Contributors

While there are two primary authors listed on the cover of this book, this manuscript actually represents the insights and wisdom of a growing community of practitioners who are working tirelessly within their respective organizations to make the vision of immersive learning and collaboration a reality.

We could have not done it without them. If you find value in this book know that you are standing on the shoulders of these brave pioneers who have been kind enough to share the wisdom of their respective journeys and experiences on the road less traveled.

Brian Bauer is the founder and Managing Partner at Étape Partners LLC. He contributed an essay in Chapter 9, Rules from Revolutionaries. Brian’s experience as a CTO for multiple firms shines through in this essay and his words of wisdom should add significant value for those trying to convince their technology leaders of the value of the Immersive Internet.

Ron Burns is the founder and President of Proton Media. Ron saw the vision we present in this book long before most of us. He was kind enough to write the forward of this book and to provide valuable feedback on early drafts of the manuscript that make the finished product a much more coherent work.
 
Debbie Damland oversees Ernst & Young’s learning operations providing world-class learning and personal growth opportunities for the 41,000 people of the Americas. Debbie led the efforts to build out Ernst & Young’s Inventory Observation 3D Learning Experience in Second Life that is covered in Chapter 6. The lessons learned section of this case is right on target.

Erica and Sam Driver are co-founders and Principles at Thinkbalm and analyst firm that is dedicated to the Immersive Internet. In Chapter 8, they were kind enough to provide us with a summary and synthesis of their Immersive Internet Business Value Study (completed in Q2, 2009). The work that Sam and Erica are doing at Thinkbalk is crucial to this emerging field and their contribution to this book will be of value for those seeking evidence to bring to sponsors.

Randy Hinrichs is CEO of 2b3d. The fact that we reached out to Randy for two essay contributions in this book is testament to our respect for his insight and vision in this space. Randy contributed to the development of the 3DLE Architecture presented in Chapter 4, where he also contributed an essay on rules for designing 3DLEs. Randy also wrote a wonderful essay for Chapter 10 where he takes us to the year 2020 and describes what he sees.

Boris Kizelshteyn is CEO of Popcha. Boris led the design of the FutureWork Island in Second Life covered in Chapter 10. This case demonstrates very clearly the creative expertise that Boris brings in applying new technologies in unique ways to achieve business results.

Christopher Keesey is the Project Manager with Ohio University Without Boundaries. Christopher contributed to the 3DLE Architecture presented in Chapter 4. His years of experience in designing immersive and interactive environments was drawn upon heavily in this effort.

Chuck Hamilton is head of Virtual Learning Strategy at IBM’s Center for Advanced Learning. Chuck’s fingerprints are all over this book. From the early work on the Seven Sensibilities with Tony O’Driscoll, to providing advice on the 3DLE Architecture, to writing an essay about upgrading the Campfire, to sharing his fantastic set of references with us. Chuck’s untiring passion to learn and share is a model we should all aspire to.

Mike Hamilton is Chief Learning and Development Officer for Ernst & Young Americas. It was Mike’s original vision and willingness to experiment that culminated in the development of the Inventory Observation 3DLE outlined in Chapter 6.

John Hengeveld is a Senior Business Strategist at Intel. John has spent a lot of time thinking about the Immersive Internet and the essence of his insights is captured in an essay in Chapter 9, Rules from Revolutionaries. John’s experience with bringing new technologies to market and his pragmatic sense on where things are going and how to help us get there will no doubt prove very valuable for the next round of revolutionaries.

Ken Hudson is the Managing Director of the Virtual Worlds Design Centre at Loyalist College. Ken is another person who has provided multiple contributions to the book. He contributed to the 3D Learning Architecture presented in Chapter 4 and a Case-Study on Canadian Border Patrol Crossing Training in Chapter 6. This case brings a strong evidence base to suggest that learners who participated in the 3DLE experience fared better than those who did not.

Karen Keeter is a Marketing Executive with IBM’s Digital Convergence EBO. Her e-mail tagline reads “Creating Virtual World Evangelists – One Avatar at a Time.” Like so many others Karen has contributed in multiple ways to this book. Along with Joanne Martin, she helped develop the Case-Study on IBM’s Academy of Technology Events in Chapter 6. Also, in Chapter 9, she shares her experience and wisdom in driving adoption for this new technology with an essay that is practical and to the point.

David Klevan is an Education Manager at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. His wonderful work in creating an installation in Second Life recreate the Kristallnacht experience is a wonderful example of kinesthetic learning in action. The Kristallnacht case is presented in Chapter 6 and is not to be missed for those who are seeking to understand how context figures into the 3DLE design process.

Joe Little is with BP’s Chief Technology Office where he leads the Virtual Worlds Game Changer Project. There are few people on the planet who understand as much about the technology and the creation of compelling 3DLE experiences as Joe. He has spearheaded multiple projects within BP. One of the most ambitious projects, the Global Graduate Challenge is covered in a Case-Study in Chapter 10. This case is a wonderful example of how participants from all over the world could work together collaboratively and create virtual networks.

Steve Mahaley is Director of Learning Technology at Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE). Always on the cutting edge at the nexus of education and technology, Steve provided keen insight in the development of the 3DLE Architecture outlined in Chapter 4 and shared his wisdom on getting “Across the Chasm” in Chapter 9.

Joanne Martin is President of IBM’s Academy of Technology. The Case-Study in Chapter 6 chronicles Joanne’s journey and decision to host the first virtual meeting for the Academy. Reading this case provides a wonderful perspective of how leaders parse through decisions and will give the reader some insights as to the key benefits of Immersive Internet technology that Joanne experienced that led her to her decision.

Mary Ann Mengel is a Multimedia Specialist in the Center for Learning & Teaching at Penn State University's Berks campus. Mary’s Case-Study contribution to Chapter 6 describes the creation of a Virtual Green Home to teach environmental science. This case brings evidence that students not only learned within the environment, they also liked it.

Michael Pack is Director of the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Lab at the University of Maryland. Michael’s Case-Study contribution to Chapter 6 describes the creation of a First-Responder 3DLE developed to help reduce accidents by training emergency responders to more quickly clear interstates.

Barton K. Pursel is an instructor and researcher with the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Bart teaches several courses for the College of IST and works as a consultant with Education Technology Services at Penn State, helping to build a university-side educational gaming initiative at Penn State. He has great insight into how to create virtual learning spaces which he shares by explaining how to design an environment within a VIE. Bart knows about virtual worlds, he is responsible for the College of IST’s Second Life and ProtoSphere initiatives, which involve working with faculty members on funded grants to explore the use of virtual worlds in such academic areas as network security and data fusion.

Koreen Olbrish, CEO of Tandem Learning a company that specializes in immersive learning environments, contributed a number of insights concerning the implementation of VIEs as well as the future of the VIE space. She helped to define some of the terms in Appendix A and generally provided overall valuable information.

Margaret Reagan is President and CEO of the FutureWork Institute. Margaret saw the potential for someone to “walk in another’s shoes” and experience diversity differently via the application of Immersive Internet technology. The Case-Study presented in Chapter 6 outlines how Margaret’s organization leveraged two different platforms to address the diversity and inclusion needs of clients. Margaret urges us all to be platform agnostic and to be led by the learning needs and technology maturity of clients.

Sarah Robbins is the Director of Emerging Technologies for Kelley Executive Partners at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Sarah is yet another multiple contributor to this book. She helped refine the 3DLE Architecture in Chapter 4 and helped us all understand what it would be like to dress up as a Kool-Aid man and get kicked out of a virtual night club. The Case-Study she shares on teaching Rhetoric in a Virtual Environment demonstrates that is not just about being there, it is about doing there.

John Royer is the Director of Sales Training Strategy at AstraZenca. He is a pioneer in implementing and thinking about using VIE for a competitive advantage. He has pushed through VIE technology and is pushing the barrier what is possible while carefully considering the human factor issues involved with VIEs. John contributes his thoughts and insights about implementation in Chapter 8 and some ideas on the future in Chapter 10.

Lesley Scopes is a successful doctoral candidate at the University of Southampton, UK. She took some of our earlier work and really dug into its meaning and possibilities. Unfortunately, given the scope of this book we could only touch on a bit of her work but we strongly recommend serious scholars of VIEs to take a look at Dr. Scopes dissertation Learning Archetypes as Tools of Cybergogy for 3D Educational Landscape: A Structure for eTeaching in Second Life for an in-depth study of the archetypes presented in Chapter 5.

Clare Timothy led the Global Graduate Challenge project at BP. In the Case-Study in Chapter 6, Clare provides practical advice on how to manage a large project with participants from all over the world. Her most important message is that it is not the technology itself, but how the technology meets business needs that matters most.

Eilif Trondsen is the Research and Program Director of the Virtual Worlds @ Work (VWW), a research consortium for innovation and learning at SRI Consulting Business Intelligence (SRIC-BI) in Menlo Park, California. In this role, Eilif has seen more Immersive Internet implementations than most. In Chapter 7 he shares his insights on the questions you should ask any vendor before embarking on a project of your own. This is certainly a list you won’t want to miss as you begin your own Immersive Internet Journey.