Reaching Across Organizations with Virtual Worlds April 7, 2009 Ms. Helen Q. Sherman

“A global learning community for government’s most promising information leaders.” Dr. Paulette Robinson Information Resources Management College, NDU, Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Mr. Kent Taylor Program Analyst, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) CIO, USDA/NDU Virtual Worlds Prototype Ms. Karen Cooper Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Team Orlando Project Mr. Derek Parks National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Mr. Eric Hackathorn NOAA, SCILANDS (Second Life) Reaching Across Organizations with Virtual Worlds

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Collaboration Paulette Robinson, PhD Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning & Technology Information Resources Management College National Defense University Leader: Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds  History  Purpose  Working groups  Communication channels   Brainkeeper wiki  IRMC Info Leader (meetings & video streaming)  Federal Virtual Worlds Events  Annual April Conference April 22, 14 VW Demonstrations April 23 & 24  Guest speakers around working group interests

Areas of Virtual World Use 1.Information Delivery (e.g., NOAA, NASA, CDC) 2.Meetings (IRM College Government Center) 3.Education and Training 4.Prototyping (facilities) 5.Analytical work spaces (individual and group)

Types of Virtual Worlds  Over 100 virtual worlds in existence  Most common in the government  Second Life  Forterra (built on Olive platform)  Protosphere  3DXplorer  Active Worlds  Open Sim  Qwak (build on Open Source Croquet platform)  Nexus (National Guard)  Real World (DARPA)

IRM College Second Life Government Center Welcome Center Crisis Center Conference Center - 60 Meeting Rooms 25 Auditorium for 220 (in June 08)

Challenges of Virtual Worlds  Emerging Technology  Learning Curve: Movement and actions are not intuitive  Client on agency/organization desktop image  Security (working across agencies)  Avatar level  Network level  Content  Cost of development  Ability to share content  Worlds are not interoperable  Identity  Privacy

Benefits of Virtual Worlds  Collaboration across agencies  Collaboration from anywhere  Telework  Collaborative work projects  Education and training  Continuity of Operations  Synchronous Communication  Text chat  Voice  Body movement  Desktop sharing  3-D representation of objects  Intelligent agents and bots  Avatar personalization  Presence and Transference  Can be fun

Challenges to Collaboration  Silos between agencies that inhibit multi-agency collaboration at all levels of government (federal, regional, state, local)  Business Models  Funding mechanisms for multi-agency efforts Costing models to get economies of scale  Development of software tools to benefit all of the government  IT (e.g., security, databases, etc.)  Sharing digital resources (e.g., content)  Organizational cultures within and between agencies  Sharing information  Missions & Goals  Strategic Planning  Policy  Procedures  “How it has always been done”

Benefits of the Collaboration  Creates secure access to common meeting “places”  Forges networks of common interest  Creates groups to work on common issues  Share best practices & resources  Offers solutions for multi-agency platform for collaboration  Security resolved  Workspaces  Communities of Practice  Economies of scale  Provides venues to share resources  Content  Contracts  Software development costs  Connects vendors for improvements in platform  Offers a model for other government collaborative activities  Future meeting places for citizens that humanize large government

Why do we bother and why virtual worlds??? Why do we bother? To facilitate multi-agency collaboration across the government to work on the thorny complex problems facing government across the boundaries of agencies, geography and time. Why virtual worlds? They provide a robust virtual environment that provides the ability to work together from any place at any time with social media, communication and productivity tools to enable the work.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Chief Information Officer April 7 th, 2009 DTIC Conference Kent Taylor Office of the Chief Information Officer U.S. Department of Agriculture USDA & IRM College: Trusted Source Prototype for Federal Government Access

History of USDA/IRM College Prototype  IRM College’s Need for Collaborative Virtual World Space  CoP for CFO Community, Classroom Simulation, and Role Play  Multiagency Access  Secure Government Network  USDA Hosting Capabilities and Authentication Product  NITC Hosting Capabilities  Application Development Team  E-Authentication Solution Used Internally and Externally

Virtual World Prototype  Two Virtual World Applications Selected  Protoshpere – IRMC CoP for CFO Community  Forterra – IRMC Education Simulation and Role Play  Working to Integrate E-Authentication into Both Applications  Building Sustainable Cost Model for Hosting Virtual Worlds  Enable a Secure Multiagency Collaborative Space

Benefits of Prototype  Provide a secure digital space for productive interagency collaboration – projects, conferences, meetings, etc.  Establishes and controls identity of participants  Reduce travel cost for meetings, training, education, etc.  Takes advantage of economies of scale  Cost of software  Avoids resource duplication  Agencies share in the development of functionality  Agencies share 3D content in repository

Challenges of Prototype  E-Authentication with virtual world applications  E-Authentication scaling across Federal Government  Creating policies and procedures  Creating a flexible cost model  Creating a communication plan  Current architecture of applications  Enabling virtual worlds as business offerings  Sharing content across federal agencies  Agency adoption of virtual worlds as collaboration solution

Vision for Virtual World Prototype  Create a secure collaboration space that erases interagency boundaries and enables creative solutions to issues across the Federal Government.  Agency participation in Virtual Worlds to leverage expertise and diverse perspectives in order to shape the way the Federal Government communicates and fulfills its mission.

Virtual World Collaboration Team Orlando Karen Cooper April 7, 2009 Karen Cooper April 7, 2009

Team Orlando Working together to accomplish their respective missions Common goal of improving human performance through simulation, training and education Charter members are located in the Central Florida Research Park. Community of organizations (Defense, Government, Academia, and Industry)

History Informal Network of Researchers JTIEC: (Joint Technical Integration and Evaluation Center ) Money NAWCTSD: ( Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division) Network RDECOM: ( Research Development & Engineering Command) Build expertise

History (Cont.) Concept: 3-D visualization extension to 2-D Team Orlando website Provide “sandbox” for exploring virtual worlds within the training domain SL island paid up through FY10 Continuation based on Team Orlando feedback

Benefits Could not be successful individually Synergy Networking Best Practices / Lessons Learner Shared Culture for Sharing

Challenges Varying Policies Security Requirements Network Access Individual Accreditations

Joint Model Military Coalition Synergy Governance Board –NAWCTSD* (Navy) –PEOSTRI* (Army) –PMTRASYS* (Marine Corps) –AFAMS* (Air Force) –ADL Co-Lab –JTIEC –RDECOM

Island Layout (working stage) Various Group Display Areas Amphitheater Open Air Meeting Area Conference Hall, Exhibit Area Classroom Events, etc. Garden Area Team Orlando Exhibits (sandbox) Executive Tower (8 Floors) Walking Path Various Group Display Areas ArmyAir Force MarinesNavy

Mr. Eric Hackathorn NOAA, SCILANDS (Second Life) SCILANDS Collaboration

Second Life (SL) is a virtual word developed and lauched in 2003 as accessible via the Internet. Second Life Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to create avatars and interact with each other. Second Life

SCILANDS A specialized region of Second Life for Science and Technology based organizations. SCILANDS (Click to view)

Questions? Reaching Across Organizations with Virtual Worlds

Points of Contact Dr. Paulette Robinson Information Resources Management College National Defense University (NDU) Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Mr. Kent Taylor Program Analyst US Department of Agriculture (USDA) CIO USDA/NDU Virtual Worlds Prototype

Points of Contact Ms. Karen Cooper Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Navair Training Systems Division Team Orlando Project

Points of Contact Mr. Eric Hackathorn (SL: Hackshaven Harford) NOAA SCILANDS (Second Life) Ms. Helen Q. Sherman Director, User Services DTIC

Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Disclaimer of Endorsement