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	<title>UgoTrade &#187; scientific simulation in virtual worlds</title>
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		<title>People Meet People Meet Big Data: ScienceSim Explores Collaborative High Performance Computing</title>
		<link>http://www.ugotrade.com/2009/02/11/people-meet-people-meet-big-data-sciencesim-explores-collaborative-high-performance-computing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ugotrade.com/2009/02/11/people-meet-people-meet-big-data-sciencesim-explores-collaborative-high-performance-computing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:40:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tish Shute]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[architecture of participation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augmented Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carbon Footprint Reduction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture of participation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital public space]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ecological Intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy Awareness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Instrumenting the World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel in Virtual Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interoperability of virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mirror worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nanotechnology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Open Grid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open protocols for virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Open Source Virtual Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open standards for virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paticipatory Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science outreach in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Planet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainable living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual Realities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual worlds in Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[big data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaboration and big data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaborative visualization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[haptic interfaces for virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hypergrid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[linked data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modelling complex systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[n-body simulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Piet Hut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rapid data movement in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ScienceSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steering big data simulations from virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steering virtual worlds with brain waves]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[super computing conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supercomputing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wilf Pinfold]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Wilfred Pinfold, Director, Extreme Scale Programs for Intel, and the Supercomputing Conference general chair, is working with some Intel colleagues to make a project called ScienceSim the centerpiece of a special workshop event at the SC09 conference (see Supercomputing Conference, an ACM and IEEE Computer society sponsored event). Recently, I interviewed Wilf Pinfold (see interview [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gwave_lg.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2861" title="gwave_lg" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gwave_lg.jpg" alt="gwave_lg" width="540" height="540" /></a></p>
<p>Wilfred Pinfold, Director, Extreme Scale Programs for Intel, and the<em> </em><em><a href="http://sc08.supercomputing.org/">Supercomputing Conference</a></em> general chair, is working with some Intel colleagues to make a project called <a href="http://www.sciencesim.com/">ScienceSim</a> the centerpiece of a special workshop event at the SC09 conference (<em>see </em><em><a href="http://sc08.supercomputing.org/">Supercomputing Conference</a>, an ACM and IEEE Computer society sponsored event)</em>.</p>
<p>Recently, I interviewed Wilf Pinfold (see interview below), Mic Bowman (also <a href="../../2008/09/15/interview-with-mic-bowman-intel-the-future-of-virtual-worlds/">see my previous interview here</a>), and John A. Hengeveld (see interview below). I wanted to find out what are the underlying goals of this SC conference program?Â  Why are members of the SC community being encouraged to participate with the ScienceSim environment? What projects are beginning to emerge?  And, what are Intel&#8217;s goals in giving infrastructure support to further the conversation between high performance computing and collaborative virtual worlds?</p>
<p>The vision of creating new ways to collaborate and interact with big data does seem to be one of the more significant steps we can take at a time when we find many of our most complex systems roiling and threatening total collapse. As Tim O&#8217;Reilly has pointed out &#8211; from financial markets to the climate, the complex systems we depend on for our survival seem to be reaching their limits.</p>
<p>But,Â  how can we get from the place we are now &#8211; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&amp;hl=en-GB&amp;v=gM4fmL6dLdY" target="_blank">see this example of an n-body simulation in OpenSim</a>, to the point where we can collaboratively steer from our visualizations big data simulations of climate change, financial markets, or the depths of the universe.Â  The picture opening this post is a:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Frame from a 3D simulation of gravitational waves produced by merging black holes, representing the largest astrophysical calculation ever performed on a NASA supercomputer. The honeycomb structures are the contours of the strong gravitational field near the black holes. Credit: C. Henze, NASA</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Wilf Pinfold explained to me part of the reason to begin a dialogue on collaborative visualization at SC &#8217;09 is that super computing communities (that tend to be highly skilled and visionary) have played key roles in internet development in the past. Wilf pointed out,Â  key browser technologyÂ  developed out of these communities in the early days of the internet &#8211; see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_(web_browser)" target="_blank">this wikipedia entry</a> that givesÂ  a background on the role of NCSA (National Center for Supercomputer Applications).</p>
<p>The hope is, while there are many obstacles to overcome, the super computing community has both the skills and motivation to find solutions to creating collaborative environments capable of the kind of rapid data movement that scientific/big data visualization needs. Solving the problems of realtime collaborative interaction with big data willÂ  have many ramifications for the way we understand virtual reality, the metaverse, virtual worlds (all these terms are becoming increasingly inadequate for cyberspace in the age of ubiquitous computing, an argument I will make in another post!).</p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p>There have already been a number of blogs on ScienceSim (see <a href="http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/intel-creating-sciencesim-on-opensim.html" target="_blank">Virtual World News</a>, <a href="http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/02/intel-outside-.html" target="_blank">New World Notes</a>, <a href="http://www.vintfalken.com/intel-using-opensim-for-immersive-science-project/" target="_blank">Vint Falken</a>, and <a href="http://daneel-ariantho.blogspot.com/2009/02/sciencesim.html" target="_blank">Daneel Ariantho</a>). There have also been Intel blogs &#8211; <a href="http://blogs.intel.com/research/2009/01/sciencesim.php" target="_blank">see this post</a> by John A. Hengeveld (a senior business strategist working with Intel planners and researchers to accelerate the adoption of Immersive Connected Experiences). And Intel CTO <a href="http://blogs.intel.com/research/2008/11/immersive_science.php" target="_blank">Justin Rattner&#8217;s pos</a>t announcing the project this November.</p>
<p>But to blow my own horn a little, I think i was the first to blog the encounter between <a href="http://opensimulator.org/">OpenSim</a> and Supercomputing (an encounter I to some degree provoked by making the introductions) <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/ " target="_blank">see this post</a>.Â  So I have been following the ScienceSim initiative with great interest.</p>
<p>Very shortly after N-Body astrophysicicsts Piet Hut and Jun Makino, creators ofÂ  &#8211; GRAPE (an acronym for â€œgravity pipelineâ€ and an intended pun on the Apple line of computers) &#8211; a super computer that will <a href="http://grape.mtk.nao.ac.jp/grape/news/ABC/ABC-cuttingedge000602.html" target="_blank">become one of the fastest super computers in the world (again)</a>, met <a href="http://www.genkii.com/" target="_blank">Genkii</a> &#8211; a Tokyo based strategic company working with OpenSim, the first N-body simulation appeared in OpenSim.Â  And in a matter of weeksÂ  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4fmL6dLdY" target="_blank">this video went up on YouTube</a> &#8211; the result of a collaboration between MICA and Genkii.Â  But the nirvana of being able to create visualizations using real time data from super computers that can be steered from a collaborative environment is still a ways off.</p>
<p>Super computing communities tend to be geographically very dispersed and researchers often find themselves far from simulation facilities so there is both the motivation and skills to pioneer new tools for collaborative visualization. I know that astrophysicists certainly see their value (Piet Hut has some profound ideas on this). Astrophysicist Piet Hut and othersÂ  (<a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/b" target="_blank">see here for more</a>) have been pioneering the use of VWs for collaboration.Â  There are two Virtual World organizations, both founded by <span class="nfakPe">Piet</span> Hut and collaborators, that are currently exploring the use of OpenSim for scientific visualizations. Â One is specifically aimed at astrophysics, MICA, the<a href="http://www.mica-vw.org/" target="_blank"> Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics</a>, and the other is aimed broadly at interdisciplinary collaborations in and beyond science, <a href="http://www.kira.org/" target="_blank">Kira</a>, a 12-year old organization focused on `science in context&#8217;. Â As of last week, there are two weekly workshops sponsored jointly by Kira and MICA that explore the use of OpenSim, ScienceSim, and other virtual worlds. Â One of them is <a href="http://www.kira.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=124&amp;Itemid=154" target="_blank">&#8220;Stellar Dynamics in a Virtual Universe Workshop&#8221; </a>and the other is <a href="http://www.kira.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=119&amp;Itemid=149" target="_blank">&#8220;ReLaM: Relocatable Laboratories in the Metaverse.&#8221;</a></p>
<p>MICA was founded two years ago by <span class="nfakPe">Piet</span> Hut within the virtual world of <a href="http://qwaq.com" target="_blank">Qwaq Forums</a> (see the paper <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/0712.1655" target="_blank">&#8220;Virtual Laboratories and Virtual Worlds&#8221;</a>). The Kira Institute is much older: it was founded in 1997. Â Later this month, on February 24, Kira will celebrate its 12th anniversary with a presentation of talks, a panel discussion, and a series of workshops. Â See the <a href="http://www.kira.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=83&amp;Itemid=113" target="_blank">Kira Calendar</a> for the main event, and the Kira Japan branch for a <a href="http://www.kirajapan.org/event/" target="_blank">special mixed RL/SL</a> event in Tokyo. Â During both events, Junichi Ushiba will give a talk about his research in which <a href="http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/10/the-second-life.html" target="_blank">he let paralyzed patients steer avatars using only brain waves</a>.</p>
<p>Other early adopters of ScienceSim include Tom Murphy, who teaches computer science at a Contra Costa College. Prior to teaching, Tom spent 35+ years working for supercomputer manufacturers. Tom said:</p>
<blockquote><p>it is very natural for me to find significantly new ways to visualize and interact with scientific mathematical models via ScienceSim and the OpenSim software behind it. ScienceSim also allows us to interact with each other and teach students in new ways.</p></blockquote>
<p>Also Charlie Peck, chair of the SC09 Education Program, (his day job is teaching computer science at Earlham College in Richmond, IN), is working with Wilf Pinfold, Tom Murphy and others &#8220;to explore how 3D Internet/metaverse technology can be used to support science education and outreach.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/~lopes/" target="_blank">Cristina Videira Lopes</a>, University of Irvine, is doing very interesting workÂ  on road and pedestrian traffic simulations. Crista is also the creator of <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Hypergrid" target="_blank">hypergrid in OpenSim</a>,</p>
<h3>People Meet People Meet Data: A Conversation With Mic Bowman</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/sciencesim_002_thumb1.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2908" title="sciencesim_002_thumb1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/sciencesim_002_thumb1.png" alt="sciencesim_002_thumb1" width="404" height="239" /></a><em></em><br />
<em>Screenshot of ScienceSim from <a href="http://daneel-ariantho.blogspot.com/2009/02/sciencesim.html" target="_blank">Daneel Ariantho</a></em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> How does this work on ScienceSimÂ  fit into a wider dialogue on linked data? Where people meet people meet data, and where data meets data?</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> Yeahâ€¦ thatâ€™s hard by the way.Â  Open integration of data (and more interestingly the functions on data) is very hard if it comes from multiple, independent sources.</em></p>
<p><em>Thatâ€™s the people part. For example, if Crista can build a model of the UCI campus somebody else builds an accurate model of several cars and another expert provides the simulation that computes the pollution generated by those cars in that environmentâ€¦its bringing people together to solve real problems, no matter how far apart physically.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> You mention three different simulations here. Could you explain why it is difficult to integrate data from multiple sources?</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> integrating data from multiple sources has always been one of understanding &amp; interpreting both the syntax &amp; semantics of the data. Even relatively simple things like multiple date formats require explicit translation. More complex formats, like the many formats data is represented for urban planning, are barely computable independently let alone in conjunction with data from other sources (each with its own representation for data). Its often the expertise &amp; the collaboration of bringing people (and their bag of tools) together that solves these problems.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> and in this case the bag of tools is high performance modeling..?</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> high performance modeling, rich visualizations and data. Its the three that matterâ€¦ data, function, and interface.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Some people have a very hard time wrapping their head aropund the fact that anything that seems related to Second Life can do this.Â  Can you explain more about the difference between SL and OpenSim?</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> OpenSim potentially improves data &amp; function because it can be extended through region modules. Region modules hook directly into the simulator to provide additional functionality. For example, a region module could be implemented to drive the behavior of objects in a virtual world according based on a protein folding model.</em></p>
<p><em>We need to work on additional viewer capabilities to address the user interface limitations.</em><br />
<strong><br />
Tish:</strong> Yes Rob Smartâ€™s (IBM) recent data integrations with OpenSim (<a href="http://robsmart.co.uk/2009/01/22/visualizing-live-shipping-data-in-opensim-isle-of-wight-ferries/" target="_blank">see here</a>) are impressive. Re viewers one of the biggest objections to virtual worlds is the mouse pushing and pc tied interface.</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> There are great opportunities for improving the interface</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Yes I really like where the Andy Piperâ€™s experiments with Haptic Interfaces for OpenSim lead, <a href="http://andypiper.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/haptic-user-interfaces/" target="_blank">see Haptic Fantastic</a>! And I think that we will have cyberspace ubiquitous in our environment, not just stuck on a pc screen, sooner than we think.</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> Micâ€™s opinion (not Intel): until we get souped up sunglasses with HD screens embedded (or writing directly into the eye) there will always be a role for the PC/Console/TV).Â  But, it isnâ€™t about the deviceâ€¦ its about the services projected through the deviceâ€¦ sometimes youâ€™ll want a very rich experienceâ€¦ sometimes youâ€™ll want an experience NOW wherever you are.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> I think people are only just realizing that VWs will be a now and wherever you are experience very soon.</p>
<p><em><strong>Mic:</strong> Thatâ€™s the critical observation the virtual world is not an application you runâ€¦ its a â€œplaceâ€â€¦ and you interact with it where you are or maybe interact through it. Speaking for Intelâ€¦ it is the spectrum of experiences that are critical to support.</em></p>
<h3>Interview with Wilfred Pinfold</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gustav_h.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2860" title="gustav_h" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gustav_h.jpg" alt="gustav_h" width="416" height="200" /></a></p>
<p><em>Picture from National Science Foundation &#8211; <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112166" target="_blank">&#8220;Climate Computer Modeling Heats Up.&#8221;</a></em></p>
<p><strong>Tish Shute:</strong> I know your day job for Intel is in High Performance computing.  Could you explain to me a little bit more about what you are working on in this regard &#8211; a mini state of play for high performance computing from your perspective?</p>
<p><em><strong>Wilfred Pinfold:</strong> My title is Director, Extreme Scale Programs. This program drives a research agenda that will put in place the technologies required to make an Exa (10^18) scale systems by 2015. The current generation of high performance computers are Peta (10^15) scale so this is a 1000x increase in performance and this increase will require significant improvements in power efficiency, reliability, scalability and new techniques for dealing with locality and parallelism.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> The nirvana in terms of linking supercomputers to the collaborative spaces of immersive virtual worlds is to be able to create visualizations using real time data from super computers in collaborative VW environments, and ultimately for researchers to be able to collaborate and steer their simulations from their visualizations.Â   Where are we at now in terms of scientific data visualization in VWs? And what are the current obstacles to using realtime data from super computers?</p>
<p><em><strong>Wilf: </strong>Being able to steer a simulation from a visualization requires both a visualization interface that allows interaction and a simulation that operates at a speed that is responsive in interactive timeframes. For example a weather model that predicts the path of a hurricane would need to operate at something close to 1000x real time. This would run through a day in ~1.5 minutes allowing an operator to run the simulation over several days multiple times with different parameters in a single sitting to understand the likelyhood of certain outcomes?</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Do you see a networked online collaborative virtual world being capable of being a visualization interface that allows meaningful interaction with the hurricane scenario you describe in the near future (next 6 to 18 months)?</p>
<p><em><strong>Wilf: </strong>I was using the hurricane example to explain the usage model not an imminent capability. Hurricane Simulation: Accurate hurricane simulations require multiscale models able to resolve the global forces working on the storm as well as the microforces that define precipitation. We can build useful weather models today that run faster than real time (anything slower is not useful for prediction) but we are a long way from the ideal.<br />
Visualization: There are excellent visualizations of weather systems but I have not yet seen a virtual world that can track a simulation and allow the scientist or team of scientists to see what is going on at both the macro scale and zoom in to see precipitation conditions. Today&#8217;s supercomputers are much better at this than they were a few years ago but they are a long way from ideal.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Open Source Virtual World technologies are pretty diverse in their approaches, Croquet, Sun&#8217;s Wonderland and OpenSim are quite different and have different strengths and weaknesses. As you have become more familiar with OpenSim, what have you found about the technology that particularly lends itself to this project &#8211; ScienceSim (Mic mentioned Crista&#8217;s hypergrid code for example, modularity is another feature often cited).</p>
<p><em><strong>Wilf: </strong>We have found OpenSim&#8217;s client server model is well suited to the visualization model and the ability to put the server next to the supercomputer producing the visualization data is critical. We are however very interested in other environments and encourage papers, demonstrations and research on any of these platforms at the conference.</em></p>
<h3>Interview with John A. Hengeveld</h3>
<p><strong>Tish Shute:</strong> OpenSimâ€™s dependence on Second Life based viewers is sometimes cited as a limitation, and sometimes as a strength. What are your views on this?Â  What would a strong open viewer project directed at science applications bring to the picture?</p>
<p><em><strong>John Hengeveld:</strong> There may be more than one strong open viewer project required for opensim compatible experiences.Â  The strength of the Hippo viewer, for example, is availability and its weakness is the size of the client.Â  We would love a ubiquitous, client.. that runs on all platforms, but each hardware platform brings tradeoff and restrictions of its own.Â  Today, probably all of the folks innovating in the space can deal with the size of a very fat rich client ap.. they have big computers anyway.Â  But as we get into more 3D entertainment and augmented reality applications.. virtual mall, collaboration apps.. etcâ€¦ there is a great deal of room to optimize for the specific experience.Â  Balancing visual experience with bandwidth and compute performance available .. tying into standard browsers, etcâ€¦ people have done some of this work.. and I think all of it adds to the usefulness of these worlds.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Integrating highend game engines and OpenSim opens up new possibilities. But licensing issues have been an obstacle. Could a project like ScienceSim get a non-commercial license on a high end game engine?Â  What would that bring to the picture?</p>
<p><em><strong>John: </strong>Anything is possible. Game engines can give a great deal of design power for high value experiences, but the programming of these experiences must be simplified.Â  Mainstream adoption in enterprise can&#8217;t be premised on the programming model of studio gamesâ€¦ thatâ€™s a big step to get over I think.Â  There are very interesting possibilities when we take that step tho.Â  Simulation, training, agents of various types (I just finished watching â€œThe Matrixâ€ for like the billionth timeâ€¦ I think agents are coolâ€¦)</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> Where does Larabee fit into the picture of ScienceSim and next generation virtual worlds?</p>
<p><em><strong>John:</strong> We are all very excited about the Larrabee architecture and its application to work loads like next generation virtual worlds, both in the client.. delivering immersive reality.. and someday potentially in a distributed architecture simulating and producing these worlds.Â  For Intel CVC is an all play.Â  Atom will be used in strong mobile clients.Â  Core will be used in Enterprise PCs, Laptops and DesktopsÂ Â  Xeon will be simulating these environments and handling the data communication, and Whatever we brand Larrabeeâ€¦ will be enabling compelling visual experiences. Oh.. and our software products (Havoc, tools and others) will be building blocks in knitting all this together.Â  Larrabee is a part, but there are a lot of other pieces in our visionâ€¦</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish:</strong> If the kind of rapid data movement that scientific visualization needs is achieved in virtual worlds, this will be quite a game changer for business applications of VWs too. Also it will blurr the boundaries between what we call virtual worlds and mirror worlds. It seems to me this kind of rapid data movement is a vital step towards what Mic described to me as Intelâ€™s vision of CVC: â€œConnected Visual Computing is the union of three application domains: mmog, metaverse, and paraverse (or augmented reality).â€ It almost seems to me that if you achieve your goals for ScienceSim you will change how we think about virtual worlds in general? What do you think?</p>
<p><em><strong>John:</strong> I certainly hope so..Â  Part of our goal is to stimulate innovation in the technology and usage models that will enable broad mainstream adoption of CVC based applications (what we categorize as immersive connected experiences).Â Â  By tackling the scientific visualization problem, we hope to find the key technology barriers and encourage the ecosystem to solve them.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish: </strong>To me virtual worlds and augmented reality should be complimentary and connected experiences. How do you see this connection evolving?</p>
<p><em><strong>John:</strong> We certainly see them as related.Â  In the long term, there are many common building blocks.. but they arenâ€™t united per se.Â  Its about the user experience, and in some usages these two are almost identicalâ€¦Â  in some.. they donâ€™t look or feel at all alikeâ€¦ the viewer is distinct by a lot.Â  Our approach is to enable building blocks that people can quickly build out usages that are robust.</em></p>
<p><strong>Tish: </strong>What is Intelâ€™s vision for ubiquitous mobile computing and an internet of objects?Â  How can high performance computing be an enabler for this vision?</p>
<p><em><strong>John: </strong>Mobile computing is a central part of our life, culture and community in economically enabled economies.Â  It feeds the data of our decisions, it connects us to entertainment, it is the access point to our soapboxes, pulpits, economy and families.Â  This creates a massive increase in data, a massive increase in interactions, transactions and visualizations.Â  While many HPC applications will be behind the scenes (finance, health, energy, visual analytics and others), HPC will emerge as a part of a scale solution to serving some of this increaseâ€¦ particularly that part where interactions and visualizations are complex or compelling.. or where scale enables the usage per se .. I talked about my love of agents earlier.. and some of that comes in here.Â  Compute working behind the scenes to help managed the data complexity, manage some of the base interactions between ourselves and technology.Â  The other thing we talk internally about the â€œHannah Montana usageâ€ where millions of people use their mobile devices to access and participate (using the sensors in the device) with an interactive live concert.Â  When Mylie hears the applause of a virtual interactive audienceâ€¦ and can scream back at them.. weâ€™re there.Â  Access to ubiquitous compute will be mobile, and interactive experiences will be complex.. and HPC can help make that real.Â  Watch out for the mental trap that HPC is always high end super compute clusters thoâ€¦ the â€œmainstream HPCâ€.. smaller clustersâ€¦ high threads, etcâ€¦ will play a key part in all of this as well.</em></p>
<p>Interesting that John ended on this point as this just came in from <a href="http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/intel-fights-re.html" target="_blank">Wired. </a><em><br />
</em></p>
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		<title>Web Meets World: Participatory Culture and Sustainable Living</title>
		<link>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/11/25/web-meets-world-participatory-culture-and-sustainable-living/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/11/25/web-meets-world-participatory-culture-and-sustainable-living/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tish Shute]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[3D internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Architectural Working Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augmented Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[avatar 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crossing digital divides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital public space]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interoperability of virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mirror worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile Phones in Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy and online identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science outreach in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Second Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 3D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web3.D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aggregating the world's energy data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Gore at Web 2.0 Summmit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Gore on Climate Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carbon trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[co-creatiion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[commercial intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture of participation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ecological intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GupShup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[identity on the web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Instrumenting the World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life on the Cloud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[micro carbon credits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one billion one person enterprises]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[partcipatory culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[personal rapid transit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy and the future of the cloud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[redefining prosperity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sharing identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainability footprint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainable mobility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the achilles heel of Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the web beyond the web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter for India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter of India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0 Summit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Meets World]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ugotrade.com/?p=2183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a conversation with Tim Oâ€™Reilly and John Battelle (Federated Media Publishing) at Web 2.0 Summit 2008, Al Gore suggested that only the aggregate bandwidth of the internet could supply us with the kind of emotional intelligence we need to respond with appropriate urgency to the challenges of our times, for example, the CO2 targets [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/algoretimoreillyjohnbattelle.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2289" title="algoretimoreillyjohnbattelle" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/algoretimoreillyjohnbattelle.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="300" /></a></p>
<p><a id="tnsr" title="In a conversation" href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1461701/" target="_blank">In a conversation</a> with Tim Oâ€™Reilly and <a href="http://battellemedia.com/" target="_blank">John Battelle</a> (Federated Media Publishing) at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/content/home">Web 2.0 Summit 2008</a>, Al Gore suggested that only the aggregate bandwidth of the internet could supply us with the kind of emotional intelligence we need to respond with appropriate urgency to the challenges of our times, for example, the CO2 targets necessary to avert catastrophe.</p>
<p><strong><em>&#8220;People hear these things, and there are many other similar signals, and then the next day it&#8217;s gone. Now the neuroscientists have explanations for why that is &#8230;.. The urgency center of the brain is geared to snakes, spiders and fire and things that evolution posed as tests to our species&#8230; </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>But when we have to use our neo cortex to connect dots in an abstract pattern and then push that down to the urgency and fear center &#8211; that&#8217;s just a little footpath. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>ItsÂ  like the internet, mostly, it&#8217;s an asynchronous connection.Â  There is a big connection going from the fear center to the reasoning process but just a very small pathway coming back. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>It needs to be stored in the cloud. It is the aggregate bandwidth than counts. We need to have the truth &#8211; the inconvenient truth, forgive me, of this challenge stored in the cloud so that people don&#8217;t have to rely on that process and so that we can respond to it collectively.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>Tim O&#8217;Reilly responded: &#8220;<em><strong>Who knew you were the guru of Web 2.0 as well as global warming. You have totally outlined our premise here.&#8221;</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong></strong></em></p>
<p>(Photograph opening this post of the Former Vice President Al Gore on stage with Tim O&#8217;Reilly and John Battelle atÂ  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/content/home">Web 2.0 Summit 2008</a>, co-presented by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/">O&#8217;Reilly Media</a> and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.techweb.com//">TechWeb</a>. Produced by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.2goodcompany.com/">Good Company Communications</a>. Photograph copyright <a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:james@duncandavidson.com">James Duncan Davidson</a> &#8211; see <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/x180/sets/72157608663699979/?page=4" target="_blank">Duncan Davidson&#8217;s Flickr stream</a> for a complete photo essay of the event.)</p>
<p>I was trying to find a word to express how powerfullyÂ  Al Gore addressed the Summit audience.Â  And I was discussing this with a legendary serial entrepreneur, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/richard_titus/" target="_blank">Richard Titus</a>, who is also a great admirer of Al Gore, at the closing party. Richard came up with the phrase I was seeking.Â  â€œHe was totally naked,â€ Richard said.</p>
<p>Al Gore described himself as a recovering politician.Â  And yes, he seems totally recovered from the â€œwoodenessâ€ of politics and utterly at home with the â€œnakednessâ€ of participatory culture.</p>
<p><strong>Al Gore made clear that to change the world we have to change ourselves (he did).</strong><strong></strong></p>
<p>Bertrand Russell is often attributed with the following quote:</p>
<p><strong><em>The mark of a civilized human being is the ability to read a column of numbers and then weep.</em></strong></p>
<p>Gore&#8217;s exhortation that the internet needs to be a puppy with a purpose resonated with his audience.Â  From climate change, global issues of health care, to rethinking global economies we desperately need to optimize our collective and individual intelligence.</p>
<h3>Instrumenting the World: Life on the Cloud</h3>
<p>Kevin Kellyâ€™sÂ  <a href="http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/schedule/proceedings" target="_blank">High Order Bit &#8211; a brilliant impressionist view of the internetâ€™s next 6537 days</a> describes what â€œLife on the cloudâ€ will be like.</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œI</strong></em><em><strong>f you are producing some information and it is not webized, i.e., it is online and not related and shared to everything else, it doesnâ€™t count.â€ </strong></em></p>
<p>This is already the case to some degree. And the challenge of understanding where our networked identities begin and end is with us. But Kevin Kelly points out, â€œlife on the cloudâ€ will heighten our dilemmas.</p>
<p><a id="w-nw" title="Nat Torkington's presentation to the Privacy Forum in Auckland" href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/11/web-meets-world-privacy-and-th.html" target="_blank">Nat Torkington&#8217;s presentation</a> to the Privacy Forum in Auckland , New Zealand, &#8220;Web Meets World: Privacy and the Future of the Cloud&#8221; looks at our changing idea of identity through the lens of privacy &#8211; both â€œthe nature of privacyâ€ and â€œhow expectations change over time.â€Â  Nat cites William Gibson <em> </em>(interviewed by Rolling Stone on their 40th Anniversary):</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œO</strong></em><strong><em>ne of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real.Â  In the future that will likely become impossible.â€</em></strong></p>
<p>The critical layer between this database of things and the ultra, mega cloud (see Kevin Kellyâ€™s slide below) is the web of shared intelligence. This is where the transformation will emerge with its dangers and opportunities.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kevinkelly.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2271" title="kevinkelly" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kevinkelly.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="372" /></a></p>
<p>Brian Solis, in his excellent post, <a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2008/11/barack-obama-social-web-and-future-of.html#links" target="_blank">â€œBarack Obama, The Social Web, and the Future of User Generated Government,â€</a> proposes <a href="http://www.zappos.com/" target="_blank">Zappos</a> and their â€œpublic and transparent customer-focused cultureâ€ is a good model for how government can use the internet not only to push out its message but to create a whole new culture of participation.</p>
<p>Far fetched?Â <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1439719/" target="_blank"> Watch Tony Hsiehâ€™s High Order Bit for yourself.</a> The idea that every interaction at Zappos has relevance to the value exchange between consumers and producers is a very interesting idea to apply to the relationship between government and citizens.</p>
<p><em><strong><br />
</strong></em></p>
<h3><em><strong>&#8220;Ecological Intelligence&#8221;</strong></em></h3>
<p><em><strong></strong></em></p>
<p>Instrumenting the World requires new models of data sharing. Last year, <a href="../../2007/10/31/cory-doctorow-a-reverse-surveillance-society/" target="_blank">Cory Doctorow described to me</a> an instrumentation model of data.</p>
<p>An Instrumentation model for data differs from a surveillance model of data sharing.Â  Instrumentation is <em><strong>&#8220;when you know a lot about the world,</strong></em>&#8221; in contrast to surveillance &#8211; <em><strong>&#8220;when people in authority know a lot about you&#8221;.</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>(Note: </strong></em>Mashable has an interesting post on the theme of a &#8220;instrumentation,&#8221; see:Â  <a href="http://mashable.com/2008/11/13/government-mashups/" target="_blank">Seventeen Killers Apps for Taking Control of Your Government</a>:<em><strong>&#8220;Government is increasingly putting much of its public records online, <a href="http://mashable.com/2008/10/14/crowdsourced-beltway-pandits/" target="_blank">creating opportunities</a> for developers to build useful applications for citizens.&#8221;)</strong></em></p>
<p>But corporate culture and governments around the world have embraced the surveillance model of data up to now.Â  I was fortunate to have the opportunity to ask Larry Brilliant, <a title="Google.org" href="http://www.google.org/" target="_blank">Google.org</a>, a question about how the tables might get turned.Â  After <a title="his conversation with Tim O'Reilly" href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1449189/" target="_blank">his conversation with Tim O&#8217;Reilly</a>,Â  I asked:</p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;What would motivate corporations and governments to participate in the kind of data sharing and transparency that could produce the changes that our world needs, particularly in the area of health and climate change? For example, why would corporations reveal the aspects of products we use and the food we eat that have negative effects on our health and our planet?&#8221;</strong></em> (This is more succinctly phrased than my original question!)</p>
<p>Larry Brilliant replied:</p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how many of you know Dan Goleman? He created emotional intelligence [quotient] &#8211; EQ. He is coming out with a book which I have just had the pleasure of reading in draft form which deals specifically with what you are talking about.<br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>How we can have commercial intelligence. How we use the power of corporations and their various different stakeholders, including their customers to drive corporations to do the morally right thing </strong><strong>by losing the commercial support of customers who won&#8217;t support them unless they are more green, fairer to women, respect gay and lesbian rights, do the things you would like them to do whatever that happens to be, so that you can vote with your dollars. </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong> It is really a fascinating book:Â  &#8220;The Application of Ecological Intelligence to the Commercial World.&#8221;Â  I don&#8217;t know what the final title will wind up being but I recommend it to you.</strong></em></p>
<p>Dan Goleman&#8217;s new book: <a title="&quot;Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything,&quot;" href="http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385527828" target="_blank">&#8220;Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything,&#8221;</a> will come out in April, 2009.</p>
<h3>An Extraordinary Gathering At An Historic Time</h3>
<p>Web 2.0 Summit was a brilliantly orchestrated gathering of many of the thought/business leaders and entrepreneurs who have shaped the internet as we know it today.</p>
<p>As my friend <a href="http://www.jehochman.com/">Jonathan Hochman, </a>Wikipedia, said on Day 1:</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œIf everyone here [Web 2.0 Summit] shut down their website it would be the end of the internet!.â€</strong></em> (See my upcoming interview with Jonathan on Wikipedia and <a href="http://archsl.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Jon Brouchard</a> on Wikitecture and what these projects can teach us about participatory culture).</p>
<p>But also in this elite crowd of â€œCâ€ level execs were the next generation of entrepreneurs who are working on a hunch and prayer to create the future Web.</p>
<p>And this year, as the Web 2.0 Summit architects explained in their intro, the decision was made to extend the scope of the Summit even further:</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œâ€¦.our world is fraught with problems that engineers might charitably classify as NP hardâ€”from roiling financial markets to global warming, failing healthcare systems to intractable religious wars. In short, it seems as if many of our most complex systems are reaching their limits.</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>It strikes us that the Web might teach us new ways to address these limits. From harnessing collective intelligence to a bias toward open systems, the Webâ€™s greatest inventions are, at their core, social movements. To that end, weâ€™re expanding our program this year to include leaders in the fields of healthcare, genetics, finance, global business, and yes, even politics.â€</strong></em></p>
<p>Truly an extraordinary gathering at an historic time &#8211; commencing the day after Barak Obama became President Elect, it seemed the causes and conditions for participatory culture and sustainable living were coming together at last!<em><strong><br />
</strong></em></p>
<h3>Virtual Worlds and &#8220;The Web Beyond The Web:&#8221;<strong> Creating &#8220;A Supple Approach to Sharing Identity&#8221;<strong><br />
</strong></strong></h3>
<p>Virtual Worlds were not on the schedule.Â  But this is not surprising as their potential contributions to the very big problems at the heart of the Summitâ€™s theme are only just beginning to emerge.</p>
<p>But new forms ofÂ  participatory culture were a recurrent theme of the Summit.Â  And Virtual Worlds at the high bandwidth tip of the pyramid of global connectedness and SMS at the bottom of the pyramid have a lot to teach us about participatory culture.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/podcarspost1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2309" title="podcarspost1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/podcarspost1.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="345" /></a></p>
<p>Crista Lopes recently co-founded with <a href="http://www.podcar.org/uppsalaconference/christerlindstrom.htm" target="_blank">Christer Lindstrom</a> a company, Encitra, that is focused on improving urban planning processes, starting with transportation, using virtual worlds. Christer Lindstrom has been a key evangelizer of PRT (personal rapid transit &#8211; see photo above).</p>
<p>Crista Lopes is Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine, in the Department of Informatics (full interview coming soon).Â  Crista is using the dynamic shared viewpoint of virtual world technology to offer a way for the many stakeholders involved in a city scale transportation infrastructure change to participate in the process of planning. Crista is working with <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">OpenSim</a> &#8211; see the video ofÂ  <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kJNDcurLP1w" target="_blank">&#8220;Encitra &#8211; Creating Immersive Worlds.&#8221; </a></p>
<p>There are a number of use cases for Virtual Worlds in sustainable living being developed. I have written several posts on Oliver Goh&#8217;s work,Â  â€œ<a href="http://www-935.ibm.com/services/nl/gts/html/eolus.html" target="_blank">The Path to Sustainable Real Estate.â€</a> See my <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2007/07/02/eolus-makes-leap-to-3d-internet-on-second-life/" target="_blank">earlier posts here</a>, and <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2007/10/22/eolus-goes-open-sim/" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="../../2008/02/21/the-wizard-of-ibms-3d-data-centers/" target="_blank">IBMâ€™s Virtual Network Operation Centers.</a>â€œ</p>
<p>Also see the <a id="f.2t" title="recent announcement from Intel Research to create ScienceSim using OpenSim" href="http://blogs.intel.com/research/2008/11/immersive_science.php" target="_blank">recent announcement from Intel Research to create ScienceSim using OpenSim</a> (more on this soon). Justin Rattner writes:<em><br />
</em></p>
<p><strong><em>&#8220;Wilfred Pinfold (an Intel colleague and general chair of Supercomputing 2009) announced to the Supercomputing 2008 conference attendees plans to create a new virtual world called â€œScienceSim.â€ Supported by Intel and the conference committee, this collaboration aims to use these immersive, connected environments to further cutting edge scientific research.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>George Jobi, Intel, writes in <a href="http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2008/11/24/open-architecture-science-tools-immersive-science/" target="_blank">his post on ScienceSim</a>: &#8220;Intel is one of the founding members of OpenSim and had been building its vision of open standards based 3D web architecture around OpenSim.&#8221;</p>
<h3>The Achilles Heel of Web 2.0&#8230;&#8230;.?</h3>
<p>As Crista pointed out:</p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;</strong></em><strong><em>TheÂ  Achilles Heel of Web 2.0 is trying to build the concept of person in a platform that doesn&#8217;t have people, at the center of the architecture.</em></strong><em><strong> With Web 2.0 we go through a lot of hoops trying to integrate basics concepts of identity and storage onto a platform that wasn&#8217;t designed for it.&#8221;</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/webapps.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2331" title="webapps" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/webapps.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="211" /></a></p>
<p>Most of us have bits of our identity scattered all over the web, e.g., partial friends list here, there and everywhere. Some of us have literally hundreds of different log ins and profiles. Our list of applications with pieces of our identity locked up in them might look something like the slide below from the <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1447875/" target="_blank">High Order Bit of Beerud Sheth, Webaroo Inc</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Crista noted:</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œT</strong></em><em><strong>he key component that a Virtual World offers you is that you can take your identity from place to place and the presence of people is at the center of the whole thing</strong></em>.â€</p>
<p>Crista has already submitted code that introduces hyperlinks to OpenSim (<a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Hypergrid" target="_blank">see here</a>). Crista is computer scientist of many accomplishments including being the co-inventor of Aspect-Oriented Programming.</p>
<p>There is a long conversation in the comments on <a href="../../2008/11/02/tim-oreilly-instrumenting-the-world/" target="_blank">my interview with Tim Oâ€™Reilly</a> about whether the concept of avatar is the Achilles Heel of Virtual Worlds. So I asked Crista:</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œAre avatars the Achilles Heel of Virtual Worlds?</strong></em><em><strong>â€<br />
</strong></em></p>
<p>Crista explained why she thinks this is not the case in the modular open source architecture of <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">OpenSim </a>at least.</p>
<p><strong><em>â€œThe concept of people is not tied to the concept of avatar in OpenSim</em></strong>:<em><strong> One of the important parts of the OpenSim architecture is that the concept of user is very different from the concept of avatar.â€</strong></em></p>
<p>In OpenSim, Crista noted:</p>
<p><strong><em>User = identity +storage </em></strong></p>
<p>When I asked David Levine, IBM, what Web 2.0 could learn from virtual worlds re sharing identity, David, who works on interoperability and protocols in the <a href="http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Architecture_Working_Group" target="_blank">Architecture Working Group</a>, said:</p>
<p><em><strong>I</strong><strong>mmersive spaces, are the real time, multi-user online component of Web 2.0, and identity is deeply part of thatâ€¦â€¦..virtual Worlds teach us, as they expose more resources to Web 2.0,</strong></em><em><strong> that </strong></em><strong><em>there needs to be increasingly â€œsuppleâ€ ways of sharing identity <span id=":p9" dir="ltr">that go beyond simply anchoring it on gmail or openID, or such</span></em></strong>.</p>
<p>Social media has been one of Web 2.0&#8242;s success stories &#8211; giving the impression that Web 2.0 has people at the core of its architecture. But, as Crista pointed out, this is not the case.</p>
<p><strong><em>There is no way in Web 2.0 to do identity at the level of platform, at the moment. As soon as you want to create identity on the Web there is a big mess.â€</em></strong></p>
<p><a href="../wp-content/uploads/2008/11/webapps.jpg"><br />
</a></p>
<h3>Participatory Culture at the Bottom of the Pyramid: &#8220;The Web Beyond The Web&#8221;</h3>
<p>The â€œWeb Beyond the Web,â€ <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1447875/" target="_blank">Beerud </a><a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1447875/" target="_blank">Sheth, Webaroo Inc</a> quipped, is not his announcement of Web 3.0. Rather, Beerud is describing the parallel innovation at the bottom of the pyramid where lower prices on mobile devices rather than new features drives adoption and voice and SMS (short messaging service) rule.</p>
<p>SMS is the web of the people for most of the world.Â  The current ratio is 10:1 with 10 people using text messaging to every 1 that has web access and the SMS population is growing at a much higher rate than web users. TheÂ  innovation at the top of the pyramid, where a plethora of Web 2.0 apps are built on top ofÂ  http, looks like the unreadable slide above with a forest of applications.</p>
<p>In contrast innovation at the bottom of the pyramid, until recently, has been limited to ringtones, wall papers, and voice response mechanisms.Â  So Beerud introduced a new service <a href="http://www.smsgupshup.com/" target="_blank">GupShup</a>.</p>
<p>Gup Shup = Chit Chat</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œThink of GupShup as another cool word from the language that gave you yoga, nirvana and karma sutra,â€</strong></em> Beerud said.</p>
<p>GupShup is a <em><strong>&#8220;Twitter for India&#8221;</strong></em> but on a vastly bigger scale (only 18 months from launch they are up to 12 million users).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gupshup.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2332" title="gupshup" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gupshup.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="220" /></a></p>
<p>But, Beerud points out, don&#8217;t just file away GupShup as another twitter clone.Â  While they have Web and WAP site, they are deeply intergated into SMS as the lowest common denominator. GupShup can be used entirely from mobile which is vital as they have more users already than the total number of web users in India.</p>
<p>This idea of fully integrating into the lowest common denominator medium, SMS, has allowed GupShup to grow extremely rapidly. And, interestingly, when you look at the use cases you see the end users are deploying many of the uses cases that are familiar from the web,</p>
<p>Beerud left the audience with the take away that all the use cases are surprisingly similar to the web as are the ways of monetizing them,Â  This is creating enormous opportunity for creativity and entrepreneurship in building out this web beyond the web.</p>
<p>He invited those who already know the possibilities of the web to come and join this new adventure.Â  The enormous scale of the &#8220;web beyond the web,&#8221; and the fact people are connected almost continuously, creates vast opportunities for participatory culture to expand beyond the small triangle at the top of the pyramid.</p>
<p>On the â€œweb beyond the webâ€ the potential of 160 characters is explored on a scale unimaginable on Web 2.0 where Twitter, for example, is just one app in a vast ocean of other possibilities.</p>
<h3>Crossing the Chasm Between The Top and the Bottom of the Pyramid</h3>
<p>This total separation between the top and the bottom of the pyramid is, in part at least, constructed through the current web culture of web exclusive subscriptions.</p>
<p>It is perfectly possible to write an app that would accept SMS text and post it on a web page without ever requiring a web visit from the SMS subscriber. The same app could also accept text input from a web page and send it out as SMS to one or many subscribers that have never visited a web page, thus enabling communication across this gap.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/pyramid.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2337" title="pyramid" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/pyramid.jpg" alt="" width="395" height="263" /></a></p>
<h3><strong><em><br />
</em></strong></h3>
<h3>Oxygenating the System: Monetizing Doing the Right Thing</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/goodguide.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2342" title="goodguide" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/goodguide.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="293" /></a></p>
<p>The VCs, business leaders andÂ  entrepreneurs at Web 2.0 Summit had their entrepreneurial Spidy Senses (as John Battelle calls them) tuned to the challenges and opportunities of Web Meets World.Â  Some of the winners of the <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1444804/" target="_blank">Web 2.0 Launch Pad Competition </a>explored the premise that doing the right thing can be monetized.</p>
<p>Danny Kennedyâ€™ <a href="http://www.sungevity.com/#start" target="_blank">Sungevity</a> was the overall winner.Â  Sungevityâ€™s aim is to â€œscale solar electricity as a solution to climate change.â€Â  Their use of a Virtual Earth feed to streamline the installation of solar panels and ambition to be the SalesForce.com for the solar industry was a very winning combo.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.goodguide.com/" target="_blank">Good Guide,</a> a really excellent service (also available as an iphone app) providing a guide to all products from the perspective of their healthfullness, greeness and other socially valuable criteria clearly scored a 10 on doing the right thing.Â  But Good Guide&#8217;s ability to succeed on the monetizing side of the equation was questioned by one of the VCâ€™s on the Launch Pad panel.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.carbonetworks.com/" target="_blank">Carbon Networks</a> pitched with the mantra â€œdo the right thing and enhance the balance sheets in the process.â€ But the difficulty there, it seems to me, is that there are many questions re the benefits, or lack of them, of global carbon trading markets.</p>
<p>Carbon Networks argued that carbon markets, which are already a giant industry, present enormous opportunity for companies to monetize doing the right thing.</p>
<p>I asked Gavin Starks (who<a href="../../2008/11/02/tim-oreilly-instrumenting-the-world/"> I interviewed recently</a> about his venture <a href="http://www.amee.cc/" target="_blank">AMEE</a> &#8211; a BIG project to aggregate the world&#8217;s energy data) about the problems of carbon markets.</p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;They have high levels of inappropriate use even for a new market area,&#8221; </strong></em>he commented, noting:</p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;There are some superb projects out there, but it would be fair to say there has been good dose of snake oil in the space &#8211; which has certainly not helped to build consumer confidence. However, markets are necessary to engage with the scale of investment that is needed to address the issue &#8211; it&#8217;s the use of funds that needs more scrutiny and greater transparency needs to be given to the whole process.&#8221; </strong></em></p>
<p>There are projects working with <a id="qw4q" title="Voluntary Emissions Reduction" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Emissions_Reduction">Voluntary Emissions Reduction</a> which aren&#8217;t tradable on proper carbon cap-and-trade markets, <em><strong>&#8220;though in theory the step up to CERs (certified emissions reductions) isn&#8217;t too great a thing,&#8221;</strong></em> Gavin noted.</p>
<p><a id="jkkd" title="MicroEnergy Credits" href="http://microenergycredits.com/">MicroEnergy Credits</a> theÂ  initiative presented on the <a href="http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/schedule/detail/5067" target="_blank">Track Me panel </a>by April Allderdice, co-founder and CEO, is a good example of this.</p>
<p>Gavin pointed me to <a href="http://www.cheatneutral.com/" target="_blank">CheatNeutral</a> and their YouTube video for a hilarious and razor sharp look at the problems of carbon offsetting. The text below is from the <a href="http://docs.google.com/CheatNeutral" target="_blank">CheatNeutral</a> site.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cheatneutral.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2316" title="cheatneutral" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cheatneutral.jpg" alt="" width="311" height="286" /></a></p>
<p>Gavin also explained a new initiative <a href="http://sandbag.org.uk/" target="_blank">Sandbag (beta)</a>. Sandbag aims to take the permits that allow polluters to pollute out of the system.</p>
<p><strong><em>&#8220;Thanks to policy makers in the UN and Europe levels of pollution are now controlled. Permits must be bought by polluters to let them keep polluting. But there is a finite number of them in circulation and the good news is anyone can buy them. So by<strong> takingÂ a permitÂ out of the system </strong>we can reduce the amount of pollution taking place and force industry to invest in cleaner technologies. One less permit means one less tonne of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amee.cc/" target="_blank">AMEE</a> is working withÂ  <a href="http://sandbag.org.uk/" target="_blank">Sandbag</a></p>
<p><strong><em><br />
</em></strong></p>
<h3>Consuming Less and Redefining Prosperity</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/consumingless.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2312" title="consumingless" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/consumingless.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="331" /></a></p>
<p>This picture is from the <a href="http://www.aspo-usa.com/aspousa4/matrix.cfm" target="_blank">Sustainable Mobility Panel at the ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference</a>.<a href="http://www.podcar.org/uppsalaconference/christerlindstrom.htm" target="_blank"><br />
</a></p>
<p>Perhaps nowhere is it more clear than when we look at the reports that link catastrophic climate change to the assumption of growth that what is really at stake in terms of averting catastrophe is not just retooling our energy infrastructure, but fundamental changes at the level of culture and identity.</p>
<p><strong><em>Consuming less may be the single biggest thing you can do to save Carbon Emissions,</em></strong> Tim Oâ€™Reilly said, in his Tweet on <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.100-special-report-why-politicians-dare-not-limit-economic-growth.html%3Ffull%3Dtrue" target="_blank">â€œWhy politicians dare not limit economic growth.â€</a></p>
<p><strong><em>A growing band of experts are looking at figures l<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.000-special-report-how-our-economy-is-killing-the-earth.html" target="_blank">ike these</a> and arguing that personal carbon virtue and collective environmentalism are futile as long as our economic system is built on the assumption of growth. (</em><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.000-special-report-how-our-economy-is-killing-the-earth.html" target="_blank">New Scientist)</a></strong></p>
<p>But few of us are willing to contemplate what a sustainable economy and averting the catastrophe of climate change require &#8211; redefining prosperity and reducing consumption (see <a href="http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/redefining-prosperity.html" target="_blank">Redefining Prosperity</a>).</p>
<p>Web 2.0 Summit took on the challenge of reimagining giant industries like energy, food and transportation and how we mightÂ  be able to shift away from a culture of food and energy consumption that is basically killing us and our world (see <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1461585/" target="_blank">Michael Pollanâ€™s brilliant High Order Bit</a> on the culture of food in the US).</p>
<p>The Summit gurus urged that taking risks and tackling very big problems has always been what Web 2.0 is about and indeed cultural shifts of the magnitude needed would be hard to imagine without a Web 2.0 perspective</p>
<p>S<a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1450845/" target="_blank">hai Agassi</a>, Better Place, explained how paradigm shifts require new business models. <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1450845/" target="_blank">See Shaiâ€™s High Order Bit here</a> on the evolution of â€œBetter Place,â€ -Â  by giving away free electric cars he is creating a new business venture that will bring clean cars into the mass market.Â  New business models not just new technology are required to drive change.</p>
<p><a href="http://millionsofus.com/blog/category/reubens-thoughts/" target="_blank">B</a><a href="http://millionsofus.com/blog/category/reubens-thoughts/" target="_blank">reaking News From Reuben Steigerâ€™s blog</a></p>
<p>First Israel.Â  Then Denmark.Â  A few weeks ago, <a href="http://www.betterplace.com/press-room/press-releases-detail/better-place-partners-with-agl-and-macquarie-to-build-ev-infrastructure-in-/">Australia</a>.Â  Today,Â  Mayor Newsom along with Governor Schwartznegger and the Mayors of San Jose and Oakland, <a href="http://www.betterplace.com/california">announced that they would be making a major move towards bringing electric vehicles and the Better Place network to the Bay Area</a>.</p>
<p>Please, visit <a href="http://planet.betterplace.com/">Planet Better Place</a> to <a href="http://planet.betterplace.com/">sign the petition</a>,Â  <a href="http://planet.betterplace.com/page/take-action-1">join the movement</a> and bring Better Place to your town or country.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/planet-betterplace.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2318" title="planet-betterplace" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/planet-betterplace.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="196" /></a></p>
<p>To motivate yourself and others how important it is to change patterns of consumption see Saul Griffithâ€™sÂ <a href="http://web20summit.blip.tv/file/1446447/" target="_blank">High Order Bit here</a> and <a href="http://www.wattzon.com/" target="_blank">Project Wattzon</a></p>
<p><em><strong>â€œâ€¦..from flying, driving, powering a home, eating, shopping, working and even oneâ€™s share of the energy necessary to make our society function. WattzOn helps users understand their personal impact on the environment and how they rate compared to others WattzOn users, as well as global averages.â€</strong></em></p>
<h3>&#8220;The Secret Sauce&#8221;: New Business Models for Web Meets World</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.threadless.com" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2385" title="threadless" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/threadless.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="239" /></a></p>
<p>I spent some time talking to <a href="http://dondodge.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Don Dodge</a>, Director of Business Development, Microsoftâ€™s Emerging Business Division, about the future ofÂ  virtual worlds and what technologies he thought would play an important role in developing the participatory architecture of the web (full interview coming soon!).</p>
<p><em><strong>â€œThe question is how do you apply these technologies? Where is the best use for them? And this is the hard part.Â  When you look at social media and social networks and things like Wikipedia, donâ€™t look so much at the technology because that is fairly simple.</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Look at the rules of social interaction and how people interact, and how you put protections in there so that people donâ€™t game the system or do bad things.Â  Look at the processes because thatâ€™s really the secret sauce of how it all works.Â  The technology is simple. It looks easy from a distance, when you start getting into how it really works from a social perspective thatâ€™s the secret sauce.â€</strong></em></p>
<p>(<em><strong>screenshot above from <a href="http://www.threadless.com" target="_blank">Threadless</a> )</strong></em><em><strong></strong></em></p>
<p>Also I caught up with John Battelle, Federated Media Publishing (<a href="http://battellemedia.com/archives/003575.php" target="_blank">see his Data Bill of Rights here)</a>, and Jennifer Pahlka, <a href="http://www.techweb.com/" target="_blank">TechWeb</a>, at a small press conference. I managed to squeeze in a couple of questions!</p>
<p>Tish Shute:<em><strong> If marketing has been the oxygen of the system up to now, what will oxygenate the system of the new participatory culture of Web meets Worldâ€</strong></em></p>
<p>John Battelle:<em><strong> I donâ€™t think marketing ever stops being one of the most significant pieces of the economy -Â  because it is, of the whole economy. So what I do think will happen, and this is the company that I run, I do think marketing will shift very dramatically in terms of its approach and how it is a part of the value exchange that occurs around goods.</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>One of the reasons that I had Tony Tsieh from <a href="http://www.zappos.com/" target="_blank">Zappos</a> was to show that.Â Â  Tony shows how every single human being in his organization is a marketer and sees every interaction they have as marketing.Â  Can you imagineÂ  a company as big as Intel that has that kind of an approach?Â  Thatâ€™s when we will have a real shift. Business models based on that idea are emerging.Â  I run a company that is involved in that. I donâ€™t try to push it on the stage ..but I do it is right there Federated Media!Â  And now I am pushing it [laughs]</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Its an idea that comes from all this staring at this.</strong> <strong>I do think marketing is going to shift quite dramatically.</strong> <strong>So we may see in 10 yrs that we donâ€™t have a big media budgetÂ  pushing adds at people. But will there always be budgets for creation of value exchange between consumers and producers? yes! There will just be new models for how that money is distributed and spent</strong> <strong>and new services and intermediaries for that value exchange.</strong></em></p>
<p>Tish Shute:Â <em><strong>But who controls definition of data will remain key right?</strong></em></p>
<p>John Battelle:<em><strong> There is a reason why Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, MySpace, all of whom are here, and Google, are all about the dataâ€¦.all about the dataâ€¦.sorry I have to go!</strong></em></p>
<p>Jennifer Pahlka: <em><strong>I think in addition to the enormous changes that John was just talking about in marketing, and I think these are very significant &#8211; the way marketing will be seen completely differently 5 years from now.Â  There is also the shift in Web 2 away from an over identification withÂ  Web 2.0 as being primarily about and driven by advertisingÂ  because of these models that are emerging for Web 2 that are driven by data, driven by services, subscription.Â  There are a whole bunch of other business models for Web 2 start ups and for enterprise that really donâ€™t have anything to do with that at all.</strong></em></p>
<p>Tish Shute:<em><strong> And in terms of participatory culture and sharing data?<br />
</strong></em></p>
<p>Jennifer Pahlka:Â <em><strong>And even on a simpler level than the data.Â  Thi</strong><strong>nk of a company like <a href="http://www.threadless.com" target="_blank">Threadless</a> [see screenshot above]. Their co-founders are keynoting at our Spring event.Â  They have taken some of the other principles of the architecture of participation and the creativity of the community and built a whole difference around that.Â  And all they do is sell T-Shirts.</strong></em></p>
<h3>â€œA Billion One-Person Enterprisesâ€</h3>
<p>New York Times writer, Saul Hansell, in his article, <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/web-20-gets-big-and-corporate/?scp=1&amp;sq=web%202.0%20summit&amp;st=cse" target="_blank">â€œWeb 2.0 Gets Big and Corporate,â€</a> writes, â€œthe best minds of our generation are turning to the Web for solutions.â€Â  â€¦..the big companies that make very complicated systems are reworking them using the principles of Web 2.0 companies.â€</p>
<p>But â€œbig companiesâ€ themselves may soon be a thing of the past.Â  One of the potential futures many my friends in virtual worlds have been looking at is, â€œif the future consisted of a billion one-person enterprises.â€</p>
<p>Tony Oâ€™Driscoll described some of his thinking re the role virtual worlds will play in this potential future.Â  See Tonyâ€™s presentation, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/tonyodriscoll/dor-futurecast-presentation/">â€œA brief history of a potential futureâ€ on SlideShare.</a> Tonyâ€™s research provides a window onto the new participatory architecture of business, government and the economy and the ways the individual and the collective will have new dynamic relationships based on &#8220;co-creation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Second Life and Wikipedia are the two great experiments in collaborative co-creation. They show us how co-creation can be one of the keys to a participatory global culture and sustainable living &#8211; part of creating an alternative to this economy of escalating consumption that has us in its death grip today.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/onemillion.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2345" title="onemillion" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/onemillion.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="395" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/socialism2.jpg"><br />
</a></p>
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		<title>Meet the Rising Stars of the Open Metaverse at Virtual Worlds 2008, LA</title>
		<link>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/08/29/meet-the-rising-stars-of-the-open-metaverse-at-virtual-worlds-2008-la/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/08/29/meet-the-rising-stars-of-the-open-metaverse-at-virtual-worlds-2008-la/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:45:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tish Shute]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[realXtend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual worlds in Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 3D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web3.D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3D data centers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AI in OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[astrophysic in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fashion industry use of virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim and virtualization using xen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim enterprise applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainable real estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual operation centers in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual pets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual worlds conferenc and expo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ugotrade.com/?p=1619</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[OpenSim developers will be explaining OpenSim to Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo,LA, 2008, attendees from a &#8220;very-spacious booth being sponsored by DeepThink, Genkii, RealXtend, SineWave and ISID.&#8221; The booth will be an important place to meet some of the key innovators in virtual worlds. While OpenSim is still alpha there are already some pretty advanced [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/adam-frisby-for-webpost3.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1651" title="adam-frisby-for-webpost3" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/adam-frisby-for-webpost3.jpg" alt="" width="449" height="284" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">OpenSim</a> developers will be explaining OpenSim to <a href="http://www.virtualworldsexpo.com/index.html" target="_blank">Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo,LA, 2008,</a> attendees from a &#8220;very-spacious booth being sponsored by <a href="http://www.deepthink.com.au/">DeepThink</a>, <a href="http://www.genkii.com/">Genkii</a>, <a href="http://www.realxtend.org/">RealXtend</a>, <a href="http://www.sinewavecompany.com/">SineWave</a> and <a href="http://www.isid.co.jp/english/">ISID</a>.&#8221;  The booth will be an important place to meet some of the key innovators in virtual worlds.</p>
<p>While OpenSim is still alpha there are already some pretty advanced projects on the OpenSim platform including some truly game changing innovation from <a href="http://www.realxtend.org/" target="_blank">realXtend</a>, and <a href="http://tribalnet.se/" target="_blank">Tribal Media</a> (more on RealXtend <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/02/new-release-from-realxtend-and-modular-integration-into-opensim/">here</a> and Tribal <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/08/12/tribal-one-integrates-opensim-and-facebook/">here</a>), IBM&#8217;s 60 sim behind their firewall OpenSim Grid, the Microsoft Developer community&#8217;s OpenSim grid, <a href="http://reactiongrid.com/projects.aspx" target="_blank">Project Manhattan</a>, and <a href="http://grid.greenbush.us/portal/" target="_blank">the awesome immersive education Greenbush Grid</a>,  the collaboration between IBM and the <a href="www.fashionresearchinstitute.com" target="_blank">Fashion Research Institute</a> to develop new technologies for the $1.7 trillion apparel industry, <a href="http://www.genkii.com/" target="_blank">Genkii&#8217;s</a> work with astrophysicists Piet Hut and Junichiro Makino <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/" target="_blank">on N-body simulation in OpenSim</a>, and an <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Grid_List" target="_blank">extensive list of virtual world providers, </a>and much more!</p>
<p>Thanks Lynn Cullens (Bjorlyn Loon in SL), Director of Communications for <a href="http://metanomics.net/" target="_blank">Metanomics</a> for the picture of Adam above.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/deepthinkdemopost2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1634" title="deepthinkdemopost2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/deepthinkdemopost2.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="273" /></a></p>
<p>DeepThink has sponsored a <a href="http://www.adamfrisby.com/blog/2008/08/opensim-screenshot-competition-submit-your-builds/" target="_blank">screenshot competition</a> so many OpenSim projects will be on display in the booth. Also, Adam a will be unveiling a<a href="http://www.adamfrisby.com/blog/2008/08/sneak-peak-vw-expo-08-opensim-demo/" target="_blank"> new OpenSim demo from DeepThink</a> (the screenshot above is a sneak peak). OSGrid (the OpenSim test grid) guru and organizer Charles Krinke (avatar Charles Krinkeb) will be in LA also, so this is a great opportunity to find out how to get involved with OpenSim development.</p>
<h3>Three from RealXtend will be in LA!</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/rexpost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1650" title="rexpost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/rexpost.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="338" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.realxtend.org/" target="_blank">RealXtend</a> will have three team members in LA &#8211; you can look for them at the OpenSim booth. In the picture from the left &#8211; Hannu HollstrÃ¶m (ADMINO technologies), Tomi KujanpÃ¤Ã¤ (LudoCraft/realXtend Art Director &amp; Avatar Specialist), Antti IlomÃ¤ki (realXtend Communications/ADMINO technologies Project Manager).</p>
<blockquote><p>ADMINO technologies and LudoCraft, the two main contributors of the realXtend project, are pioneers in virtual world development and interactive experience design. LudoCraft Ltd. is a game studio specializing in the design and development of collaborative multiplayer 3D games and simulations. ADMINO technologies develop unique, scalable virtual world server solutions.</p></blockquote>
<h3>Novamente&#8217;s virtual pets coming to RealXtend soon!</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/beninoulu1.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-1640" title="beninoulu1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/beninoulu1.jpg" alt="" width="238" height="368" /></a></p>
<p>Recently, Ben Goertzel, Novamente, visited realXtend in Oulu, Finland and <a href="http://www.kaleva.fi/plus/juttu746118_page0.htm" target="_blank">his visit made the local newspaper</a>. Novamente will have their own booth so stop by to learn more. Ben Goertzel explained:</p>
<p><em>This summer a collaboration between RealXTend, Novamente LLC, and the open-source AI project OpenCog was established.   The initial focus of the collaboration is on creating  open-source virtual dogs using the OpenCog software, similar to the Novamente LLC virtual pets which are currently being developed mainly in the Multiverse platform (see screenshot below), and have also previously been prototyped in Second Life, and to launch these pets in the RealXTend platform.</em></p>
<p><em>At first the dogs will be used for research and experimentation purposes; then afterwards there is the potential of offering them freely to RealXTend users to use in their own RealXTend worlds or publicly-provided worlds. The Novamente/OpenCog virtual pets differ from other existing virtual pets in that they possess powerful, open-ended learning ability: they can learn an endless variety of behaviors, not just a handful of behaviors provided in advance by the programmers. And the pets are just the start: the plan is to roll out a series of progressively more and more intelligent, learning-capable virtual agents in RealXTend, Multiverse and other virtual worlds, including talking parrots and humanoids that can carry out various practical tasks as well as providing entertainment.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/petaverse1post.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1638" title="petaverse1post" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/petaverse1post.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="353" /></a></p>
<p><em><br />
</em></p>
<h3>Genkii Goes to Hollywood</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/jeffnbodypost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1645" title="jeffnbodypost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/jeffnbodypost.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="338" /></a></p>
<p>Virtual Worlds 2008, LA will be a unique opportunity to meet <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/05/27/genkii-tokyos-opensource-metaverse-strategists/" target="_blank">the Genkii team</a> and see their work with Piet Hut and Jun Makino <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/" target="_blank">on N-body simulation in OpenSim</a>.</p>
<p>In the picture above, Jeff Ames, CTO, Genkii, is coding upÂ  the N-body algorithms in a meeting/dinner with astrophysicist Piet Hut in Tokyo. The pictures below are the CCO of Genkii, Yuki Saeki&#8217;s portraits of Ken Brady (CEO), herself, and Adam Johnson (COO).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ken2post2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1647" title="ken2post2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ken2post2.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/yukipost2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1648" title="yukipost2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/yukipost2.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/adam2post2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1649" title="adam2post2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/adam2post2.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p>CEO Ken Brady will be <a href="http://virtualworldsexpo.com/schedule/enterprise.html">leading a panel in the Enterprise Track</a> called &#8220;Using Virtual Worlds to Streamline and Augment the Film-Making Process.&#8221;</p>
<h3>ISID -Â  business value in open source virtual worlds</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/photo_shinadapost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1658" title="photo_shinadapost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/photo_shinadapost.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="225" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/isid_shimapost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1657" title="isid_shimapost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/isid_shimapost.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="225" /></a></p>
<p>On the left is Yuhei Shinada, and on the right, Takashi Shima of <a href="http://www.isid.co.jp/english/" target="_blank">ISID</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.isid.co.jp/english/" target="_blank">ISID</a> is one of the sponsors of the OpenSim booth at VW2008.</p>
<blockquote><p>What ISID wants to do with OpenSim:</p>
<p>- Analyze the platform to search for possible business applications<br />
- Develop intraverse environments in order to find new ways for companies to communicate internally<br />
- Develop a closed environment to provide a place for information exchange and experimentation within the companies with the same interest</p>
<p>ISID&#8217;S outlook:</p>
<p>In the future, several open source virtual worlds will emerge. However, given OpenSim&#8217;s prevalence and level of sophistication, it will be the most successful.</p></blockquote>
<h3>Fashion Research Institute creating enterprise solutions in OpenSim</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/shenlei.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1631" title="shenlei" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/shenlei.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="303" /></a></p>
<p>The image above is the Shenlei Winkler&#8217;s, avatar (Shenlei is CEO of Fashion Research Institute, Inc.), photographed in the OpenSim Shengri La region in the Shengri La Bliss sim, part of FRI&#8217;s 9 sim grid. Shenlei Winkler (Shenlei Flasheart in Second Life) is leading the way with IBM in making OpenSim fit for business and in using OpenSim to develop new technologies for the $1.7 trillion apparel industry, (see my upcoming interview with Shenlei to learn more about her work and vision).</p>
<blockquote><p>We&#8217;re working with IBM to harden Opensim as an enterprise-ready solution for a number of different reasons not the least of which is the fact that IBM can handle issues of scalability, interoperability, and data security. Right now, we&#8217;re testing the IBM OpenSim installation ShengriLa Spirit so that we can really stress the platform in a controlled environment. This offers feedback to our development team in a codified way. The fatc that I insist that it be beautiful just aligns with the Fashion Research Institute&#8217;s overall vision.<br />
FRI is a business partner and customer of IBM, plus, we have a research agreement with them to develop new technologies for the apparel industry, a $1.7 trillion industry.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/justinheadshot.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1670" title="justinheadshot" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/justinheadshot.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="230" /></a><br />
<a href="http://justincc.wordpress.com/">Justin Clark-Casey</a> formerly of IBM is now working full time with the Fashion Research Institute on OpenSim development. Justin will be in LA, so look out for him at the OpenSim booth or catch him speaking on the last day of the conference with Adam Frisby, DeepThink, Mic Bowman, Intel, and myself, Thursday, September, 4th, 4pm to 5pm on our panel, â€œOpen-Source, Interoperable Virtual Worlds,â€  which will be part of the Future of Virtual Worlds track.</p>
<h3>Eolus &#8211; &#8220;The Path to Sustainable Real Estate&#8221;</h3>
<p>Oliver Goh, Implenia, will be at VW2008 demoing the latest work from Eolus on &#8220;The Path to Sustainable Real Estate,&#8221;  (see my <a href="Eolus Goes OpenSim," target="_blank">earlier posts here</a>, and <a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2007/07/02/eolus-makes-leap-to-3d-internet-on-second-life/" target="_blank">here</a> on Oliver&#8217;s work with with IBM on prototyping Virtual Operation Centers and building automation in OpenSim).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/oliv1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1655" title="oliv1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/oliv1.jpg" alt="" width="183" height="240" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Eolus 3D Virtual Operations Centers represents the next level of innovation and green technology offered by the Eolus solution. Â Â The 3D environment is customized according to unique requirements, and can be delivered as classic command centers, control rooms, datacenters, or hybrids or custom solutions. Â The versatile virtual world environment ensures a platform for innovation for scalability, performance, and growth as the business value it brings is expanded to other areas.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></span></p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/eoluspathtosustainablerealestatepst2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1637" title="eoluspathtosustainablerealestatepst2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/eoluspathtosustainablerealestatepst2.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="403" /></a></p>
<h3>Michael Osias, IBM, Chief 3D Architect, Grid Operator, IT Optimization</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/michaelosiaspost1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1660" title="michaelosiaspost1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/michaelosiaspost1.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="169" /></a></p>
<p>You will be able to find Michael at the IBM booth.Â  And don&#8217;t worry, he is not always as serious as in this photo!Â  So my advice is to grab this chance to meet the developer of some of the most advanced OpenSim enterprise applications.</p>
<p>I  have blogged a lot about Michaelâ€™s work with Oliver Goh on Eolus in the past year.Â  They recently got a lot of main stream press attention including being written up in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/26/internet.buildings">Guardian</a> (also see my posts: <a href="../../2008/01/28/the-archeology-and-future-of-software-design-meeting-grady-booch/">The Archeology and Future of Software Design: Interview with Grady Booch</a>, <a href="../../2008/01/07/interoperability-for-virtual-worlds-in-2008/">Interoperability for Virtual Worlds in 2008</a>, <a href="../../2007/10/22/eolus-goes-open-sim/">Eolus Goes OpenSim,</a> <a href="../../2007/08/03/next-generation-of-software-design3d-commandservice-centers-in-second-life/" target="_blank">Next Generation of Software Design: 3D Command/Service Centers in Second Life</a>, <a href="../../2007/07/02/eolus-makes-leap-to-3d-internet-on-second-life/" target="_blank">Eolus Makes Leap to 3D Internet in Second Life</a>).</p>
<p>Michael&#8217;s pioneering integrations of â€œvirtualâ€ and â€œrealâ€ worlds give us, perhaps, our first glimpse of how virtual worlds will play a vital role in management, optimization and control of energy, data, business processes and more, changing the way we relate to the software infrastructure of our technology driven world.</p>
<p>As the architect and grid operator of IBM&#8217;s fast growing &#8216;behind the firewall&#8217; OpenSim gridÂ  &#8211; it now has sixty regions and 123 users &#8211; Michael has been doing some interesting work. Most recently he has been integrating <a href="http://citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=186" target="_blank">xen</a> an open source virtualization product by <a href="http://citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=683148" target="_blank">Citrix</a> with OpenSim to do dynamic provisioning of new region servers, move the region servers among nodes, resize virtual CPU and memory allocation, and more.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_002.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1661" title="snapshot_002" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_002-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_0031.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1663" title="snapshot_0031" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_0031-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_004.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1664" title="snapshot_004" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_004-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_020.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1668" title="snapshot_020" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_020-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_01221.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1667" title="snapshot_01221" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_01221-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_005.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1665" title="snapshot_005" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/snapshot_005-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<h3>Doug Thompson &#8211; CEO, Remedy Communciations</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/doug-thompsonpost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1669" title="doug-thompsonpost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/doug-thompsonpost.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="290" /></a></p>
<div id="497994" style="width: 425px; text-align: left;">And, look out for Doug Thompson! He is also known as the great blogger <a href="http://dusanwriter.com/" target="_blank">Dusan Writer</a> who <a href="http://dusanwriter.com/?p=557">sponsored the Second Life (TM) User Interface competition.</a></p>
</div>
<div style="width: 425px; text-align: left;"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:0px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" title="Second Life Ui Contest July 3 2008" href="http://slideshare.net/Dusan_Writer/second-life-ui-contest-july-3-2008?src=embed">Second Life Ui Contest July 3 2008</a><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="355" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=second-life-ui-contest-july-3-2008-1215107315760973-8&amp;stripped_title=second-life-ui-contest-july-3-2008&amp;pid=48b76d9509c1efcd" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=second-life-ui-contest-july-3-2008-1215107315760973-8&amp;stripped_title=second-life-ui-contest-july-3-2008&amp;pid=48b76d9509c1efcd" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div id="497994" style="width: 425px; text-align: left;"></div>
<h3>Tom Hoff &#8211; OpenSim Core Developer</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/tomhoff.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1671" title="tomhoff" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/tomhoff.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="225" /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;Tom Hoff is an independent software developer and digital artist. He is contributing to the OpenSimulator project as a core developer, currently specializing in geometry issues. His prior experiences include a 23 year career as a technical staff member at Hewlett-Packard Company, where he spent much of his time developing digital halftoning and printing algorithms for ink jet printers and robotic machine vision systems for automated print quality evaluation. His interests include digital image processing, 3D geometry, and computational behavioral models. He is also an avid fitness enthusiast despite his higher than normal consumption of diet cola<em>.&#8221;</em></p>
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		<title>Astrophysics in Virtual Worlds: Implementing N-Body Simulations in OpenSim</title>
		<link>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/07/19/astrophysics-in-virtual-worlds-implementing-n-body-simulations-in-opensim/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:15:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tish Shute]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[3D internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Astrophysics in Virtual Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mixed Reality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nanotechnology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open metaverse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science outreach in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Second Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtual Citizenship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 3D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web3.D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computational astrophysics and virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[experimental physics in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme programming in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interoperable virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[N-Body Simulation in OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open viewer for virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenSim and Scientific Applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pair programming in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific collaboration in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific simulation in OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientific visualization in virtual worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientists in Second Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[super computers and OpenSim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual worlds and astrophysics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual worlds and scientific applications]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ugotrade.com/?p=1556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Junichiro Makino, University of Tokyo, leads the way into the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) in Tokyo. Piet Hut, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, is right behind with the Genkii team. Jun Makino has offered the use of a server at the observatory to set up an OpenSim environment. History is about to be [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/piethutjunmakinopost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1568" title="piethutjunmakinopost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/piethutjunmakinopost.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="338" /></a></p>
<p>Junichiro Makino, University of Tokyo, leads the way into the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) in Tokyo. Piet Hut, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, is right behind with  the <a href="http://www.genkii.com/" target="_blank">Genkii team</a>.    Jun Makino has  offered the use of a server at the observatory to set up an <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">OpenSim</a> environment. History is about to be made.</p>
<p>Thanks Genkii for the photos! Genkii is a Tokyo-based strategic consultancy focusing on social media and virtual worlds (<a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/05/27/genkii-tokyos-opensource-metaverse-strategists/" target="_blank">see here </a>for my interview with CEO of Genkii, Ken Brady and COO, Adam Johnson).</p>
<p>Next day Piet Hut announced to the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics <a href="http://www.physics.drexel.edu/mica">MICA</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Adam Johnson and Jeff Ames, developers of OpenSim, and members of the Tokyo Genkii team, have succeeded today in tweaking their physics engine in OpenSim to let stars dance according to Newtonian Gravity.</p>
<p>On a Mac laptop, they let hundreds of stars move in real time, as a gravitational <span class="nfakPe">N</span>-<span class="nfakPe">body</span> problem (yes, a few hundred!).  This is a historic watershed.</p></blockquote>
<p>A video was soon up <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4fmL6dLdY" target="_blank">on YouTube here</a>.  But as Adam Johnson noted:</p>
<blockquote><p>I don&#8217;t think the video can capture the pure fun of this thing, it makes computational astrophysics approachable to a 3 year old&#8230; like legos for astronomy. And it really puts OpenSim in a new light!  This same method can be applied to other areas too.. think protein folding visualizations.</p></blockquote>
<p>Computational Astrophysics is a field that has long been associated with some serious number crunching. Jun Makino is holding up a piece of the new GRAPE (an acronym for â€œgravity pipelineâ€ and an intended pun on the Apple line of computers) &#8211; a super computer that will <a href="http://grape.mtk.nao.ac.jp/grape/news/ABC/ABC-cuttingedge000602.html" target="_blank">become one of the fastest super computers in the world (again).</a></p>
<p>Later in this post there is an in depth interview I did in Second Life with Jun. His Second Life avatar is Makino Magic. Jun discusses the future of computational astrophysics, and how this may be tied in with virtual worlds<a href="http://grape.mtk.nao.ac.jp/grape/news/ABC/ABC-cuttingedge000602.html" target="_blank"><br />
</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/junmakinograpepost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1557" title="junmakinograpepost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/junmakinograpepost.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="338" /></a></p>
<p>The photo above was taken by Adam Johnson of Genkii.  Adam noted:</p>
<blockquote><p>We want to use super computers like this (the Cray and GRAPE) to offset the simulations and push the results to OpenSim.  That way it can simulate thousands, or millions of stars/planets</p></blockquote>
<p>The picture below shows the Cray at the National Observatory of japan on the right, and on the left Jeff Ames is shown working on the N-Body simulation in OpenSim.  I heard Jeff implemented most of the code for Newtonian Gravity in OpenSim on the train ride to the observatory!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jeffnewpost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1577" title="jeffnewpost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jeffnewpost.jpg" alt="" width="218" height="190" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/craypost1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1578" title="craypost1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/craypost1.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="192" /></a></p>
<p>Genkii, in addition to their work on OpenSim are developing, with <a href="ttp://3di.jp/" target="_blank">3Di</a> and other open source virtual world developers, an OpenViewer a &#8220;from scratch&#8221; that should allow people like scientific researchers, game developers, educators, etc to make fully customized viewers more easily than they could before. Adam explained:</p>
<blockquote><p>Open Viewer is (BSD Licensed) using, at the moment, OgreDotNet for rendering and LibSL for the protocol.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>But you can use any protocol you want actually and any rendering engine &#8211; ideally we want to allow it to support numerous virtual worlds with one viewer. We have been talking to <a href="http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html" target="_blank">HiPiHi</a> guys about getting their protocol working with it as well, and soon will talk to some IBM guys in China to see if they want to take part in that action.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jeffpost.jpg"><br />
</a></p>
<h3>MICA &#8211; Pioneering Astrophysics in Virtual Worlds</h3>
<p>Piet Hut has been evangelizing the potential of virtual worlds for astrophysics, and bringing astrophysicists into virtual worlds through the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA) for quite a while now (<a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/01/15/exploring-reality-in-virtual-worlds-with-piet-hut/" target="_blank">see my previous post</a>). And, Piet and Eiko Ikegami have just published a fascinating paper about Japanese History and Second Life.</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.physics.drexel.edu/mica">MICA</a>, begun in 2007, is a virtual astronomy institute featuring many <a href="http://manybody.org/modest/" target="_blank">MODEST</a>-related activities.  Aimed at harnessing the capabilities of virtual worlds and 3D collaborative environments (such as Second Life, Qwaq, Sun Wonderland), it fosters interaction among astrophysicists with interest in large-scale simulations, including dense stellar systems.  Outreach and educational activities are also major MICA goals.  MICA weekly events include popular talks, computational astrophysics lectures and Journal Club discussions of recent astro-ph papers.  The MICA wiki, containing more information, schedules of events, and links to related pages, can be found <a href="http://www.physics.drexel.edu/mica">here</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p>Also, there is an excellent video of Piet&#8217;s talk on the  &#8220;Scientists and Science Outreach in Second Life,&#8221; that was part of the <a href="http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Week_2_Confirmed" target="_blank">SL5BD events</a> posted <a href="http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Gx68OjAO8" target="_blank">on YouTube here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/micainslpost4.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1573" title="micainslpost4" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/micainslpost4.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="317" /></a></p>
<p>In the picture above, MICA members Prospero Frobozz (Prospero Linden a.k.a. Robert Knop in RL), Tara5 Oh (me, Tish Shute in RL), Pema Pera (Piet Hut in RL), Peter28 shostakovich (Peter Teuben in RL), <a href="http://paradoxolbers.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Paradox Olbers</a> (Spike MacPhee in RL) see also Paradox&#8217;s<a href="http://spindriftisland.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank"> Spindrift in Scilands blog</a>, Pan Numanox (Alfred Whitehead in RL), Jazz90meteotl Loon, Eamu Godenot (Will Farr in RL), and Lagrange Euler (Steven McMilland in RL). Thank you MICA member and SL photographer Kirk Smythe (Tom Deluca III in &#8220;real&#8221; life) for this picture, and for the portrait of Piet&#8217;s avatar Pema Pera below.</p>
<p>I have been attending MICA meetings as an observer since spring when their activities were mostly focused in <a href="http://www.qwaq.com/?_kk=qwaq&amp;_kt=8c22176a-d13e-45a8-91fc-25d376d2f6f8&amp;gclid=CKSD5qmKxpQCFQVxFQodKWbtlQ" target="_blank">Qwaq</a>.  Now the focus of MICA is <a href="http://www.secondlife.com" target="_blank">Second Life</a> and <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">OpenSim</a>. There is a <a href="http://www.physics.drexel.edu/mica/index.php/Main_Page" target="_blank">regular schedule of events</a>. In fact, I was invited to speak about Open Source virtual worlds at one of the daily &#8220;coffee&#8221; meetings. I later heard that my talk was in fact the trigger for the collaboration between Piet and the Genkii team!</p>
<p>I invited Adam Johnson to come to the discussion after my talk when the conversation focused on OpenSim.  After I introduced Adam to Piet, they realized they were both in Tokyo in RL, they met for lunch and the rest is history.</p>
<p>I have blogged and attended a number of MICA&#8217;s events including <a href="http://www.sonic.net/%7Erknop/blog/?cat=3" target="_blank">Dr. Rob Knop&#8217;s (a.k.a Prospero Linden a.k.a Prospero Frobozz)</a> talk, â€œ<a href="http://www.scilands.org/2008/04/01/dr-knop-talks-astronomy/" target="_blank">The Power of the Dark Side: How Dark Matter and Dark Energy dominate our Universe.</a>â€ Dr. Knop was on the team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe.</p>
<h3>Why does MICA want to do simulations within Virtual Worlds?</h3>
<p>I asked Piet (Pema Pera in Second Life, picture below) why MICA wants to do simulations in virtual worlds and, why N-body simulation is so important to astrophysics?<br />
<a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pemaperapost.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1574" title="pemaperapost" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pemaperapost.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="317" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Pema Pera:</strong> For two reasons:</p>
<p><strong>1) Traditionally simulations were where scientists spent years and visualization was an afterthought, a few pictures in a journal, never the right tools to really mine the data, not enough time, money, tools.  So we can use VWs to start with visualization and then have the simulations follow. Another example of </strong>inverting a traditional priority, like going to what-you-see-is-what-you-get.  Most breakthroughs in computer use are like that.  So starting with the enormous investment already in the visualization aspects of Virtual Worlds, you can then run your simulations within them, or so it seems. Whether they actually run in there, or in a hidden way elsewhere on a Cray or GRAPE is of no real concern for the user.</p>
<p>2) Collaborative code writing and debugging. Traditionally, observers collaborate &#8212; can&#8217;t build a telescope and observatory with one person.  Theoretical folks now have to learn to collaborate.  You can&#8217;t write a whole simulation package in one PhD three-year period.</p>
<p>Most breakthroughs are inverting something, first direct addressing to make the computer fast, but a pain for humans, then you switch to indrect addressing, makes more sense for the human, slower at first for the computer, but the advantages in software productivity are overwhelming. Same with going from assembly code to compilers, same from complied languages to scripting languages</p>
<p>Theorists are learning to collaborate and they have to write computer code together! What better way than to do pair programming in a virtual world, so pair coding and pair debugging becomes possible within a VW, especially when you can see the results in your simulation.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> oooh that is interesting, so being able to &#8220;play&#8221; with a physics engine could be very key!<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Pema Pera:</strong> YES! You simulate at large scales VERY directly into the fabric of the simulated world iteself.  It is the difference between having a stage on which you play and having the stage itself play for you!!!!</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Why are N-body simulations so key to astrophysics?</p>
<p><strong>Pema Pera:</strong> Ah, great question! Gravity dominates. On short scales we have electricity and magnetism and friction and much more but on large enough scales only gravity is felt. Electricity cancels + and &#8211; charges but gravity is only attractive, hense a gravitational N-body problem. You cut up the world into N parts as large an N as you can handle and then you simulate the UNIVERSE.</p>
<h3>Will Farr (MIT) implements the &#8220;Hermite Algorithm&#8221; in  OpenSim</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1560" title="nbodycm1" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1561" title="nbodycm2" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm2-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm3.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1562" title="nbodycm3" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm3-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm5.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1563" title="nbodycm5" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm5-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm61.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1565" title="nbodycm61" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm61-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm7.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1567" title="nbodycm7" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nbodycm7-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p>The Thumbnails of screenshots above (in order) are from a simple N-Body simulation of 32 bodies in OpenSim. Basically, you can see the bodies collapse, eject some of their members, and form a cluster of the remaining bodies in the sequence of photos</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t long before MICA members were deep into OpenSim. Notably, Will Farr, Eamu Godenot in Second Life is a MICA member and a 5th-year graduate student at MIT working on numerical relativity and N-body simulation algorithms, &#8220;lots of theory and numerics, very little observing, unfortunately,&#8221; he told me. Will was one of the first MICA members to pick up on the N-body work in OpenSim.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Could you explain what you have been doing with n-body simulation in OpenSim?</p>
<p><strong>Eamu Godenot:</strong> When Adam and Jeff wrote a Newtonian physics engine for OpenSim, this was a couple of weeks ago. they showed that it was possible to run gravitational simulations using a custom physics engine, but they didn&#8217;t know a lot about n-body simulations.  I don&#8217;t know a ton, but I know more, and I was coming to Japan to visit Piet/Pema and Jun/Makino. So, Piet suggested that we try to improve the algorithms that the physics engine used.  Maybe enough to do some physically relevant simulations</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> You all met in Tokyo?</p>
<p><strong>Eamu Godenot:</strong> Yes, it was exciting&#8212;I met Adam and Jeff two days ago, and spent some time learning about OpenSim and the code from them. Plus pestering them with lots of questions about genkii, programming, and OpenSim in general. Then, on Wednesday and some of Thursday, I started improving the n-body part of the physics engine. They had implemented a nice algorithm for evolving the bodies, but the standard ones used in the field are more efficient and accurate.  In particular, Jun Makino invented a technique called the Hermite algorithm that is, more-or-less, the &#8220;industry standard&#8221; So, I implemented that.</p>
<h3>Interview With Jun Makino (avatar Makino Magic)</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/makinomagicandtara5post.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1575" title="makinomagicandtara5post" src="http://www.ugotrade.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/makinomagicandtara5post.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="250" /></a><br />
<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> MICA has been doing some work on N-Body simulation in OpenSim in which you have access to the physics engine. How doe this open up new possibilities for astrophysics to use a general simulation platform in conjunction with super computers?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, what Piet and other people have done so far is mainly to implement  some simple models directly as simulation modules in Opensim. That itself is nice, but not quite enough to share and work  on really high-end simulations. However,  once we learn how to show things in SL/OpenSim, it *should be* not too difficult to connect the Opensim program directly to data visualization or analysis program which runs on any other computer, or actually connect it directly to a supercomputer or GRAPE.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Could a general simulation platform like OpenSim ultimately become an operating system/user interface to super computers? And do you think this could bring a new kind of interactivity to number crunching?<br />
<strong><br />
Makino Magic:</strong> I think it could. That&#8217;s rather similar to the web browser becomming an general user interface for whatever programs people develop. Well, I think the important thing here is the possibility of people in different places working on a single dataset or simulation in really real-time.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Yes it is really my big dream for virtual worlds, or rather for the free form, programmable, 3D collaborative space exemplified by OpenSim. to make the previously invisible world of software becomes visible in a shared interactive environment!</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Yes, not just dataset and simulation, but the possibility to share the program for simulation itself and to do the development in that way like pair- or &#8220;Extreme&#8221; programming, so more than two people physically far away that can really change the way we do research and development.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Yes! What is you role in MICA?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, at this point not much.  I have been too busy with my real-life duties&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> What do you think MICA could achieve re integrating virtual worlds in astrophysics? And what to you think you colleagues who are the first evangelists of the use of virtual worlds in astrophysics may be overlooking?</p>
<p><strong> Makino Magic:</strong> Well,  at this point I cannot predict. But the simulation stuff implemented in OpenSim looks very promising</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Do you have any different ideas from Piet re the the role virtual worlds can play?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magi</strong>c: Hmm, I must say I do not know all the details of Piet&#8217;s ideas, but for me the first step would be to use the environment to really do some collaborative research and discusssion, and we do not yet have simple tools to do so&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> And what are the most urgent tools you need now?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> A very first thing, which might be actually there, is to really work in multiple windows much in the same way as yo do in the pair-programming. You should be able to use one editor window, a graphic window to show result, etc, and should be able to edit one file&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> and secondly?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well,  that is hard to predict&#8230; But clearly we need a &#8220;virtual&#8221; 3D &#8220;screen&#8221; , in which we visualize 3D results and see, walk into or fly.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> And is the N- Body simulation in OpenSim the first step to this last requirement?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic: </strong>Yes, I think so. And that is useful not only for real research but for educational or public-outreach type stuff. Which is also important to get the attention of  wide range of people, many of them are better programmers than astrophysists, like the people from Genkii who implemented the first N-body simulation in OpenSim.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Do you have an OpenSim running in your own lab yet?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, the server is running, but I have no client PC in my  office yet (My windows PC in my offiice is toooo old and slow&#8230;)</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> What is the contribution that being able to play with physicis engine so easily in OpenSim makes to N-Body simulation research?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> The most important thing is that you can show the result to people, including yourself, much easier than without OpenSim. well, hopefully&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Piet said something to me that I was interested by: &#8220;If we really want to reverse simulating and visualizing, we can IMAGINE doing everything on the visualizer and then using a &#8220;simulations accelerator&#8221; (the opposite of a &#8220;graphics accelerator&#8221;) to get speed.&#8221; He went on to say, &#8220;similar techniques can be used in visualization as in simulations, actually, where also you don&#8217;t compute the force on one particle from all the billion other particles in a large simulation, so we have a lot of experience there already both conceptually and practically.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Hmm, Well, for me it is not too important where the simlation is done, but it must be reasonablly fast. Currently, really cutting-edge large-scale simulation can take months on the largest Cray or GRAPE.</p>
<p>On the other hand, lots of things can be done real-time, and my guess is Piet is mainly interested in those kind of things. There are many interesting problems for which we need to do simulations, but not the largest ones on supercomputers.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> So there are many interesting problems for simulation that do not require a super computer?</p>
<p><strong> Makino Magic:</strong> Yes. for example, just by solving many three-body problems we can learn a lot, and can even publish an interesting paper in Nature (<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v427/n6974/abs/nature02323.html" target="_blank">we did in 2004</a>).</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> What will scientific computing look like 25 years from now?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, Piet has been in on that for more than 25 years, and I&#8217;m approaching to that  many years, but it is hard to predict&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> But just some speculation, hehe!</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, one thing is that it&#8217;s becoming more and more difficult to develop large simulation programs. Much of the code we use now has been maintained for more than 20, or 30 years. In that sense,  even though the hardware changes, the software changes very very slowly, and that is the problem.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Do you think the intereactivity of virtual worlds could be useful in solving or preventing the problem (frequent in science) of 25 year old code still being in use?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Well, interactivity itself might not be the solution, but the way SL/OpenSim works and the way it talks to other simulation programs might be able to change the view. In some (many) cases, the program to be solved is really simple, like one line of and equation of motion, resulting in millions of lines to be able to efficiently solve a partucular kind of initial condition with very limited computing power. I do not say there will be any real solution, but there may be some alternative approach.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Do you think that a virtual astrophysics organization like MICA could apply and recieve funding for this kind of research on their own, or would they neeed a RL university partner?</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> In the case of MICA  it is not difficult to get RL partner, IAS or Drexel or whatever.</p>
<p>[The MICA steering meeting began to convene at this point]</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Have I missed asking you any important questions do you think?</p>
<p><strong> Makino Magic:</strong> Hmm, no.</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> Thanks so much Makino!</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Okay, this was fun! Thanks a lot!</p>
<p><strong>Tara5 Oh:</strong> And I look forward to hearing about the continuing story in the future!</p>
<p><strong>Makino Magic:</strong> Yes, bye for now.</p>
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