David Burden - Böcker

Virtual Humans provides a much-needed definition of what constitutes a ‘virtual human’ and places virtual humans within the wider context of Artificial Intelligence development. It explores the technical approaches to creating a virtual human, as well as emergent issues such as embodiment, identity, agency and digital immortality, and the resulting ethical challenges. The book presents an overview of current research and practice in this area, and outlines the major challenges faced by today’s developers and researchers. The book examines the possibility for using virtual humans in a variety of roles, from personal assistants to teaching, coaching and knowledge management, and the book situates these discussions around familiar applications (e.g. Siri, Cortana, Alexa) and the portrayal of virtual humans within Science Fiction.Features Presents a comprehensive overview of this rapidly developing field Provides an array of relevant, real-life examples from expert practitioners and researchers from around the globe in how to create the avatar body, mind, senses and ability to communicate Intends to be broad in scope yet practical in approach, so that it can serve the needs of several different audiences, including researchers, teachers, developers and anyone with an interest in where these technologies might take us Covers a wide variety of issues which have been neglected in other research texts; for example, definitions and taxonomies, the ethical challenges of virtual humans and issues around digital immortality Includes numerous examples and extensive references

The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction provides a clear, concise, and well-grounded introduction to the concept of the Metaverse, its history, the technology, the opportunities, the challenges, and how it is having an impact on almost every facet of society. The book serves as a stand-alone introduction to the Metaverse and as an introduction to the range of topics that will be covered by the specialist volumes in The Metaverse Series.Key Features:a concise history of the Metaverse idea and related implementations to date;an examination of what the Metaverse actually is;an introduction to the fundamental technologies used in the Metaverse;an overview of how the different uses and aspects of the Metaverse are having an impact on our lives across multiple disciplines and social contexts;a consideration of the opportunities and challenges of the evolving Metaverse; anda sense of how the Metaverse may mature over the coming decades.This book is a primer and Metaverse reader, drawing on academic research and practical and commercial experiences and taking inspiration from the science fiction origins and treatments of the Metaverse. The book explores the use of the increasing number of virtual worlds and proto-Metaverses which have existed since the late 1990s and includes a critical consideration of recent developments in cryptoworlds and mixed reality. The aim is to provide professional and lay readers, researchers, academics, and students with an indispensable guide to what counts as a metaverse, the opportunities and challenges, and how the future of the coming Metaverse can best be guided.

The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction provides a clear, concise, and well-grounded introduction to the concept of the Metaverse, its history, the technology, the opportunities, the challenges, and how it is having an impact on almost every facet of society. The book serves as a stand-alone introduction to the Metaverse and as an introduction to the range of topics that will be covered by the specialist volumes in The Metaverse Series.Key Features:a concise history of the Metaverse idea and related implementations to date;an examination of what the Metaverse actually is;an introduction to the fundamental technologies used in the Metaverse;an overview of how the different uses and aspects of the Metaverse are having an impact on our lives across multiple disciplines and social contexts;a consideration of the opportunities and challenges of the evolving Metaverse; anda sense of how the Metaverse may mature over the coming decades.This book is a primer and Metaverse reader, drawing on academic research and practical and commercial experiences and taking inspiration from the science fiction origins and treatments of the Metaverse. The book explores the use of the increasing number of virtual worlds and proto-Metaverses which have existed since the late 1990s and includes a critical consideration of recent developments in cryptoworlds and mixed reality. The aim is to provide professional and lay readers, researchers, academics, and students with an indispensable guide to what counts as a metaverse, the opportunities and challenges, and how the future of the coming Metaverse can best be guided.

Accompanying The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction in CRC Press’ new The Metaverse Series, this book explores the ways in which the Metaverse can be used for education and learning, as well as how it is different from virtual reality (VR) application development. For example, institutions and tutors can make use of the Metaverse space to represent themselves in it or create their own content and share experiences, whilst students can access a wider range of material, learn within appropriate settings and create content to support their own and others’ learning.Key Features:• Provides practical advice from the authors’ collective three decades of work and experience in VR and Metaverse learning and education.• Examines different approaches to learning that are relevant in a VR and Metaverse context, including theoretical and practical approaches to pedagogy.• Suggests different approaches to learning that might be used and explores learning in practice in the metaverse – from early versions such as computer-supported collaborative learning and action learning through to more recent practices such as games and gamification and the use of problem-based learning in virtual worlds.• Examines a number of advantages of learning in the metaverse such as the opportunity to be inclusive towards different approaches to learning, the value of affordances, peer-to-peer learning and genres of participation.This book is aimed primarily at practitioners in the learning and education field, and those who set policy and commission work. It may also be of interest to parents, managers, other interested professionals, students, researchers and lay readers.

Accompanying The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction in CRC Press’ new The Metaverse Series, this book explores the ways in which the Metaverse can be used for education and learning, as well as how it is different from virtual reality (VR) application development. For example, institutions and tutors can make use of the Metaverse space to represent themselves in it or create their own content and share experiences, whilst students can access a wider range of material, learn within appropriate settings and create content to support their own and others’ learning.Key Features:• Provides practical advice from the authors’ collective three decades of work and experience in VR and Metaverse learning and education.• Examines different approaches to learning that are relevant in a VR and Metaverse context, including theoretical and practical approaches to pedagogy.• Suggests different approaches to learning that might be used and explores learning in practice in the metaverse – from early versions such as computer-supported collaborative learning and action learning through to more recent practices such as games and gamification and the use of problem-based learning in virtual worlds.• Examines a number of advantages of learning in the metaverse such as the opportunity to be inclusive towards different approaches to learning, the value of affordances, peer-to-peer learning and genres of participation.This book is aimed primarily at practitioners in the learning and education field, and those who set policy and commission work. It may also be of interest to parents, managers, other interested professionals, students, researchers and lay readers.

The Military Metaverse explores the impact that the Metaverse is having today on how the world’s militaries procure, maintain, train, plan, and fight, and how the Metaverse presents new challenges and opportunities for future conflict.The military were early adopters of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies and wider simulation systems. Before 2010 they were one of the few sectors that could afford the technology, and millions of military R&D dollars went into developing and understanding these technologies. However, as the democratisation of Metaverse technologies has happened over the past decade, there is a danger that militaries have been overtaken and caught short, encumbered with often costly legacy systems, sold and maintained by prime contractors, while the gaming and consumer market has cheaper and more innovative and agile systems. This book provides a history of the use of Metaverse technologies in the military, particularly in the areas of design, maintenance, training, planning, and operations. It then examines the current state of the art in these areas and the opportunities that are available from the current generation of consumer-driven approaches. The drivers for, challenges to, and paths towards an enterprise approach to the Military Metaverse are then presented. The book explores the military use of social virtual worlds, of early work done by defence and security organisations in worlds such as Second Life, and how such environments could become important for intelligence as well as influence operations in the future. Finally, the book will consider what war in the Metaverse might look like, in terms of both in-world activities and the impact of cyber-war on the Metaverse itself.This book should be of interest to all militaries across the world, the industries that support them, and those in academia and the wider public with an interest in the military and defence.

The Military Metaverse explores the impact that the Metaverse is having today on how the world’s militaries procure, maintain, train, plan, and fight, and how the Metaverse presents new challenges and opportunities for future conflict.The military were early adopters of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies and wider simulation systems. Before 2010 they were one of the few sectors that could afford the technology, and millions of military R&D dollars went into developing and understanding these technologies. However, as the democratisation of Metaverse technologies has happened over the past decade, there is a danger that militaries have been overtaken and caught short, encumbered with often costly legacy systems, sold and maintained by prime contractors, while the gaming and consumer market has cheaper and more innovative and agile systems. This book provides a history of the use of Metaverse technologies in the military, particularly in the areas of design, maintenance, training, planning, and operations. It then examines the current state of the art in these areas and the opportunities that are available from the current generation of consumer-driven approaches. The drivers for, challenges to, and paths towards an enterprise approach to the Military Metaverse are then presented. The book explores the military use of social virtual worlds, of early work done by defence and security organisations in worlds such as Second Life, and how such environments could become important for intelligence as well as influence operations in the future. Finally, the book will consider what war in the Metaverse might look like, in terms of both in-world activities and the impact of cyber-war on the Metaverse itself.This book should be of interest to all militaries across the world, the industries that support them, and those in academia and the wider public with an interest in the military and defence.