Special Report
Earth 2 Avatars
By Sue Wilcox
Contact Consortium organized Earth 2 Avatars, the first conference for those working to produce and inhabit an avatar-based community on the Internet. The conference was held over the weekend of October 26-27 at the ANA Hotel in San Francisco and attracted delegates from as far away as England and Japan. Visions of cyberspace are the daily concern of the people at Contact Consortium, an outgrowth of the Contact organization formed to simulate human contact with other intelligences. Contact Consortium is a focus for those dealing with human culture and contact in digital space rather than outer space.
The conference featured presentations, panels, discussion groups, and more. In addition, more than twenty companies presented avatar-related products ranging from the abstraction of new multiuser server software to the solidity of ITU Research's TouchCube force-feedback mouse, for feeling virtual reality. (Also see "Cyberspace Avvy Awards".)
The Panels
Discussion panels ranged from the bizarre to the technically sedate — more than I could possibly attend, although they all sounded interesting. Consider some choices: The Galactic Edge, The Art of Electronic Community, Designing Interfaces for Virtual Worlds, Worlds for Gaming, and Fantasy Role Playing. One panel I sampled was: What in the World do you do with a world: A look at the usefulness of a virtual world. Zara Houshmund of Worlds Inc. looked at the value of context and face-to-face presence in human interaction.
