Nortel, a Canadian Telecom company, is developing a project that they feel brings a needed dose of reality to virtual worlds and 3D chat environments. They’re working on it through a rapid prototype development cycle via a project they’ve dubbed Project Chainsaw (not surprising for Canadians I guess). ; )
Photo Copyright Nortel - Project Chainsaw
Called “web.alive” the virtual world is aimed at customers who want to save money on travel and meetings and who want to offer an immersive environment in which their staff, virtual teams and customers can interact.
In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Chief Architect Arn Hyndman says it would be accessible - “software agnostic”, able to integrate into a web page, able to be used by users without the latest gear or a dedicated graphics card - and would have high quality audio.
It sounds like a species of 3D chat room — but with a more professional interface and the ability to customise the environment and your avatar. Says Hyndman “In other web.alive applications, schools could hold classes in rooms and buildings that duplicate their real world facilities, and retail clerks could talk directly with customers inside online stores.”
Before you get too excited — this sounds like it’s going to be pricey. Says the Ottawa Citizen “Nortel is hoping that high-quality voice communication and easy integration with existing computers and networks will convince corporate customers that communication in a virtual world is worth the price.”
From a corporate perspective, I think this has got some potential — but would need to find out more. Can users build together? Can users stream video in? How easy would it be to pull in photos, documents or other files into the environment? Besides travel and meeting savings, how are you going to pitch the value proposition?
From an education perspective, I’m not sure that building an exact replica of a classroom and building has a lot of value, but would love to hear thoughts from educators.
I would have thought the value of virtual worlds in education would be to model complex concepts in 3D, encourage role play however far out and extravagant and to break us all away from sitting in rows to watch slides and bullet points in buildings with four walls. What do you think?
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