Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Open Standards Coming to Second Life?
10/16/2007
In an effort to shift virtual worlds to the broader realm of the World Wide Web, Linden Lab and IBM are partnering to bring open standards and interoperability to Second Life, the online 3D realm created by Linden Lab. The two will also be working with a broad range of industry partners and have discussed the formation of an open consortium for all comers to engage in the effort.Second Life is a virtual world that's becoming increasingly popular in education circles, with universities, colleges, and even some K-12 schools creating virtual campuses in which students can do everything from interacting with professors to joining student organizations to attending virtual classes.
Through the Linden/IBM collaboration, the two companies said they hope to expand the potential of technologies used in Second Life. This will include the creation of universal avatars, capable of traversing multiple virtual worlds; standards-based security for transactions involving digital assets (3D models, music, etc.); integration with existing business applications; open standards for formats and protocols that can be used on the broader Web; and improvements in performance and stability for "high-volume business use."
"As the 3D Internet becomes more integrated with the current Web, we see users demanding more from these environments and desiring virtual worlds that are fit for business," said Colin Parris, vice president, Digital Convergence for IBM, a a statement released last week. "IBM and Linden Lab's working together can help accelerate the use and further development of common standards and tools that will contribute to this new environment."
"We have built the Second Life Grid as part of the evolution of the Internet," said Ginsu Yoon, vice president of business affairs for Linden Lab. "Linden and IBM shares a vision that interoperability is key to the continued expansion of the 3D Internet, and that this tighter integration will benefit the entire industry. Our open source development of interoperable formats and protocols will accelerate the growth and adoption of all virtual worlds."
Linden has also formed an Architecture Working Group, an open collaboration for building a roadmap for future development of the Second Life Grid.
Read More:
About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Have any additional questions? Want to share your story? Want to pass along a news tip? Contact Dave Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
