Applications and Tools, Business in Virtual Worlds, Collaboration, Second Life, Visualization in 3D

Philip Rosedale on Metanomics: 5 Things I’d Like to Hear

Philip Rosedale will appear today on Metanomics at 12:00 SLT (PST). Now, there’s lots I’d love to hear from the fearless and wandery founder of Second Life, but I’ll set my standard list aside for a bit: you know, the one that includes things like why is Mono six months late, why did it crash the Grid last night, what were you THINKING when it came to open spaces, that kind of thing.

When Philip hired Mark Kingdon, (M), he promised he was going off to do what he does best: focus on technology, and ideas, and to give presentations that make it onto Ted and stuff like that. So I’m hoping Philip shares some insight into top secret Philip projects. And in that vein, here’s a short list of what I hope he’s thinking about, or working on:

1. Search: This is one of the great frontiers of virtual worlds. I don’t just mean being able to find a hair store or a live music event. I mean something more like a 3D semantic search technology. Or how to code object tags so that they effectively connect themselves to the contextual space in which they’re placed. Or the idea that 3D search may, in the long run, be better than Google. The 3D Web should be able to create a better, more intuitive interface for Web searches, or 3D spaces need to be better translated into 2D search strings. I’d like to hear how he thinks this can be solved.

2. HTML-on a Prim: Again, I don’t mean just the ability to embed a bunch of static Web pages into a 3D environment, although it would be really nice to hear where clickable HTML on a prim is at for Second Life. I’d be interested to hear his thoughts on where this could take us: when Web services can talk to prims (HTTP-in), when those prims are clickable, and when we aren’t limited to a single media stream per parcel because they’re embedded in textures instead: what kinds of use cases will this open up? What does this suggest about ways to adapt legacy content? Does it make sense to use 3D spaces as virtual desktops?

3. Low Bandwidth Options for Immersive Worlds: Philip talks about using platforms like Second Life to facilitate innovation and participation in the global economy in the developing world. But really - doesn’t that take bandwidth? Does he see alternate access paths to platforms like SL? Do our experiences need to be contiguous or does he envision different access types for different bandwidths, viewers, and needs? When you can phone in to a conference in SL, why can’t you also log-in using a thin client? Does he believe in contiguous experiences? Where will the breakthroughs come from? Are they warranted?

4. Chips and Devices: The Lab has talked up Mitch Kapor’s 3D camera a lot. Or there have been experiments with Wii as a control device. What opportunities do alternate interface devices open up for virtual worlds? And on a related note, what does the next generation of chip sets imply for SL and other virtual worlds over the next few years?

5. Urban Renewal: If SL is like a city and the great cities of today are driven by their creative class, then what lessons can we draw from urban management and renewal? Intelligent planners attract the right people and businesses in order to keep a city vibrant. Does Linden Lab plan like this? What other metaphors or related disciplines does Linden Lab draw upon to gain insights? Anthropology? Economics? Does the Lab employ non-coders in seemingly unrelated fields?

OK - well, Pip only has an hour on Metanomics. But maybe we’ll get a sense of where his big brain is focused these days.

You can join Metanomics today by viewing the show on-line, or by visiting one of the event partners.

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