Hi list:
>From the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford, I
thought the following lecture might be of interest to some, especially given
our recent discussions around museums in Second Life (cursed addictive
thing!!):
THURSDAY, 15 MARCH 2007
4:00pm PARC Forum [15-Mar-07]
George Pake Auditorium at PARC
"How to Reduce Global Warming and Make Humans Omnipresent
Using Virtual Worlds"
David Rolston
Forterra
http://www.parc.com/forum/
Abstract below
(although the lecture the following Thursday at the PARC campus in Palo
Alto, entitled "BEER: The Best Beverage in the World" sounds like a winner,
too!!)
And then on Friday, March 16th:
3:00pm Berkeley Information Access Seminar [16-Mar-07]
107 South Hall (Berkeley)
"Burning Man at Google:
A Cultural Infrastructure for New Media Production?"
Fred Turner
Communication, Stanford
http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i296a-1/s07/schedule.html
Abstract below
******
"How to Reduce Global Warming and Make Humans Omnipresent
Using Virtual Worlds"
David Rolston
Forterra
This Forum will focus on Virtual Worlds (massively multi-player online
games, or MMOGs), past, present, and future-- beginning with a live
demo of a virtual world application to illustrate concepts and
capabilities. We will discuss the history and current state of
applications based on virtual world technology - moving beyond MMOGs
to focus on "serious" applications. Our discussion of the future will
present a vision of how virtual worlds may develop, including how
interconnected virtual worlds could someday evolve into a 3D Internet
that will allow people to make a quantum leap in how they communicate
and collaborate and will fundamentally change the nature of society,
redefining the norm for human interaction. The Forum will conclude
with a presentation of technical challenges that must be resolved for
this vision to be realized.
About the Speaker: Dave Rolston has more than 35 years of experience
in high tech. His experience spans a broad spectrum of industries,
applications, and technologies including simulation and training,
graphics applications, imagery, gaming, artificial intelligence,
entertainment, and the early Internet. During his career, Dave has
performed in various roles, including technical, business,
operational, and general management assignments.
Before Forterra, Dave served as VP of Engineering for ATI, responsible
for design of graphics chips that drive many of the world's PC's and
game consoles. Prior to joining ATI, Dave was CEO of
MultiGen-Paradigm, which produces foundational software and content
development for the visual simulation industry. After
MultiGen-Paradigm was acquired by Computer Associates, Dave served as
a Senior VP, managing MultiGen-Paradigm, Viewpoint, and other
content-development organizations. Before MultiGen-Paradigm, he worked
for Silicon Graphics, starting as the Director of Marketing and later
serving as GM of the Advanced Graphics Division. Prior to SGI Dave was
a divisional GM of TRW subsidiary ESL, developing applications mostly
for the defense and intelligence community. Earlier in Dave's career,
he was a Honeywell, Inc., engineering fellow, responsible for
corporate activity in artificial intelligence.
Dave has a BS in civil engineering, MS in industrial engineering, and
PhD in computer science with emphasis in simulation and artificial
intelligence. Dave is a registered professional engineer and has
taught engineering at several universities and served with several
engineering industry consortiums. He holds several patents, has
published a large number of technical papers and a best-selling book
on artificial intelligence.
*********
"Burning Man at Google:
A Cultural Infrastructure for New Media Production?"
Fred Turner
Communication, Stanford
Every August for more than a decade, thousands of information
technologists and other knowledge workers have trekked out into a
barren stretch of alkali desert and built a temporary city devoted to
art, technology and communal living: Burning Man. Drawing on extensive
archival research, participant observation, and interviews, this talk
will explore the ways that Burning Man's bohemian ethos supports new
forms of production emerging in Silicon Valley and especially at
Google. It will show how elements of the Burning Man world --
including the building of a socio-technical commons, participation in
project-based artistic labor, and the fusion of social and
professional interaction -- help shape and legitimate the
collaborative manufacturing processes driving the growth of Google and
other firms. The talk will thus develop the notion that Burning Man
serves as a key cultural infrastructure for the Bay Area's new media
industries.
About the Speaker: Fred Turner is an Assistant Professor of
Communication at Stanford University. He is the author of From
Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth
Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (Univ. of Chicago Pr.,
2006), which the Association of American Publishers recently named the
Best Book in Communication and Cultural Studies for 2006. He is also
the author of Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory
(Anchor/Doubleday, 1996; 2nd ed., Univ. of Minnesota Pr.,
2001). Before coming to Stanford, he taught Communication at Harvard's
John F. Kennedy School of Government and MIT's Sloan School of
Management.
Perian Sully
Collection Database & Records Administrator
Judah L. Magnes Museum
2911 Russell St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
510-549-6950 x 335
http://www.magnes.org
Contributor, http://www.musematic.org
