Walking the Digital Dog

On Thursday Mette and I attended the 30th annual Mountbatten lecture at the IET, as suggested by Nigel. As the title of the lecture (Walking the Digital Dog: Work, Learn and Play in Digital Worlds) delivered by Andrew (Roo) Reynolds of IBM already indicates the audience was introduced to how virtual worlds are used to play, work, and learn.

The first thing that struck me (/us) was the audience. Upon arrival we seemed to be the only females in their mid-20s attending the lecture. The Common room, in which registration took place and refreshments were served, was predominantly filled with men in their mid-40s and above. Given that the lecture was first and foremost aimed at people with no experience of virtual worlds one would naturally expect older people in the audience. Later it emerged however that many of them appeared to have more experience of and within virtual worlds than I do. So much for conventional stereotyping…

Then again the conspicuous non-attendance of women in my opinion clearly reflected the general absence of women within technology. I was thus happy to spot the name of a woman working for an organization called womenintechnology on the list of participants that we were given at registration. Thanks to the name badges we were all encouraged to wear it was easy to find and approach her. I found it interesting and exciting to find out about an organization committed to promote and support women within the IT sector, a field that is still largely dominated by men. We were also given a business card by a council member of the Women’s Engineering Society ‘promoting the education, training and practice of engineering among women’. I’m pleased to have found out that through organizations such as these women are given a voice in an industry for which they regrettably still seem to be regarded as unsuitable. Of course it was also fantastic to observe that women who are active in the IT sector stick together and aid one another.

The lecture itself I thought was excellent, albeit a little too positive about virtual worlds. Since I received the lecture as a response to the negative press virtual worlds such as Second Life tend to get this was acceptable. As the handout we were given upon registration states, Reynolds was arguing that ‘virtual worlds may affect mankind as momentously as writing, the printing press, the telephone and the World Wide Web’. I think it is fair to say that he has convinced me.

Reynolds undoubtedly made clear that virtual worlds are suitable for everyone. Although I have difficulties picturing my own granny (who’s still very active) enthusiastically in front of a computer trotting about in the form of an avatar in Second Life, I can see how this might work for other elderly people. I certainly think that for those suffering from autism or Aspergers, as well as for people with a pathological fear of social contact, virtual worlds can provide a platform for establishing social relationships and perhaps even help them overcome their anxieties. Reynolds in fact repeatedly stressed the possibilities virtual worlds offer in terms of maintaining as well as building social relationships.

The usefulness of the space-time compression intrinsic to virtual worlds was also touched upon. This means that corporate meetings and lectures for example can take place without anyone having to travel. Whilst this of course is very convenient, it is simultaneously environmentally friendly. At a time in which global warming poses an imminent threat, the reduction of business flights to me sounds particularly appealing.

I didn’t understand how Reynolds could compare watching a baseball (or football) match with friends in a virtual world to doing the same in a pub though. Doesn’t the whole atmosphere get lost in doing so? And isn’t it a rather lonely experience? I realize it might enable me to watch a football match with (I’m not sure whether ‘to watch with’ is the correct phrase here) family and friends abroad but that to me doesn’t even replace watching the football with friends on the telly at home, let alone in the pub.

Another interesting topic covered by Reynolds was how virtual worlds are increasingly utilized for educational purposes. Reynolds made reference to a game called Recall that is taking its players through Ireland’s troubled history in the form of a Romeo and Juliet story. This game is distributed around Irish schools. My younger brother (and many other schoolchildren), who spends more time playing World of Warcraft than concentrating on school, would certainly benefit from such a game. The idea of learning through playing I believe is a brilliant one. Reynolds also demonstrated how virtual worlds are used for training purposes in the medical profession for example. Whilst it can’t replace hands-on experience in surgery the simulation can nevertheless aid in familiarizing oneself with the sequence of events etc.

I don’t want to go into any further detail here in respect to Reynold’s lecture so I’ll just post the slideshow (taken from www.rooreynolds.com) that was used by him in case anyone is interested.

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After the lecture we were invited for (free) drinks in the Common room to discuss our thoughts with other members of the audience, a perfect opportunity for networking. Mette and I had an exciting conversation with the director of Codexx Associates Ltd and a senior lecturer at Kingston University’s Faculty of Computing about issues of fraud (and the handling of other criminal activities) within Second Life (or other virtual worlds). This is certainly an area I’d like to look into in more detail. I’ve also succumbed and decided that I would eventually establish a Second Life presence in order to get some firsthand experience.

Overall, I had a fantastic evening so thank you very much Nigel for bringing the event to our attention! It was definitely an enriching experience and I’m glad I went.