Brenda Roth is the Assistant Dean for Curriculum at the NDU iCollege located at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Bob Childs, the Senior Director of the National Defense University iCollege, took on a dual personality today when he agreed to become an avatar to kick off the Third Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds (FCVW) Conference.
Sitting behind the stage with a microphone, the “real” Dr. Childs talked through his avatar before coming out to address the audience in person. It was a great way to start the conversation about virtual worlds at FCVW. The video above captures the first seven minutes of Dr. Childs’ speech as an avatar.
The Consortium brings together a group of creative people who are committed to bringing the virtual world technology to the government. Dr. Childs has been a true supporter of this technology from the very beginning, and he is willing to literally put himself right in the middle of the action.
Vastpark, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, created the virtual Dr. Childs. Through this virtual world platform, Dr. Childs brought his message to this mostly government audience.
“Virtual Worlds is more than gaming,” Dr. Childs said. “It is about education, innovation, and about changing the way we do business.”
What does that mean for government organizations that are struggling to find a way to break through numerous barriers to collaboration and communication? Dr. Childs said there are five actions you need to take to be an innovative government organization:
- Capture the imagination and abilities of young people.
- Constantly provide ways for your people to innovate.
- Explore how people learn and use the best practices you uncover.
- Consider virtual worlds to collaborate across agencies and to bring people together. Virtual worlds are one way to free ourselves.
- Be out in the world. (for example, the iCollege is co-hosting a conference on Cyber Security with the National University of Singapore in July)
Before the two personalities of Dr. Childs left the stage, he (they) reminded us about the vGov Project, a federal government virtual world project. The purpose of the project is to provide a secure virtual world environment to serve the Federal Government. Hosted by the USDA and the NDU iCollege, the vGov project will provide a space for government employees to share content and collaborate without walls.
This is where we are going!
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