Something very interesting is happening in the meatspace.
Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, in Trento, Italy is organizing the exhibit AVATAR. Society and culture of the new virtual worlds, which will be open from 11.11.2008 to 11.01.2009.
AVATAR will discuss the theme of the new virtual world developing over the Internet (Second Life, etc.) from different points of view: psychological,sociological and anthropological. The exhibition is entirely virtual and will guide the visitors on a captivating journey through 3D constructed ambient, where it will be possible to interact with the spaces of the exhibition and with other visitors as well.
Web part of the exhibition will handle the wider and in-depth discussions and offer the look behind the exhibition, both in Italian and English.
Virtual part will be happening on the platform Moondus, developed by Virtual Italian Parks. From what I saw exhibit space looks quite interesting and it's a pity it will be available only locally.Exhibition will consist of ten sections, each covering another topic: from the concept of the avatar and virtual self via politics, law and economy to us as social beings.
Each of 25 concurrent visitors will have own console and will use the avatar to roam the virtual environment, interact with it, meet other visitors, communicate… Interesting part is that while virtual world users are welcome, exhibition is aimed to non-users as well, thus spreading the word out and showing virtual space to the people that have never experienced it before.
I’ll be visiting this exhibition this week, I’ll let you know about it.
Please! Story, pics, everything! :)
No pics unfortunately: the exhibition is virtual, and I couldn’t take any snapshots :)
Visitors sit in the same room, and they are not supposed to physically interact: instead, they interact inside the virtual environment using their avatars.
The idea is learning what virtual worlds are by using them. As you explained in your post, different rooms/spaces cover different virtual worlds topics.
Hardware: LCD display, no keyboard, joystick, mouse, headset and microphone. The small room is quite dark, you are not distracted by other people (see photo below) – that makes the experience very immersive. At the same time, a no-keyboard set is obviously easier to use.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidorban/2928809929
The environment includes tasks that the visitor can complete in order to win a symbolic prize. Some of these tasks require that two or even three different visitors perform an action at the same time – so people are encouraged to make their avatars interact and collaborate inside the virtual space.