Speaker lineup set for ThinkBalm Innovation Community professional networking event

by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.

We are pleased to announce the speaker lineup for the first-ever ThinkBalm Innovation Community professional networking event, scheduled for August 4th. We are near capacity for registration for this event, so please let us know immediately if you plan to attend. This professional networking event is designed for people who are passionate about work-related use of the Immersive Internet and are looking for work, looking for someone to fill a position, or simply curious about their options. 

Speaker lineup

• Andrew Hughes with Nick Taylor
• Bill Krebs
• Christopher Bishop
• Christopher Simpson
• Florence Chan
• Jeff Barr
• Jeff Bush
• Lisa Yablonski
• Mark Jankowski
• Michael Sarchet
• Paul Zonca
• Peter Mills with Claus Nehmzow
• Randi Kopp
• Richard Hackathorn
• Ricky Davis
• Sam Driver

Logistics info

• When: Tuesday, Aug. 4th from 11AM-2PM EDT / 8-11AM PDT (which is the same as Second Life time, or SLT). Here is a link to the Time Zone Converter Web site, should you need it.
• Where: Amazon Developers island in the virtual world of Second Life (thanks to ThinkBalm Innovation Community member Jeff Barr)
• Why: Make valuable professional connections, connect people with meaningful work, and gain experience using immersive technology 
• How to RSVP: email us at rsvp@thinkbalm.com 

Event format

• 17 five-minute presentations. We invited attendees who have something to share (e.g., their resume or a job description) to sign up in advance to deliver a 5-minute talk about the position or staff they are seeking. Each presenter has their own presentation station in the event area. The station has the presenter’s name on it with a link to their LinkedIn profile. Each presenter is permitted to use one image or 3D object in support of their presentation. Attendees will walk (or fly) as a group from one station to the next on a structured tour.
• Speed networking. We will hold a speed networking session using a tool called Poinky’s Pods built by ThinkBalm Innovation Community member Jonas Karlsson. The tool seats participants with one other attendee for a five-minute exchange, after which all participants are shifted to another random seat. You never know who you’ll end up talking to! 
• Document repository. We are using box.net, which is integrated with LinkedIn, as the repository for resumes, job descriptions, and images people will be using to support their presentation. We invited all registered participants for whom we have email addresses to access this box.net site.

© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

My brain recalls information in 3D — not hierarchical lists

 A few observations:

• I can find what I need more quickly in the 3D environment than the old way. I launch my client software, log into the virtual world, press “Page Up” to fly, and within 2 seconds am standing in front of the exact data chart I need. I know what direction to fly in probably because I helped build the environment, have given dozens of tours, and helped produce a video tour about it. I can picture the entire tour loop in my mind.
• Recalling information in 3D relieves mental stress. When I really tune in while meandering through a hierarchical file system to find a piece of information I need, I am aware that I feel mild stress. I’m an organized person, but I don’t always know ahead of time how my files should be organized and their organic growth doesn’t always make it easy for me to find stuff when I need it. The same is true for file and folder naming. I try to be organized and give things logical names. But what made sense at the time doesn’t always make the most sense later.
• It’s not just me! I mentioned my observations to Sam Driver and he said that he finds information from our study the same way: he visits the ThinkBalm Data Garden. Today I mentioned my observation to a couple of visitors who stopped by the data garden and both understood exactly what I meant. One of them — Rob Muhlestein, an IBMer I respect very much — said he does the same thing. He visits the island when he wants to recall a data point from the study.
• The human brain recalls information spatially, in 3D. Finding the data I need this way feels natural. My brain is used to understanding information in 3D. Despite that I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, my brain is not skilled at navigating hierarchical, alphabetical text lists of folders and files, and then skipping linearly through a bunch of document pages to find the information I want. One of the people I mentioned my observations to agreed, “Our brains are designed to process 3d data quickly and intuitively. It’s how we can walk around in a 3d world without bumping into things.” She hit the nail on the head.

This has profound implications for work-related use of the Immersive Internet – especially for the learning and training and collaborative 3D data visualization use cases. Lesson learned: find engaging, visually stimulating ways to create data experiences and one of the ways it could pay off is through productivity improvement and increased job satisfaction. Yes, on a micro level — but still. I think I’m onto something. 

© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

New video: 9-minute tour of ThinkBalm Data Garden

by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.

A new video is live: a 9-minute tour of the ThinkBalm Data Garden, which is an experiment in data visualization. The ThinkBalm Data Garden is open to the public on ThinkBalm Island in the virtual world of Second Life. A tour through the garden is an interactive next-generation “webinar” experience based upon the findings of the ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Business Value Study, Q2 2009. This video is a ThinkBalm production, with special help from ThinkBalm Innovation Community members Eric Hackathorn, Jeff Lowe, Jonas Karlsson, and Keely Algiere.

© 2008-2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

Immersive Internet professional networking event

by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.

Mark your calendars! We have a date and venue for the the first-ever ThinkBalm Innovation Community professional networking event!

• Who: People passionate about work-related use of the Immersive Internet who are looking for a job, looking for someone to fill a job, or simply curious about their options 
• What: First-ever ThinkBalm Innovation Community professional networking event 
• When: Tuesday, Aug. 4th from 11AM-2PM EDT / 8-11AM PT 
• Where: Amazon Developers island in Second Life (thanks to ThinkBalm Innovation Community member Jeff Barr) 
• Why: Make valuable professional connections 
• How to RSVP: Please email us at rsvp@thinkbalm.com. You can also RSVP to the event notice on LinkedIn here and we will follow up with you directly.

Preliminary format for the event (subject to vetting — feel free to post comments here):

• Attendees who have something to share (e.g., their resume or a job description) will sign up in advance to deliver a 5-minute presentation. We’ll use a virtual gong (yes, a gong) to make sure we stay on time. Each presenter will be allowed to use one image or 3D object in support of their presentation. 
• We will have a rapid networking session using a tool called Poinky’s Pods built by ThinkBalm Innovation Community member Jonas Karlsson. The tool seats you with another person for a five-minute exchange, after which all participants are shifted to another random seat. You never know who you’ll end up talking to! 
• We’ll have some kind of solution for people to upload resumes, job descriptions, presentations, etc. . . . and it will all be integrated with LinkedIn.

More details TBD. Hope you can make it!

© 2008-2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.