Introductory Summit: Harnessing Virtual Worlds for Arts and Humanities Scholarship

February 16-17, 2008

SRI, International

Menlo Park, CA

Day 1

7:45 - 8:45 Shuttles from Hotel to SRI International Building

8:00 – 8:45 Continental Breakfast

8:45 – 9: 45 Welcome and Introductions

Henry Kelly, Federation of American Scientists

Christopher Mackie, Mellon Foundation

9:45 – 10:35 Introductory Talks

Virtual Mesopotamia 

Michelle Roper (Federation of American Scientists)

Virtual Rome

Bernard Frischer (IATH, University of Virginia)

Conceptual Collisions

Mark Schlager (SRI, International)

10:35 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – noon Virtual World applications

15 minute talks to illustrate Virtual World capabilities, challenges and scholarly use scenarios.

Panelists: Edward Castronova (Indiana), Aaron Walsh (Boston College), Chris Dede (Harvard), Jeffrey Schnapp (Stanford), Tim Finholt (Univ of Michigan)

Moderator: Mark Schlager

Noon – 1:00 Lunch with small group VW demos

Demonstrations by: Bryan Carter (Central Missouri State University), Vernon Burton (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [UIUC]), John Brecht (SRI) 

1:00 - 1:30 Questions and Reflections on presentations and demonstrations

Moderator: Michelle Roper

1:30 – 2:00 What’s beyond the platform?

Julian Lombardi (Duke University)

2:00 – 2:30 Small Group Discussion 1

Topic:  What are the most critically important research questions or topics in your discipline that are currently difficult or impossible to pursue? What are the potential tradeoffs of using VW tools to approach them?

2:30 – 3:00 Whole group 1

Moderator: Mark Schlager

3:00 – 3:10 Break

3:10 – 4:00 Small Group Discussion 2

Topic:  What are the other disciplines or fields of inquiry that you consider to be most promising as sources of new insights or research questions for your own field? How might a VW environment help or hinder creating and maintaining relationships with scholars from these disciplines?

4:00 – 5:00 Whole Group 2

Moderator: Michelle Roper

5:00 – 5:30 Shuttles back to Hotel

6:00 – 7:30 Reception with MetaverseU 

Stanford University, Wallenberg Hall, Building 160

8:00 – Dinner at the California Café

http://www.californiacafe.com/paloalto/index.php

Day 2

7:45 - 8:45 Shuttles from Hotel to SRI International Building

8:00 – 8:45 Continental Breakfast

8:45 – 9:00 Welcome and Goals of the day

9:00 – 10:15 Generating Scenarios

In self-selected small groups, select 3-5 of the issues posted on the walls, and write a one- page scenario based on the selected issues.

10:15 – 10:30 Break

10:30 – 11:30 Scenario Report-out

11:30 – Noon Summation and Next Steps

Noon – 1:00 Lunch and Adjourn