What is eLab City?
Below is an initial Concept Description for eLab City - this should give you an idea of what eLab City will be.
eLab City is currently in the planning stages. Construction to begin late 2007.
eLab City will be a two-island sim in Second Life. It is being developed by the University of California, Riverside, Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, for the purpose of studying consumer behavior in virtual worlds. eLab City will be a “live-work-play” community, providing a working laboratory and subject pool for academic research. Most academic sims in Second Life are “virtual campuses” oriented to classroom instruction and course support. There are, however, no academic Second Life projects that study how consumers behave in virtual worlds.
Guiding Principles. eLab City is guided by three principles.
1) Form. High quality design is of the utmost importance. Most academic builds in Second Life are not particularly inspired (the same can be true for much of the corporate and general user builds as well). We seek a high quality, compelling immersive experience and sense of place, and quality design is essential to achieving this experience.
2) Function. eLab City exists to support academic research on consumption in virtual worlds. We will need to capture data on avatar movement, objects touched/purchased, and chats. eLab City will have survey and experimental research capability, and we will create a research panel of visitors willing to participate in academic research projects.
3) Community. eLab City needs people for the research to succeed. Living, retail, and club space will be leased at no charge to select Second Life residents who will help manage eLab City on a day-to-day basis. We seek a core set of resident avatars, who make eLab City their primary destination, and who bring others to it. Significant social features combined with active in-world promotion – plus the cutting edge design and concept - will be designed to attract other avatars to eLab City.
eLab City will support three broad categories of activities.
1) LIVE
Pre-built residential areas. A significant portion of eLab City will be devoted to residential areas. Pre-built apartments for UC Riverside students will be provided at no cost, with a prim allotment to encourage building and product acquisition. Apartments are given out for a fixed period of time, and students must apply to continue living in the apartment (decision based upon degree of use/contribution). Larger apartments will be made available for students who take a management/leadership role and are paid in Linden dollars. (We may also want to include students from other universities around the world.)
Self-built residential areas. A second residential area would provide a plot of land, with prim allotment. Students would apply to use the land (for free) for a fixed period of time, and are allowed to come up with their own building on the land. However, all building designs must be approved to ensure a quality experience.
2) WORK
Consumer Lab and Visitors Center. The survey lab will be a central facility for avatars to visit and participate in surveys and experiments within Second Life. The Visitors Center will also include a sign up portal where avatars can sign up for a panel, agreeing to be contacted for future research studies. The Visitors Center could also be used to apply for free living/shop space, as well as for job in eLab City that pay in Linden Dollars.
Offices. UCR researchers and student workers active in the UCR Second Life eLab project will be given living/work space and a prim allotment for personal use. In addition, we may wish to have visiting faculty office space, as a way of getting other faculty involved and interested in this project.
Conference Rooms. A multi-purpose conference room or auditorium than can be used to host lectures, concerts, or other events. In addition, small meeting rooms can also be used for running small qualitative groups or for collaboration.
Lab space. Some space will be reserved in eLab City for special faculty research projects that don’t fit into the pre-existing structure. In addition, large skyboxes high above eLab City can be made temporarily available for development projects.
3) PLAY
Resident-run shops. Similar to the residential areas, store space will be provided for resident-run shops, leased for free for fixed periods of time, and subject to renewal based upon performance and activity. Store sales may be taxed by eLab City.
Experimental store. The experimental store will be used for field experiments in virtual consumption. In addition to large open spaces with adjustable walls, we will also want a set of fixed size, self-contained stores that can be used for individual research projects
Social areas. Active social areas are essential to the life of eLab City. Some examples: a) a dance hall/club that showcased state-of-the art avatar animations, maybe live music; b) multi-user interactive music/video system; c) virtual restaurant using sensory substitution to render taste as sound, visual stimuli, or movement; d) grand entertainment plaza/city park with outdoor stage/bowl for large events; e) nature areas; f) cinema.
Design/fashion/art center. A multipurpose design/fashion/art center for hosting corporate-sponsored product design competitions; also permanent exhibit space.
eLab City is currently in the planning stages. Construction to begin late 2007.
eLab City will be a two-island sim in Second Life. It is being developed by the University of California, Riverside, Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, for the purpose of studying consumer behavior in virtual worlds. eLab City will be a “live-work-play” community, providing a working laboratory and subject pool for academic research. Most academic sims in Second Life are “virtual campuses” oriented to classroom instruction and course support. There are, however, no academic Second Life projects that study how consumers behave in virtual worlds.
Guiding Principles. eLab City is guided by three principles.
1) Form. High quality design is of the utmost importance. Most academic builds in Second Life are not particularly inspired (the same can be true for much of the corporate and general user builds as well). We seek a high quality, compelling immersive experience and sense of place, and quality design is essential to achieving this experience.
2) Function. eLab City exists to support academic research on consumption in virtual worlds. We will need to capture data on avatar movement, objects touched/purchased, and chats. eLab City will have survey and experimental research capability, and we will create a research panel of visitors willing to participate in academic research projects.
3) Community. eLab City needs people for the research to succeed. Living, retail, and club space will be leased at no charge to select Second Life residents who will help manage eLab City on a day-to-day basis. We seek a core set of resident avatars, who make eLab City their primary destination, and who bring others to it. Significant social features combined with active in-world promotion – plus the cutting edge design and concept - will be designed to attract other avatars to eLab City.
eLab City will support three broad categories of activities.
1) LIVE
Pre-built residential areas. A significant portion of eLab City will be devoted to residential areas. Pre-built apartments for UC Riverside students will be provided at no cost, with a prim allotment to encourage building and product acquisition. Apartments are given out for a fixed period of time, and students must apply to continue living in the apartment (decision based upon degree of use/contribution). Larger apartments will be made available for students who take a management/leadership role and are paid in Linden dollars. (We may also want to include students from other universities around the world.)
Self-built residential areas. A second residential area would provide a plot of land, with prim allotment. Students would apply to use the land (for free) for a fixed period of time, and are allowed to come up with their own building on the land. However, all building designs must be approved to ensure a quality experience.
2) WORK
Consumer Lab and Visitors Center. The survey lab will be a central facility for avatars to visit and participate in surveys and experiments within Second Life. The Visitors Center will also include a sign up portal where avatars can sign up for a panel, agreeing to be contacted for future research studies. The Visitors Center could also be used to apply for free living/shop space, as well as for job in eLab City that pay in Linden Dollars.
Offices. UCR researchers and student workers active in the UCR Second Life eLab project will be given living/work space and a prim allotment for personal use. In addition, we may wish to have visiting faculty office space, as a way of getting other faculty involved and interested in this project.
Conference Rooms. A multi-purpose conference room or auditorium than can be used to host lectures, concerts, or other events. In addition, small meeting rooms can also be used for running small qualitative groups or for collaboration.
Lab space. Some space will be reserved in eLab City for special faculty research projects that don’t fit into the pre-existing structure. In addition, large skyboxes high above eLab City can be made temporarily available for development projects.
3) PLAY
Resident-run shops. Similar to the residential areas, store space will be provided for resident-run shops, leased for free for fixed periods of time, and subject to renewal based upon performance and activity. Store sales may be taxed by eLab City.
Experimental store. The experimental store will be used for field experiments in virtual consumption. In addition to large open spaces with adjustable walls, we will also want a set of fixed size, self-contained stores that can be used for individual research projects
Social areas. Active social areas are essential to the life of eLab City. Some examples: a) a dance hall/club that showcased state-of-the art avatar animations, maybe live music; b) multi-user interactive music/video system; c) virtual restaurant using sensory substitution to render taste as sound, visual stimuli, or movement; d) grand entertainment plaza/city park with outdoor stage/bowl for large events; e) nature areas; f) cinema.
Design/fashion/art center. A multipurpose design/fashion/art center for hosting corporate-sponsored product design competitions; also permanent exhibit space.
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