronic noise."
21. THE EARLY 80S The popularity of the film Bladerunner and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer accelerated the term cyberpunk. Authors like Cadigan, Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker were only a few of the pioneers which created worlds where humans and computers merge.
22. BLADERUNNER HTTP://D.PR/IMAD/4FDWFE60
23. THE 1990S Back in the 80s the term cyber was more or less related to the underground. Though in the 1990s more and more people got internet access so that an utopian vision changed towards a “household consumer item“. This led to the creation of terms like ”cyber-bull”, ”cybercommunity”, ”cybergeek”, ”cyberlaw”, ”cyberstalker” as well as ”cybersex” and ”cyberwar”. Shortly… everything turned ”cyber” out of a sudden.
27. THE LAWNMOWER MAN HTTP://D.PR/LGWV/1CASUGQL
30. VIRTUAL REALITY
 LAYERS OF REALITY 27
31. REAL ENVIRONMENT
 (MEATSPACE) AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) AUGMENTED VIRTUALITY (AV) VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) > > > ! LAYERS OF (VIRTUAL) WORLDS SPATIAL REAL WORLD MIXED REALITY IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL WORLD CF. KZERO
32. CASTAR HTTP://D.PR/JKM5/4YN7UAT1
33. SULON CORTEX HTTP://D.PR/LYTA/APZY4AIC
35. FIRST WAVE ‣ A real-time multi-user virtual environment that can not be altered by the user ‣ Probably social networking before ”social networks” ‣ Target group are mainly Kids, Tween and Teen (KT&T) ‣ Primarily 2.5D accessed via web-browser. ‣ Examples are Club Pengiun, Moshi Monsters, Wizard 101, Neopets, Habbo but also ”Branded Virtual Worlds” like Monkey Quest or Playstation Home. CF. KZERO
36. HABBO HOTEL HTTP://D.PR/JEDQ/3TAJMQYW
37. SONY PLAYSTATION HOME HTTP://D.PR/JMY6/4VAXHHRK
38. SECOND WAVE ‣ A Virtual World that allows the user to create/modify their environment (”Come and play in my world.”) ‣ Mix of 2.5D and 3D accessed via web browser and tablet with mix of third and first person view. ‣ Examples are Second Life, IMVU, Stardoll, Minecraft, Roblox etc. CF. KZERO
39. PHILIP ROSEDALE
40. WHAT IS SECOND LIFE?
 (2006) HTTP://D.PR/IB68/2KFLWRTQ
41. MARKUS PERSSON NOTCH
42. MINECRAFT HTTP://D.PR/KZ39/4LI495RI
43. DEFINITION OF MIRROR WORLDS A Mirror World is a virtual world based on a real-life place – a digital re-creation of an existing landmark, building, region or even an entire country. They offer a utalitarian software model of real human environments and their workings.
44. GAME OF THRONES
 REBUILT IN MINECRAFT
47. GOOGLE EARTH
48. JOHANNESBURG STADION
 REBUILT IN GOOGLE EARTH
49. MINECRAFT REAL EARTH MAP HTTP://D.PR/QGNE/9F8PZ2GN
50. INTERCONNECTING VIRTUAL WORLDS The current virtual worlds find themselves in a situation akin to that of BBS systems in the 1980s and 1990s vis-à-vis the Internet. There are indeed similarities between Web browsing and virtual world navigation. Though what is still missing is a standardized protocol submitted to standard committees such as IETC, W3C etc.. The shown examples play with the possibilities of interconnection.
51. IBM PATENT (2008) HTTP://D.PR/DPNH/3FXZXVL8
52. ME TEACHING IN SECOND LIFE (2006)
53. PRESENTATION INTEGRATED INTO THE VIRTUAL WORLD
54. EXAMPLE FOR A 
 MIRRORWORLD
55. WEKNOW PLANNING WOW RAIDS IN SECOND LIFE
56. EVE ONLINE HTTP://D.PR/VMU4/3WBEGKWB
57. DUST 514 HTTP://D.PR/OTCP/4YWOATZV
58. THIRD WAVE ‣ A virtual world experienced in virtual reality. ‣ Three main applications: ‣ Social Virtual Reality (a key reason for the Facebook 
 acquisition of Oculus VR). ‣ User Generated Spaces (UGS). ‣ Branded Virtual Reality. CF. KZERO
59. KEY DRIVER “PRESENCE“ ‣ How ‘real it feels’ to the user. The more real it feels the more time 
 a user will spend in-world ‣ Does it feel they are ‘in’ the environment or controlling remotely. ‣ Presence creates an emotive and experiential bond. CF. KZERO
60. KEY DRIVER “SELF-EXPRESSION“ ‣ How a user is able to express themselves in the virtual environment. ‣ UGC created by the user for the user and/or other users. ‣ Synchronous communication with other users. ‣ Self-Expression creates a sense of ownership and curation. CF. KZERO
61. SOCIAL VIRTUAL REALITY ‣ Simply means all the attributes and features of Virtual Worlds as we know them today, with the added element of presence. ‣ The ability to experience a real-time multi-user virtual environment with other people. ‣ This is the next evolution of social networking, moving from asynchronous interaction to fully synchronous. ‣ Chat rooms with the user actually ‘inside’ the room. ‣ A key reason for the Facebook acquisition of Oculus VR. CF. KZERO
62. SOCIAL VIRTUAL REALITY ‣ Simply means all the attributes and features of Virtual Worlds as we know them today, with the added element of presence. ‣ The ability to experience a real-time multi-user virtual environment with other people. ‣ This is the next evolution of social networking, moving from asynchronous interaction to fully synchronous. ‣ Chat rooms with the user actually ‘inside’ the room. ‣ A key reason for the Facebook acquisition of Oculus VR. ‣ Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe: “This is going to be an MMO where we want to put 1 billion people in VR.” CF. KZERO
63. OCULUS RIFT HTTP://D.PR/XXHO/3Y68PAGV
64. OCULUS RIFT FIRST TRIP INTO TUSCANY HTTP://D.PR/E19G/SPQF3PW6
68. CITY QUEST HTTP://D.PR/YXUB/4PQ9T29C
69. CITY QUEST
 ON THE OCULUS RIFT HTTP://D.PR/MQPZ/5MERAD9L
70. DRIVING DRUCK EUROTRUCK SIMULATOR 2 HTTP://D.PR/ZQ5P/3UJKH6Y1
72. OUTERRA HTTP://D.PR/CEFE/3X2H37NI
73. OUTERRA WORLD BUILDER INTERFACE HTTP://D.PR/KRLD/1SNPTFQF
75. USER GENERATED SPACES ‣ Taking the popularity of UGC Virtual Worlds such as Second Life and Minecraft and creating virtual reality equivalents. ‣ The ability for users to create their own virtual surroundings and objects, then interact with them alone or with friends. ‣ This will be a category driven initially by tweens and teens. CF. KZERO
76. WORLD BUILDER HTTP://D.PR/SPBM/2M9K1OIA
78. MAIL@AXELQUACK.DE WWW.AXELQUACK.DE