A presentation that explores virtual world technology as a natural follow-on to human communication/collaboration technical trends.

1. Are Virtual Worlds Important? Brian White Author of Second Life: A Guide To Your Virtual World [email_address]

4. A Brief History of Communication Technologies 1775 - US Postal Service established 1844 – First Paid For Telegraph Line 1969 – ARPANET 1914 – First Commercial Air Travel 1876 - Telephone 1971 – E-MAIL 1978 – Bulletin Boards, First MUD 1989 AOL 100,000 subscribers 1991 World Wide Web Protocols 1990s IP-based Video Conferencing 1995 Webex Founded 1997 AOL Instant Messenger 1998 AOL 14 million subscribers 1997 Ultima On-Line 1985 The WELL goes on-line

5. After 2000, The Pace Has Increased… Source: http://valleywag.com/tech/twitter/a-history-of-blogging-254828.php

8. The Internet ARPANET was becoming a human communication medium with very important advantages over normal U.S. mail and over telephone calls. 1978

9. You can quote me… “ Virtual worlds are the next wave in human communication technology allowing us to work and play together while being geographically distant.” – Brian A. White

10. What Makes Virtual Worlds Different? 1. 3D Space vs. 2D Surface 2. Avatars (Immersion & Augmentation) 3. Multi-User Interaction 4. Economies 5. User Created Content

12. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/nasa_virtual_worlds Courtesy of NASA " We want to help our remote explorers 'phone home' in a way that lets them sit around a dinner table with their family, help their children with homework and analyze the latest findings with their Earth-bound peers," - Jeanne Holm, chief knowledge architect at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.