Academic gaming is a failure. Academics are flocking to use virtual worlds and multiplayer games as ways to research everything from economics to epidemiology, and to turn these environments into educational tools.
But one such highly anticipated effort–a multiplayer game about Shakespeare meant to teach people about the world of the bard while serving as a place for social-science experiments–is becoming its own tragedy. The game, called Arden, the World of Shakespeare, was a project out of Indiana University funded with a $250,000 MacArthur Foundation grant. Its creator, Edward Castronova, an associate professor of telecommunications at the university, wanted to use the world to test economic theories: by manipulating the rules of the game, he hoped to find insights into the way that money works in the real world. European wiki on virtual campuses - globally. Academhack » Blog Archive » The University and the Future of Knowledge.
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk as part of a lecture series here at The University of Texas at Dallas.
The series is part of the events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the University, and as such I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a stab at looking at the future of the University. The video of this lecture is now available. But, a couple of warnings/disclosures before you view it. The audio is good, but not great, as every once in a while there is interference.