1	Building Virtual Iowa By Dan Power, University of Northern Iowa August 27, 2008
2	Background Iowa metaverse owns SL Iowa [7:11] Leinad Meriman: I served as project manager for the Iowa build
3	Phase I. Initiation Process When did this begin? I learned about SL in two presentation in Spring 2007, one by an academic and one by a business woman I started socially in May 2007 and established DSW in summer 2007 I think the main pluses are free client, reusable objects, building tools and corporate visibility Who was involved in project initiation process for virtual Iowa? Myself and primarily my associate dean and department head
4	Stakeholders and audience Main stakeholders initially were my wife and I and UNI College of Business A lawyer set up the corporation My target audience is Iowans, former Iowans and their friends, especially those in SL Expected benefits for the audience include social network, social activities, links to UNI, information about RL Iowa, experience with virtual worlds RL students at UNI also come to Iowa The learning curve encourages focus on techno savvy, 18-35 year old people How will users get exposed or aware of your SL project? How are users expected to participate in your SL project? We list Iowa in search, hold events, promote it some in RL Iowa People can participate in courses, as volunteers, in entrepreneurial activities, socially
5	Objectives, Vision Check mission of Iowa Metaverse, Inc. Accomplishing the mission/vision by making SL Iowa a friendly PG community Create a place where Iowans and former Iowans and their friends, i.e., students, business people, faculty can come and have a great experience Short-term was getting it built, big project, then generating traffic and visibility long term objectives for developing a SL presence -- economic development, relocation, teaching
6	Feasibility Study I had been in SL about 9 months assessing feasibility, had a prior project on a smaller scale called decision Support World The biggest issues have been learning time in SL and the adult content in some parts The cost of building is and issue and my University was not ready for owning and funding virtual land projects Prior to the project I spent a lot of time learning about SL and making friends
7	Source of funding for the project I received a salary from UNI CBA for serving as vBusiness coordinator, my consulting company loaned funds to Iowa Metaverse to get things started This project involved lots of volunteer labor and some in kind land grants for services
8	Design and Development Started with a square on a whiteboard that was approx. 64 cm by 64 cm. An island is a maximum of 256 m by 256 m. Started trying different layouts. In retrospect, a grid system would have helped. Got feedback on the layout. The project was built in parts more than phases, 4 quadrants for the island. 3 primary builders. Some prefab content. I did the layout, design and project management and coordination. Project took much longer than planned, due to volunteer labor. Goal had been for a 2-3 month build based on knowledge of other projects.
9	Requirements elicitation Brainstorming, spoke with interested parties We went through 9 versions of the design plan and 2D sketchs, iterative design The basics stayed the same, but got less ambitious as I learned what was possible in 16 acres Virtual Iowawas primarily my vision and my Dean wanted a virtual College of Business building The requirements elicitation was in terms of content, trying to create an environment for repeat visits and to attract target audience
10	Design Started with a white board drawing in 2D Created a design projects list Learned the island management tools, played and experimented with the terrain If something worked I kept it, otherwise threw it away and tried again Some people still remember the waterslide we had Some want it back! Calling the island Iowa created the vision, the town became River City because of Merridith Willson's Music Man Some parts are replicas, the theme was midwest americana Every part of the build has a story We have RL verisimilitude in parts, but an idealized Iowa, it never snows or rains, always early June
11	Reusability We bought some structures, modified some scripts Teleport system was purchased and I installed it Balloon tour, I laid out the tour and wrote the narrative, our scripter taught me how to change and modify it Furniture Some of the textures, like roads
12	Measuring success Traffic counter in the welcome station, I get notices when people take the balloon tour See our ratings in search Traffic, events, size of the Iowa group Tenants in stores Revenue will hopefully follow Island is decentralized, venue operators initiate events, occasionally I fund events like the Bix Beiderbecke festival we had end of July A successful island in SL needs many people involved
13	Usage for Education 3 credit vBusiness Entrepreneurship independent study summer 2008 MBA Topics class started meeting in Virtual Iowa Wednesday 8/27 for 5 weeks The1 credit course is titled “Using SL for Decision Support” Students will attend some lectures and research SL tools and venues We will use various meeting venues in Virtual Iowa
14	Why Iowa Theme? With over 12,000 islands in SL, you need a niche to build a community, much of SL is unused I wanted an island with a constituency, I live in Iowa, grew up in Iowa, I know Iowa I care about Iowa and work here
15	Version 1 Design plans for Iowa island and region 03/17/2008 The 16 acres of the initial Iowa region called Iowa will have a variety of attractions and features, including: 1. bicycle trails and a bic ycle shop with a 15 minutes rental bicycle and bicycle sales, also clothing and accessories 2. Iowa river swimming and waterslide. Rafts, free swiming pose, changing rooms, swim suits 3. Spirit Jazz Club and live music venue 4. University of Northern Iowa College of Business Building and UNI Campanille, outdoor 30 seat classroom 5. Coffee house and 4 shop business district for entrepreneurial startups 6. Office park and meeting room for Iowa nonprofits organizations 7. State Fair venue with animals and rollercoaster 8. Welcome Center
16	Design and Development Process 3.A. Define the purpose(s) 3.B. Content. Determine what artifacts, information, experiences will help accomplish the purpose. 3.C. Identify requirements. Plans, scripts, builds, external data dynamic content 3.D. Find Design tools. What are initial 2D layout advantages? How much is 256 meters by 256 meters? What is possible in that space? Create 3D model. 3.E. Staffing is key Hiring and managing builders on a large size project. Partners versus temporary employees. 3.F. Scaling in 3D. Building to scale or not? A build in SL is art. What is need to create the association with reality when desired and create shared experiences? How much verisimilitude is needed?
17	More development conclusions 3.G. Reusable objects. When should you buy and when build? Custom builds are expensive and time consuming. A build can be part custom and part purchased. 3.H. Complete island builds vs. smaller size builds. Need for Island Management and terrain design. Creating parcels and managing parcel rights. Using facilities like Rockcliffe Universit Consortium 3.J. All the details, landscaping, furnishing, art. The finishing touches are important. 3.K. Linking it all together. Keeping backups. Transfering a "big" build to another location is difficult. 3. L. Need for ongoing marketing and management. One person can't create and operate an active virtual space that is 24/7/365.