Where did December go???

So class is over, funny it still feels like November to me. Anywho, in my last post I promised some pictures of my recent projects. I don't have anything on Vizrt yet, but I do have some from the Federal consortium on Virtual Worlds. This is a picture from NOAA, the venue for the inworld meeting. I got there early which was a good thing, evidently the grid became overloaded and wasn't letting people in after 8:00am. I met a few avatars from the DoD and Civil agencies which had surprisingly varied roles. Some had agriculture intrests, others worked for DoD and thats about all I got out of them. They wern't really there to talk about their work. I sat next to a colleague and spent my time watching the video on the screen listening to the real world presentations which ranged from what IBM is doing in Second Life, to what NASA has created in second life (its very cool, go check it out!)

In terms of Vizrt, a collague of mine was tasked with making the script so after my creative consulting before Thanksgiving, I haven't had to contribute much to the production of the actual clip. I think i'm in some of the video though! If I do get a copy and it isn't huge, i'll post it on my blog (pending export control)

As for the presentations, I think everyone did a great job. The RFID stuff is really really big, I know retail is taking off with it as a practical security and tracking measure, but many other communities are taking aim at utilizing active tags and tinyOS. I think i did a report on TinyOS a while ago, and focused on the wine industry using RFID to transmit conditions on the grape vines to a centralized point.

The video gaming obviously was a hit, (note everyone kept interrupting them, which i'd take as a sign of interest, not rude-ness) I'm interested in the use of gaming as a training mechanism for cultural sensitivity and negotiations. While doing my research on virtual teams, I found quite a bit about gaming for the war fighter. Sandia had a project (now public knowledge) to train the war fighter on peaceful negotiations.

The Second Life team had the unfortunate luck to go last. I think your presentation was great, well researched. I was absolutely exhausted by the time the last group came around, and I apologize to the group for the collective mood. You guys were great, and second life defined had enough substance to turn it into a final project.

I give kudos to the wiki team for having a virtual member. Michelle presented very well even over the phone. Wiki's are a very large part of the organization I currently work for. The obstacles that plagued the team that rolled out our wiki was huge. We had legal and communications blocking us most of the time, and when we finally got a beta version out, we were only allowed to release it to a selected group of people (kinda kills the point)

As for my team, Virtual Teams. Its a huge topic and I struggled with my globalization part because when i think of a virtual team, i think of those who work in different parts of the country. I've never experienced a global team (since you have to be a US citizen to work in my area) so all the stuff i presented was from research, not first hand knowledge. I use virtual technology almost daily, whether it be awful netmeeting or think tank, I'm constantly jumping on a tool to show somebody something since my team is out of Fairfax and I sit in King of Prussia.

Alright if you are still reading this Thank You for your attention. This posting serves as my last post as a grad student (providing I don't fail) I enjoyed discussion in class and research I was able to conduct. If anyone wants to get a hold of me, feel free to email me at mmp190@gmail.com

Happy Holidays!