Hot on the heals of Learning and Education, the author copies of The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction have arrived. Probably the biggest page count that any of the series books will have, but reasonable given that it's effectively an introduction to the whole series.
Remember to sign up for the virtual launch even on 24th Sept, which is also the same day that the book is published - pre-orders via T&F, Amazon and other booksellers.
Maggi and I have just received our author copies of The Metaverse for Learning and Education. Lovely looking book, nice and concise at 112 pages (afraid my Critical Introduction will be a little longer). Pre-orders available now (see links at right), with an 11 Sep release.
The Metaverse: A Critical Introduction is now up on ResearchGate so you can see the references used by it. We'll aim to add the Chapter abstracts on ResearchGate and here over the coming weeks so as to give you a better idea of what the books cover.
The Critical Introduction references (all 435 of them!) are at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383003469_The_Metaverse_A_Critical_Introduction/references
We are having 2 launch events for The Metaverse Series and the first two books in the series, A Critical Introduction, and The Metaverse for Learning and Education.
The virtual event will be held in a microverse that we have specifically built to support the series and which will be permanently available to support the book Series and to encourage an exploration of the metaverse topic in novel ways.
The microverse is hosted on the Frame platform (https://framevr.io/) which is accessible from any PC/Mac or mobile or VR headset through the browser – there is no need to download any software.
The launch is a drop-in event, and nearer the date we’ll announce specific times for a Q&A with the series co-editors – and possibly other series authors.
Please register your interest in attending on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-metaverse-series-virtual-launch-tickets-950726096347.
The physical event will take place on October 24th, 5pm - 7pm at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, St. Giles, Oxford OX1 3LY.
The launch will be an ‘in conversation’ event with Professor Nigel Crook, Oxford Brookes University, Professor Sarah Hayes, University of Bath Spa and Dave White, University of the Arts and the authors at Metaverse Book Launch
You can book your tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/metaverse-book-and-series-launch-tickets-904860852167?aff=oddtdtcreator
We look forward to meeting you at one or other of the events!
Interesting new report by CITI Global Insights on Mapping the Innovation Landscape - Comparing 100 Emerging & Disruptive Technologies, Business Models, and Ideas.
It shows the metaverse with a current market size of $90bn, but with a forecast growth to 2030 of over $1tn (which puts it about 6th, alongside AI). Note that there is also a separate entry for Virtual Reality. The report also suggests that investment in the metaverse is on the low side (given the log scale).
The metaverse is defined as "a proposed version of the Internet where you feel you are "inside" it, as opposed to merely looking at it" and virtual reality as a system which "covers the field of view to give an immersive experience. Augmented reality uses computer-generated images superimposed over a view of the real world, allowing for mobility" (so seems to include AR, and MR - and is perhaps more focused on the hardware than the experience but this isn't clear).
We're aiming to post news stories about the Metaverse on this site to help keep the books up to date, as well as letting you know what is happening to the Series itself, and providing additional content that wouldn't fit in the books - like colour photos and videos!
So here's our first news story. It must be said that whilst VRChat has some nice features and has encouraged the creation of a lot of UGC it is very much an acquired taste!
