Announcing the 1st Annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2013

May 20, 2013 - The Overte Foundation and AvaCon are pleased to announce the first annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2013 (http://conference.opensimulator.org), to take place on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on September 7 – 8, 2013. The OpenSimulator Community Conference will be a celebration of the platform and of the large and varied community using and co-creating it. It will feature two days of keynote speakers, presentations and panels on different topics, and an expo area to showcase community activities and projects.

Anyone who is interested in the OpenSimulator software and the future of the metaverse is welcome to attend. We especially hope to see OpenSimulator developers, grid administrators, and members of the community who participate on OpenSimulator grids.

The conference will be held entirely within the OpenSimulator environment. The official program will be held in a grid specifically set up for the conference. We expect 150-200 attendees of the conference to be able to attend virtually on the conference grid, as well as an even broader audience through live streaming of the conference sessions on UStream. In addition, the conference will offer social hours following each day’s program to accommodate satellite events that will take place in the many grids operated by members of the community. There will also be an exposition area on the conference grid for sponsors.

Due to the “alpha” nature of the OpenSimulator software, this conference is an experiment in capacity testing for OpenSimulator in addition to being a community event. Therefore, tickets to the conference will be free but limited in number. We hope to be able to accommodate over 200 users in total, a figure which includes speakers, sponsors and staff . Since seats are limited, registration will open on a first-come-first-served basis on June 17, 2013 until the maximum number of virtual conference center tickets is reached. At that point, community members will still be able to register for the live streamed version of the conference that will be available via UStream. This will also be free. The expo area will not be ticketed and so can be accessed by any avatar, subject to constraints on the number of avatars that the exhibition regions can hold at any particular time.

For more information please see the conference website at http://conference.opensimulator.org.

ORGANIZATION INFORMATION:

OpenSimulator is an open-source platform that supports the creation of collaborative, immersive, distributed and social 3D virtual environments over the Internet. Started in 2007 and developed by individuals and organizations large and small, it has become a versatile system with which anyone can experiment. OpenSimulator software is now the basis for many “grids” of varying sizes and purposes. http://opensimulator.org

The Overte Foundation is a non-profit organization that manages contribution agreements for the OpenSimulator project. In the future, it will also act to promote and support both OpenSimulator and the wider open-source 3D virtual environment ecosystem. http://www.overte.org/

AvaCon, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the growth, enhancement, and development of the metaverse, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and 3D immersive and virtual spaces. We hold conventions and meetings to promote educational and scientific inquiry into these spaces, and to support organized fan activities, including performances, lectures, art, music, machinima, and much more. Our primary goal is to connect and support the diverse communities and practitioners involved in co-creating and using virtual worlds, and to educate the public and our constituents about the emerging ecosystem of technologies broadly known as the metaverse. http://avacon.org

CONTACT:

Chris Collins

AvaCon, Inc.

c/o OpenSimulator Community Conference 2013

275 Winthrop Street

PO Box 618

Rehoboth, MA 02769-1819

(774) 654-0010

http://avacon.org

Email: opensim@avacon.org

Web: http://conference.opensimulator.org

Twitter: http://twitter.com/opensimcc

Hashtags: #OSCC13 #OSCC #opensim

EXTRACT/ INSERT

"WHERE VIRTUAL AND REAL WORLDS COLLIDE"

BY STELARC/UPTON/CHAFER

FROM 27TH OKTOBER TILL 25TH OF NOVEMBER

In this special installation people from the exhibition can see you as an avatar standing next to them.

They can communicate with you through voice technology.

It is an amazing experience to communicate from a virtual world platform with people that are just passing by.

Especially this last week there were a lot of children as they went to see a Dinosaur exhibition in the same place and it is lovely to see how they react to all these weird avatars and asking questions.

We do notice that some of the adult public is a bit stunned by this phenomenon.

It is a good way to show what you can do with a virtual world. With this interaction it becomes more alive. People get more aware and interested in virtual worlds.

If you like to visit the real exhibition go for information to Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry
and in Second Life to LEA 24 http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA24/32/32/2867

Be aware that this is an event that involves minors.