Colin J. Parris, Ph.D., VP, Digital Convergence, IBM Research/RAW NOTES

Under his leadership IBM has formed an emerging business born from the IBM Innovation Jam around emerging technologies and virtual worlds. Join Colin to hear how IBM has been experimenting in virtual worlds for business in three key areas: virtual commerce and work with clients to apply virtual world to business problems; driving new kinds of collaboration and education; and experimentation in pushing the limits with a broad community on what might be possible in virtual worlds.



  • Some say we are on the cusp of a big change, I say we are in it

  • It is a about people collaboration and innovation

  • working as a board community, we can make these virtual worlds truly fit for business and society


  • Two Core Potential Elements

    • Accelerating Large Scale Collaborative Innovation

    • Accelerating Learning and Growth Capabilities of Individuals and Teams



  • External Collaboration is the key to innovation

  • The collective passion of a specified skill group

  • The personal enthusiasm of an open source network is priceless


  • Early Virtual Business Applications

    •  Commerce

    • Education and training

    • Coordination and innovation



  • Virtual Worlds will have a huge impact on the web as we know it

  • It useful to remember the early days of the web



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A Virtual Worlds Road Map - where is it all going/RAW NOTES (VM2007)

Disclaimer- This is done live and is posted without editing. I cannot be held accountable for typos and misquotes


Accurately reading the tea leaves for tomorrow is sometimes more art than science. Hear from the experts what demographic trends are emerging and what to expect for the rest of 2007 and beyond. A look at established and emerging platforms coming to market or having recently entered the marketplace.  This lecture will speak from experience in how to take advantage of opportunities inherent in new platforms.
Jerry Paffendorf, Resident Futurist, The Electric Sheep Company
Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us
Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer, & Marketing Director
  The Multiverse Network (moderator)
Mark Wallace, Journalist, 3pointD.com
John Donham, VP Production, Areae Inc.


 Near Term Trends




  • Mark

    • Development of new social virtual worlds

    • Fragmentation of the space

    • People are starting to get the idea that this can be used a business tool

    • It's nice to see all this attention but you have to wonder whether or not this is "dumb money"

    • Great to look at is as an experiment but not sure it is at the point of mission critical

    • Potentially a lot of fall off




  • Jerry

    • Disagree's with Mark, "nothing has even started yet"

    • Virtual Worlds are the direct sister of the gaming industry

    • Its gotta be all growth right now



  • Mark Rebutts :) (this is getting good)


  • Reuben

    • Fairly certain that all predictions on this panel will be wrong


    • Themes

      • Certain of.....over the next 2 years we will all work out what formula works well

      • Social versus Entertainment

      • 2d versus 3d

      • Control Versus Chaos

      • PG vs. Mature

      • Role play vs. Extension

      • Hybrid vs. Dedicated

      • Consumer vs. Enterprise

      • Proprietary versus Standards






  • John


    • What is the base form of UGC?

      • It is no wonder Flickr does a great job

      • It starts from being fun, what is the engaging experience






  • Mark

    • Flickr as identity creation tool




  • Reuben

    • My concern is that there is going to be a tide of people who say, "this is a great early model but, this is not going to be what takes off" (rough quote, sorry Reuben)

    • We should all be aware that ordinary mainstream people are doing very sophisticated thing with things like Second life





  • "The Opportunity is larger that just UGC" Bridges

  • "UGC is great because it is access to do it" Paffendorf

  • "Vastly accelerates innovations" Paffendorf

  • "Call me when the crowd makes Titanic: Steiger

  • "From a user prospective it provides a great discovery process" Steiger

  • "If you broaded the view you can make 3d spaces very sticky" Wallace

  • "3d is kind of a red herring" Donham

  • "I can turn my back on you in a 3d space" Wallace


(minor chaos break)



  • "Now we are living in this global online world" Paffendorf

  • Virtual worlds as democratizing tool

  • Question from Flipper- "It is freedom to create not chaos"

  • Flipper P. "Can you get naked in mulitverse?"


(Flipper you are the man! :) )



  • "There are different uses for virtual worlds" Bridges

  • "There are definitely competitors to second life" Paffeendorf

  • "This thing is speeding up and it is daunting" Steiger in reference to SL growth

  • Google is to be filled with avatars and imagination- Paffendorf

  • "Externalize your imagination" Paffendorf

  • "There are a lot of short term, two three year worries, taxation, gambling" Steiger

  • "There is some interesting hopeful outcomes" Steiger

  • "I am pretty sure that we as individuals will gain more and more control of information about ourselves" Wallace

  • Bridges speaks about "Mouse Potatoes" and how he does not see that as a negative thing

  • You can already see the pieces in place" Wallace

  • How closely are these little corners of the metaverse going to be fit together" Wallace



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Virtual World Consumer Behaviors and The Evolution of Social Networking - How to Plan for it./RAW NOTES

Are virtual world consumers trend setters?  Are they early adopters?  Understand the demographics of virtual world participants so you can plan your presence accordingly.  What do they respond well to?  How do you communicate your efforts... from launch to day-to-day management... understand the "in's" and "out's" of your audience. Are virtual worlds the MySpace-killers?
- Jeska Dzwigalski, Community Developer, Linden Lab
- Betsy Book, Director of Product Management, Makena Technologies
- Teemu Huuhtanen, President, North America & EVP Business.
   Development., Sulake Corp. Ltd.
- Linda Zimmer, President & CEO, MarCom:interactive
- Ren Reynolds, TerraNova (Moderator)


Teemu



  • Habbo Hotel

  • 500 people in 19 countries at Sulake

  • Self Expression

  • 4 areas, Habbo Hotel, Habbo Homepage (dynamically linked to the virtual world), games, frontpages

  • Who wants to be a Habbonaire :)

  • 50/50 boys and girls


Betsy



  • There.com and VLB, The Hills and Pimp My Ride

  • There is much like the other worlds mentioned today, a social experience based around community

  • Makena's mission, give users experience to extend their real social lives

  • Interplay between virtual and real life

  • All items are reviewed before they go in world as the world is 13 and up

  • Copyright protection

  • 50/50 male, female- Over time they are beginning to skew more female

  • Average age is 22

  • 2007 selectively introducing brands into There

  • Brand Centric Affinity groups happening organically


Linda



  • The virtual consumer

  • You must engage

  • Our social networks are evolving

  • There is evidence that we are re-tribalising

  • Virtual Worlds As "Third Places"


  • Virtual Worlds Propose unique marketing issues

    • A place away from home you can gather and socialize, similiar to what Starbucks is doing

    • Augmentalist vs. Immersionalist

    • VW Immersion vs. RW action



  • How does the virtual translate to the real

  • Co-Creating real world products was the number one thing that people wished to do with brands in world



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Case Study - Sundance Film Channel/RAW NOTES

Case Study - Sundance Film Channel
Christopher Barry, VP, Digital Media and Business Strategy, Sundance Channel




  • How we got in...

    • connect with users in a new way

    • many of the films play in arthouse's in major cities, this extended their reach

    • Provided the unexpected. shining the spotlight on new voices.



  • Created two characters (vincent and maya) that have blogs in and out of world, they have email addresses's and can be contacted

  • 2 Media Lounges at the island (VOD)

  • Blog documenting the entire process

  • "Four Eyed Monsters"- 300 simultaneous video streams

  • 9 part short film fest

  • Screening of webisodes in world and prompt discussions

  • On air throws for in world events

  • There is a thriving community looking for professional content

  • "It is kind of fun having to check your avatars email"

  • If your brand is all about control then it is probably not for you

  • New ways to tell stories


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Technologies/RAW NOTES

Disclaimer: My battery is dying and I have a client call so I am going to have cut out early :(
Alas, I died, will write something later tonight


This session will examine the new technologies and platforms. Speakers will discuss the alternatives that are available for the various platforms. The virtual worlds medium offers unique complexities including interactivity, immersion, scalability and intense user involvement.  New technologies now leverage those elements. New and emerging platforms will also be discussed.
-Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer, & Marketing Director
 The Multiverse Network
-Jerry Paffendorf, Futurist, Electric Sheep Company (moderator)
-John Bates, Evangelist, Entropia Universe
-Joe Miller, Vice President, Platform & Technology Development,
  Linden Lab
-Rick Giolito, President, Trilogy Studios


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  Keynote - Viacom's MTV Networks and Nickelodeon/RAW NOTES

 Matt Bostwick, SVP, Franchise Development, MTV Music Group
 Jeffrey B. Yapp, Executive VP, MTV Networks
Steve Youngwood, Executive VP, Digital Media, Nickelodeon



Viacom has emerged as one of the new media leaders combining television, 2D web and 3D virtual communities in one integrated system. Virtual Laguna Beach to Nickelodeon’s Nicktropolis, Viacom is helping define the next-generation media and advertising models. Virtual worlds allow media and entertainment innovators unprecedented new ways to engage consumers with the franchises they’ve enjoyed in front of their television screens.


Yapp



  • "The convergence between linear programming and user generated content"

  • "Watch TV, Live TV"

  • "When viewers are engaged a deeper level, you can bet they are engaged with you brand"

  • "Branded content that our audience wants to engage with"

  • "How they will engage in a virtual world is how they will engage in real world"

  • Mention of Joost- people have come to expect more from TV

  • "Media does not replace media"

  • The convergence of TV and virtual worlds allows for personalization and customization

  • Second Life and There are just the tip of iceberg

  • The true power of Virtual Worlds will be realized when consumers turn from passive to active users

  • In virtual worlds, users decide what is cool and control brand messages

  • 99% of the brands are exposed to brands that enter VLB


Matt



  • "I am not smart enough for this business"

  • How do you take consumers deeper than you ever have before; Passion, lifestyle, community

  • "This thing is moving faster than anyone imagined"

  • People are living completely separate lives online

  • 4D TV = TV+3D

  • "Its like walking through the TV screen...its an opening experience"

  • "Social Networking on steroids"

  • People Begin the content

  • Adding guilds where users can become specialists, DJ etc

  • In world e-commerce- You can buy it in VLB and then in Real life

  • how do you take people who know nothing about virtual worlds and bring them into this type of experience

  • Not just going broad but going deep, engagement

  • Interact and talk about brand

  • 4D branding

  • Virtual Pimp My Ride

  • Virtual Logo- A world created from the ground up by the community

  • "one world my avatar"


Steve



  • The social networking medium for the youth demographics

  • It is not a solitary experience

  • Needs to be user driven

  • Has to have a baseline of professionally crafted experience

  • the economy has to work for it to feel real

  • Dual Revenue stream

  • The average person spends 3 hours on Neopets

  • Multiple lands with stories

  • Neopian Times which is written by the community

  • Nicktropolis- The first to have a virtual worlds for kids

  • Virtual Playground


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Virtual Worlds Conference 2007- Morning Session/RAW NOTES

Welcome
- Christopher V. Sherman, Executive Director, Virtual Worlds Conference



  • "We are at the beginning of something big"


Introduction
 - Philip Rosedale, Founder and CEO, Linden Lab



  • "We probably won't crash" (Philip joke about all of us being able to hear him :) )


  • Who would be if you could be anyone..."Me"

    •    If pressed on the question he said he would be Richard Feinman



  • "The atomic details of the world are very fine grained"

  • "There is something magical that is in these machines"

  • Virtual Reality as space exploration, inner space

  • "We dreamed we could become something new....a place where anything can happen"

  • "Space is cold inhospitable and mostly empty"

  • "When we started working on Second Life we though of it more of a physics code'

  • "The most important thing about virtual worlds has to do with people"

  • Virtual Worlds value proposition is not that it is 3D per se, it is that it enables you to do thing with other people. We can be there together. We can make things together. We can do all the things that people wanted to do on the web at its inception

  • "Virtual Worlds fundamentally change the nature of who we are"

  • "We are still early in this"


Trends and Numbers - where is it all going
This session lays the groundwork giving you the numbers you need to understand how to take advantage of Virtual Worlds today.  We'll also look at forecasts for where Virtual Worlds are going. What are the growth projections?  And what are the factors that will promote or inhibit growth.
 - Chris Collins, Business Analyst, Linden Lab
- Sibley Verbeck, CEO, The Electric Sheep Company
- Joe Laszlo, Analyst, Jupiterkagan
- Steve Prentice, Distinguished Analyst & Chief of Research, Gartner
- Justin Bovington, CEO, Rivers Run Red
- Daniel Terdiman, Senior Writer, CNET News.com(moderator)
 



  • "We are at a point of still be extraordinarily undefined" Verbeck

  • "The interest level is very and we all have a lot of questions"

  • "We are just at the point where Virtual Worlds are being defined as their own medium" Bovington

  • "We are pretty much where the internet was in the mid 90's" Collins

  • "There was only one internet, there are multiple virtual worlds"

  • we are getting to the time when companies are actually interested in performing their business models through virtual worlds- Verbeck

  • "How do we use this medium to drive actual business model" Verbeck

  • Co- Collaboration and Co-Design

  • Second Life as a great way to create additional content

  • Podcasts and Videopodcasts from within virtual worlds

  • Verbeck speaks about the importance of simpler virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Webkinz etc.

  • "Virtual Community as high performance work place"


  • What is the ROI?

    • With the money Adidas spent in SL they would get an average 6 minutes user attention. On SL we they got 11- Bovington

    • How long are users engaged



  • Second Life is a great catalyst- All of the activity does not happen in world. Much of it happens as a result buzz

  • Why VLB leveraged There?

  • "We need more platforms out there, we need more competition" Bovington


Comment from (CEO??) of  Whyville- This is all very Second Life-centric and it is a disservice to the audience


Spurred on a conversation about platforms, MySpace as the largest virtual worlds?


Are we at the beginning of the next gold or are the only people going to make money the ones selling pick axes to the gold miners


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Virtual Worlds 2007 Is Here!


I will tell you now, if you are not interested in Virtual Worlds you need not read this blog for the next two days (well, if you are not interested in Virtual Worlds and are in the interactive marketing industry, you should probably start thinking about getting into virtual worlds or, you can always learn how to say, "Would you like fries with that?" :)


 I was at an affair last night which was like a who's who of Virtual Worlds. Philip Rosedale himself was  hanging out along with many others. This promises to be a great few days!


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Social Networking 2.M

Mobile has been a hot topic for quite a while now. To be honest, while I have adopted many mobile functions in my personal life, I still have not found a way to efficiently integrate mobile into a campaign that I am working on. Perhaps it is due to the direct nature of business here at Morpheus but I simply have not gotten Mobile to work like so many other channels we employ.


What I do see as a burgeoning mobile experience with great opportunity for, not only geek's like me but, marketers as well, is the social aspect of the mobile arena.


I may not consume a tremendous amount of mainstream content on my phone but I certainly tweet a lot (twitter). If some of my social mobile activities were subsidized by advertisers, I may be fine with that. Furthermore, if value in the form of relevant advertising were presented to me, I would mind even less.


In a press release today mobile content provider, Mobileplay announced the release of eXpress It. It is described in the release as the following:




a social networking service for cell phone users which
allows them to create and share personal mobile web
pages as easily as sending an email.

The free, advertising-supported community allows users, regardless of technical ability,
to create mobile web pages for themselves or to share them with others
simply by sending an email or an MMS picture message to their own phone number.


I am downloading the software while I type. 

I should have some personal feedback later in the day (who am I kidding, it will take a few days :) )



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Social Media Convergence

Social Media convergence is something that I have been talking about for some time. Of course, one step (or a few steps :) ) ahead of me (as always) is Mark Wallace of 3pointD.


Side Note: He is one of my top tens favorite bloggers. I do not have a top ten listed in order but, I know who they are and as of late Mark has moved into my top ten so, you probably should be reading him.


I will be speaking with him at Podcamp NYC on topics related to Social Media Convergence. I came across this slide on his blog today and had to share it:





Lucky for me, "The Metaverse" grows in brooklyn.



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Winter Music Conference Here I Come/Habersham Sound Theory

Those of you who know me may know that I have been working with a company called Resonant Vibes. They are doing some really cutting edge things in the electronic music space and I am headed down to Miami to help promote (and do a little bit of partying :) ) a new initiative they are working on.


Whether or not you are a fan of electronic music I recommend taking a look at this promotion as it is indicative of the type of forward thinking initiatives that can only exist in a digital/mash-up culture. I will not go into detail about the promotion as it is layed out quite well on the site.


If you are a music marketer (or any type of marketer for that matter) I would head over to the RV Site


If you are looking for me, I will be in South Beach...see you there!






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Nokia Knows How To Be Social



In addition to the promise of a really great product (the N95) with all the fixin's you would expect from a modern cell phone (including an advanced GPS navigation and mapping service), nokia has created a great little microsite to promote this new product (I have to admit that I am catching a plane in a bit and have not had a chance to fact check. This site may not be new, it may just be new to me)


First of all, it is outfitted with everything essential, Digg, Del.icio.us, send to friend etc (why does everyone not do this by default at this point)


Nokia has also uploaded photos to Flickr and has call outs on what to search for. I have not yet fully explored the site but I am sure there are other little gems in there.


Finally, the video is a great, inviting little vignette.



One note: does anyone find the tag line a bit phallic?



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Scent Of An Avatar


With the aid of Justin Bovington's River Runs Red Calvin Klein has brought it's new scent, IN2U to Second Life.


"Avatar's cannot smell" you say? Well, with the new SL with voice client, who knows what they will be able to do in the future :)


I have not yet had a chance to look at the in-world execution but so far CK seems to doing a lot of things right. Whenever I see long form branded content I get excited and when i went to the CKIN2U site, I got excited.


I am going to do a bit more digging on this one, I will definitely follow up on this campaign.



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Lovemarks On Penny's

Charming little vignettes- Yes


Tidbits of Americana and American Cinema-- Sure


Influential-- Maybe


Unique- hmmmm


Instilling love in the hearts of the masses and worth the price of production- eh?


That is correct, I am talking about Saatchi's first stab at creating a Lovemark of JC Penny. I really like the spots but, I don'f feel they take chances and they offer no unique selling proposition (as Bob Garfeild does point out,. By the way, ad age's video player really rocks; I guess you know what is really important to me :) ). Not having a traditional ad background I am not the best person to throw stones but, I am a marketer and a consumer so I think I am qualified to have an opinion.


Check out the spots. Let me know what you think.


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VirtuaLive.tv (tickets are now on sale, get them while you can)



There is a fine line where physical existence and virtual existence meet... or is there? Come experience the future of entertainment; a future where flesh and pixels are blurred by the experience of media. A Virtualive Experience


Take me to ticketmaster right now dammit, I need my VirtuaLive Tickets!!!



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A Dean In Second Life/Struck By Might

I am not quite sure which was more exciting for me, seeing Dean Koontz's avatar read what felt like 10 seconds of his new book or, seeing the illustrious Torrid Midnight in world for the first time (I think it was the latter...yep, definitely the latter)


Rhiannon Chatnoir and I cruised over to the Sundance Channel sim to see a video stream which was shot by Destroy TV (friggin cool). I got some donuts, all was well. I just wish SL with voice was working and Torrid was talking, that may have been more exciting than Dean.






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A Day with the PRSA



Okay, it was two days but that would have not made for a good title.


I spent the last two days at PR boot camp at the PRSA trying to find that line where media, marketing and advertising end and PR begins. You know what, it is my assessment that there is not a fine line. In fact, the convergence of these disciplines is so great I am going to have to go back and listen to every episode of FIR once again! :)


For Example,


What are the key elements of the definition of PR?




  • Creating a clear and concise message




  • Influencing opinion leaders




  • Mutually Beneficial relationships/2 way




  • Define and Promote Image




  • Consistent Face and Voice of Company




  • Reputation Management




While some of this is specific to PR, much of it borders on the aforementioned disciplines. One of the things that struck me most was the conversations we had about the  2 way conversation and  those about quantification of efforts.


As an interactive media practitioner, this is something that I deal with everyday.  Does that also make me a PR practitioner. Perhaps not fully, but I am not far from it.


I have been led down this road of inquiry by people like Shel and Neville and will continue to define my role in this industry (as the Director of Emerging and Creative Strategy for Morpheus Media). My feeling is the definition of my role will change as the industry changes, and I sure look forward to that!



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You can write about it. I stay NDA

I was recently reading a post by my bald marketing brother about the new virtual world Kaneva and was struck with a sense of metaversal jealousy about his ability to share his feelings about something that the virtual worlds community is dying to talk more about.


It kills me to not be able to legally share my feelings about their product (or share my feelings about anything) alas, thanks to a tip by C.C Chapman (who actually does read the fine print) I have realized that I am under NDA.


Anyhow, I started this post as a reaction to Verdino's post and eventually I will get there (maybe). While I cannot talk about my experience with Kaneva, no one can stop my from commenting on Verdino's post (as well as other post's that I have read).


My initial feelings are this; if someone is going to compare Kaneva to Second Life, don't waste your time. It is like comparing apples to duck. I am not saying that I think one is better, rather I am saying that they are for different audiences and the two platforms satisfy different needs for different people.


As I am typing I am realizing that I cannot make a strong point without getting into specifics. I think that I will spare myself the legal headache and stop here. I recommend continuing to follow Verdino's posts and hopefully the rest of the blogosphere will be unsilenced soon :) and we all can have a chat.


More to come from me on this topic.


Cannot wait for the Virtual Worlds conference in NYC



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