It's the much-anticipated keynote speech at JavaOne 2007. One of Sun Microsystems' senior leaders takes the stage as his colleague flies around the audience fielding questions. I'm sitting next to Darth Vader, and the guy in front of me is blocking my view with his oversized wings. A couple of seats down from me, a participant is hunched over, apparently in a deep sleep.
Some things never change, even in the virtual world of Second Life.

The highly technical topic of this particular address couldn't possibly be less interesting for a non-programmer like me. If this was a regular old Webinar, they'd have lost me with the first sentence. However, in the Second Life environment, I'm drawn in. Engaged. Compelled.

As the Second Life experience becomes richer and the application diffuses more widely, it's hard to imagine how existing voice- and videoconferencing can survive. This "metaverse" takes interaction and collaboration to unprecedented levels. And it's redefining training, from telling and testing to interacting with engaged minds in an immersive 3-D environment.

Robert C. Amme, a research professor of physics at the University of Denver, thinks there aren’t nearly enough scientists with expertise in managing nuclear waste. So to train the next generation of environmental assessment specialists, he’s taking them to a place where there’s no radiation, nuclear fallout or even laws of gravity.

Armed with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Amme and his colleagues are preparing to build a nuclear reactor — in the virtual, online world of Second Life. The interface, created by Linden Research, has over 8 million users who can interact with and help shape their own online environments, including the ability to buy and sell property using a proprietary currency and meet new people. Yet critics have contended that Second Life’s influence is overrated and has little offline value; still only a fraction of its members actively participate in the virtual “metaverse.”

But Amme thinks its capabilities are perfectly suited to a project that will actually have an impact in the real world.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has today set up a virtual island on Second Life, designed to allow residents to live in harmony with its friendly wild animal population.

"Conservation Island" includes Mr Tangee, an orangutan with an ice-cream van (exactly how wild is that supposed to be?), and guide pandas who show people around the wind-powered town.

"WWF set up the island as a way to help people learn about conservation issues and the need to live sustainably. We want to be able to show people that WWF has solutions to the real environmental issues affecting their 'first life'," said WWF's David Cole.

READ IT ALL AT:
http://techdigest.tv/2007/08/worl...