Virtual Worlds

This chapter discusses 3D virtual worlds as a fusion of technologies for serious applications. A variety of new trends in the area is considered along with original findings, exemplified with particular approaches and features designed. The goal of this chapter is to evaluate and envisage what benefits can be acquired if such trends and features are fused under a single platform. Specific trends considered in this chapter include increase of the sense of immersion with virtual reality devices, simplification of control with joysticks and mobile devices, working with large amounts of multimedia content, and capturing activities using virtual recording. The discussion is supported with the literature review and evaluation of the features developed for vAcademia virtual world. A particular focus of the chapter is on the discussion of how the new properties of 3D virtual worlds can increase their efficiency for serious applications, enable new scenarios of use, and improve user experience. . There has been extensive study of the impact of 3D immersive visualization on user behavior, lower-level task performance, and comprehension of data. A key characteristic, arguably the one that motivates the use of immersive VR in high-value training, is that participants tend to react as if the sce-ne they were seeing were real. That is they behave in a way that is similar to their behavior in a comparable real situation .

In this article I will present and discuss the Swedish virtual embassy as a new example of nation branding. By exploring the development of the Swedish embassy in Second Life, activities arranged by and involving the virtual embassy as well as the surrounding discourse of international mainstream media and people engaged in the development of Second Life, I will analyse the significance of the virtual environment in this virtual nation-branding project. I argue that the most important achievement of the Swedish virtual embassy was reached through the connection with the virtual environment in the coverage of traditional international mass media and that the key dimension, although not the only one, of the virtual world in branding Sweden was to serve as a fresh and influential brand signifier within the marketing project.

This course surveys the development of theater architectures, stage spaces and technologies from the ancient world through the 21 st century. The course satisfies the interdisciplinary college option. The survey will be contextualized in terms of prevailing social conditions and performance styles.

This paper examines the use of online, three-dimensional, immersive virtual worlds, such as Second Life®, as an interesting platform and tool for cultural management, artistic development, knowledge exchange and cultural business. These contemporary computer technologies provide a new showcase for cultural promotion
and creative production, as they connect artists and producers with an audience around the world, who, in turn, can access in real time a great variety of cultural content through just a few clicks. The various features of this emerging phenomenon all help to democratize culture, the arts and education, as they bring creations closer to consumers, thus reducing the need for intermediaries and breaking down social, economic and political barriers; this offers benefits to cultural industries, non-profit organizations, governments, collective and individual creators and artists. However, the numerous possibilities ushered in over the last few years not only bring benefits but also pose new challenges in terms of regulation. Indeed, this new stage for cultural and artistic expression and management may require new paradigms of control with a different focus, ones which can provide an alternative understanding of online cultural exchange in real time. Virtual worlds make culture more democratic, as it can be reached for free by a wider range of people in real time; furthermore, artists and creators are provided with an accessible showcase in which they can become better known and where they can interact more directly, immediately and closely with their audience. The possibility and ease with which anyone can create original content in the metaverse is an incentive for creativity, because it allows people to express themselves in original ways that enhance the contents of virtual life. Art thus finds new and different formats, and cultural management
discovers new spaces to break into. At the same time, anonymity, privacy and intellectual property are all issues that need to be addressed. The regulation of virtual worlds may require different ways of thinking and the adoption of new paradigms which consider exchange, democratization, cooperation and sharing as essential
ingredients of these new sets; as such, any rules must control but not restrict, thus avoiding anarchy at the same time as keeping interaction levels high. In the European Year of Creativity and Innovation it is important to consider the opportunities being opened up by these new technologies in the world of culture and education, as well as the possibilities that are emerging and which remain to be researched.

Keywords: Virtual worlds, cultural management, virtual art, creativity, regulation, fair use

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools,
which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing.
However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms
and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study
offers guidelines for the development of VR software in cognitive neuroscience and
neuropsychology, by describing and discussing the stages of the development of Virtual
Reality Everyday Assessment Lab (VR-EAL), the first neuropsychological battery in
immersive VR. Techniques for evaluating cognitive functions within a realistic storyline
are discussed. The utility of various assets in Unity, software development kits, and other
software are described so that cognitive scientists can overcome challenges pertinent
to VRISE and the quality of the VR software. In addition, this pilot study attempts to
evaluate VR-EAL in accordance with the necessary criteria for VR software for research
purposes. The VR neuroscience questionnaire (VRNQ; Kourtesis et al., 2019b) was
implemented to appraise the quality of the three versions of VR-EAL in terms of user
experience, game mechanics, in-game assistance, and VRISE. Twenty-five participants
aged between 20 and 45 years with 12–16 years of full-time education evaluated various
versions of VR-EAL. The final version of VR-EAL achieved high scores in every sub-score
of the VRNQ and exceeded its parsimonious cut-offs. It also appeared to have better
in-game assistance and game mechanics, while its improved graphics substantially increased the quality of the user experience and almost eradicated VRISE. The results
substantially support the feasibility of the development of effective VR research and
clinical software without the presence of VRISE during a 60-min VR session.

Su AMAZON: https://www.amazon.it/musei-forme-dello-Storytelling-digitale/dp/8825533691/ref=zg_bs_508769031_14?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=68JRVFPG2WMTFC3FTXX1

Questa ricerca intende illustrare le diverse e molteplici esperienze adottate fino ad oggi nei musei e nel mondo culturale nel campo dello storytelling digitale, per orientare la futura progettazione di soluzioni digitali narrative, che siano calibrate sulle specifiche esigenze di valorizzazione delle singole realtà e dei diversi contesti culturali, con lo scopo primario di trovare la migliore soluzione di accessibilità digitale al racconto della cultura, sviluppando così adeguate politiche di audience engagement e di user experience, nell’ottica delle più recenti indicazioni ministeriali in materia. Ovviamente, non si ha la pretesa di aver analizzato tutte le best practices in ogni campo, ma si è voluta fornire una traccia, il più possibile completa, del percorso che lo storytelling digitale ha avviato e delle differenti soluzioni messe in campo in questo specifico settore della comunicazione culturale.
Nello specifico sono individuate e analizzate 14 tipologie in tutto:

1) Lo storytelling orale
2) Lo storytelling scritto
3) Il videostorytelling
4) Lo storytelling visuale
5) Lo storytelling animato
6) Lo storytelling interattivo
7) Lo storytelling immersivo
8) Il social media storytelling
9) Lo storytelling partecipativo
10) Lo storytelling generativo
11) Il geo-storytelling
12) Il multimedia mobile storytelling
13) Lo storytelling crossmediale
14) Lo storytelling transmediale

All’interno di queste macrocategorie nei casi dello storytelling visuale, animato, interattivo e immersivo saranno distinte delle sottocategorie, cercando di restituire un quadro il più possibile completo di come queste forme di storytelling digitale si siano sviluppate e si stiano tuttora sviluppando in molteplici varianti ed espressioni, sulla base dell’evoluzione e della differente applicazione delle nuove tecnologie digitali nella creazione, nella comunicazione, nella visualizzazione e nella fruizione di tali contenuti.
Come avremo modo di discutere nelle conclusioni a questo volume, intitolate “È tempo che..”, si vuole proporre in questa sede una nuova visione di museo, un nuovo modello che, partendo dalla visione antiquaria e francamente ottocentesca del museo di collezione e oltrepassando la trasformazione già in parte in corso di museo di narrazione, giunga a quello che si è voluto definire un museo di connessione o di narrazione connessa.

The Metaverse is the post-reality universe, a perpetual and persistent multiuser environment merging physical reality with digital virtuality. It is based on the convergence of technologies that enable multisensory interactions with virtual environments, digital objects and people such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Hence, the Metaverse is an interconnected web of social, networked immersive environments in persistent multiuser platforms. It enables seamless embodied user communication in real-time and dynamic interactions with digital artifacts. Its first iteration was a web of virtual worlds where avatars were able to teleport among them. The contemporary iteration of the Metaverse features social, immersive VR platforms compatible with massive multiplayer online video games, open game worlds and AR collaborative spaces.

This paper discusses the results of a literature review to identify the elements of gamification in learning
that have been applied in previous studies and their impacts on student learning, with only taking into
account the related studies within the last three years (2016 to 2018). This is done to determine the most
effective and suitable elements of gamification to be applied in our study and at the same time to identify
research gaps that need to be fulfilled in future researches. The results of this review show that
gamification has positive impact on student learning particularly in their engagement and achievement.
Furthermore points, leaderboard and digital badge are the most applied gamification elements in the
studies. The findings will be used as a guide for us in designing a gamified collaborative learning activities
in the 3-dimensional virtual world that will be carried out later.

1. Abstract Virtual YouTubers (VTuber) are streamers and vloggers who use 2D and 3D computer generated virtual characters and engage in creative activities on platforms such as Twitter, YouTuber, Twitch. VTubers first appeared in 2017 in Japan and adopted anime-like visual characteristics. Currently there're more than 10'000 VTubers and some of them have their own TV shows or work for international companies. Based on identity formation theories, this paper sheds light on VTubers identity construction, reasons for engaging in VTubers activities and gender expression. This research provides evidence that VTubers are not avatars, differences and similarities exist between En, Fr and J-VTubers because they formulate and put into practice different criteria based on individual self-expression and community interactions.

Entrare nell’immagine: un desiderio che accompagna l’umanità
dall’alba dei tempi, perdendosi nelle nebbie del mito. Un desiderio
che nei secoli ogni cultura visuale ha cercato di realizzare con
i mezzi di volta in volta disponibili. E che oggi le tecnologie di realtà
virtuale promettono di soddisfare: l’immagine si fa ambiente immersivo,
ci avvolge a 360 gradi, è presenza in carne e ossa. Saltano
le cornici che la confinavano in un mondo a parte. Persino il
medium in cui si concretizza sembra farsi trasparente. Una volta
aperto il passaggio fra il mondo reale e il mondo iconico, dobbiamo
però aspettarci un varco percorribile nei due sensi: penetriamo
nel mondo dell’immagine, ma l’immagine esonda nel nostro
mondo. Al desiderio si accompagna il timore per tale tracimazione.
Questo libro esplora quel doppio movimento, e ricostruisce la
storia di quel desiderio-timore, delle fantasie che ha innescato e
delle strategie escogitate per corrispondervi: dal proto-immersivo
Narciso ai caschi VR, passando per il trompe-l’oeil e le sculture
viventi, gli specchi e le architetture illusionistiche, i panorami e le
fantasmagorie, l’arte-ambiente, il cinema in 3D. Indugiando sulla
soglia che al contempo separa e congiunge quei due mondi, ne
subiamo il fascino, e ne apprezziamo il rischio.

In five steps this text tries to convey a semiotic analysis of the phenomenon of  ‘live VR music concerts’.Through this paper it becomes clear that the meaning of live music and virtual live music is not always clear. Virtual does not want to be like the real. It does not intend to create the same music experience. It is a globalising trend that seeks to go beyond. In contrast, maybe the real becomes more like the virtual. Experimenting with virtual experiences results eventually in the dissolving of the boundaries between the real and the virtual. The meaning of live music is changing and is strongly interpreted in the context of culture. Pandemic culture insinuated the interpretation that VR is just arriving, but actually it was already here for a while. With the semiotic square we analysed the virtual and real through the ‘here and now’. It is the ‘here and now’ (authenticity?) that gets questioned in live virtual concerts. It is legit to present a live concert in other ways, because that is one of the aims of VR. The virtual concert does not necessarily want to substitute real-life concerts. Peircian interpretations led into new kinds of music experience and new music industries/business models. A virtual concert experience constructs experience of identities of experience of collectivity that are real. Even in a manipulated or determined world the emotions that music creates are real. ‘Liveness’ shows the (intersubjective) power of music.

This paper claims that the spirited debates about game narratives in the game industry and academia have not seen much progress due to their being too stuck in classical notions of narrative developed for non-ergodic media such as film or literature. The argument forwarded here is, therefore, that we need to reconceptualize our notion of narrative considerably in order for the concept to be productive in the context of games. This reconceptualization needs to take into account the cybernetic nature of games and thus factor in the experiential dimension of the human as well as the formal properties of the game.

This chapter uses two theoretical approaches – the religious-social shaping of technology (Campbell 2010b) and the mediatisation of religion (Hjarvard 2008)  – to explore some of the main areas of online Christian activity. By combining these two approaches, we can analyze how religious groups create media while also examining how groups are changed by their media practices. After introducing these concepts, I will illustrate them through a case study of the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life, an online church in a virtual world.

An important strand of research that is often neglected in the field of affective computing is that of how users respond to simulated displays of emotion. We present an overview of the few studies that have explicitly investigated this space and discuss a number of issues related to simulated emotion research. An overview of our own work in this area is then provided, along with forthcoming studies that we plan to conduct. We conclude with a number of suggestions of where future research in this space should focus.

This paper describes a study to examine how a social situation can be simulated in a virtual environment, and how to provoke the same behavioral response as in a real life social situation. The aim is to create new Virtual Reality worlds for treating social phobia. Two cases were examined in a virtual environment to assess whether it was able to recreate social behavior of people. First, we examined if participants who enter a crowded room in the virtual environment prefer to take a seat in a chair that is close to them. ...

In this paper we discuss observations and lessons learned in conducting architectural design projects in virtual worlds. By integrating a community of users in virtual worlds into a collaborative architectural design process, organisations can tap the community's creativity and intelligence through immersive technology. The paper provides an overview of the latest advances of information and communication technologies in immersive virtual environments and discusses some of the observations and lessons learned which should be taken into account in developing collaboration models for such activities. Here we propose four modes of collaboration, based on the choices for degree of openness and governance structure, which are illustrated by four case studies.

In this paper, we introduce the concepts of "cooperative buildings" and "roomware" and place them in the context of the integrated design of real, physical, resp. architectural spaces and virtual, resp. digital information spaces. By "roomware" we mean computer-augmented things in rooms, like doors, walls, furniture, and others. The general approach is detailed via examples from the i-LAND project where we develop several "roomware" components in order to realize an interactive information and cooperation landscape, e.g. an innovative work environment for creativity teams. We describe the current realization of i-LAND which includes an interactive electronic wall, an interactive table, computer-augmented chairs, and a mechanism for assigning physical objects as representatives of information objects in the virtual world.

Gaming has attracted growing interest in both CSCW and HCI in recent years. We contribute to this line of research by analyzing collaboration in 5-person instance runs in World of Warcraft, an aspect of the game that is considered routine and mundane work by players yet remains largely unexamined in current literature. Using a combination of ethnographic observation, interview, chat and video log analysis, we unpack the conditions under which players can produce the most effective outcomes while having fun, and offer a three-level model of successful instance runs.

We developed a networked virtual reality system on which one could have live videoes with high iteractive usage. However, since a client in our system receives both live videoes and computer graphics objects continuously from a server while it is rendering the current frame of the virtual world, a quality of the presentation of the virtual space depends on the current available system resources on the client as well as network resources. In this paper, we discuss the notion of QoS for a networked VR system as an application level QoS which is based on the notion of an importance of presence (IoP) of objects in a virtual space calculated by a distance from a current user's position to the object and an angle from the user's perspective to the object. Then, we show a heuristic mapping mechanism of the application level QoS to a network level QoS which determines the allocation of bandwidth of videos and CG objects to maximize the presentation quality. We adopt bandwidth as a...

In order to bridge interdisciplinary differences in Presence research and to establish connections between Presence and “older” concepts of psychology and communication, a theoretical model of the formation of Spatial Presence is proposed. It is applicable to the exposure to different media and intended to unify the existing efforts to develop a theory of Presence. The model includes assumptions about attention allocation, mental models, and involvement, and considers the role of media factors and user characteristics as well, thus incorporating much previous work. It is argued that a commonly accepted model of Spatial Presence is the only solution to secure further progress within the international, interdisciplinary and multiple-paradigm community
of Presence research.

In the coming decades, the platforms and formalisms scholars employ to display, transform, and transmit information will continue to evolve. Innovations in information management did not stop with the codex. They will not stop with the PC. The purpose of this paper is to explore a specific implication that new paradigms of computing—especially those pertaining to 3D objects and 3D environments—will present for the discipline of history. Put simply, this study suggests historians will need to re‐think the aesthetics of their discipline. Drawing on the experience of the<it> 3D Virtual Buildings Project</it>, it suggests there are two possibilities historians can and ought to explore. The first is to test the efficacy of 3D objects as cognitive tools, tools designed to assist student realization that historical works are models, models that must be distinguished from the objects they represent. The second is to explore the use of 3D‐immersive environments as platforms to display research findings. If Virtual Reality is to emerge as a viable medium for the historical discipline, scholars will need to transform their practice. Assumptions regarding the constitution of narrative, authorship and the scholarly work will all require modification.

In virtual worlds, consumption of digital, virtual commodities is apparently limitless. In game-oriented worlds like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XI the acquisition of desirable goods is limited only by skill, time and patience – but mostly patience. Given enough attempts to kill an enormously powerful monster, each player will receive the item she desires. What limits can be meaningfully placed on consumption in an economy of such apparent abundance that patience is the main obstacle to possession, a world in which everyone could eventually acquire everything given enough time?

This paper examines two limits of a spectrum of self-imposed limits to virtual consumption as explained by players of Final Fantasy XI with the moral limits of arbitrage at one end, and a focus on collective accumulation of wealth at the other. The moral constraints on arbitrage in FFXI are tied to a deeply rooted sense of economic fairplay and a strong – and surprisingly pervasive, given that this research was conducted before the financial crisis – ideology of “fair” rather than “free” markets. Some economic behaviour that is morally questionable, such as price gouging and supply manipulation, is understood not only as market manipulation that detracts from users’ game play experience, but also as a threat to players’ enjoyment of the virtual world of FFXI as a commodity, and their acquisition of digital virtual commodities. Players band together in linkshells (guilds) in FFXI to defeat powerful foes and acquire powerful and highly desirable equipment, or more baldly put, to increase their consumption capacity. Distribution of goods through these organisations can be a fraught affair, but generally, the spoils of conquest are distributed evenly. Though such rewards are individually held, the prestige and power of the organisation is increased as its members acquire increasingly sought-after goods, transforming individual accumulation and consumption into collective achievement.

Technology has always introduced changes in the way researchers administer surveys. A new technology known as virtual worlds has now emerged that promises to change data collection once again. Virtual worlds are persistent, online, computer-rendered spaces populated by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people at a time. Previously, this population has only been surveyed in ways that required respondents to exit the virtual world before giving their answers. No survey method has existed whereby they could be surveyed while remaining present in the virtual space. Needless to say, this is less than ideal for any survey about the respondent's attitudes, perceptions, and behavior within the virtual world itself. This study introduces a method for solving this problem and a tool that allows surveys entirely within a virtual environment. The method is introduced as Virtual Assisted Self Interview (VASI), and the tool for implementing it, the Virtual Data Collection Interface (VDCI). The tool was created and deployed in the virtual world Second Life (SL), where users were asked questions about demographics and quality of life. The valid response numbers for the survey (N=2094) make it the largest in-virtual-world data collection seen so far. This paper discusses the VDCI and describes several different sampling methods, as well as results that provide unique, new insights into virtual world populations. It is found, for example, that the demographic make-up of SL is unlike that of other virtual worlds. Moreover, the SL population is unlike that of other worlds in its approach to gender-switching. The limitations and new hazards of virtual world survey research are also discussed, especially survey "hacking" by individuals hoping to exploit the survey for financial gain. Despite the challenges, the results generally suggest that the VDCI is a valuable new research tool for obtaining representative data on virtual world population.

THE SPEECH METZ 1977
Guest of honor at the 1977 International Science Fiction Festival, the famously unpredictable American writer upheld his reputation. While his exceptional presence in Lorraine captured all the attention, his lecture, both mystical and predictive, disconcerted the audience.
Considered an author who had participated in the creation of a counter-culture since the sixties, French literature was no stranger to him, he recognized that he had been enormously influenced by Flaubert, Stendhal and Balzac, in particular.
The “Philip K. Dick lecture was very bizarre. It was a mystical speech that put people off. I saw the room empty gradually… ”indicates Phillipe Hupp, the organizer of the festival in 1977 (https://www.republicain-lorrain.fr/culture-loisirs/2020/09/23/le -speech-by-philip-k-dick-is-still-in-the-story)
Guest of honor at the International Festival of Science-Fiction and Imagination in Metz in September 1977, the reputedly unpredictable author “capsizes” his audience during a conference as brilliant as it is openly mystical and paranoid and sometimes in many ways prescient.
Between a relatively confidential but nevertheless historical moment, the author offers a vision of his orthogonal time through a reference to God and to technology as magic or as a prophecy of our world in a Matrix suggesting the place of man. , of the writer of his universe and of an environment that he thinks of as a world ultimately shaped by powers both so near and so far from human comprehension.
Orthogonal time.

In this paper we respond to the theme of real-time virtual performance that generates ways to increase embodied and spatial knowledge in the contexts of theatre history, scholarship and related performer education. Through discussing a series of international and inter-institutional collaborations on a project called VIMMA, primarily funded by the Finnish funding agency for technology and innovation TEKES and led by the Centre for Practice as Research in  Theatre T7 at the University of Tampere (Finland), we share the results of investigating real time modes of performing through revised engagements with digital 3D models of interactive performance environments.  These environments were designed to enable experiments with embodied agencies, transformations, transgressions and medialities (in-between states of adaption or contrast) that inform spatial enquiries into historical performance venues. Along with sharpening our current views on how to approach past performances, the digital production, training and performance formats employed can be used as emergent elements within new performative contexts, such as open game environments, complex non-human character scenarios and extended narrative elements of play.

The advent of the Internet is leading a re-evaluation of existing business practice as the m ethods em ployed in a non-vir tual world m ay not necessar ily be as effective in a virtual environm ent. The present paper exam ines the different strateg ic options facing organiz ations as they attem pt to build a custom er base on the Inter net. The traditional site-centric approach of directing traf® c to a central Inter net site suffers from the problem s of the increasing costs and decreasing effectiveness of Internet adver tising. An alter native strategy is the sym biotic approach which is based on the concept of m utuality. A strategy of sym biotic m arketing involves one organiz ation providing functionality for another organiz ation' s Inter net site. In exchange for the provision of functionality for another Internet site the provider bene® ts from a increased m arket coverage and reach. Although the strategy of sym biotic m arketing m ay initially appear counter-intuitive, the following paper highlights the potential adva ntages for a com pany pursuing such a strategy. The case dem onstrates such a strategy exits as a low cost m ethod of developing a custom er base on the Inter net. Finally, the potential scope of sym biotic m arketing is discussed.

A fully-articulated visual representation of a user in an immersive virtual environment (IVE) can enhance the user's subjective sense of feeling present in the virtual world. Usually this requires the user to wear a full-body motion capture suit to track real-world body movements and to map them to a virtual body model.

At the very end of last year Cosmo Wenman released his "Winged Victory of Samothrace" 3D mesh model onto THINGIVERSE a database of free downloadable 3D models moderated by MAKERBOT 3D printers. These models were ostensibly released to allow the reproduction of his photogrammetrically extracted models on a reduced scale with any 3D printer. However almost as an unexpected side effect of this action it can be regarded as one of the important watersheds in the democratization of 3D data for use by the metaverse. This statue and the "Aphrodite of Milos" from the Louvre museum are seen as the most important art exhibits ever to have been produced by the Classical Greek civilization. MellaniuM has taken these 20 million polygon models and decimated them to a mesh size that could be imported into a virtual museum generated in AVAYALIVE ENGAGE. These two models, now rendered with ~850,000 polygons still possess clear details of the folds in the draped fabric and the exquisite sculpturing of the feathers.

In this paper, we review the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies for capture and externalization of tacit knowledge from complex activity in knowledge-intensive professions. We focus on technologies for converting experience hidden in activity with the aim to boost industry competitiveness, innovation, and facilitate learning on the job. As such types of knowledge and experience are difficult to capture and represent in traditional media, we explore emerging technology along two lines of investigation. First, we look at applications of virtual reality to then, second, focus on using sensors, augmented reality, and wearable technologies. We discuss existing and future applications of experience capturing with virtual and augmented reality technologies. This review provides a comprehensive overview for those interested in recording virtual, real, and augmented activities, methods for delivering the recorded data, and extracting knowledge.

The digital revolution that has been taking place for the past two decades propelled by major breakthroughs in the ICT field has changed the way we communicate, work, travel, live-and even the way we use public space. Our cities are increasingly moving from a collection of static buildings and infrastructures to dynamic and evolving smart ecosystems known as, Intelligent Cities. In this article we analyze an intelligent city from the electronic information and communication perspective and offer examples of variants of its implementation. An intelligent city lays its foundation on a digital-city infrastructure which connects a local community and drives growth, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. The high level architecture of an intelligent city ecosystem, key enabling technologies, and the necessary policy framework for the establishment of digital cities worldwide are introduced. Business models for this new ecosystem bridging the physical and virtual worlds are briefly discussed.

We build on identity-based motivation theory to integrate research on in-person and virtual learning environments to articulate which features of virtual learning environments are likely to support or impede learning and identity exploration. Although students experience their identities as stable anchors for meaning-making and action, they construct what their identities mean in contexts. How students respond to the difficulties they encounter in their learning environment depends on whether they see engaging with schoolwork as an identity-congruent “us” or “me” thing to do. When engagement feels identity-congruent, students interpret the difficulties they encounter as signs of task importance. This interpretation fosters further engagement. When engagement does not feel identity-congruent, students interpret their difficulties as meaning that the task is not for them and disengage. Accessible norms about how learning works further influence these interpretations. Learning takes time and requires opportunities for active retrieval and use in novel settings, making learning often feel difficult. Unfortunately, learning environments often convey that learning should feel easy and happen quickly. Learning environments conveying learn-through-difficulty norms support difficulty-as-importance interpretations. In contrast, learn-with-ease norms foster difficulty-as-impossibility interpretations. We discuss implications for learning, identity exploration, and the design of learning environments of taking an identity-based motivation perspective.

Written whilst a Research Fellow at ResCen, Centre for Creation Processes in the Performing Arts, Middlesex University, London, Autumn 2000

This paper was written 10 years into my work on virtual presence, just after directing 2 workshops focusing on the performative use of telematics (CellBytes00 at Arizona State University and Corpos Online at Lugar Commun in Portugal). The following paragraph sets the context of the debate. Ghislaine Boddington April 2020

What is live? What is natural? What does it mean to be embodied? How many identities can one have? What is the essence of presence? This was a period of investigation for the performing arts, which have traditions deeply integrated with live presence through their special performer-to-spectator connection. My work as a director of performing arts has immersed me to work in to the dramaturgies and process design of virtual physical events.

Across the last thity years I have engaged with telepresence - led live event processes and have worked with many combinations of body technologies. I have been experimenting in the interface demands of the digitalised body alongside the live physical body.

This has for me brought up many questions which are highly topical in sectors well beyond the arts, as is in proof today with the COVID-19 extraordinary situation of lockdown, meaning advanced use of telepresence through video conferencing in all sectors globally. I detail some of this early work in the following text (written in 2000) and contextualise these explorations within the wider socio-cultural engagement with telephonics. This text explores some of the reasons why there is a need for far more in depth research and development of the  concepts of presence (and therefore identity) that will exist in the future.

Please do look at further writings on ongoing work post 2000 by Ghislaine Boddington

Visual culture in virtual worlds is not purely authentic or purely imaginative. When culture emerges in a visualized virtual world, where everything that can be seen is created by its users, visual culture can be diverse and complex. Users from different cultural backgrounds perceive and construct meanings that may be different from those intended by the virtual world creators and other users. The author used observation, survey, and interview as her research methodologies to analyze visual culture in a visualized virtual world where the content is created by its users.

There has been a significant body of work in recent years in the development of e-learning tools and products. The main focus has been on models that are developed from the constructivist tradition, based on the notion that learners actively construct their own understanding and knowledge from their experiences.

a b s t r a c t 'Coming out' is a key stage in the identity formation process for the homosexual male when the individual discloses his homosexual status to himself and others. Although previous research has indicated that homosexual men often use the Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) during the identity formation process to discover and develop their sexual and self-identities, studies to date have focused on their use of text-based CMC with scant attention paid to experiences within virtual worlds. This study explored whether homosexual males use virtual worlds in the sexual identity formation process and, specifically, the applicability of technoromanticism within this context. Qualitative retrospective biographical interviews were undertaken with 12 self-selected individuals who had engaged with virtual worlds before or during their sexual identity development. The CASE model (Community, Anonymity, Sexual experimentation, and Escape) was developed to characterise the key themes emerging from the data and illustrate the enactment of technoromanticism by homosexual males within virtual worlds. It is concluded that technoromanticism in virtual worlds can only have a profound impact on individuals if the individual's personal development online is transferred offline as there is a potential to become toxically immersed and thus stall or halt the identity development process altogether.

Völlig neue Bild- und Erfahrungswelten versprechen die jüngsten Produkte der Medienindustrie ihren Usern. Euphorisch investieren Google, Microsoft und Co. Unsummen in digitale Medientechnologien wie Virtual-Reality-Displays. Jeder Blockbuster muss in 3D gedreht werden. Entwicklungen wie diese verdeutlichen nicht nur den hohen Stellenwert, der sowohl der technologischen Seite als auch den ästhetischen Strategien visueller Medien zukommt. Sie werfen auch eine Reihe von Fragen auf: Wie adressieren multimodale Medienarrangements die Sinne der Rezipienten? Welche Rolle spielen Technologie und Wahrnehmung bei der Modellierung von Bildwirkungen? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, legt der vorliegende Band den Fokus auf die Analyse medialer Interfaces. Konzentrierte sich die Bewegtbilder-Reihe bislang auf den Film, widmet sich Bild und Interface auch interaktiven Digital- und Computerspielbildern. Dadurch sollen weitere Bausteine einer kritischen Bewegtbildwissenschaft herausgearbeitet werden.

This article reports on an exploratory case study conducted to examine the viability of Second Life (SL) as an environment for physical simulations and microworlds. It begins by discussing specific features of the SL environment relevant to its use as a support for microworlds and simulations as well as a few differences found between SL and traditional simulators such as Modellus, along with their implications to simulations, as a support for subsequent analysis. Afterwards, we will use Narayanasamy et al. and Johnston and Whitehead criteria to analyze the SL environment and determine into which of training simulators, games, simulation games, or serious games categories SL fits best. We conclude that SL shows itself as a huge and sophisticated simulator of an entire Earthlike world used by thousands of users to simulate real life in some sense and a viable and flexible platform for microworlds and simulations.

A text about the virtual personas of Gazira Babeli, Helen Carmel Benigson, and Miri Sehgal.

We live today in a constructed world, in which human relationships have been increasingly mediatized and in which most of our knowledge of reality relies on media. In this environment, it doesn't make sense anymore to distinguish between virtual and real, and between a real person and her digital representation: they are both real, either they choose to be one or two different personas.