LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP ANNOUNCED

Immersive Education Initiative Expands Library Group to include Museums

BOSTON, MA - March 14, 2013 - The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that its Library Technology Working Group (LIB.TWG) has expanded to include museums, forming the Libraries and Museums Technology Working Group (LAM.TWG). The newly expanded group is responsible for defining, implementing, evolving and maintaining applications and open standards related to the provision of library and museum services in the age of Immersive Education.

The new group is chaired by LIB.TWG founder Jerome Yavarkovsky, Boston College University Librarian Emeritus, and Melissa Carrillo, Director of New Media and Technology for the Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC) at the Smithsonian Institution.

The LAM.TWG virtual launch event, scheduled for late March, and upcoming open house gathering are open to the public. Agenda items include:

Details on how to participate, along with the full launch event agenda and early access to the group's charter, are available through the LAM.TWG email list (join LAM.TWG here).

The group will also host in-person meetings and sessions at iED 2013 in Boston this June. Speakers and presenters may submit abstracts and proposals through the iED 2013 website.

Boston College will host iED 2013 from June 03-06 through the Woods College of Advancing Studies.

iED Summits provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning and training technologies, platforms, best practices and techniques.

Speakers at iED Summits have included faculty, researchers, and administrators from Boston College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT and MIT Media Lab), The Smithsonian,  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Federation of American Scientists (FAS),  U.S. Department of Education (ED), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Stanford University, Cornell University, Amherst College, Duke University, Oracle Corporation, Turner Broadcasting,  Keio University (Japan), National University of Singapore (NUS), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), University of Oulu (Finland), Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD; France), Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel), Graz University of Technology (Austria), University of Essex (UK), University of Vienna (Austria), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS; Brazil) and many more world-class organizations.

iED 2013 Topics of Interest

iED Summits are official Immersive Education Initiative conferences organized specifically for educators, researchers, administrators and business leaders. iED Summits consist of presentations, panel discussions, break-out sessions, workshops and demonstrations that provide attendees with an in-depth overview of immersive learning and training platforms, technologies and cutting-edge research from around the world. iED Summits feature new and emerging virtual worlds, virtual reality, learning games, simulations, and related teaching and training tools, techniques, technologies, standards and best practices.

The world's leading experts in virtual worlds, learning games, simulations, and virtual reality convene June 03-06 in Boston, USA, for the 8th Immersive Education Summit.

Topics of interest for iED 2013 include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Learning Games, Serious Games and Game-based Teaching and Training
• Game-based Learning and Training Technologies/Systems (e.g., PC, Mac, XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, iPad, etc.)
• Full-body immersion (e.g., caves, domes, natural interfaces, XBox 360 Kinect, etc.)
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Mixed Reality (MR)
• Head-mounted Displays (HMDs)
• Haptics, Natural Interfaces and Touch Interfaces (e.g., iPad, iPhone, Tablets, Android devices, etc.)
• Mobile teaching and training apps (e.g., iPad, iPhone, Tablets, Android devices, etc.)
• Robotics
• 3D Printing, Design & Rapid Prototyping (e.g., MakerBot, Shapeways, Materialise, Sculpteo, etc.)
• Computational Thinking and Learning Systems (e.g., Scratch, Alice, Greenfoot, etc)
• Stealth Learning
• Virtual Worlds
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Simulation
• Psychologically Beneficial Immersive Environments as defined by iED PIE.TWG
• Business in the Age of Immersive Education
• Pedagogy in the Age of Immersive Education
• Research in the Age of Immersive Education
• Assessment in the Age of Immersive Education

Abstract Deadlines

March 15th is the abstract deadline for general sessions, and April 15th is the abstract deadline for outliers. Deadlines and submission details are available on the official iED Summit website at http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org

Thousands of Members Worldwide

The Immersive Education Initiative is a non-profit international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are working together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems. Thousands of faculty, teachers, researchers, staff, administrators and students are members of the Immersive Education Initiative.

About Immersive Education
Immersive Education (ImmersiveEducation.org) combines interactive 3D graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat (Voice over IP/VoIP), Web cameras (webcams) and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives participants a sense of "being there" even when attending a class or training session in person isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience. Unlike traditional computer-based learning systems, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and engage students in the same way that today's best video games grab and keep the attention of players. Immersive Education supports self-directed learning as well as collaborative group-based learning environments that can be delivered over the Internet or using fixed-media such as CD-ROM and DVD. Shorter mini-games and interactive lessons can be injected into larger bodies of course material to further heighten and enrich the Immersive Education experience.

Immersive learning and immersive teaching ("Immersive Education") are enabled by the Media Grid.

About the Media Grid
The Media Grid is a public utility for digital media. Based on new and emerging distributed computational grid technologies, the Media Grid builds upon existing Internet and Web standards to create a unique network optimized for digital media delivery, storage, and processing. As an on-demand public computing utility, a range of software programs and Web sites can use the Media Grid for delivery and storage of rich media content, media processing, and computing power. The Media Grid is an open and extensible platform that enables a wide range of applications not possible with the traditional Internet alone, including: Massive Media on Demand (MMoD); Interactive digital cinema on demand; Immersive Education (immersive teaching and immersive learning); Truly immersive multiplayer games and Virtual Reality (VR); Hollywood movie and film rendering, special effects, and composition; Real-time rendering of high resolution graphics; Real-time visualization of complex weather patterns; Real-time protein modeling and drug design; Telepresence, telemedicine, and telesurgery; Vehicle and aircraft design and simulation; Visualization of scientific and medical data.

The Grid Institute leads the design and development of the global Media Grid through the MediaGrid.org open standards organization in collaboration with industry, academia, and governments from around the world.

To learn more about the Media Grid, Immersive Education or the Education Grid visit:
MediaGrid.org, ImmersiveEducation.org and TheEducationGrid.org