Speaker: Dr Robert Gittins MBCS

The speaker will visit various locations in Second Life and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of communication in virtual environments. During the last 12 months Second Life has being going through a roller coaster of praise and criticism. What are the issues, where is the roller coaster now and what are the prospects for future virtual environments?

Drawing from his experiences meeting companies developing virtual environments and academics researching virtual environments, Robert will try to untangle some of these issues and make some predictions for the development of 3D virtual worlds. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.