DrYesha

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research Vol.5 Issue 1 - Assembled 2012

2012-05-18T23:26:00.000-05:00

The new Issue has arrived!

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	We are happy to announce the publication of: Volume 5, Number 1: Assembled 2012 The editorial team for this issue: David Kurt Herold, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Shailey Minocha, Department of Computing, The Open University,UK Natalia Rybas, Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University East, USA Despite differences in topics, style, and methodologies, all the papers in this assembled issue share the desire to see virtual worlds researched in far greater depth. Managing Editor’s Corner: Welcome to First Issue of 2012 Yesha Y. Sivan Issue Editors' Corner: An Assembled Issue David Kurt Herold, Shailey Minocha, Natalia Rybas Who is Portrayed in Second Life: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The Extent of Congruence Between Real Life and Virtual Identity Bernadett Koles, Peter Nagy Samarita Ibanez: An Identity Journey from First Life to Second Samara Mamatovna Anarbaeva Between Purpose and Method: A Review of Educational Research on 3D Virtual Worlds Sahoon H. Kim, Jiyeon Lee Lee, Michael K. Thomas Second Life and Academia – Reframing the Debate between Supporters and Critics David Kurt Herold How do People with Disability Use and Experience Virtual Worlds and ICT: A Literature Review Karen Stendal Let me conclude with few notes on this first issue of 2012 which opens our fifth year. This year we focus on JVWR international expansion. This issue was led by David Herold from Hong Kong, teamed with Shaily Minocha from UK and Natalia Rybas from the US. Our next issue will be led by Ken Lim from Singapore; This month, May 2012, JVWR will host a Special Seminar on Virtuality as a Frontier for MIS Research as part of AIS affiliated Eleventh Wuhan International Conference on E-Business, in Wuhan, China; We connected with MCIS 2012 with a special track on Real Virtual Worlds and Serious Games, September 2012, Guimarães, Portugal; We connected with the HICSS conference for a special issue on Q3 2013 to be headed by Imed Boughzala, Institut Mines-Telecom, France; We are also happy to let you know of the following: Our web site includes now a special page on events in our field. We have a special page that includes a cover view of all our past issues. You welcome you to join our Facebook page (search “Journal of Virtual Worlds Research”) And/or subscribe to our mailing list (on the top left of http://www.jvwreserach.org). Cover art is an avatar design by Elif Ayiter, aka Alpha Auer. Wishing you all interesting reading and joyful journey in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, Tzafnat Shpak Coordinating Editor Journal of Virtual Worlds Research Prof. Yesha Y. Sivan Managing Editor Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

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Facebook Will Be a $500 Billion Firm in Less Then 10 Years...

2012-05-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

OK, the headline is mine -- because I know $500B will travel well in Facebook (and Twitter).

I originally published this in February 2012. Today (May 18, 2012) Facebook had the IPO.
Anyway you look at it, Facebook IPO is a major success for the firm. I wish them the best.

You ask why $500B? In short, because Facebook is the 21st century operating system -- not a computer operating system -- Facebook is an economical operating system. Why? because it has successfully integrated the power of 3Cs: Community , Creation and Commerce.

Let me explain:

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of visiting a friend in Facebook. It was still their old office located at one of the Stanford corners. It was a regular visit: tour the open space, drink black Coffee, or Coke, or whatever, stroll the grounds, See Mark's desk and take the above wall picture. The inside of Facebook looks a bit different. But nothing too extravagant.

So what is Facebook? And why is this important? People used to be scared of IBM, then Microsoft, then Google, and now Facebook. (By the way -- all of these are doing just fine).

The Wall Street Journal says:

Facebook Inc. filed for an initial public offering Wednesday that could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time.

The company hopes to raise as much as $10 billion when it begins selling shares this spring, said people familiar with the matter. Potential buyers got their first look at its financials Wednesday, which showed the company produced a $1 billion profit last year from $3.71 billion in revenues. The company derives 85% of those revenues from advertising, with the rest from social gaming and other fees.

Facebook is a major change. Much like Google at the time, the right combination of technology, social need, management and flow of funds allowed them to capture the majority of the market. There were many before them (good old MySpace, or Hevre in Israel), there were and will be many after them (Google's Orkut> Buzz > Plus, or Shawn Fanning's Path check it).

But in 2012 Facebook is just starting.

For the skeptics:

Starting from my wife who does not have a Facebook page,
to some of my MBA students ("Facebook is just a social thing"),
to the Israeli department of Education (with an amazing wrong policy on Facebook "an educator will not initiate any link or respond to a friend's request" see in Hebrew),
to some CIOs (CMOs or CEOs) who still do not have Facebook,
to some of my colleagues at the Israeli Internet Association (now it is my problem since I became the president),
and, for that matter, to some of my Venture Capital friends who do not grasp the change.

I say: Get ready: Major changes ahead.

Simply put, Facebook is a new operating system. Not an information operating system. It is a social/economical operating system. Why? Because Facebook has integrated the following factors

Creation -- power to build, show, generate, share.
Community -- it has the people, the links (the Social Graph ala Facebook), the controls.
Commerce -- with Facebook credit -- Facebook can (does and will) facilitate commerce.

(I have written on the 3Cs in the context of virtual worlds -- see my blog on the future value of 3D3C)

This is the first time we have an operating system that integrates these 3C factors seemingly.

"Integration" is the big jump. It is much easier for me to publish things in Facebook. In fact, I started to write this post in Facebook (only moved back to blog because of my Chinese friends). It is super easy to communicate (I do not need to remember nor update emails -- goodbye Plaxo), it will be easier to get people to conferences (goodbye meet up, or Eventbrite which I like), it is easier to chat and voice (almost goodbye Skype). And, Facebook has the Apple closed garden protection for most users.

Of course there are dangers, as with any new technology, and there will be even more checks and balances (Facebook want them, we want them). I'm sure our good old boys and girls are on top of it (see Why The FBI Wants To Look At Your Social Media Updates.

So, let's get ready to another ride using this new operating system.
http://www.facebook.com/dryesha

P.S1. For many cool facts about Facebook see http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/02/my-favorite-statistics-and-sentences-from-facebooks-big-ipo/252400/

P.S2. Yes, there are problems -- but we have to deal with them (found it on Facebook, with no attribution to copyrights).

P.S3. from Business Insider (a very good source) one can see how the Commerce side is picking up.
(see red in chart).

Mockup Builder: Direct 3D Modeling

2012-05-13T04:10:00.001-05:00

Direct 3D Modeling On and Above the Surface in a Continuous Interaction Space. This Mockup Builder is a semi-immersive environment for conceptual design where virtual mockups are obtained from gestures aiming to get closer to the way people conceive, create and manipulate three dimensional shapes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJD9DXDB1E&list=HL1336371630&feature=mh_lolz

Enjoy!

08-May-2012: Academy Meet IT: Yesha on Social and Mobile for the Enterprise

2012-05-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

A good mix of research and practice from Israel.

See you there...

2012-04-22T02:31:00.000-05:00

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	Dear friends, The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) is happy to support this call for SLACTIONS 2012 4th Research Conference on Virtual Worlds Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms November 15-17, 2012 http://www.slactions.org/ The metaverse is emerging, through the increasing use of virtual world technologies that act as platforms for end-users to create, develop, and interact, expanding the realm of human cooperation, interaction, and creativity.The conference focus is scientific research on applications and developments of these metaverse platforms: Habbo Hotel, IMVU, Second Life, OpenSimulator, Open Croquet, Activeworlds, Open Wonderland, Minecraft, and others, including MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, and virtual worlds based on social networks, such as -ville and others, providing a forum for the research community to present and discuss innovative approaches, techniques, processes, and research results. SLACTIONS 2012 is the fourth edition of SLACTIONS, which was the first international conference held simultaneously in several countries on the topic of metaverse platforms. SLACTIONS aims at covering most areas currently enabled by metaverse platforms, from educational research to content production, from gender studies to media distribution, and from metaverse-based branding, advertising, and fundraising to emerging mash-ups and technology applications.SLACTIONS is unique in its format too, as a one-of-a kind event conducted both in a metaverse platform (Second Life) and on-site in multiple countries throughout the world.* SLACTIONS will thus contribute to the current redefinition of the way we think about hybrid online and on-site scholarly collaborations. Whereas metaverse platforms are no longer a novel topic, they still pose challenges for the adaption of conventional instructional and business practices, research methodologies, and communication practices. We are looking forward to presenting a program of research results, case studies, panel discussions, and demonstrations that scholars, educators, and businesses can port to their own environments and apply in their research, teaching, and business strategy. We will accept papers from the full spectrum of intellectual disciplines and technological endeavors in which metaverse platforms are currently being used: from Education to Business, Sociology to Social Sciences, Media Production to Technology Development, Architecture and Urban Planning to the Arts. 1. Topics covered may include but are not limited to: Accessibility in metaverse platforms Advanced scientific visualization in metaverse platforms Automatic content generation Behavioral studies in the metaverse Combination of metaverse platforms with external systems (e-learning, e-business, etc.) Communicational paradigms in the metaverse Content management and production Creativity, design, and arts on the metaverse E-business and e-commerce applications Educational research, applications, and case studies Embodiment in metaverses and Gender Studies GIS/metaverse mash-ups Integration between metaverse platforms Nonprofit activities and fundraising Adapting and developing research methodologies for metaverses Social Sciences studies in or through metaverse platforms Space representation, use, and management in metaverses Using metaverse platforms for cooperation 2. Format SLACTIONS has the format of a hybrid online and physical conference. All paper presentations and plenary sessions by guest speakers will be held on-line in the Second Life virtual world, and projected locally at local chapters, for participants attending physically. Physical participants can interact with the online participants via a "physical chapter avatar" and microphone. Participants will also be able to follow the proceedings broadcast on the Web and interact via a text chat applet. Workshops and other events are conducted locally – or in mixed format across several participating chapters – and local chapters may held local topical round tables. 3. Publication venues All accepted papers and posters will be published on-line and in ISBN-registered digital proceedings. Video posters and live presentations can submit an abstract for inclusion in the digital proceedings. The authors of the best papers will be invited to provide revised and expanded versions for publications in special editions of journals or as single contributions to theme-specific journals. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research: Selected papers will be fast-tracked for publication in early 2013 issues of JVWR. (ISSN 1941-8477) Computer & Graphics - International Journal of Systems & Applications in Computer Graphics: Authors of the Best Paper in computer graphics themes will be invited to submit an extended version to be considered for journal publication. (ISSN: 0097-8493 / Imprint: ELSEVIER / impact factor 2010: 0.720) VIRtual - Electronic Journal of Visualization, Interactive Systems and Pattern Recognition: Authors of selected papers on visualization and graphics will be invited to submit extended versions to a special Issue of the journal. (ISSN 0873-1837 Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research: Authors of selected papers on e-business/e-commerce/m-commerce/e-learning/e-government will be invited to submit extended versions the journal. (ISSN 0718-1876) Check out http://www.slactions.org regularly for more information and developments on the proceedings publisher and journal venues for best papers. 4. Official language of the conference The official language for the on-line space and all submissions is English only. However, at the physical site of local chapters you can also use the native language of that location. 5. Submissions Authors are invited to submit: A full paper of eight to ten pages for oral presentation A "work in progress" paper of 4 pages for oral presentation A Flickr image or YouTube video, indexed with the tag “slactions2012” for poster presentations ‘in-world’ A live presentation in Second Life. All submissions are subject to a double blind review process and should be professionally proofread before submission. All manuscripts should be formatted according to the ASIS&T proceedings template. (Disclaimer: SLACTIONS is not associated with ASIS&T.) 6. Important dates Submissions deadline: June 30th, 2012 July 15th, 2012 - Submission results provided to authors September 15th, 2012 - Deadline for early registration October 15th, 2012 - Deadline for print-ready versions of accepted papers November 15-17th, 2012 - Conference (tentative dates) 7. Local chapters In preparation. Check out http://www.slactions.org for updated lists and contacts. Note: If you believe your institution can hold a physical chapter in an as-yet unsupported region, please contact the organization at info AT slactions.org. 8. Steering Committee Leonel Morgado - University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Nelson Zagalo - University of Minho, Portugal Ana Boa-Ventura, University of Texas-Austin, USA 9. Programme Committee Ahmer Iqbal – University of Jyvaskyla, Finland Ana Amélia Carvalho – University of Coimbra, Portugal Ana Boa-Ventura – University of Texas, Austin, USA Ângela Pereira – Leiria Polytechnic Institute, Portugal António Lopes – Lusófona University, Portugal Benjamim Fonseca – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Clare Atkins – Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, New Zealand Daiana Trein – University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil Daniel Gonçalves – Higher Technical Institute, Portugal David Deeds – Changchun American International School, China David Herold – Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Donizetti Louro – Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil Emanuel Peres – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Filipe Santos – Leiria Polytechnic Institute, Portugal Greg Lastowka - Rutgers School of Law /Camden, USA Hugo Paredes – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Isabel Valverde - Lisbon Technical University, Portugal James Corbett - CEO at MissionV Education/ Business Development Manager at Daynuv Owner at GlobalGreyhounds Ltd., Ireland João Varajão – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal José Luís Ramos - Évora University, Portugal Leonel Morgado – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Lina Morgado - Open University, Portugal Luís Magalhães – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Luís Pedro – University of Aveiro, Portugal Marco António Chávez-Aguayo – University of Barcelona, Spain Margarita Pérez-García - Catholic University College Limburg & Provincial University College Limburg, Belgium Micaela Esteves – Leiria Polytechnic Institute, Portugal Narciso Cerpa – University of Talca, Chile Nelson Zagalo – University of Minho, Portugal Nuno Silva – Higher Institute of Engineering of Porto, Portugal Paulo Frias – University of Porto, Portugal Paulo Martins – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Pilar Lacasa – University of Alcalá, Spain Ramiro Gonçalves – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Steven Warburton – King’s College London, United Kingdom Teresa Bettencourt – University of Aveiro, Portugal Vincent Ng – Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Yesha Sivan – The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, and Metaverse Labs Ltd., Israel / Managing Editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 10. Organization Ana Margarida Maia – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Daniela Pedrosa – University of Coimbra / University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Gonçalo Cruz Matos – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Maria da Glória Fraga - University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Leonel Morgado – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Ricardo Rodrigues Nunes – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Vinicius Loureiro – University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Yesha Sivan – The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel, and Metaverse Labs Ltd., Israel/Managing Editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research For any other info, please contact or follow us. Thank you very much for your collaboration :) Best regards, SLACTIONS Organizing Committee E-mail: info AT slactions.org Facebook: http://ow.ly/alASK Twitter: http://ow.ly/alAZJ Flickr: http://ow.ly/alBxK Youtube: http://ow.ly/alBhi Second Life: http://ow.ly/alC5A Website: http://www.slactions.org

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20-Apr-2012: Final plan for Berlin IVF-Worldwide Live Congress released

2012-04-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

I was invited to give a talk about The top 10 info technologies we need to know about? and how to deal with them? (See talk description at the end of this item).

For details see IVF-Worldwide Live Congress here:
http://comtecmed.com/ivf-live/2012/default.aspx

Here is the the final release of the plan for IVF-Worldwide Live Congress:

Friday, April 20, 2012
Session 1 15:00-16:30	OPENING
15:00-15:30	Opening remarks Zeev Shoham, Israel Michael Alper, USA Milton Leong, HK
15:30-16:00	The impact of technology on healthcare Jamie Cattell, UK
16:00-16:30	The individual formerly known as patient (TIFKAP)Jan A.M. Kremer, The Netherlands
16:30-17:00	Coffee Break & Welcome Reception

17:00-18:00	OPENING (continued...)
17:00-17:30	Fallacies in risk perception among physicians and laymen Gerd Gigerenzer, Germany
17:30-18:00	The top 10 info technologies we need to know about and how to deal with them: the NITA model Yesha Sivan, Israel

Saturday, April 21, 2012
Session 2 09:00-10:30	OPTIMIZING OUR WEBSITE
09:00-09:30	Marketing Chicken Soup for the Doctor Itai Levitan, Israel
09:30-10:00	How to use social media to improve your business Jonathan Pollinger, UK
10:00-10:30	Building a successful digital marketing strategy - a framework Finset Sordal Magnus, Norway
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break

Session 3 11:00-13:00	ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES Supported by an unrestricted grant from MedITEX
	Chances and risks of a digital communication in the IVF Clinic Michael Schindler, Germany
	Maximizing the internet ability to promote your clinic and support better care Michael M. Alper, USA
	Innovative IVF-Management: Software as the central solution Michael Schindler, Germany
13:00-14:00	Lunch Break

Session 4 14:00-15:30	OVERCOMING PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
14:00-14:30	IVF treatment instructions transmitted via the internet: a preliminary experience Avi Tsafrir, Israel
14:30-15:00	You're talking to me? Ensuring patient comprehension, motivation and personalization Talya Miron-Shatz, USA
15:00-15:30	Identifying barriers and facilitators for the implementation of virtual infertility communities Annemijn Aarts, The Netherlands
15:30-16:00	Coffee Break

Session 5 16:00-17:30	HOW THE PATIENTS SEE OUR CLINIC ACTIVITIES WHEN IT COMES TO THE INTERNET
16:00-16:30	IVF patients' preferences in service design Jan A.M. Kremer, The Netherlands
16:30-17:00	Converting the E-Powered Patient to YOUR Patient Ron King, USA
17:00-17:30	A real patient's experience: Summary of international best practices in ART web communication Alexandra Futeral, Belgium

Sunday, April 22, 2012
Session 6 09:00-10:30	HOW DO WE WATCH THE SCREEN AND TAKE IMMEDIATE DECISION?
09:00-09:30	Mobile marketing? An Imperative! Itai Levitan, Israel
09:30-10:00	You can't manage what you can't measure - Google Analytics - a must have online tool for your clinic Eyal Eldar, Israel
10:00-10:30	Visitors Know Why They Don’t Like Your Website. Do You? Itai Levitan, Israel
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break

Session 7 11:00-12:30	USING THE WEBSITE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
11:00-11:15	IVF-worldide.com clinics vs. science the largest data based exists to learn about physicians perspective Zeev Shoham, Israel
11:15-11:35	To do or not to do IVF? Structuring the Decision Process, Saving Precious Time Talya Miron-Shatz, USA
11:35-11:50	Preparing for Fiscal and Policy Changes by Using a Robust Predictive Algorithm Tool for Counseling Patients Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization: findings from ForMyOdds.COM in a Teaching Hospital Environment Christopher Jones, USA (video presentation)
11:50-12:10	The Doctor as Online Teacher: Growing Your Practice through Internet Content and Conversations Ron King, USA
12:10-12:30	Engaging prospective patients through direct to consumer marketing Veronica Montgomery, UK

The top 10 info technologies we need to know about? and how to deal with them?

Dr. Yesha Sivan

Much like any other businesses and organizations, IVF units, both private and public, are facing with a constant and growing steam of new information technologies. Terms like Cloud Computing, Mobile apps, twitter, Facebook, Tablet, and Smart Computing and the link are emerging to be key factors in today new business. Embrace them on time, and win. Embrace them too early, or too late and you loose.
This engaging -- full of demos talk -- will cover the top 10 technologies, and also present NITA -- a New Information Technology Algorithm to deal with such techno-business changes

For more details see IVF-Worldwide website here http://comtecmed.com/ivf-live/2012/Default.aspx

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds (FCVW 2012) - Inspire the Future

2012-04-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

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	The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) is happy to support calls for the 5th Annual Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference "Inspire the Future" May 16, 17 & 18, National Defense University, Washington DC. Don’t forget to register for the best FCVW Conference Program we have ever had! REGISTER NOW. Conference schedule is on the FCVW website (http://www.ndu.edu/icollege/fcvw) since Friday, April 5. WORKSHOPS—May 16: You will have the choice between 17 workshops offered throughout the day. Three-hour workshops include: iHub (Stylianos Mystakidis), DoD Virtual Worlds Framework (Carl Rosengrant), and Developing Content in Unity 3D (Eric Hackathorn). 75-minute workshops include: Authentic Avatar (Brock-Richmond), Designing 3D VW Education & Training Courses (Reyer), Cognitive Ethnography (Dubbels), Immersive Intelligence and 3D Data Virtualization (Richard Hackathorn), Growing Your Organizations vTraining Presence (Perkins), PTSD (Kevin Holloway), Microsoft and VW, VWs for Analysis and Experimentations (Aguilar), Lessons from goXOgo (Kearney), NTER (Cohen), Personal Transformation in a VW (Deveneaux), Advanced Telemedicine (Dillion), MOSES Open Simulator (Maxwell), and Using Serious Games in OpenSim to Model Taxpayer Behavior (Creekmore). Schedule will be available this week. More detailed information on each workshop will be available on our website by April 30. SPEAKERS: We have incredible speakers this year. Randy Hinrichs, CEO 2b3d and editor of “Transforming Virtual World Learning” and “Engaging the Avatar” will be the opening keynote! James Blascovich, Director and co-founder of the Research Center for Virtual Environments at UC Santa Barbara and co-author of “Infinite Reality: The Hidden Blueprint of our Virtual Lives will discuss the reality of the avatar. Michelle Fox, Chief Strategist for Education and Worksforce Development at the Department of Energy will show us the NTER project and its virtual world capabilities. Jesse Schell, game designer at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center will challenge us to think outside of the box with games and 3D environments. Check out the schedule and bios of the speakers on the website. PANELS: Charles Wankel, author and editor of more than 30 books, including a co-Author of Transforming Virtual World Learning (Cutting-Edge Technologies in Higher Education) (2011) and Higher Education in Virtual Worlds: Teaching and Learning in Second Life (International Perspectives on Education and Society) (2009) is putting together a great education panel. Other panels include: a telemedicine panel led by Kevin Holloway, Army psychologist from T2 and award winner for his PTSD island; DoD panel that will address the use of OpenSim MOSES Project a virtual world space for groups in DoD and led by Douglas Maxwell, Science and Technology Manager Virtual World Strategic Applications created by Army Research Labs. The final panel will address the important topic of Cyber Security in Virtual Worlds. The Panel will be led by Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, the Director for the Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecuity and the Academic Director, Master of Infrastructure Planning and Management at the University of Washington. More details with panel membership will be posted on the website no later than April 30. GOVERNMENT POSTER SESSIONS: We still have room for a few more government project poster sessions. Awards will be given for the best poster sessions voted by conference participants. If you have a virtual world or 3D collaborative game project with the government, please send your name and contact information in an email toFederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu. Complete list of government poster sessions will be posted by April 30, 2012 on the website. VENDOR FAIR: We still have some vendor spaces available for the conference vendor fair. Please send your inquiries ASAP toFederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu and we will send you the information you will need to be part of this conference. RECEPTION (May 17) 3:30-7:30—Come and network with a great group of people, see government projects, and interact with vendors. Paulette Robinson, PhD Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning &Technology National Defense University, iCollege Washington DC Sent by support of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research http://jvwresearch.org

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Face.com API: Yesha's Picture

2012-04-01T11:14:00.001-05:00

I was able to try today Face.com API. Most impressive. (Here is the URL)
My Pic (this picture is indeed from few years back):

and my face with friends (I did not print the data) but they are pretty good. (my data has not changed much)

What an amazing way to celebrate my birthday.

Mar-2012: The Need for "Money" Related Singularity

2012-03-21T01:11:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure to give a short talk about 3D3C markets in front of 400+ people at a recent Singularity conference in Israel.

There were lots of talks about future technologies. My one take: we also need some "money" related singularity. Without a new way to deal with money -- one that cross nations, allow tracking, and faciliate micro payments (sub cents) -- we will miss many of the global benefits of these new technologies.

New 3D-nanoprinting speed record

2012-03-14T01:24:00.003-05:00

Scientists find a way to build nano-sculptures the size of a grain of sand up to 1,000 times faster than previously possible.

BBC News reports of a new world speed record for the fastest 3D-printed nano-objects has been claimed by researchers in Austria. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17357374

JVWR Combined Calls for 2012-2013

2012-03-13T11:07:00.001-05:00

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Image taken from etsy shop orangebeautiful

	This is a combined call for all of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 2012-2013 current CFPs (Call For Papers), including general call for papers, special topics calls (Asian, Managerial and Commercial Applications, and Law), as well as fast track relating to AIS conferences in AIS e-Commerce Wuhan, China; AMCIS Seatle, USA; MCIS Guimarães, Portugal and ICIS 2012, Orlando Florida, USA. (Also including a general call for reviewers and editors). Volume 5, Number 2 (2012): Asian Perspectives CFP: Asian Perspective Guest Editors: Kenneth Y T Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore Young Hoan Cho, National Institute of Education, Singapore Michael Vallance, Future University, Hakodate, Japan Publication: 2012 Q3 Status: Call done. Please Submit. A Special Seminar on Virtuallity as a Frontier for MIS Research as part of The Eleventh Wuhan International Conference on E-Business Volume 5, Number 3 (2012): Managerial and Commercial Applications CFP: Managerial and Commercial Applications Guest Editors: Shu Schiller, Wright State University Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Publication: 2012 Q4 Status: Call done. Please Submit. Connection with Americas' Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) MCIS 2012 Special Call: Real Virtual Worlds and Serious Games September 2012, Guimarães, Portugal CFP: Real Virtual Worlds and Serious Games ICIS 2012: JVWR Reception (December 16-19, 2012) Stay tuned for details about our event as part of the 2012 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2012), to be held in Orlando Florida, USA from December 16-19, 2012. Volume 6, Number 1 (2013): Assembled (2013) Call: TBD Guest Editors: TBD Publication: 2013 Q1 Status: Working on Call [looking for editors for this assembled issue. Volume 6, Number 2 (2013): Law and Virtual Worlds CFP: Law and Virtual Worlds Guest Editors: Melissa de Zwart, University of Adelaide, Australia Greg Lastowka, Rutgers University, US Dan Hunter, New York Law School, US Publication: 2013 Q2 Status: Call done. Please Submit. Volume 6, Number 3 (2013): Impact (on People, Places, and Organizations) We are looking for editors to define this issue. The core idea is to conduct deep analysis on the potential impact of virtual worlds, identify key issues that are missing, or key factors that can lead virtual worlds to fulfill their potential. Call: TBD Guest Editors: TBD Publication: 2013 Q4 Status: enlisting editors Enlisting Reviewers Please check this page Enlisting Issue Editors Please check this page For all other inquiries Do not hesitate: contact us Or send email to tzafnat.shpak@jvwresearch.org Visit our Facebook page Please check this page Dr. Yesha Y. Sivan Managing Editor The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research http://www.jvwresearch.org

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05-Mar-2012: Cyber Session at the Meeting of Israeli 2012 Chamber of Information Systems Analysts (ICISA) (Hebrew)

2012-02-27T03:24:00.000-05:00

The Israel Chamber of Information Systems Analysts (ICISA) is the leading professional organization in information systems and information technology in Israel. The Chamber is a non-profit organization established and active since 1968. I will chair the Cyber session in Hebrew.

ב-5 במרץ בכפר המכביה -- אהיה יו"ר המושב - שוטרים וגנבים ברשת: 12:30 - 14:00

מנחה: ד"ר ישע סיון, ראש התוכנית לניהול מערכות מידע, המכללה האקמית ת"א-יפו

"עשרת המגמות החמות בעולם של שוטרים וגנבים"

מרצה: אסתר פשין, שותפה ומנהלת, אי.אנ.פי פתרונות בע"מ

"סייבר - דו"ח לא אופטימי"

מרצה: אבנר בן אפרים, מנכ"ל אב-סק בטחון מידע בע"מ

"מענה אכיפת חוק לפשיעה דיגיטלית"

מרצה: ד"ר נמרוד קוזלובסקי, עו"ד, מומחה בתחום משפט האינטרנט ואבטחת מידע

Introduction to Virtual Worlds – Final Projects of Class 2012

2012-02-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

On Sunday January 29th, 2012 the course “Introduction to Virtual Worlds” had come to its end, and the results – great ones, it must be said - are here.
Enjoy!

And first of all: A moment of glory in front of the Scoreboard: “The Best Projects” winners and triumphant of this class: The Diamonds Machine & Pole Dancing (A Tie for 1st & 2nd place), Penalty Kick (3rd)

The Projects:

The Diamonds Machine (1st tie with 2nd Place)
The machine that creates personalized rings individually designed. It shares the 1st place as Winner of the course’s Contest.

Pole Dancing (1st tie with 2nd Place)
Recognized by its name: a virtual worlds’ project but is well known in reality as well. It shares the 1st place as Winner of the course’s Contest.

Penalty Kick (3rd Place)
Some players of the Israeli Championship League could use this project.

Fly on a Broom
Answers the ancient human dream to fly as well as the all-sorcerers’ dream – a broom!

A Mikveh
The project simulates the Jewish ritual bath that shares pure Jewish felling as well as information about this old Jewish practice. Let it prevail – Amen!

Learn to Fly

The course’s training project! It is suitable for each Avatar’s beginning and for stimulating contests.

Israel National Trail (Shvil Israel)
An Israeli pride! This project can bring relevant information to all those Israelis and tourists, who love, wish or plan, to walk this famous road of the real world.

A Fortune Teller
The project that tells your future. You don’t know what to do? What decision to make? This project is for you.

The Merry-go-round (A Carrousel)
Undoubtedly it is the most colorful project of this course. An exciting experience of fun and music for both children and those left with just a childish soul…

Fishing Game
This project is suitable for all the sea lovers. It brings a great game experience and wonderful maritime landscapes. Cool Programming.

Bow & Arrow
Simple, accurate and classic! An all-family fun of Hit the Target game, accompanied by a unique winning-dance.

The Sexual Assault Center
This special project intends to do good and offer help.

The Personal First Date Tutor
For both women and men: how to behave on a date.

The Music Platform
This is a music project where you can play, record and listen to your recordings. A toolkit for all music lovers.

Famous
The project which fulfills all of our dreams to become famous: take 15 seconds of glory on the red carpet.

CFP issue on Law and Virtual Worlds

2012-02-26T07:31:00.002-05:00

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Image is taken from The University of Western Australia (UWA) presence on Second Life

	The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org/) is happy to announce the call for this "Law and Virtual Worlds" issue edited by Melissa de Zwart, Adelaide Law School, Australia Greg Lastowka, Rutgers School of Law-Camden, USA Dan Hunter, New York Law School. USA You can access this call directly through our website. The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research(http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds research. The field of virtual worlds research is a continuously evolving area of study that spans across many disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly work. Motivation and Scope This special issue will focus on legal questions generated by the creation, regulation and participation in virtual worlds. We are looking for papers that explore beyond the basics of ‘the magic circle’ (asserting that virtual worlds are immune from external laws and norms) and consider emerging legal issues that may encourage or inhibit the uptake of virtual worlds. In particular, we are interested in papers that adopt a multi-jurisdictional focus and which propose new ways that the legal issues may be approached by developers and regulators. Innovative and creative papers are encouraged. Given the audience and nature of the JVWR we are looking for papers which are accessible to a non-legal readership. They should demonstrate a good awareness of the nature of virtual worlds. Authors are invited to submit papers that are innovative, original, and contribute to the advancement of understanding of law as it applies to virtual worlds. Papers will be considered by the Guest Editorial Board and reviewed by expert referees using our double -open policy. Double-open policy means that in general, authors do not need to anonymize their papers, and reviewers identity is also known to authors. For more details about see JVWR site --> About JVWR --> For Authors --> Our double-Open Policy. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: Jurisdiction and rule-making Governance and community management Player rights Virtual property Dispute resolution Intellectual property Modding, user-generated content Privacy, identity and data collection Security and hacking Crime Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, discrimination, access and hate speech Submission Instructions Authors are invited to submit papers of up to 6000 words (including footnotes and references) via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwreserach.org> about > for authors). Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 6, Number 2 of the Journal, 2013. Deadlines and Timeline Authors can submit a 600 word abstract as of the publication of the call. Please use the Journal publishing system (login at the top right of the journal site, state that your submission is for the Legal issue.) Abstract submission will give authors quick feedback on the relevance and appropriateness of their topic and allow editors to identify reviewers as soon as possible. Final deadline for Authors to submit abstracts for Editors’ comments: 30 June 2012 Editors submit comments on the Abstracts to Authors: 30 Aug 2012 Authors submit full paper: 30 Dec 2012 Editors send Reviewers’ feedback on the paper, and indication of acceptance or rejection: 15 February 2013 Submission of revised paper (if necessary): 30 April 2013 Editors’ decision and comments for accepted papers: 20 May 2013 Authors Submission of final version: 15 June 2013 Staff editors & authors work till planned Publication Date: 15 July 2013 Please Contact Melissa de Zwart, Adelaide Law School, melissadez ATgmail.com Greg Lastowka, Rutgers School of Law-Camden, lastowka AT camden.rutgers.edu Dan Hunter, New York Law School, USA

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Web3D 2012 - CALL FOR PAPERS

2012-02-23T03:46:00.000-05:00

Web3D Conference 2012

17th International Conference on 3D Web Technology

Sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH and in cooperation with Eurographics

August 4 - 5, 2012

L.A. Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

http://www.web3d2012.org/

Mail: web3d2012[at]web3d[dot]org

----------------------------------------------
Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: April 3rd, 2012

Author Notification: May 15th, 2012

Camera-ready due: June 1st, 2012

Conference date: August 4 - 5, 2012

----------------------------------------------

The 17th ACM International Web3D Conference will address a wide range of research topics related to Web-based 3D Graphics. These topics include: representation and modeling methods, content analysis, rendering, distributed virtual environments, large-scale databases, Web-wide human-computer interaction, as well as innovative tools and applications. On the one hand, authoring and delivering educational contents is one of the main interests of this edition of the conference. The creation of educational materials, such as interactive electronic technical manuals (especially for Augmented-Reality-based scenarios) will be supported, as well as the approach to incorporate advanced real-time rendering features into the X3D standard, in a generic way that is independent from the specific rendering method. On the other hand, the conference will particularly focus on novel mobile AR applications, innovative 3D graphics Web applications and novel Medical and eHealth developments, aside from contents over 3D Internet.
The annual ACM Web3D Conference is a major event that gathers researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, experimenters, artists, and content creators in a dynamic environment. Attendees can share and explore methods of using, enhancing, and creating new 3D Web and Multimedia technologies, such as WebGL and HTML5 (which is a hot topic in Computer Graphics), Flash/ Stage 3D, X3D, COLLADA, and the MPEG family. The conference highlights capabilities and trends in interactive 3D graphics across a wide range of applications and supports research from mobile devices up to high-end immersive environments.

Topics
------
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
* Modeling, processing, analysis and rendering of complex geometry, structure, and behaviors
* 3D search, shape matching and indexing
* Rendering algorithms and standardization and visualization of large data sets
* Interaction methods for online 3D content
* Interactive 3D graphics for mobile devices
* Mixed and Augmented Reality (including standardization aspects)
* Agents, animated humanoids, and complex reactive characters
* Remote rendering and streaming
* Stereo and multi-view visualization of 3D graphic interfaces
* High-performance 3D graphics for distributed environments, tele-presence, tele-operation, and 3D broadcasting
* Web, multimedia and standards integration and interoperation.

Authors are also invited to submit advances in the above technologies applied to multimedia applications in:
* Automotive, Security, Transport Industries
* Life sciences and healthcare
* Geospatial modeling and digital cities
* Public sector and tourism
* Cultural heritage and E-learning.

Papers Submission Instructions
------------------------------
Authors are invited to submit full papers (up to 9 pages, including figures and references) or short papers (up to 4 pages, including figures and references) in PDF format via the SRM Submission Site.
Papers must be formatted using the document templates for conferences sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH. Upon acceptance, the final revised paper is required also in electronic form. Accepted papers and posters will appear in the Web3D 2012 Conference Proceedings, published by ACM Press.

Posters Submission Instructions
-------------------------------
For the first time, there is an invitation for submitting proposals for technical poster presentations at Web3D 2012. Poster submissions (1 page) can e.g. describe recently completed work, highly relevant results of work in progress, as well as successfully developed systems and applications.
Posters must be formatted using the document templates for conferences sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH. Upon acceptance, the final revised poster is required also in electronic form.

Submission link: srm.eg.org/SRM_WEB3D2012

Third Call for Papers: 1st International Workshop on Declarative 3D for the Web Architecture (Dec3D2012)

2012-02-07T07:42:00.000-05:00

1st International Workshop on Declarative 3D for the Web Architecture (Dec3D2012)
http://events.declarative3d.org/Dec3D2012

in conjunction with WWW2012, 21st International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2012)
16-20 April 2012, Lyon, France
http://www2012.org

Dear Colleagues,

you are invited to submit your papers to the 1st International Workshop on Declarative 3D for the Web Architecture, co-located with the WWW2012 conference. The workshop aims to encourage researchers and practitioners from both the Web and 3D graphics communities to meet and talk about an integration of interactive 3D graphics capabilities into the Web technology stack in a declarative way.

=== Topics ===

Topics of interest for the workshop include, but are not limited to, the following:

Declarative 3D Use-Cases and Requirements: Discussion of the use cases, where embedding 3D
data in HTML using declarative approach provides significant benefit; deduction of the requirements for the D3D specification.
Declarative 3D and DOM: Discussion of integration of 3D with existing and future W3C standards, specifically: integration of high-level scene concepts; integration with client and server side rendering services, 3D REST; integration with existing security aspects for content delivery and visualization; content portability and platform independence.
Declarative 3D in current web browsers: Exploring how the incorporation of declarative 3D graphics can be done in currently popular web browsers (e.g., by using WebGL in WebKit or Gecko); what are the possible difficulties?
Semantics of 3D objects in DOM: Discussion of how descriptive 3D can be combined with semantics. This includes topics such as querying and manipulation of graphical objects, mash-up from several sources, integration of RDF technology, creation of useful APIs based on web services etc.
Declarative 3D User Interface Issues: Novel interfaces and interaction methods for online 3D + HTML content; mobile 3D Web interfaces, interaction techniques; accessibility and usability of 3D Web content.

=== Submissions ===

We seek three kinds of submissions:

Full technical papers - should not exceed eight pages in length in ACM format;
Short technical papers and position papers - up to four pages in ACM format;
Demo descriptions – two-page description of the application in ACM format, ideally accompanied with a link to a demo;

Submissions must be formatted using the ACM SIG Proceedings Templates. Please note that the
author list does not need to be anonymized, as we do not follow a double-blind review
process.

Submissions will be peer reviewed by at least three independent reviewers. Accepted papers
will be presented at the workshop and included in the workshop proceedings (published online
at CEUR-WS).

Please submit papers via EasyChair at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dec3d2012

=== Important Dates ===

Submission deadline: 22nd February, 2012, 23:59 CET
Notification of acceptance: 6th March, 2012
Camera-ready versions of accepted papers: 22nd March, 2012
Workshop date: 17th April, 2012

=== Organising Committee ===

Johannes Behr, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
Don Brutzman, Naval Postgraduate School/Web3D Consortium
Ivan Herman, W3C
Jacek Jankowski, DERI Galway
Kristian Sons, DFKI

=== Programme Committee ===

Rémi Arnaud, Screampoint
Johannes Behr, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
Don Brutzman, Naval Postgraduate School/Web3D Consortium
Anita Havele, GlobalEdge/Web3D Consortium
Ivan Herman, W3C
Jacek Jankowski, DERI Galway
Yvonne Jung, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
Fabio Pittarello, Ca'Foscari University
Nicholas Polys, Virginia Tech/Web3D Consortium
Sandy Ressler, NIST
Philipp Slusallek, DFKI
Kristian Sons, DFKI
Neil Trevett, Khronos/NVidia
Krzysztof Walczak, Technical University of Poznan

For any further informations, please contact organizers via dec3d2012@easychair.org

IVF-Worldwide Live 2012: Yesha's Talk on the top 10 info technologies we need to know about? and how to deal with them?

2012-02-05T00:12:00.000-05:00

IVF-Worldwide Live 2012

In Vitro Fertilization Clinics Embracing the Digital Age

Berlin, Germany, 20-22 April 2012 Andel's Hotel

I will give a keynote at this conference connecting the top 10 trends with IVF clinics.
New audience, that is usually not so keen in new information technologies.

More details here...

The IVF-Worldwide congress will provide you with the knowledge and tools to complement your existing skill set and teach you how to...

Increase your on-line presence and visibility
Grow your practice through social media and direct-to-consumer marketing
Attract more patients to your unit by targeting select market segments
Increase your knowledge and awareness of patients' needs and priorities
Promote patient understanding and compliance
Support patients by creating online communities
Harness emerging technologies to your practice
Improve your unit's management using best in class tools and programs
Promote Education both for your team and your patients
Reduce workload and streamline processes by creating online guidelines for patients

A glimpse of speakers' presentations... More to follow

Michael M. Alper, USA
Medical Director – Boston IVF
Associate Clinical Professor of OBGYN
Harvard Medical School

Presentation Title: Maximizing the internet ability to promote your clinic and support better care.
The internet is an important way to interface with our patients and improve the patient’s experience. The value of the internet includes patient education including injection teaching, communication with the patients for the initial intake, dissemination of cycle-related medication instructions, and the ability of patients to obtain information about their current care. The value of the internet to the clinician so that he/she has instantly available information about patients is invaluable. Paper charts have significant limitations and will limit the growth potential of an infertility practice. It is also a challenge to set boundaries for patients so that electronic communication is not abused and the value of face-to-face interaction is never forgotten

Gerd Gigerenzer, Germany
Managing Director, Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition;
Director, Harding Center for Risk Literacy

Presentation Title: Fallacies in risk perception among physicians and laymen.
Efficient health care requires informed doctors and patients. The health care system inherited from the 20th century falls short on both counts. Many doctors and most patients do not understand the available medical evidence. This lack of risk literacy is due a several factors, including biased reporting in medical journals and in patient pamphlets, and the failure of medical schools and continuing education in training doctors to understanding health statistics. These flaws have generated a partially inefficient system that wastes taxpayers’ money on unnecessary or even potentially harmful tests and treatments as well as on medical research that is of limited relevance to the patient. Raising taxes or rationing care is often seen as the only viable alternative to exploding health care costs. Yet there is a third option: by promoting health literacy, better care is possible for less money. I will show how health providers and patients can be taught to deal efficiently with uncertainties.

Avi Tsafrir, Israel
Senior Physician, Reproductive Medicine, IVF unit, Dept of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Shaare-Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Presentation Title: IVF treatment instructions transmitted via the internet: a preliminary experience.
IVF treatments are ambulatory but intensive and complicated, and often based on self medication according to frequently changing instructions. When based on telephone communication, this method requires intensive labor, and is potentially inconvenient for the patient. Moreover, there is a possible risk of misinterpretation. Therefore, we developed a novel internet-based system for daily transfer of treatment orders during IVF treatments. Using a personal identification code, the patient is able to access the unit’s internet site and access her orders given on the same day. We observe that our patients and team appear to be highly satisfied with the convenience and simplicity this approach offers. Moreover, it provides a reliable record and may reduce the risk of treatment errors.

Yesha Sivan, Israel
Dr. Sivan received his doctorate from Harvard University. He is the head of the Information Systems Program at the School of Management and Economy at the Tel-Aviv-Yaffo academic college. He is also the founder of Metaverse Labs (MVL) - a leading think tank focusing on connecting virtual and real worlds. Dr. Sivan professional experience includes developing and deploying innovative solutions for corporate, hi-tech, government, and defense environments. He published in the areas of Strategy and IT, knowledge, 3D3C virtual worlds, and standards. He has taught EMBA, MBA, engineering and design in the areas of strategic value of IT, the emergence of virtual worlds, and software development in virtual worlds.

Presentation Title: The top 10 info technologies we need to know about? and how to deal with them?
Much like any other businesses and organizations, IVF units, both private and public, are facing with a constant and growing steam of new information technologies. Terms like Cloud Computing, Mobile apps, twitter, Facebook, Tablet, and Smart Computing and the link are emerging to be key factors in today new business. Embrace them on time, and win. Embrace them too early, or too late and you loose.
This engaging -- full of demos talk -- will cover the top 10 technologies, and also present NITA -- a New Information Technology Algorithm to deal with such techno-business changes.

Finset Sordal Magnus, Norway
General Manager at Medicus Fertility Centre and lecturer in digital marketing BI Norwegian Business School

Presentation Title: Building a successful digital marketing strategy - a framework
The internet is probably the most important media channel for fertility clinics trying to reach out to new patients in todays media environment. The opportunities are endless, but resources limited - where should we focus? The speaker presents a framework for how to build a successful digital marketing strategy, and touches upon topics like website development, content marketing, search engine marketing and social media

Wouter Tuil, The Netherlands
Freelance solution architect

Presentation Title: IVF patients' preferences in service design
Which services should we offer to our patients before, during and after an IVF treatment? Internet applications work particularly well if they designed for a specific user scenario. However, there is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to medical Internet applications. Some patients prefer interaction with fellow patients while others want to have direct access to treatment-data.

Talya Miron-Shatz, USA
Co-founder, CEO at CureMyWay, a company that develops a comprehensive platform enabling health-related consumers and their providers to structure the decision making process, overcome psychological barriers, and execute the decisions that were made. Talya has a Ph.D from Hebrew University, was a researcher at Princeton University and is an Associate Professor and the Founding Director of the Center for Medical Decision Making at Ono Academic College . Talya is a consumer behavior lecturer at Wharton Business School . She publishes in books and peer reviewed journals, and consulted Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Millicom, and other health and media companies. Dr. Miron-Shatz is a sought-after speaker, and her Psychology Today blog 'Baffled by Numbers' is widely read by members of the pharmaceutical industry.

Presentation Title: You're talking to me? Ensuring patient comprehension, motivation and personalization
Shared decision making is becoming increasingly prevalent, and patients are required to assume an active role in their own care, and in related decisions. Yet materials are often written so that patients don't understand them, and don't even feel invited to understand. Likewise, the meaning of medical data and statistics is often incomprehensible to patients, leading them to ask "is this good, bad, or indifferent?" I will demonstrate how this happens, and suggest various solutions for increasing patient comprehension, adherence, engagement, and a sense that the clinician is truly talking to them.

Ron King, USA
CEO of MedMarketLink – whole-brain marketing for specialty practices
A program of Vanguard Communications: Measurably Different

Presentation Title: Converting the E-Powered Patient to YOUR Patient
Today's patients spend hours on the Internet comparison shopping for health care information and physicians. Each prospective patient is judging you, the IVF specialist, long before the first appointment or even a phone call to the practice. Here’s a look at the four phases of the e-powered patient's decision making process, and how to use each phase to build new-patient volume.

Presentation Title: The Doctor as Online Teacher: Growing Your Practice through Internet Content and Conversations
Traditionally, marketing has been a one-way conversation from seller to buyer. Not anymore – especially in health care, where the patient is often in charge of the buying and selling process. Today’s health care marketing is a sophisticated, online conversation not just between providers and patients but among millions of patients. Here’s why it's no longer enough to simply present credentials to prospective patients on your practice's static website, and how you can properly join the online patient conversations already in progress.

Jonathan Pollinger, USA
Owner of Intranet Future
Social Media Consultant

Presentation Title: How to use social media to improve your business
The lecture will discuss in length the following topics: Social media overview. The value of social media vs. traditional marketing. Overview and optimal set up for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ Social media strategy and objectives using it for marketing and internal comms/collaboration. Social media case studies including examples from the scientific community. How to use key social media tools eg Tweet Deck. Overall measuring success.

Alexandra Futeral, Germany
Web marketing and users experience strategist at medicalsafari.com.
Alexandra Futeral holds MBA in International Management as well as a diploma in Social Media from the University of San Francisco. Over the last 15 years, she has gained strong expertise in sales & marketing activities in different business environments. Being a current IVF patient herself, she was confronted with a practical problem of collecting as much information as possible about this new life challenge in order to put the best success factors on her side.

Presentation Title: A real patient's experience: Summary of international best practices in ART web communication
This presentation will give an overview of international best practices in ART web communication through the eyes of a real patient who also works in the field of internet marketing.
Alexandra Futeral has thoroughly analyzed more than 60 ART centers' websites worldwide and will give her impressions as a current IVF patient as well as a professional expert in web communication.
She will highlight some of the marketing techniques that will make users click on a page

Annemijn Aarts, The Netherlands
MD and PhD student reproductive medicine, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center,
The Netherlands

Presentation Title: Identifying barriers and facilitators for the implementation of virtual infertility communities.
The study examined men and women in three Dutch fertility clinics where a subscription is available to an online community in which the clinicians provide online information and patients can pose questions to the medical team, or share experiences and find support from peers. The results show that two strategies are needed to increase the proportion of patient subscribers and consequently make them active participants. First, the ‘marketing’ strategy should contain information tailored to different subgroups of the patient population. Second, for a ‘living’ virtual infertility community, incorporating social media, as well as frequent news from clinicians are required.

Veronica Montgomery, UK
Marketing Manager, Barbados Fertility Centre

Veronica has over 23 years experience working in media and marketing in London, UK. Veronica started her career in publishing, working for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). Veronica was a Director for Kingsway Advertising in London who specialized in health and represented the majority of NHS Trust hospitals across the UK. For the last 8 years Veronica has enjoyed the challenge of marketing Barbados Fertility Centre as a centre of excellence for IVF.

Presentation Title: Engaging prospective patients through direct to consumer marketing
Notable highlights of the presentation are the use of social media, interactive TV, augmented reality and The Fertility App.The presentation gives a background to Barbados Fertility Centre, our key selling points to convey to prospective patients, a case study with our use of social media, Facebook, google paid search, twitter etc, engaging the patients with interactive TV, our use of augmented reality on our exhibitions stands, and our global market presence with the Fertility App in the app store.

For more details about registration please write to us at: IVFLive2012@comtecmed

http://comtecmed.com/ivf-live/2012/

[JVWR] CFP issue on Managerial and Commercial Applications of Virtual Worlds

2012-01-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

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Relaxing after a successful business deal

	The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org/) is happy to announce the call for this "Managerial and Commercial Applications" issue edited by Shu Schiller, Wright State University, USA Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University, USA Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA You can access this call directly through our website. The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds research. Virtual worlds ignite a continuously evolving area of study that spans multiple disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly research. Motivation and Scope The intriguing potential of virtual worlds has attracted a significant amount of scholarly work in the business research domain. As much as we recognize the invaluable contribution made by scholars in this area, we also see the need for more research that can offer visionary perspectives to shape the future design and use of virtual worlds. Through the business lens, virtual worlds are often perceived to be promising yet risky and exciting yet formidable for the use and management of individual and collaborative work. Scholars and practitioners are confronted with an apparent contradiction: on the one hand, the business case for virtual worlds appears to offer great promise; while on the other hand, the observed returns and demonstrable successes are often absent or negligible. This special issue on “managerial and commercial applications” of virtual worlds aims to highlight research that makes a significant and novel contribution in theory and practice about virtual worlds in the business domain. We are seeking papers that showcase new directions for research by examining technical, behavioral, economic, and/or social perspectives of virtual worlds in organizational and business environments. In particular, we are interested in papers that enable us to better understand managerial and organizational issues associated with virtual worlds and how these environments should be designed, used, and managed for commercial and managerial purposes to enhance business value. We especially welcome innovative and creative research that enables our audience to see the new possibilities offered by the unique affordances of virtual environments. Authors are invited to submit original scholarly manuscripts that will make significant contributions to the advancement of our understanding of managerial and commercial applications as it applies to virtual worlds. We encouragediverse methodological approaches and welcome both qualitative and quantitative research studies, as well as theoretical, conceptual, and empirical studies. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: Novel and innovative design and development of managerial and commercial applications of virtual worlds The use, management, and evaluation of virtual worlds in organizational settings Individual and group behaviors in virtual worlds that are used for business purposes Process and governance of individual and collaborative group behaviors and mechanisms in virtual worlds The role of psychological and social attitudes and characteristics on behaviors, processes and outcomes in virtual worlds Ethics, privacy, security, and trust issues related to virtual worlds in the business domain Intra- and inter-organizational communication and collaboration and cultural issues in virtual worlds Business and economic models of virtual worlds Power and political issues related to individual, group, organizational, and societal behaviors in virtual worlds Commercial applications and commercialization of virtual worlds technologies and environments Submission Instructions Authors are invited to submit original scholarly papers of up to 6000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. Interested authors should submit a two-page extended abstract by the deadline indicated below. All submissions (abstracts and papers) should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwreserach.org > About JVWR > For Authors). All submissions will be blind reviewed. Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 5, Number 3 (2012) of the Journal. Deadlines and Timeline Authors submit abstract: May 15, 2012 Editors return comments on abstracts: May 30, 2012 Authors submit full paper: July 1, 2012 Editors return review report and initial decision:September 1, 2012 Authors submit revised paper: October 1, 2012 Editors return final comments and decision:November 1, 2012 Authors submit final version: November 30, 2012 Publication: December 31, 2012 Connecting with AIS AMCIS 2012 Interested authors are welcome but not required to submit papers to the 'Virtual Communities and Virtual Worlds' Track at AMCIS 2012 (link below). This is a good opportunity to receive feedback and comments to enhance your paper. http://amcis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/program/tracks-and-minitracks/68 Please contact Shu Schiller shu.schiller AT wright DOT edu Brian Mennecke mennecke AT iastate DOT edu Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah fnah AT unlnotes DOT unl DOT edu

Video: Tesco: Homeplus Subway Virtual Store

2012-01-14T13:55:00.001-05:00

Connecting the real and the virtual via on-line shopping.

[JVWR] Virtual Worlds MPEG-V and Other Standards: New Issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

2011-12-29T16:10:00.001-05:00

We are happy to announce the publication of:
Volume 4, Number 3: MPEG-V and Other Standards

The editorial team for this issue includes:

Jean H.A. Gelissen, Philips Research, Netherlands
Marius Preda, Insitut TELECOM, France
Samuel Cruz-Lara, LORIA (UMR 7503) / University of Lorraine, France
Yesha Sivan, Metaverse Labs and the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel

This issue focuses on standards for virtual worlds, with special relation to MPEG-V, the ISO standard for connecting within virtual worlds as well as to real worlds.

Managing Editor’s Corner: Celebrating Four Years and Planning for the Next
Yesha Y. Sivan
Issue Editors' Corner: The Current and Future Angles of Standards
Jean H.A. Gelissen, Marius Preda, Samuel Cruz-Lara, Yesha Y. Sivan
The Metaverse1 Case: Historical Review of Making One Virtual Worlds Standard (MPEG-V)
Jean H.A. Gelissen, Yesha Y. Sivan
Standards in Virtual Worlds Virtual Travel Use Case Metaverse1 Project
José Manuel Cabello, José María Franco, Antonio Collado, Jordi Janer, Samuel Cruz-Lara, David Oyarzun, Albert Armisen, Roland Geraerts
Teleportation of Objects between Virtual Worlds: Use Case: Exer-gaming
Marco Otte, Loren Roosendaal, Johan F. Hoorn
Assistive Technology Interoperability between Virtual and Real Worlds
Alice Krueger, Margaret Grace Stineman
Associating Automatic Natural Language Processing to Serious Games and Virtual Worlds
Treveur Bretaudière, Samuel Cruz-Lara, Lina María Rojas Barahona
Improving Reusability of Assets for Virtual Worlds while Preserving 3D Formats Features
Rozenn Bouville Berthelot, Thierry Duval, Jérôme Royan, Bruno Arnaldi
Virtual Hybrid Communications – A Telecom Infrastructure for the Metaverse
Vincent Verdot, Adel Saidi
Modeling the Metaverse: A Theoretical Model of Effective Team Collaboration in 3D Virtual Environments
Sarah van der Land, Alexander P. Schouten, Bart van den Hooff, Frans Feldberg

Let me conclude with few editorial notes.

We were joined by Tzafnat Shpak as the Coordinating Editor (she is on the Reply line)
We have started to fine tune our reviewers list.
We have an initial journal plan for the next two years with firm editors to 50% of the issues.
We have started to review our publishing policy for 2012.
Join us in our Facebook page: look for Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

Wishing you all Happy Holidays,

Tzafnat Shpak

Coordinating Editor
Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

Dr.Yesha Y. Sivan

Managing Editor

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

13-Dec-2011: The University of Hong Kong: Identity 3D3C: Confronting the Security and Privacy, Challenges in Virtual Worlds

2011-12-02T05:51:00.001-05:00

                          ** Seminar **

     Department of Computer Science
       The University of Hong Kong
___________________________________________________________________

Title:       Identity 3D3C: Confronting the Security and Privacy
             Challenges in Virtual Worlds

Speaker:     Dr Yesha Sivan
             Head of Information Systems Program
             School of Management and Economy
             Tel-Aviv-Yaffo Academic College

Date & Time: December 13, 2011, Tuesday, 2:00pm

Venue:       Room 313, Chow Yei Ching Building,
             The University of Hong Kong


Abstract:

Virtual worlds are an emerging medium that is constantly creeping into 
the enterprise. Following the huge success of such gaming worlds as 
World of Warcraft, The Sims, and others, terms like 3D, avatars, chat, 
and real money are rising from the marketing department, operations, and 
product development. The drive to save travel costs and the need to gain 
new customers and retain current ones push this trend even further.  To 
distance virtual worlds from the gaming worlds, coined the term “3D3C,” 
to indicate that a real virtual world is an aggregate of four factors 
(3D, Community, Creation, and Commerce).
Initial enterprise uses of virtual worlds include collab¬oration 
(internally and externally), product design and feedback, marketing of 
products, participation in virtual shows and exhibitions, and — with 
growing intensity — general experimentation. But while virtual worlds 
present new business opportunities, they also pose new IT threats:
• For faster access, virtual worlds use different ports and protocols
  than Web sites and thus present firewall issues.
• Some worlds allow code to run in them, which raises the risks of
  malicious code.
• When customers “chat” with an enterprise rep, they may reveal private
  information. Who stores this information, and how?
• Some worlds allow video to be broadcast inside the world. Cameras
  left on can transmit to the outside world.
• Your brand and corporate image can spread virtually. Who will protect
  it?
The security and privacy issues raised by virtual worlds revolve around 
one key factor: identity. Over the last few years, I have been fortunate 
enough to initiate and participate in several efforts to develop 
standards for 3D3C virtual worlds. Repeatedly during these efforts, 
terms like privacy, authentication, trust, rights, tracking, security, 
and other related terms came up as a necessary core to virtual worlds. 
For the sake of brevity, my colleagues and I chose “identity” as the 
term to mark these related terms.
The talk will start with  these challenge as a starting point : Security 
of Audience, Anonymity, Virtual Goods, and Scams.
We will conclude with a discussion on a broad research agenda in the field.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Yesha Sivan is the head of the Information Systems Program 
(http://is.mta.ac.il) at the School of Management and Economy at the 
Tel-Aviv-Yaffo academic college (http://www.mta.ac.il). He is also the 
founder of Metaverse Labs (MVL) - a leading think tank focusing on 
connecting virtual and real worlds. Dr. Sivan professional experience 
includes developing and deploying innovative solutions for corporate, 
hi-tech, government, and defense environments (see for example: the 
Harvard 9-Keys for Knowledge Infrastructure). He published numerous 
papers in the areas of Strategy and IT, knowledge, 3D3C virtual worlds, 
and standards. Dr. Sivan received his doctorate from Harvard University. 
His avatar is Dera Kit, and his blog ishttp://www.dryesha.com. He has 
taught EMBA, MBA, engineering and design in the areas of strategic value 
of IT, the emergence of virtual worlds, and software development in 
virtual worlds.


All are Welcome!
Tel: 2859 2180 for enquiries
http://www.cs.hku.hk/seminars/

05-Dec-2011: JVWR @ ICIS 2011. The Journal of Virtual World Research will host: VW for Learning: The IBM China Perspective

2011-11-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

As part of our outreach work, the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research will host a morning get-together at the ICIS Shanghai Conference. Meeting will occur on :

Monday Dec 5th: 7:30 AM-8:30 AM 5F
Shanghai International Convention Center

This meeting is hosted by the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org/). The managing editor (Dr. Yesha Sivan) will open with a short review on the field, and the Journal. We will then turn to members to discuss publication and editorship opportunities. We will then to hear new focus and insights.

Chair: Dr. Yesha Sivan, managing editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. Tel Aviv, Israel.
Special guest will be Yiqing (Anthony) He, Senior Learning Specialist - Manager, IBM Center for Advanced Learning. Beijing, China.
Discussant: Marco De Marco, on building a new discipline. Professor of organization and information systems Università Guglielmo Marconi, Roma, Italy.

Abstract
Virtual Worlds for Learning: The IBM China Perspective

IBM has officially debuted on the virtual worlds business since 2007, and ever since learning has been one of the mainstream applications of virtual worlds inside IBM. With the advancement of some newly emerged 3D virtual world platforms, we believe it could mean a perfect storm for learning by leveraging on the virtual worlds and social computing technologies.

In order to provide the thought leadership and develop best practices for learning within a virtual social environment, IBM 3D Immersive Learning Center of Excellence (3DIL CoE) was formed in 2008. Built upon the abundant collective experience from both internal and external teams who have engaged in virtual world learning, the IBM 3DIL CoE has developed some reusable assets and templates for designing and developing learning programs, activities, and events.

Different countries may have different adoption level of learning within a virtual social environment. The comparatively poor bandwidth conditions and low configuration of laptop are the top two reasons that keep some employees from India and China away from such innovative learning opportunities.

Despite the technical constraints, business owners in IBM China have embraced the virtual world learning with great enthusiasm. So far it has been piloted in pillars such as professional development, technical development, and even leadership training courses. The format of the application ranges from smart workplace, business simulation, collaborative learning, new employee orientation, speed mentoring, posters session, and events such as virtual world graduation ceremony.

About Yi Qing He
Yiqing He (Yiqing Hereter, SL) is a senior learning designer and developer with the 3D Immersive Learning CoE. He is responsible for designing and developing reusable learning assets, coaching and enabling best practices, and leading the business transformation with 3D virtual world learning in IBM.

Yiqing has diverse and seasoned experience in designing and developing technology-enhanced learning products, ranging from digital textbook, interactive learning games, simple e-learning courses, to college-wide curriculum design, LMS implementation, and LCMS solution design and development. Prior to joining IBM, Yiqing worked with many multinational teams and corporations in the e-learning industry. The most successful project he led was a $4 million project co-sponsored by US Department of Education and China Ministry of Education, with 15 team members working for 2.5 years.

Yiqing was hired by IBM in early 2008 into the GCG HR Learning team as an advisory learning specialist. Beginning October of that year, he joined IBM Center for Advanced Learning and became one of the core members of the 3D Immersive Learning CoE. Yiqing quickly adopted the design skills for 3D virtual world learning, and successfully led several pilot products in both Active Worlds and Second Life platforms, including Blue Pathway, G100 Club, Blue Team Beyond Boundaries, and IBM Learning Center Island. Yiqing has also evangelized about best practices on 3D virtual world learning to more than three thousand IBMers, including GCG HR Learning facilitators, ISC DE mentors and mentees, ISSC ADM Sharenet participants, and GCG technical group Sharenet participants.

Nov 8-10, 2011: 100 Free Invites to W3C Global Social Jam Virtual Conference (with IBM)

2011-11-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

Register to participate at: http://www.w3.org/2011/socialbusiness-jam/

This is a cool opportunity to learn about Social Business, get to know people from all over the world
and participate in the famous IBM Jam engine. (For those who are more interested in Jam -- see Harvard Business item on Value Jam (BTW, I will be hosting part of the jam for few hrs on the 9th, follow the plan).

The W3C Social Business Jam is an online conversation among an international group of leaders from business, government and academia about the current state of social business and the future role social technologies can play in improving the bottom line for companies.

* What does it mean to have a social network in the organization?
* Shell I allow my employees to use Facebook in work?
* My clients already "check-in" into my site every time they come to get service?
* Can I use my internal network with my clients?
* What are some of the circles I should worry about (Employees, Alums, customers, partners, suppliers, etc)

The Jam should produce a better understanding for participants on how businesses are using social technologies and the challenges they face integrating the technologies into their existing environments. Participants can interact with a variety of experts on six different topics around social business and are encouraged to ask questions and state their opinions as these topics are discussed.

The Jam transcends time zones and geographic boundaries by using an online discussion format available 24 hours day from virtually any browser.

Learn more about the Jam, see the special guests and hosts leading the discussions, and register to participate at: http://www.w3.org/2011/socialbusiness-jam/

More About IBM's Jam:

Since 2001, IBM has used jams to involve its more than 300,000 employees around the world in far-reaching exploration and problem-solving. ValuesJam in 2003 gave IBM's workforce the opportunity to redefine the core IBM values for the first time in nearly 100 years. During IBM's 2006 Innovation JamTM - the largest IBM online brainstorming session ever held - IBM brought together more than 150,000 people from 104 countries and 67 companies. As a result, 10 new IBM businesses were launched with seed investment totaling $100 million.

Jams are not restricted to business. Their methods, tools and technology can also be applied to social issues. In 2005, over three days, the Government of Canada, UN-HABITAT and IBM hosted Habitat Jam. Tens of thousands of participants - from urban specialists, to government leaders, to residents from cities around the world - discussed issues of urban sustainability. Their ideas shaped the agenda for the UN World Urban Forum, held in June 2006. People from 158 countries registered for the jam and shared their ideas for action to improve the environment, health, safety and quality of life in the world's burgeoning cities.

26-Oct-2011: Metaverse1 project received the Silver 2011 ITEA2 Outstanding Achievement Award

2011-10-26T09:28:00.000-05:00

Today the Metaverse1 project received the Silver 2011 ITEA2 Outstanding Achievement Award at the ITEA2 / Artemis co-summit in Helsinki ... after my plenary project presentation I accepted the award on behalf of all of you ... the work package leaders will receive (by surface mail) an engraved silver medal and accompanying document as well ... this was the last formal action / event of our project and a very good achievement as there were some 15 candidate projects!!!

Once again, many thanks to all of you for all your support in this very challenging and successful project!!

http://www.metaverse1.org/2011/10/metaverse1-project-recieived-silver.html

Oct 25: HTML5Fest (Israel, Hebrew)

2011-10-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

I will be the Chairperson of the Israeli HTML5Fest conference.

See full details here. (Discount code: ufwq9)

משרד ה-W3C הישראלי (הפועל תחת איגוד האינטרנט הישראלי) מקיים כנס שנתי לקהילת הווב הישראלית, בהשתתפות מפתחי הווב המובילים בישראל ונציגי W3C העולמי.

בכנס שלושה מושבים מקבילים:

Mobile Web - מושב המיועד למפתחים העוסקים בפיתוח אפליקציות ווביות למכשירים ניידים (יושב ראש המושב - אייל רשף, IMA)
Browser & Desktop Apps - מושב המיועד למפתחים העוסקים בפיתוח אפליקציות ווביות ואינטראקציה מתקדמת ל'מסכי שולחן עבודה' (יושב ראש המושב - זוהר ארד, עצמאי).
אינטרנט ציבורי וממשלתי - מושב המיעוד לאנשי תוכן וטכנולוגיה ממוסדות שלטון מקומי ומהממשלה (יושב ראש המושב - שוקי פלג, איגוד האינטרנט הישראלי).

יושב ראש הכנס: ד"ר ישע סיון, חבר הנהלת איגוד האינטרנט הישראלי וראש התוכנית למערכות מידע, המכללה האקדמית תל-אביב יפו.

במהלך הכנס יוכרזו הזוכים בתחרות האפליקציות HTML5FEST app contest.

כל הפרטים באתר הכנס: http://www.w3c.org.il/HTML5fest/