Virtual Reality A Catalyst For Social And Economic Change

An incisive glimpse into the future of the internet In Step into the Metaverse: How the Immersive Internet Will Unlock a Trillion-Dollar Social Economy, future tech strategist, entrepreneur, and thought leader Dr. Mark van Rijmenam delivers a startlingly insightful discussion about how the world as we know it will fundamentally change as the physical and the digital worlds merge into the metaverse, impacting the everyday experiences of people, companies, and societies. The author maps out the extraordinary opportunities and challenges facing business leaders, consumers, regulators, policymakers, and other metaverse stakeholders trying to navigate the future of the Internet. In the metaverse, you can be who you want to be, where you want to be, and companies and consumers are only restricted by their own creativity how they can benefit from the immersive internet. With engaging commentary on issues ranging from avatars, identity and digital fashion to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain and the economics of the metaverse, this book also offers: Discussions on the importance of an open and interoperable metaverse build on the web 3.0 paradigm if we want to reign in the control of Big Tech over our identity, data and lives. Explorations of the enormous—and largely untapped—potential for metaverse entertainment, including gaming, music, media, and sports and how brands can engage with their customers in novel ways and how digital twins will change how we work and innovate. Considerations related to the dangers of an always-on, immersive internet, including data breaches, avatar imposters, mental health issues, corporate and state surveillance, and the need for metaverse law. A fascinating read you won’t be able to put down, Step into the Metaverse belongs in the hands of executives, managers, and other business leaders who play a role in digital transformation or execution. It's also an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the future of technology, the internet, and social interaction.

In the era of the metaverse, a big challenge permeates the digital landscape—a challenge that resonates both with creators seeking to thrive in this dynamic space and policymakers attempting to navigate its uncharted territories. Creators, driven by innovation, grapple with a myriad of uncertainties in monetizing their virtual content effectively. Simultaneously, policymakers find themselves at a crossroads, caught between the rapid evolution of the virtual realm and the lack of clear regulatory guidelines. This struggle is exacerbated by the issue of cybersecurity threats that cast a shadow over the metaverse's transformative potential. It is within this context of challenges that Creator's Economy in Metaverse Platforms emerges, poised to tackle the pressing issues at the intersection of creativity, regulation, and the ever-expanding metaverse. Creator's Economy in Metaverse Platforms dissects, analyzes, and offers solutions to the multifaceted challenges prevailing in the metaverse. By addressing fundamental questions about the creator economy, the elusive concept of the metaverse economy, and the indispensable role policymakers play, the book provides a holistic understanding of the landscape. Delving into topics such as stakeholder engagement, digital asset management, and the intricacies of various monetization models, it equips readers with actionable insights. Not content with a reactive approach, the book takes a proactive stance, offering solutions to foster interoperability and create an ecosystem where creators and policymakers can mutually thrive. It envisions not just a book but a catalyst for transformative change in the metaverse.

Many experts believe that through the utilization of information technology, organizations can better manage social and economic change. This book investigates the challenges involved in the use of information technologies in managing these changes.

Virtual worlds have exploded out of online game culture and now capture the attention of millions of ordinary people: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, workers, retirees. Devoting dozens of hours each week to massively multiplayer virtual reality environments (like World of Warcraft and Second Life), these millions are the start of an exodus into the refuge of fantasy, where they experience life under a new social, political, and economic order built around fun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality? Exodus to the Virtual World explains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.

The treasure of the Black experience at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) is that it offers a personal and intimate experience rooted in Black heritage that cannot be found at other institutions. On campus, face-to-face instruction and activities focused on addressing issues that plague the Black community are paramount. This provides students with small classroom environments and the personal support from administrators, faculty, and staff. In March 2020, the Black experience was interrupted when a global pandemic forced governors to declare states of emergencies and mandate stay-at-home orders. The stay-at-home orders forced universities to transition into fully remote environments. Doing so heightened an array of emotions compounded by the reality of previously recognized disparities in resources and funding amongst higher education institutions. As a result of this abrupt transformation, the HBCU experience was impacted by positive and negative implications for Black people at the campus, local, state, and national levels. The Black Experience and Navigating Higher Education Through a Virtual World explores the reality of the Black experience from various perspectives involving higher education institutions with a focus on HBCUs. The book provides an overview and analysis of a virtual experience that goes beyond the day-to-day technological implications and exposes innovative ideas and ways of navigating students and faculty through a remote world. It focuses on heightening the awareness of disparities through the Black experience in a virtual environment, provides guidance on transitioning to fully remote environments, examines leadership dynamics in virtual environments, analyzes mental health balance, and examines implications on the digital divide. Covering topics such as online course delivery, self-health, and social justice, this book is essential for graduate students, academicians, diversity officers in the academy, professors, and researchers.

This groundbreaking handbook leads the way in accelerating the transition to a sustainable circular economy by introducing the concept of a catalyst as a positive and enhancing driving force for sustainability. Catalysts create and maintain favourable conditions for complex systemic sustainability transition changes, and a discussion and understanding of catalysts is required to move from a linear economy to a sustainable and circular economy. With contributions from leading experts from around the globe, this volume presents theoretical insights, contextualised case studies, and participatory methodologies, which identify different catalysts, including technology, innovation, business models, management and organisation, regulation, sustainability policy, product design, and culture. The authors then show how these catalysts accelerate sustainability transitions. As a unique value to the reader, the book brings together public policy and private business perspectives to address the circular economy as a systemic change. Its theoretical and practical perspectives are coupled with real-world case studies from Finland, Italy, China, India, Nigeria, and others to provide tangible insights on catalysing the circular economy across organisational, hierarchical, and disciplinary boundaries. With its broad interdisciplinary and geographically diverse scope, this handbook will be a valuable tool for researchers, academics, and policy-makers in the fields of circular economy, sustainability transitions, environmental studies, business, and the social sciences more broadly.

“A fascinating, provocative case that the metaverse will not merely transform our virtual experience—it may actually enrich the quality of our lives” (Adam Grant)—from the visionary co-founder of one of today’s most innovative technology companies “This important book offers a highly persuasive argument that the metaverse, a new kind of virtual world, marks a profound next stage in this long human quest for fulfillment through creation.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED The concept of “the metaverse” has exploded in the public consciousness, but its contours remain elusive. Is it merely an immersive virtual reality playground, one that Facebook and other platforms will angle to control? Is it simply the next generation of massive multiplayer online games? Or is it something more revolutionary? As pioneering technologist Herman Narula shows, the metaverse is the latest manifestation of an ancient human tendency: the act of worldbuilding. From the Egyptians, whose conception of death inspired them to build the pyramids, to modern-day sports fans, whose passion for a game inspires extreme behavior, humans have long sought to supplement their day-to-day lives with a rich diversity of alternative experiences. Rooting his vision in history and psychology, Narula argues that humans’ intrinsic need for autonomy, accomplishment, and connection can best be met in virtual “worlds of ideas,” where users have the chance to create and exchange meaning and value. The metaverse is both the growing set of fulfilling digital experiences—ranging from advanced gaming to concerts and other entertainment events and even to virtual employment—and the empowering framework that allows these spaces to become “networks of useful meaning.” Bloomberg Intelligence recently predicted that the metaverse will become an $800 billon industry by 2024. But its implications, argues Narula, will lead to far more awe-inspiring possibilities than a spigot of cash. The arrival of the metaverse marks the beginning of a new age of exploration—not outward, but inward—with the potential to reshape society and open the door to a new understanding of the human species and its capabilities. Rigorously researched and passionately argued, Virtual Society is a provocative and essential guide for anyone who wants to go beyond superficial headlines to understand the true contours and potential of our virtual future.