DC Herzeliya are holding a unique conference coming Tuesday (15th), Virtual Worlds, Real People. The conference is organized by The Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy, part of The Sammy Ofer School of Communications. Small excerpt from the agenda:
People are spending increasing amounts of time in online virtual worlds and massive-multiplayer online games. Our goal is to bring together people from around Israel (and a few visitors) who are interested in the psychological, sociological, and communication aspects of such virtual worlds.
The conference is mainly academic, with an interesting agenda and speaker list (I’m not saying that because I’m on the list.. ). First of all, I think it’s the first time metaverse has its own conference in Israel, that is both academic and business. IDC has a feel for new media, and even held the first Blogference back in 2007. The discussions will cover almost every field relating to virtual worlds, starting with social impacts, business opportunities, economy, personal interactions, user interface and design, human behavior and much more. Other than my presentation, IBM and the Metaverse, which will focus on IBM activity in virtual worlds, I’m looking forward to hearing my colleagues speak, particularly on the social impacts and human behavior.
In a Global Innovation Outlook report IBM published back in 2007, titled Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders, there is a discussion on how MMORPGs increase leadership skills, and shape the personality of future leaders: If you want to see what business leadership may look like in three to five years, look at what’s happening in online games [Byron Reeves, Ph.D].
The conference will take place coming Tuesday, January 15th, at IDC Herzeliya. I will post my presentation at slideshare.net after the conference.
