NMC CAMPUS - Dr. Lawrence Johnson (Larry Pixel in Second Life) this morning delivered the first keynote address that originated in SL and was heard by a real life audience.

The keynote was part of the “Technology and the Future of Academe: Conference on Instructional Technologies” that was held at State University of New York in Plattsburgh. Hundreds of people gathered in an auditorium at the face-to-face conference to hear Johnson, while 60 people assembled in SL to listen as well. Although the NMC Campus sim crashed shortly after the speech began, Johnson was able to continue his live audio talk as the SL audience reassembled in another sim of the NMC Campus.

The presentation was entitled “Through the Lens Darkly: Navigating the Twisting Turns of Emerging Technology.” Johnson employed a crystal ball metaphor. By looking into the ball it is possible to see where we’ve come from, which in turn will give us a sense of direction to move forward.

The Horizon Project is an effort to determine the strongest emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression in the near future. This project surveys different news sources and analyzes information contributed by its team of advisors. A report is generated from the findings (The Horizon Report) and reflects an ongoing collaboration between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program.

One aspect that is being explored is social networking sites. Institutional sites are seldom leaders among the list of popular places for social communication online. Institutions must consider particular facets to make these sites work for them. Johnson mentioned a need to maintain control of your image and identity as others are allowed to put up their content. It may be that the institution may develop a relationship of trust with particular information providers and so allow them unrestricted access to content addition. The NMC has developed a trusting relationship with Apple and Adobe and allow them full permission to add to the site without prior monitoring of content.

The Horizon Report says that mobile phones are a technology to watch in the next two to three years. Phones have an ever growing set of features and more than 2 billion phones are manufactured each year. Innovation is chasing all that money, creating a competitive advantage. Apple’s new iPhone will be released next month and features a screen with higher resolution, so a whole Web page can be viewed instead of just a few top lines. After the Virginia Tech episode, colleges are looking at pushing text messages out to students. Most students have a cell phone; text messages are a quick way to communicate and could distribute emergency information quickly to a large number of students.

Right now, Second Life is high on the hype curve, as reported by Johnson. NMC has been in SL for 18 months, trying to understand what is new. Johnson believes that virtual worlds are successful because they are socially oriented. People really want to come together and do things together. They come to congregate with each other, and they come because it’s new.