The rise on the Internet of text-based shared synthetic environments illustrates the fascination that people have with participatory virtual worlds. The continual evolution of distributed simulations based on participants’ collaborative interactions keeps these shared virtual environments from becoming boring and stale. In contrast to standard adventure games, in which you wander through someone else’s fantasy, the ability to personalize an environment and receive recognition from others for adding to the shared context is attractive to many people … Shared virtual experiences on the national information infrastructure can complement books, plays, television, movies, and concerts by taking us beyond the daily grind; the challenge, however, is to move past escapism into metaphorical comprehension and catharsis.
Predictor: Dede, Chris
Prediction, in context:In 1995, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology commissioned a series of white papers on various issues related to networking technologies. The department convened the authors for a workshop in November 1995 to discuss the implications. The following statement is taken from one of the white papers, “The Evolution of Learning Devices: Smart Objects, Information Infrastructures, and Shared Synthetic Environments,” by Chris Dede of the graduate school of education at George Mason University. Dede writes:”While home-video-game consoles are not now particularly powerful, in eight to 10 years they will be quite sophisticated in graphics and distributed simulation capabilities, but still relatively inexpensive because so many are sold. Since video game consoles are widely found even in poor and rural households, they offer a promising installed base of learning technologies – if we develop educationally rich material that takes advantage of these systems. Even without the added enhancement of visual imagery, the rise on the Internet of text-based shared synthetic environments (i.e., MUDs, MUSEs, MOOs) illustrates the fascination that people have with participatory virtual worlds. The continual evolution of distributed simulations based on participants’ collaborative interactions keeps these shared virtual environments from becoming boring and stale. In contrast to standard adventure games, in which you wander through someone else’s fantasy, the ability to personalize an environment and receive recognition from others for adding to the shared context is attractive to many people. Part of why we read fiction or watch dramatic productions is to escape the ordinary in a manner that increases our insights or refreshes us to plunge back into real-world challenges. Shared virtual experiences on the national information infrastructure can complement books, plays, television, movies, and concerts by taking us beyond the daily grind; the challenge, however, is to move past escapism into metaphorical comprehension and catharsis.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: E-learning
Name of publication: The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning
Title, headline, chapter name: The Evolution of Learning Devices: Smart Objects, Information Infrastructures, and Shared Synthetic Environments
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney