This early “pilot” meeting was actually part of the Emerging Technology SIG.

Web 3.0: mashing virtual worlds and the web

Presentation Overview
What happens when the 2D, asynchronous Web collides with 3D, collaborative digital worlds? As the power of rich web applications, aggregation, and filtering are proven on the Web, how will these technologies be connected to interactive, 3D virtual worlds? Conversely, how will 3D worlds be used to better manage data, convey information, and enable new forms of communications?

The user-created online world Second Life provides a unique insight into these issues. By granting broad intellectual property rights to its residents and embedding the tools needed to build almost anything, SL has enabled large scale creativity that bridges the 3D and web worlds.

Projects ranging from games and shopping malls to medical research and education have been built on top of Second Life’s core technology and then linked to companion web sites, blogs, and wikis. This is only the beginning, however. Currently, Firefox is being embedded within Second Life so that web content can act as a fundamental building block of the world as animations, textures, or audio.

This talk will cover the cutting-edge ways in which the Second Life community has embraced both 3D world and web technology in order to achieve the complementary goals of creating the worlds of their dreams and solving real-world problems. Beyond that, it will also discuss ways in which virtual worlds can better connect to – and participate in – the web as a whole.

Presenter

Cory Ondrejka
Cory Ondrejka is the Chief Technology Officer of Linden Labs. As CTO, he leads the team developing “Second Life,” Linden Lab’s award-winning, user-created digital world. His team has created the revolutionary technologies required to enable collaborative, atomistic creation, including distributed physical simulation, 3D streaming, completely customizable avatars and real-time, in-world editors. He also spearheaded the decision to allow users to retain the IP rights to their creations and helped craft Linden’s virtual real estate policy.

Prior to joining Linden Lab in November, 2000, Ondrejka served as Project Leader and Lead Programmer for Pacific Coast Power and Light. At PCP&L, he brought the “Road Rash” franchise to the Nintendo for the first time with “Road Rash 64? and built the core technology teams that completed multiple products for Nintendo and Sony consoles. Previous experience includes Lead Programmer for Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment’s first internal coin-op title and work on Department of Defense electronic warfare software projects for Lockheed Sanders. While an officer in the United States Navy, he worked at the National Security Agency and graduated from the Navy Nuclear Power School. Ondrejka is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he was a Presidential “Thousand Points of Light” recipient and became the first person to earn Bachelors of Science degrees in two technical majors: Weapons and Systems Engineering and Computer Science.

Event Logistics

Location
Cubberley Community Center
4000 Middlefield Road, Room H-1
Palo Alto, CA
Directions

Agenda
7:00 – 7:20 p.m. Registration / Networking / Refreshments / Pizza
7:20 – 9:00 p.m. Presentation

Price
$15 at the door for non-SDForum members
No charge for SDForum members
No registration required

Media: MP3 audio files

part 1
part 2
part 3