Wikipedia 3D

February 14, 2008 6:59 PM

I am looking for examples of 3D virtual environments created in a Wikipedia-like manner.

I am investigating the use of VR for collaborative, scholarly work. Some projects on my radar include Discover Babylon (FAS), Rome Reborn (Univ. of Virginia), Amazonian Carnival (Michigan State), and River City (Harvard). Likewise, there are a variety of Second Life environments in this vein.

What are other good examples of this sort of work? Specifically, I'm most interested in environments with a sort of Wikipedia model for authoring content - where models and simulations are developed and modified continuously by a community, not just one group and not in one go.

posted by badstone to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Are you looking for other examples in Second Life? Because there certainly are university projects in SL, plus I know of a few university professors teaching classes (presumably around social networks or, umm, something) in SL.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:48 PM on February 14, 2008

C'mon SCDB, at least read the post before you troll.

It looks like the mother of all collaborative immersive education grids was announced just a few weeks ago at the 2008 Boston Digital Summit.

"Immersive Education Initiative announced the Education Grid and corresponding Platform Ecosystem. Based upon open source technologies and open standards, the Education Grid and Platform Ecosystem will provide educators with a comprehensive end-to-end infrastructure for a new generation of virtual world learning environments, interactive learning games, and simulations. Education Grid and corresponding Platform Ecosystem

The first three platforms in the ecosystem were introduced at the Summit: Second Life, Sun Microsystems Laboratory's Project Wonderland, and Croquet. These platforms will be enhanced to utilize the server-side Education Grid that will deliver a rich library of learning objects, digital media assets, learning games and services from which a wide variety of Immersive Education experiences can be assembled."

So while it hasn't produced any new projects yet, it looks like this might be the framework on which future immersive education environments will be built on.

This blogger wrote extensively on immersive education via gaming platforms in part 1 and part 2. She goes into a lot of detail about Media Grid and this Education Grid initiative.
posted by junesix at 7:49 PM on February 14, 2008

yeah, mediagrid we're familiar with (and we'll actually be working with them), but rather than education, this other project is about supporting the work of researchers and scholars (primarily in the humanities.) we may or may not just *use* mediagrid, but the possibility of doing something parallel, with a different set of affordances is definitely there.
posted by badstone at 9:36 PM on February 14, 2008

You might want to look into Decision Center for a Desert City / Decision Theater at ASU. They're more concerned with collaboratively using / building mathematical models than building 3d environments, but they use a VR system for some scenarios too.
posted by Alterscape at 12:27 AM on February 15, 2008

This may be a bit of an outlier, but Google's Sketchup program has a 3D Warehouse that anyone can contribute models to; the models can be geolocated and then (optionally) loaded into Google Earth.

I don't know how scholarly such endeavors are, although they are continuously running Model Your Campus contests.
posted by Remy at 5:01 AM on February 15, 2008

I second Remy's comment. There are many buildings and monuments in many cities around the world available for download in various formats.

And if you're interested in displaying these models online, you may be interested in Papervison3D for flash. It works quite well displaying models from the 3D Warehouse. I've been meaning to put together a tutorial on this, but haven't had the time. Let me know if you're interested.
posted by localhuman at 6:01 AM on February 15, 2008

I am very skeptical of Media Grid. I saw one of their early presentations in Cambridge and was extremely underwhelmed. It may have just been a bad presentation, but it was not clear to me that had a basic grasp on what the point of virtual environments is, or even the technical issues involved with what they're proposing. It feels quite a bit like vaporware, and I wouldn't bet on it too heavily.

There's a group called Studio Wikitecture that is doing pretty much exactly what you asked about. They're trying to collaboratively design an architectural space in Second Life. You can see their (kind of obtuse website) here. Also, their blog. It's definitely worth a visit in SL. The implementation is a little rough (not their fault, just that SL's toolset is limited), but it does work. I think this is one of the most exciting directions for virtual environments, and one of the few areas in which they're clearly a useful tool.

Also, there's a group at Emerson (with some help from the Berkman Center at Harvard) working on a related project with the city of Boston called Hub2. They ran a class last semester to try collaborative design of public spaces in Boston. They've also got some upcoming projects that might be even more closely related to what you're thinking about, but I don't think there's much on the web about them at this point. (Disclaimer, I'm friends with a bunch of the people involved, but I genuinely think think this is one of the most interesting virtual world projects at the moment.)

This is a major research interest of mine and I'm happy to talk in more length over email (or SL) if you want.
posted by heresiarch at 7:47 AM on February 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

thanks much heresiarch! expect email from me. :)
posted by badstone at 3:02 PM on February 15, 2008

Hey heresiarch and badstone, I'm one of the guys that developed Studio Wikitecture's 3d 'Wiki-Tree'. I'll love to give you guys a tour, if interested.

We're actually almost done with the competition we were collaboratively design for the Open Architecture Network Challenge.

If you haven't seen it already this video give a quick time-lapse of how the designs have evolved over the last couple months.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amCi90zH3VI

also...This video gives a little taste on how the 'Wiki-Tree' works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3eWKIJxzyc

It's great running into like minded folks. We should get together and chat sometime.

Cheers.
posted by theoryshaw at 8:54 AM on February 16, 2008