Josh Lifton from Electric Sheep sensor nets and 3D worlds Paradiso at Media Lab

=== Session 1 ===

Lecture: Introduction to Virtual Worlds. Where we are, where we've been, where we're going. Course overview and questionnaire.

Assignment: Sign up for and test drive various virtual worlds. Write a short critique of each. Write a longer critique of one.

Reading: None.

=== Session 2 ===

Lecture: Examination of the resurgence of virtual worlds. Introduction to Second Life.

Assignment: Second Life building and scripting.

Reading: Selected excerpts from Neuromancer, True Names, and Snow Crash.

=== Session 3 ===

Lecture: Virtual world technology fundamentals. Overview of bottlenecks and opportunities in the technology landscape.

Assignment: Connecting Second Life to third-party web services (Google, Facebook, MySpace, etc).

Reading: Selected excerpts from The Poetics of Space and The Design of Everyday Things.

=== Session 4 ===

Lecture: Economics of virtual worlds.

Project 1: Create a business in Second Life using the tools from the previous three weeks.

Reading: Virtual worlds economy readings TBA.

=== Session 5 ===

Lecture: Reinventing the wheel. Is technology advancing, or do we have a short memory?

Assignment: Recreate an existing technology in a virtual world. Convince people it's a new technology.

Reading: Selected excerpts from Synthetic Worlds.

=== Session 6 ===

Lecture: Convergence of games, social media, and virtual worlds.

Assignment: Create an avatar in Processing or Flash that exhibits three features all avatars should have.

Reading: Selected excerpts from Metaphors We Live By.

=== Session 7 ===

Lecture: Special guest Chris Carella, Chief Creative Officer at The Electric Sheep Company. Education in virtual worlds. Unconfirmed.

Assignment:

Reading: Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Learning Sciences), Second thoughts about Second Life (Chronicle of Higher Education), Professor Avatar (Chronicle of Higher Education)

=== Session 8 ===

Lecture: New virtual world technologies.

Project 2: Virtual world from scratch.

Reading: TBA

=== Session 9 ===

Lecture: Virtual worlds as a creative medium.

Assignment: Create a one-minute machinima in the virtual world of your choice.

Reading: Machinima and art in virtual worlds readings TBA.

=== Session 10 ===

Lecture: Virtual worlds as a consumptive medium.

Assignment: TBA

Reading: Watch CSI:NY and The Office Second Life episodes.

=== Session 11 ===

Lecture: Virtual worlds as a social medium. Comparison of virtual worlds to other social media.

Assignment: Design and carry out a social experiment in a virtual world, in the wild.

Reading: TBA

=== Session 12 ===

Lecture: Cross reality, merging the real and the virtual.

Assignment: Connect the real world with the virtual world. Submit final project proposals.

Reading: Selected excerpts from Rainbows End and Dual Reality: An Emerging Medium.

=== Session 13 ===

Lecture: Looking ahead. Identity, privacy, socialization. Most of class will be spent on the final projects.

Assignment: None.

Reading: None.

=== Session 14 ===

Lecture: Final project presentations.

Assignment: None.

Reading: None.