Paper That Define Real Virtual Worlds: 3D3C

This is a PDF version of a paper that was published as part the book "New Media and Innovative Technologies" from the The Hubert Burda Center for Innovative Communications at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

This paper is the first official version of the 3D3C definition for Real Virtual Worlds. Here is the abstract:

The Metaverse is described as a three-dimensional world in which human characters spend their time, play, work and live. A definition for the Metaverse is proposed – 3D3C: 3D for the three Dimensions of this interactive world and 3C for “Community” in which people connect with one another, “Creation” that allows people to express themselves and “Commerce” that links real monetary value to actions in this world. This study assesses several Metaverse phenomena as manifested in the Second Life environment: Social structures, Griefers, commercial data, real businesses, ceremonies and real experiences, comparing them with parallel phenomena of World of Warcraft. The Metaverse is then mapped into the conventional course of technology development (invention, realization, excitement and aversion, maturity and transparency), leading to the conclusion that a new medium is born.

Download the paper here.
See also an on-line video discussion.

"Your Next Life" Second Life as an intro to the Metaverse -- Book details

*smile* My book -- in Hebrew is ready (2008 Q1.) Lots of fun.

For those who asked you can order it directly from the publisher Modan (in israel in Hebrew) הזמנות מודן - 08-91800002 מירב (Merav - from Modan Orders).

Or order directly from:

• Steimatzky Web Store.
• Tzomet Sfarim Web Book Store.

See a short description of the book in Hebrew Haaretz.

Click on each picture to view a larger version of it; At the end text of the Table of Content (in Hebrew).

הקדמה

1. המטא-וורס: בידור, חיים או שניהם?

חלק ראשון: לִירוקי המטא-וורס

2. ממעוף הציפור

3. המושגים הבסיסיים

4. נכנסים לעולם

חלק שני: לאזרחי המטא-וורס

5. מקומות קלאסיים

6. התקשורת במטא-וורס

7. מטא-סקס ומטא-אהבה

חלק שלישי: לשחקני המטא-וורס

8. החיים הטובים

9. התמכרות: איך מתמודדים

10. תופעות במטא-וורס

אפילוג

11. המסע מתחיל

נספחים

מפתח הנושאים

מפתח המוצגים

הערות, הרחבות ומקורות

Yesha's Harvard Nine Keys to a Knowledge Infrastructure

The Nine Keys to a Knowledge Infrastructure

Knowledge management (KM) is emerging as an activity that demands increasing attention from management in today’s knowledge-based organizations.
Since the early 1990s there has been a constant stream of theoretical work on various aspects of KM as well as practical hands-on efforts in KM. As is frequently true of emerging fields, a bridge between theory and practice may be missing. On the one hand, too often KM theory highlights only parts of practical KM efforts, generalizes too broadly for use by an actual organization, or lacks value for people in the organization’s trenches. On the other hand, too often known practical lessons and guidelines discussed in the literature on theories of KM such as the importance of knowledge culture, the need for a critical mass, or the need for on-going evaluation are ignored or, at best, mentioned marginally. To bridge theory and practice, this work proposes one unified analytic framework for KM that will allow organizations to plan, implement, and evaluate their KM activities.

The proposed framework consisting of nine keys to a knowledge infrastructure is designed to be simple enough to work with as well as powerful enough to generate insights about KM insights that can lead to productive action.
This framework was used in work with a variety of organizations, high-tech and low-tech.
Concrete plans were derived from the keys. Experience has shown that the value of the keys stems mostly from their capacity to bring together the various players within a organization in a
unified KM effort.

The Full Report: http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs/pdf-blurb.asp?id=474
Actual PDF file: http://pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/sivan/sivan-p01-1.pdf

Yesha's Five Dimentions of Standards

The diverse uses of “standards” define the goal of this work, namely, to develop a general framework of standards and to reflect on the process and outcome of the development of the framework. My intention is to devise a theoretical framework that may be translated into practice at some future point.
The principle outcome is a framework of standards that includes five dimensions: Level, Purpose, Effect, Sponsor, and Stage, each of which contains five categories that together define the dimension. The dimensions show:

• how standards can be produced and used by entities from different Levels
  (individual, organizational, associational, national, and multinational);
• how they can have one or more Purposes (simplification, communication,
  harmonization, protection, and valuation);
• how they can cause diverse Effects (constructive, positive, unknown, negative,
  and destructive);
• how they can be developed by different Sponsors (devoid, nonsponsored,
  unisponsored, multisponsored, and mandated); and
• how they can be in different Stages (missing, emerging, existing, declining,
  and dying).

In presenting the framework, the chapter also touches on the roles of standards in the industrial age, their potential roles in the knowledge age, and the current turmoil in the standards community. It includes reflections on designing and judging the framework.

The Entire Chapter in PDF.