Live Blog! Internet2 in New Orleans!

I can't seem to get the title of this right at coveritlive, but the gist is there. I'll correct it all from home later this week. Meanwhile, check out the liveblog from its record below, and keep in mind that I was juggling a Second Life client, chat in SL and in Skype, and trying to liveblog and figure out what I would say (Randy asked me to sit up at the panel table and join in, minutes before we went live). I had planned to ustream the thing, which in retrospect I probably should've done, since inworld folks said the I2 stream wasn't working for them, but there ya go, I didn't. Hopefully the stream will be made available for archive later, then you can see each person's informative contributions and how interested the attendees were, which was considerably.



Thanks to the I2 folks for the invite to participate. I'd never have dreamed of attending this mostly highly technical conference and I'd never have met so many wonderfully engaged and engaging technology leaders without that. Thanks to the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, its own set of thought leaders, for funding; and thanks to University School of Nashville for allowing me ProfDev leave to attend. I didn't consult the school calendar before asking them, but I'd likely not have asked if I'd done so and realized that I have today and tomorrow and the weekend off for Fall Break!

Now it's off to home with a tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory with me boy Colin on the way home from the airport. I hope they let me take pictures and blog the tour :)

Gearing Up for Internet2, New Orleans!

Hey, all,

The program is complete for the upcoming meeting of the Internet2 Special Interest Group in New Orleans, Louisiana in two weeks. I'll be there, participating in a panel called Virtual Worlds: The Future is Now. I'd like to thank the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach for sending me, University School of Nashville for supporting me with professional leave, and my family for allowing me to take 3 days away from home the week before artclectic2008!

It's a very full set of days, as a reading of the program will certainly verify. If you have anything you'd like me to consider sharing out to this prestigious conference, please comment here or contact me directly at scott@scottmerrick.net. Here's the text from the program describing my panel:

Virtual Worlds: The Future is Now
October 14, 2008, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
UTC/GMT -5 hours (CDT)
Location: Nottoway

Margaret Corbit, Cornell University
Ben Fineman, Internet2, Moderator
Chris Melissinos, Sun Microsystems
Scott Merrick, Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach
Rob Rothfarb, Exploratorium
Kathy Schrock, Nauset Public Schools

This first of two virtual worlds panel discussions sponsored by the Teaching & Learning SIG and the K20 Initiative will bring together a diverse set of speakers across several sectors including Higher Education, K12, Informal Education, and Industry to discuss the current landscape of virtual reality environments for research and education. An examination of several worlds including Second Life, Active Worlds, and Lively will reveal the unique challenges and opportunities for using these and other emerging virtual worlds within the constraints of real world goals and outcomes. The panelists will also have an opportunity to present their vision for where these virtual worlds can take us, especially combined with the power of advanced networks and technologies and the development communities in support of advanced networking.