Virtual Worlds OverviewVirtual Worlds OverviewDTIC Presentation

Eric Hackathorn12/15/2010

What are virtual worlds?

… … and creating scalable and creating scalable branded experiences.branded experiences.

Taking flagship Taking flagship organizational assets…organizational assets…

Your mission is to prevent an old spill brought on by Hurricane Rina in 2017. You must work anonymously - this time period cannot know of interference from the future. You will act as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and need to arrive at the oil rig as soon as possible after the hurricane hits to limit the damage.

Your mission is to prevent an old spill brought on by Hurricane Rina in 2017. You must work anonymously - this time period cannot know of interference from the future. You will act as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and need to arrive at the oil rig as soon as possible after the hurricane hits to limit the damage.

ReGenesis Demonstration

A Look at DTIC’s Customers

Helen Q. Sherman, 2008 DTIC Registered Users

DTIC StakeholdersDTIC Stakeholders

• More information is available on request• Covered in an earlier presentation here at DTIC• Slides are available within DTIC online

All your stakeholders are involved in virtual worlds!

How Can all this Benefit DTIC?

DTIC Use CasesDTIC Use Cases

Advancements to

search capabilities

(DTIC Online)Data visualization

Procurement design contests (DefenseSolutions.gov)“Ask a Librarian”

Integrated customer interface

Document management processScience fairs

Collaborative design &

development

Recruiting &

onboardingLearning &

developmentRemote facility management

Meetings &

conferences

Advancements in ServicesAdvancements in Services

• Unified front end for customers• “Ask a Librarian” program• Science fairs and virtual events• DTIC document network

DTIC’s Document NetworkDTIC’s Document Network

Advancements in RecruitmentAdvancements in Recruitment

Advancements in ResearchAdvancements in Research

Imagine a vast virtual work area….Imagine a vast virtual work area….

Populated with millions of data objects…Populated with millions of data objects…

Analyzed by thousands of people…Analyzed by thousands of people…

DoDTechipedia

• 3D visualization of the document’s revision history

• The document itself is the building in the background

“We are presenting a problem without specifying a solution.”

– Christopher Thomas

http://fvwc.army.mil/

Advancements in ScienceAdvancements in Science

“The integration of human visual problem-solving and strategy development capabilities with traditional computational algorithms through interactive multiplayer games is a powerful new approach to solving computationally-limited scientific problems.”

How can DTIC get Involved?How can DTIC get Involved?

What is vGov?What is vGov?

vGov HighlightsvGov Highlights

GovGrid/OpenSim HighlightsGovGrid/OpenSim Highlights

DTIC RecommendationsDTIC Recommendations

DTIC Roadmap

ActionsAction Advantages Disadvantages

No Action Allows focus on other priorities

Loses technological edge and customers go elsewhere for service

Implement an unfunded policy framework

Provides leadership and direction for projects by creating minimum standards

Unfunded mandates and lack of organizational capacity

Leverage a public virtual world

A minimal cost approach that creates a face for DTIC in a new public setting

Potential lack of security controls and lack of access from the desktop

Host an internal private virtual world

Cost could be largely wrapped up in current IT overhead requirements

Additional staff training and security documentation

Leverage vGov A trusted source solution leveraging strong authentication and security

Intended for internal use only and likely expensive

Organizational Hierarchy

OperationsGroup Responsibility

Development Team The Development Team would be staffed and managed through a yet-to-be identified contractor and would be responsible for executing the technical elements of DTIC’s VW activities.

Content Management Team The Content Management team would be staffed by communications, education, and scientific staff and would be responsible for the day-to-day management of the interactions and content on DTIC’s VW sites.

Advisory Board The Advisory Board will determine the amount of annual funding needed for VW projects and sign off on any new development projects.

Project Management Team The Project Management Team would provide the day-to-day management and coordination between the other teams and within the organization.

DTIC Timeline

Plans for SuccessShort Term(1-5 years)

• Remove corporate barriers to entry for staff to use virtual world and social media technologies

• Create sustained governance and funding mechanisms for DTIC’s corporate use of virtual world technology

• Establish a public presence in a virtual world for DTIC with the goal of increasing communications with customers.

• Extend DoDTechipedia to include virtual world content• Integrate virtual worlds with corporate strategic plans for long

term development

Medium Term(5-10 years)

• Establish use of virtual worlds in new employee briefings• Pilot virtual user conferences • Develop new alternatives to information retrieval• Employ data visualization

Long Term(10+ years)

• Develop a collaborative space for DTIC and its partners to do joint research and testing

• Investigate use of VWs in the document management process• Experiment with virtual research test beds for data simulations• Leverage photo-realistic communications and products fully

integrated with DTIC’s website

• Contact me!• Join a virtual world and create an avatar• Ask your kids about virtual worlds• Bookmark several virtual world news sites• Read DTIC’s Vision Paper for Virtual Worlds• Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds May 11-13

• Contact me!• Join a virtual world and create an avatar• Ask your kids about virtual worlds• Bookmark several virtual world news sites• Read DTIC’s Vision Paper for Virtual Worlds• Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds May 11-13

An Executive Guide forKeeping Up with the Virtual World

http://noaagames.org/

Questions?Questions?Eric HackathornEric Hackathorn

Eric.J.Hackathorn@noaa.govEric.J.Hackathorn@noaa.gov