Global Participation. VP of Global Education and Research Kim Jones (left) welcomed an international cast of presenters and participants to Sun Microsystems’ annual Worldwide Education and Research Conference, held in San Francisco. This year’s theme, Education 2.0: Education in the Participation Age, prompted conference participants to examine the state of education globally, and explore the latest technologies that support collaboration, social networking, and the needs of the “Web 2.0 student.”

New Models for Education. Presenters included industry luminaries as well as Sun senior executives and key customers, who reflected on emerging models for education and the technologies that will enable them. Sun Chairman and Co-Founder Scott McNealy (left) considered the implications of Web 2.0 for education.

New Media. Sun Chief Gaming Officer Chris Melissinos (far left) moderated a panel discussion on how new media will create “eLearning 2.0.” Panelists, left to right: Moodlerooms’ Stuart Sim, Jane Kagon of UCLA Entertainment Studies and Performing Arts, and Gerri Sinclair from the World Center for Digital Media in Vancouver discussed gaming, virtual environments, and social software, with particular attention to Second Life, the popular online 3D world.

Power in a Box. Project Blackbox, Sun’s prototype of a self-contained, virtualized data center, was curbside at the St. Francis Hotel for participants to tour (left). Still in beta, the unit has everything—an entire data center—shoehorned into a cargo container that’s delivered by truck. Just hook up power, water, and data lines—then leave it in the parking lot. It’s probably the most computing technology you’ll ever see in a walk-through of about 15 paces.