Prof. Rob Bloomfield at Cornell is teaching a cool course on Metanomics. Well, he actually coined the phrase Metanomics itself meaning "the economics of the metaverse". He tipped PaymentGuy to some upcoming events; "You might be interested in seeing our upcoming guests on Metanomics: Michael Wilson of There.com is back tomorrow, and Mitch Kapor on Friday. More info at http://metanomics." And here is an article in the Cornell Chronicle on his course by Anne Ju; "Students get a 'Second Life' in first 'metanomics' course "Anyone who thinks virtual reality is just a game should have a talk with Beyers Sellers, a virtual-reality character in the online world of Second Life. The flesh and blood behind the sandy-haired avatar (a virtual persona) is Rob Bloomfield, a Johnson School professor who uses the online virtual world Second Life as his classroom for a course that guides 10 students this semester through the complex economics arising in the "metaverse" of virtual worlds. Business and Oversight in Second Life is a new directed-study seminar for graduate students. Required to create their own avatars, the students use Second Life to study the business and policy issues surrounding the largely unregulated "wild west" of the metaverse. Created by the company Linden Labs, Second Life has some 9 million subscribers and handles more than $1.5 million in exchanges every day. Bloomfield, the Nicholas H. Noyes Professor of Management, has even coined a new word -- "metanomics" -- the economics of the metaverse, which answers to a distinct set of masters. "Metanomics, by necessity, is an interdisciplinary endeavor," Bloomfield said. "There's a technical side, a legal side and a business side, as well as a game side." Bloomfield also offers a lecture series in Second Life on how Second Life's metaverse relates to and influences the real world, at http://www.metanomics.metaversed.com/. Through collaboration with the Web site Metaversed.com and its editor, Nick Wilson, the lectures and seminars can be attended either via Second Life or streamed live over the Internet. Events (which include some real-world activities) will run through December and feature such speakers as Dan Miller, senior economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress; Anshe Chung, one of the first users to earn $1 million in Second Life; and representatives from IBM, MTV, Sun Microsystems and other corporations that explore the business potential of virtual worlds. In his course, Bloomfield says his goal is to get students to understand business and regulatory oversight in the metaverse using thought from the real world. Some students start with what Bloomfield calls the "immersionist" view of Second Life -- using their avatars in the metaverse, as if it were the only universe. Another perspective he teaches is the "augmentationist" view -- considering the metaverse a new feature of real life and analyzing how the metaverse affects business and policy in the real world. Some large companies plan to use the metaverse to accomplish strategic goals, Bloomfield explained. Others, such as government officials, worry that the metaverse can be used to evade taxes or train terrorists. He calls a third view of the metaverse "experimentalist," which considers Second Life "a test tube," in which people conduct controlled experiments. For example, researchers might create two worlds that differ only in how they regulate or tax businesses and compare how those worlds differ from one another. Bloomfield pointed to Second Life's real estate market as something that bows to different trends and pressures than in the real world. "Location, location, location" in Second Life does not have nearly the weight of the real world, considering that in Second Life, avatars can teleport in an instant. The question then becomes, How does the real estate market in Second Life behave? How do people deal with zoning, for example? These are all questions students can ask using their avatars' experiences, Bloomfield said."
Prof. Rob Bloomfield at Cornell is teaching a cool course on Metanomics. Well, he actually coined the phrase Metanomics itself meaning "the economics of the metaverse". He tipped PaymentGuy to some upcoming events; "You might be interested in seeing our upcoming guests on Metanomics: Michael Wilson of There.com is back tomorrow, and Mitch Kapor on Friday. More info at http://metanomics." And here is an article in the Cornell Chronicle on his course by Anne Ju; "Students get a 'Second Life' in first 'metanomics' course "Anyone who thinks virtual reality is just a game should have a talk with Beyers Sellers, a virtual-reality character in the online world of Second Life. The flesh and blood behind the sandy-haired avatar (a virtual persona) is Rob Bloomfield, a Johnson School professor who uses the online virtual world Second Life as his classroom for a course that guides 10 students this semester through the complex economics arising in the "metaverse" of virtual worlds. Business and Oversight in Second Life is a new directed-study seminar for graduate students. Required to create their own avatars, the students use Second Life to study the business and policy issues surrounding the largely unregulated "wild west" of the metaverse. Created by the company Linden Labs, Second Life has some 9 million subscribers and handles more than $1.5 million in exchanges every day. Bloomfield, the Nicholas H. Noyes Professor of Management, has even coined a new word -- "metanomics" -- the economics of the metaverse, which answers to a distinct set of masters. "Metanomics, by necessity, is an interdisciplinary endeavor," Bloomfield said. "There's a technical side, a legal side and a business side, as well as a game side." Bloomfield also offers a lecture series in Second Life on how Second Life's metaverse relates to and influences the real world, at http://www.metanomics.metaversed.com/. Through collaboration with the Web site Metaversed.com and its editor, Nick Wilson, the lectures and seminars can be attended either via Second Life or streamed live over the Internet. Events (which include some real-world activities) will run through December and feature such speakers as Dan Miller, senior economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress; Anshe Chung, one of the first users to earn $1 million in Second Life; and representatives from IBM, MTV, Sun Microsystems and other corporations that explore the business potential of virtual worlds. In his course, Bloomfield says his goal is to get students to understand business and regulatory oversight in the metaverse using thought from the real world. Some students start with what Bloomfield calls the "immersionist" view of Second Life -- using their avatars in the metaverse, as if it were the only universe. Another perspective he teaches is the "augmentationist" view -- considering the metaverse a new feature of real life and analyzing how the metaverse affects business and policy in the real world. Some large companies plan to use the metaverse to accomplish strategic goals, Bloomfield explained. Others, such as government officials, worry that the metaverse can be used to evade taxes or train terrorists. He calls a third view of the metaverse "experimentalist," which considers Second Life "a test tube," in which people conduct controlled experiments. For example, researchers might create two worlds that differ only in how they regulate or tax businesses and compare how those worlds differ from one another. Bloomfield pointed to Second Life's real estate market as something that bows to different trends and pressures than in the real world. "Location, location, location" in Second Life does not have nearly the weight of the real world, considering that in Second Life, avatars can teleport in an instant. The question then becomes, How does the real estate market in Second Life behave? How do people deal with zoning, for example? These are all questions students can ask using their avatars' experiences, Bloomfield said."
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Thanks for the post. This series has been a fascinating experience for me. We have a number of great sessions coming up. People can get more info at http://metanomics.net, and for convenience, here is a list:
Friday, March 28th, 10:30 Pacific Time (SLT): Mitch Kapor, Chairman of the Board, Linden Lab will talk about recent changes in management and policy at Linden Lab.
Monday, March 31st, 11am SLT. Accountants and Taxes in the metaverse. A panel to discuss taxes and financial reporting for virtual businesses, with Rocky Maddaloni, Director of the Maryland Association of CPAs (and also Director of SLACPA), Chili Carson, who has an accounting practice in SL, and Bryan Camp, Tax Law Prof from Texas Tech (and Metanomics guest from the Fall).
Monday, April 7th, 11am SLT. Experimental Economics in Virtual Worlds. We will hear from a panel of experimental economists on how to use virtual worlds for experimentation. I am expecting Metanomics’ own Steve Atlas, John Duffy from Pitt, and Thomas Chesney from the UK.
Monday, April 14th. Wagner James Au and Cory Ondrejka discuss the history and future of Linden Lab, Second LIfe and the Metaverse.
Monday, April 21st. Gartner Analyst Steve Prentice will provide his take on the future of virtual worlds.
Monday, April 28th, we will have Karen Herzog of Sophia’s Garden, to discuss the virtual world platform they set up for families with seriously ill children to communicate with one another, friends and their medical providers. The platform is based on Qwaq, and Qwaq’s CEO, Greg Nuyens, will join us, and we will film the episode in Sophia’s Garden.
Robert Bloomfield/Beyers Sellers
Cornell University/Metanomics
http://metanomics.net
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