We chatted about my time at Linden Lab, cool stuff happening at ReationGrid, virtual world platforms like Jibe and Opensim, the Hypergrid Adventurers Club, and the future evolution of virtual worlds.

Great people, great discussion and quite a few laughs.  Kim, thank you again for having me on the show.

My favorite part was when all of us logged in to my Jibe world and ran around exploring while we were chatting live on the show.  Lots of fun!

-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer, ReactionGrid Inc.

As of this month, I’m very excited to announce that I have been promoted to Chief Learning Officer.

As Chief Learning Officer, I’ll be responsible for all aspects of knowledge management at ReactionGrid, both internal and external.  My primary responsibility will be to help ReactionGrid identify, evaluate and effectively use a combination of the right knowledge management tools and best practices.  Educating our customers is also critical, so I’ll be focusing a great deal on ways to help our customers learn to successfully use our products and share their strategies for success.  I want to make sure everyone has the necessary knowledge and confidence to succeed at their own goals.

I’ll also be helping guide the company in feature prioritization and R&D efforts.  By listening carefully to our customers and the community at large, we can make smarter decisions about how to evolve our virtual world platforms.

Lastly, I’ll be working with new clients on large-scale virtual world projects, focusing on grant proposals, project management and plenty of hands-on Jibe development work.  I’ve been using our Jibe platform for only a few months, but I’ve quickly learned how to do quite a bit with it.  To be perfectly honest, this fact is less a testimony to my own skills and more an indication of just how simple our Jibe platform is to learn and use effectively.

Taking on this new leadership role brings with it a great deal of new responsibility.  I am now part of the executive team directly responsible for helping ensure the future success of the company.  It means a great deal to me that our CEO and the rest of the management team have the confidence in me to offer me this wonderful opportunity.  Thank you.

I strongly feel that virtual world platforms are poised for broader adoption, providing new opportunities for learning and community development on a global scale.  The team at ReactionGrid is simply the smartest and most driven group of people I’ve ever worked with in my life (and I’ve worked with some very smart people in the past).  I consider it a privilege each day to be part of the ReactionGrid team.

And by working hand in hand with our community of innovative colleagues and pioneering customers, we’re going to build those virtual world platforms of the future.

Together, we’re going to change the world.  I’m confident that we’ll do it.

Do or do not.  There is no “try.”

-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid, Inc.

Read on for a summary, some pics, and instructions on how you can make the journey yourself.

Our starting point was the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID, and a total of 10 avatars made the journey together.

Since the region Scooter on jokaydiaGrid and the region My Place on OSGrid are very far away from each other on the Hypergrid (about 9,000 regions apart), we had to make 3 hypergrid jumps.

Our group gathers on jokaydiaGRID.

Ready to jump!

From here, we all jumped to the region jump4000 on OSGrid.

A very cool space-age waypoint.

For our next jump, we all hopped to the region GermanGrid Gate on GermanGrid.

Zehr gut!

And finally, a jump to the region My Place on OSGrid.

We arrive at Linda Kellie's home on OSGrid.

Tons of freebies!

Meeting with Linda Kellie.

After we arrived, Linda Kellie met us and welcomed our group.  Thank you again, Linda, for contributing so many free items to the community.  You work is inspiring.

If you’d like to make this journey yourself, just get an account on jokaydiaGRID, log in to the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID (it’s the default arrival point for new accounts), and then follow these instructions:

Make each of the jumps by following these 4 simple steps
1) Open your World Map in your viewer.
2) In the text box next to the Search button, enter the Hypergrid Address.
3) Click the Search button and wait for the map to move to the destination region.
4) Click the Teleport button

*** STARTING LOCATION
Hypergrid Address: 71.6.165.144:8002:Scooter
Landing Region: Scooter
Hypergrid Coordinates: (1000,1000)
Grid/Owner Website: http://jokaydiagrid.com

*** JUMP #1
Hypergrid Address: hg.osgrid.org:80:jump4000
Landing Region: jump4000
Hypergrid Coordinates: (4090,4090)
Grid Website: http://osgrid.org

*** JUMP #2
Hypergrid Address: login.germangrid.de:8002:GermanGrid Gate
Landing Region: GermanGrid Gate
Hypergrid Coordinates: (8001,8000)
Grid/Owner Website: http://germangrid.de

*** JUMP #3
Hypergrid Address: hg.osgrid.org:80:My Place
Landing Region: My Place
Hypergrid Coordinates: (9974,10027)
Grid/Owner Website: http://www.lindakellie.com.

And please join us at an upcoming meeting if you’d like to explore the hypergrid with a group of friendly folks.  All the information you need (including our schedule) is on the Hypergrid Adventurers Club Homepage.

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester

Read on for a summary, some pics, and instructions on how you can make the journey yourself.  Be sure to mind the sandworms.

Our starting point was the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID, and our final destination was the region Lani on OSGrid.  A total of 19 avatars made the journey together.

Since the region Scooter on jokaydiaGrid and the region Lani on OSGrid are very far away from each other on the Hypergrid (about 8,000 regions apart), we had to make 2 hypergrid jumps and visit 1 intermediate grid during our journey.

Getting ready on the region "Scooter" on jokaydiaGRID.

From there, we all jumped to the region Gateway1 on Sanctuary grid.

Meeting on the region "Gateway1" on Sanctuary grid.

For our final jump, we jumped the region Lani on OSGrid.

We arrive at our final destination, the desert planet of Dune.

You can get this free ornithoper vehicle to fly around. Great fun!

There's also a free personal hovercraft available.

I told you WATCH OUT FOR SANDWORMS ARRRRGH!

The whole area is stunning.  Must-see’s include the sci-fi themed store (lots of freebies), a hidden underground aquifier, and a giant space station far above the planet.  Just walk in the main pyramid and you can find teleports to all these different places.  Be sure to try some of the quests, too.

Lani Global gave me a tour of mission control. And a cool gun.

If you complete the Rare Radion Crystal quest in the Aquifier Caves, you get this award!

If you’d like to make this journey yourself, just get an account on jokaydiaGRID, log in to the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID (it’s the default arrival point for new accounts), and then follow these instructions:

Make each of the jumps by following these 4 simple steps
1) Open your World Map in your viewer.
2) In the text box next to the Search button, enter the Hypergrid Address.
3) Click the Search button and wait for the map to move to the destination region.
4) Click the Teleport button.

*** STARTING LOCATION
Hypergrid Address: 71.6.165.144:8002:Scooter
Landing Region: Scooter
Hypergrid Coordinates: (1000,1000)
Grid/Owner Website: http://jokaydiagrid.com

*** JUMP #1
Hypergrid Address: sanctuary.homelinux.org:8012:Gateway1
Landing Region: Gateway1
Hypergrid Coordinates: (5000,5000)
Grid/Owner Website: n/a

*** JUMP #2
Hypergrid Address: hg.osgrid.org:80:lani
Landing Region: Lani
Hypergrid Coordinates: (8090,8090)
Grid/Owner Website: http://twitter.com/laniglobal

And please join us at an upcoming meeting if you’d like to explore the hypergrid with a group of friendly folks.  All the information you need (including our schedule) is on the Hypergrid Adventurers Club Homepage.

See you on the Hypergrid!

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester

Please feel free to visit and explore.  And check out our Hypergrid Adventurers Club meetings if you’d like to explore other interconnected virtual worlds!

My grid is using Diva Canto’s excellent Diva Standalone software (Opensim 0.7.2 – diva-r16915), and I used Ener Hax’s wonderful SimonaStick distribution to initially get everything up and running.  It’s running on my desktop workstation in my home office, with the following available bandwidth:

To see who’s been visiting Pathlandia, I use Maria Korolov’s excellent script that automatically enters visitor information in a Google Spreadsheet. 
Here are my Visitor Logs.

How to Visit Pathlandia via the Hypergrid

Hypergrid Address: pathlandia.dlinkddns.com:9000:Pathlandia
Landing Region: Pathlandia
Hypergrid Coordinates: (4000,4000)

This information can also be found on my Hypergrid Landmarks page.

Pathlandia

Pathlandia in Real Life

If you’d like to learn more about the Hypergrid and explore it with a group of friends, check out the Hypergrid Adventurers Club.

UPDATE Jan 27 2012: Rick Anderson, Director of Virtual Worlds at Rutger’s Center for Online & Hybrid Learning and Instructional Technology, brought a group of 10 students to visit Pathlandia last night.  I’m happy to report that my desktop Opensim grid handled the load perfectly!

Thanks for visiting!

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester

It was a very successful journey, and I hope everyone had a good time.  Read on for a summary, some pics, and instructions on how you can make the journey yourself.

Our starting point was the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID, and a total of 21 avatars made the journey together.

Since the region Scooter on jokaydiaGrid and the region Lbsa Plaza on OSGrid are very far away from each other on the Hypergrid (about 9,000 regions apart), we had to make 3 hypergrid jumps and visit 2 different intermediate grids during our journey.  A challenge!

Waiting for folks to arrive on jokaydiaGRID.

From there, we all jumped to the region Gateway1 on Sanctuary grid.  We were very fortunate to meet Shaun Emerald, the grid owner, who was kind enough to welcome us as we arrived.  Thank you again Shaun!

Arriving on Sanctuary grid. Be sure to check out all the cool Hypergates if you visit.

For our next jump, we all hopped to the region GermanGrid Gate on GermanGrid.

Alles gut!

And finally, a jump to the region Lbsa Plaza on OSGrid.

Final Destination Achieved

Lbsa Plaza is the main landing point for OSGrid, so there are always some folks hanging out.  I saw a few comments from folks who were amazed by the sudden arrival of over 20 visitors via the Hypergrid.  We even ran Justin Clark-Casey, an OpenSim core developer.  Nice to see you again, Justin!

If you’d like to make this journey yourself, just get an account on jokaydiaGRID, log in to the region Scooter on jokaydiaGRID (it’s the default arrival point for new accounts), and then follow these instructions:

Make each of the jumps by following these 4 simple steps
1) Open your World Map in your viewer.
2) In the text box next to the Search button, enter the Hypergrid Address.
3) Click the Search button and wait for the map to move to the destination region.
4) Click the Teleport button.

*** STARTING LOCATION
Hypergrid Address: 71.6.165.144:8002:Scooter
Landing Region: Scooter
Hypergrid Coordinates: (1000,1000)
Grid Website: http://jokaydiagrid.com

*** JUMP #1
Hypergrid Address: sanctuary.homelinux.org:8012:Gateway1
Landing Region: Gateway1
Hypergrid Coordinates: (5000,5000)
Grid Website: n/a

*** JUMP #2
Hypergrid Address: login.germangrid.de:8002:GermanGrid Gate
Landing Region: GermanGrid Gate
Hypergrid Coordinates: (8001,8000)
Grid Website: http://germangrid.de

*** JUMP #3
Hypergrid Address: hg.osgrid.org:80:Lbsa Plaza
Landing Region: Lbsa Plaza
Hypergrid Coordinates: (10402,10050)
Grid Website: http://osgrid.org

And please join us at an upcoming meeting if you’d like to explore the hypergrid with a group of friendly folks.  All the information you need (including our schedule) is on the Hypergrid Adventurers Club Homepage.

See you on the Hypergrid!

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester

We’re all very excited about rolling out OpenSim 0.7.2 to all our OpenSim clients.  We’re doing this major upgrade on a case by case basis, and one of the great new features of this newer version of Opensim is upgrading to version 1.5 of the Hypergrid.  This version is supported by the majority of OpenSim grids currently online.  Which means we’re dramatically expanding the universe of interconnected OpenSim grids that our clients can explore during their hypergrid explorations.

And thanks to all the hard work of everyone at ReactionGrid, the Hypergrid Adventurers Club’s home base on jokaydiaGRID is now running OpenSim  0.7.2. 

Starting this week, I’ll be resuming weekly meetings of the Hypergrid Adventurers Club.  The first new meeting will be Thursday, January 5th 2012 at 4pm Eastern Time.  We’ll be meeting on the region “Scooter” on jokaydiaGRID.  For more details, please see this event on our calendar.

And be sure to join our Google Group if you’d like information about upcoming meetings.

See you on the Hypergrid!

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid Inc.

This means you can have your Jibe world living on a webpage along with any other web-based content you like.

Today we’ll learn how to create an embedded video display on a webpage that works with a video channel switcher inside your Jibe world. 

Virtual Couch Potato Syndrome

Whether it’s a pre-recorded video or a live video stream, at some point you will probably want to show a video to people visiting your Jibe world.  And the first idea that will pop into your head will most likely be “I’ve got to set up a screen in the virtual world and some chairs so avatars can sit down and watch.“

I call this Virtual Couch Potato Syndrome.

Stop and think for a moment.  You are inviting people into an immersive virtual world, full of interactive opportunities and rich with the potential of 3d exploration.

But by requiring your visitors to sit their avatars in front of a virtual screen in the 3d world, you are locking them down and preventing them from exploring the 3d environment that exists all around them.

Two Tools that Work Together: The Web and Jibe

You can embed your Jibe world in any webpage.   And thanks to the awesomeness of the scripting language in Unity3d (the Jibe development environment), you can write scripts that allow events in your Jibe world to change the state of the webpage where your Jibe world lives.

In a previous tutorial, I described how different website content could be loaded in an iframe on a webpage based on where an avatar was located in your Jibe world.   Today we’re going to learn how to create a channel switching board in your Jibe world that avatars can click on to change the video playing in an iframe on your webpage.

This is a simple and powerful way to beat Virtual Couch Potato Syndrome.  Avatars in your Jibe world will be able to walk around and explore your 3d space while simultaneously watching a video on the same webpage.  So let’s get started!

- Step 1: Build a Channel Switching Board

Launch your Unity3d editor and make a wall out of cubes and spheres.

All the pieces

Some assembly required

As you can see, it’s pretty easy to create basic objects in your Jibe world using the Unity3d editor’s built-in geometric shapes (Cube, Sphere, Capsule, Cylinder, Plane).

Be sure to name each piece of the wall in your Hierarchy so you can remember what they are for (e.g., spheres=buttons, stretched cubes=channel descriptions) and then create an Empty GameObject in your project Hierarchy.

This will create an object called “GameObject” in your Hierarchy.  Rename it “Video Switching Board” and then drag all the pieces of your wall into it.  Organize the Hierarchy something like this:

Hierarchy view

Now, make some textures and apply them to the different pieces of your Video Switching Board so it looks a bit nicer.

Video Switching Board with textures

- Step 2: Add Scripts and Sounds to your Video Board

You need to add a script to each red button.  We’re going to use Javascript for this, so create a new Javascript script.

Name this script “Click to Change Channel” and open it up.  Paste in the following code.

var sound1 : AudioClip;
var URLtoLoad : String;
function OnMouseDown ()
{
audio.clip = sound1;
audio.Play ();
Application.ExternalCall("LoadExternalWebpage", URLtoLoad);
}
function Update () {
}


When an avatar clicks on an object that contains this script, the script will play a sound and then pass the contents of the variable “URLtoLoad“ to the webpage where the Jibe world is embedded.

Now, drag a copy of the script into each of the 3 buttons on your Board. Look at each button in the Inspector window.

As you can see, you need to enter two things.  The script needs an audio clip to play when it is clicked as well as a URL to load.

Here’s a nice beeping sound on Freesound.org you can use.  Drag it into your Project window in the Unity editor, then drag it from your Project window into each button object (a copy of the sound must be sitting in each button).  Then drag the sound file again from your Project window into the “Sound 1” field in the Inspector window.

Lastly, you’ll need to specify a URL to load when the button is clicked.  The URLtoLoad will be loaded in the right iframe on the webpage where the Jibe world is embedded. 

In this example, we’ll use a couple of my favorite live video feeds on uStream.tv:  NASA TV and Decorah Bald Eagles.  You don’t want to embed the entire uStream webpage in the iframe, so copy the URLs from the pop-out links.

Pro-tip: If you don’t like watching video ads on uStream, just install Adblock Plus.  Unfortunately, ABP currently cannot block video ads if you are using Chrome.

When you’ve finished adding the sounds and URLs to each button, it should look like this in the Inspector:

Remember to uncheck the Play on Awake option for the sound.   You only want the beep sound to play when someone clicks on the button.

For the Turn Off Video button, just use the URL of the webpage you want displayed by default in the right iframe of your webpage.

- Step 3: Edit the Webpage where you Jibe world lives

You’ve now got everything set up to send different URLs to a webpage depending on what buttons an avatar presses in your Jibe world.   Now it’s time to edit your webpage to properly receive the data being sent from Jibe.

Open up the webpage where you have your Jibe world embedded.   The default.html file we ship with Jibe has some Javascript already in there, so add the following bit of code at this location:

Add the highlighted code

Here’s the code so you can copy/paste it:


function LoadExternalWebpage(dataFromUnity) {
document.getElementById("RightiFrame").src = dataFromUnity;
}


Next, add an iframe to your webpage.  The URLs being sent from Jibe will be loading in this iframe.

An example of an iframe added to your Jibe webpage

In this example above, you’ll see that I’ve added a default URL in the src.  That’s so the iframe isn’t empty when people first load your page.

Here’s the code so you can copy/paste it:

<iframe id="LeftiFrame" width="500" height="500" style="border:none" src=
"http://jibemicro.reactiongrid.com/pathfinderlester/defaultrightiframe.html">
</iframe>

- You’re done!  What’s it look like in action?

You can see the Video Switching Board in action by visiting my own Jibe world.  And if you want to grab a copy of the board, you can download it here.

Now you can help visitors to your Jibe world avoid becoming Virtual Couch Potatoes.  Let them watch videos as they roam free, exploring and engaging with their surroundings.

My Jibe world with default content in right iframe

Tuning in to watch those crazy bald eagles

Exploring a model of the Space Shuttle while watching NASA TV

To learn more about Jibe and meet other people sharing ideas and questions, be sure to check out our Jibe-Unity3d Google Group.  See you online!

-John “Pathfinder” Lester

The conference has a great lineup of speakers presenting about the future of interactive exhibits.  And best of all, if you can’t make it out to San Jose, you can virtually attend the event for free.

All of us at ReactionGrid have signed up to attend the conference online, and during the event we will also be in our Jibe virtual world Expo Demo where we’ll be discussing the presentations.

So sign up to attend the conference for free and visit with us in Jibe during the conference if you’d like to chat with us about virtual world platforms.  Hope to see you there!

ReactionGrid's Expo Demo world in Jibe. Visit it on the web!

-John “Pathfinder” Lester

Although the conference is being held in Second Life, the presentations will discuss a wide range of research across many different virtual world platforms.

I’ll be speaking on a panel at 8am EDT on “The Future of Learning in Virtual Worlds.”

At 10am EDT I’ll be giving a keynote presentation titled “The Significance of Contextual Flow – Exploring Jibe and Critical Affordances of Web-Based Virtual Worlds.”  And you can participate in my keynote by visiting my Jibe world on the web during the presentation.

For more details, check out the conference website.  Here’s a summary of the agenda:

A 12 hour conference in Second Life for educators and researchers on education and virtual worlds with invited speakers from Europe and the US. The conference features presentations, panels, workshops, excursion and many other types of activitities.

Mark the date Thursday October 27, 2011 in your calendar now and join us in EduFinland archipelago on the lecture theatre on EduFinland III from midnight to noon (PDT).

The researchers and educators at EduFinland have been doing outstanding work over the years, and I had the privilege of meeting many of them in my last trip to Finland.  So I’m really looking forward to this conference.

Hope to see you there!

My favorite coffee mug, courtesy of Finland.

Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester