Archives: November 2005
Fri Nov 25, 2005
Another avian flu exercise
According to the People's Daily Online, Hong Kong has just held an avian flu exercise. More...
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Thu Nov 24, 2005
Real ads in a virtual world
Rebang has a posting about an MMOG which is offering space for real advertisers in its virtual magazine. More...
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The Digital Michelangelo Project
The Digital Michelangelo Project is an attempt to use laser rangefinder technology to digitise the sculpture and architecture of Michelangelo. Sadly, however, scans taken in 1988/9 have not yet been fully transferred into digital 3d models. More...
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Tue Nov 22, 2005
That EU avian flu exercise: let's hope it's worth the cost
According to MSN, Exercise Common Ground will take place 'at the end of this week'. But at an absurd cost! More...
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Sun Nov 20, 2005
Regulation of on-line games in China
An article in Red Herring reports that Chinese parents are suing Blizzard Entertainment after their son died, allegedly trying to recreate a feat from the "World of Warcraft" game. I suppose you'd expect this these days, but what's more interesting are measures the Chinese government are apparently taking to restrict (over?)use of games. More...
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Virtual tourism
Had a drink last night with Michelle and John Battelle, who are over here for the FT/ Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award. John's incisive book The Search is a finalist.
John reminded me about the use of Mental Ray (and Renderman) for architecture, engineering design(eg Solidworks), and simulation of flows inside buildings, as well as their original purpose of digital entertainment (eg 'The Incredibles').
Disgruntled biology teachers say (see this previous post) that simulated tourism is not as good as the real thing. Started me thinking.
More...
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Another Avian Flu simulation.
According to Reuters, Asian leaders have agreed to stage a "desktop" simulation drill in early 2006, to test regional responses and communication in the event of a pandemic. More...
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Sat Nov 19, 2005
Disaster News Network: Weblog Entry
According to Disaster News Network, the NOAA has found a new way to simulate oil spills: by releasing wooden 'drift cards'. People finding the cards are asked (in English and Spanish) to report where they found them. More...
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Fri Nov 18, 2005
Amazon's Mechanical Turk
I have no idea what this has to do with simulation, but Financial Cryptography's post about Amazon's Mechanical Turk takes my breath away. More...
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SimBlog: Similarities and Differences between Serious Games and Simulation
Jeffrey Taekman on the medical SimBlog has a short piece on the similarities between simulations and serious games and suggests that "gaming platforms are the next step in the evolution of (medical) education." More...
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Thu Nov 17, 2005
Frog dissection: a social activity (except for the frog...)
Frogs everywhere are doubtless incensed at a recent paper by Kenneth R Fleischman of Florida State University which criticises dissection simulation software because: "socialization has traditionally played an important role in the dissection laboratory experience, yet dissection simulations do not typically incorporate any online or offline interactions." More...
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Wed Nov 16, 2005
The Cost of Simulation
An occasional series about the cost of simulation: some recent contracts. (In case my posts about Wigner and JASSS made you think simulation isn't in the 'real world', here are $250 million revenue figures for simulation companies large and small - culled from just the last ten days-worth of Google Alerts.) More...
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Liu Qibing
Paul Kedrowsky's blog drew my attention to stories that a London-based Chinese copper trader has gone missing. leaving a potentially huge uncovered position behind him. Nothing to do with simulation really, except a comment on the multiplicity of inputs into real life. (See this entry for why too many variables are a problem for simulation.)
Can modern simulation technology now handle this sort of problem meaningfully?
More...
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Tue Nov 15, 2005
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
It's interesting how some 'classical' scientific papers can still challenge us. Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", for instance. I've also just been looking at "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences" published by Wigner in 1960 in the course of a distinguished career. It addresses several of the questions I've been circling around recently.
More...
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Sun Nov 13, 2005
UK soldiers train on computer games shock!
Last week's Sunday Telegraph reports in shocked tones that British soldiers are going to train on computer games, which "are widely used by the Pentagon to train American forces". Oh dear... have they really only just noticed? More...
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Upselling
Thanks to Rebang for quoting a BusinessWeek interview with Sony Online Entertainment, about business models for MMOs. More...
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Sat Nov 12, 2005
The Guildford Caffe Nero: a learning environment for simulators?
What is it about cafes that brings out the best in simulators? After Belinda Barnet in Marrakech, JASSS has an essay by Petra Ahrweiler and Nigel Gilbert comparing the Caffe Nero in Guildford (a small town near London) with a Venetian cafe. This is a deceptively profound essay. More...
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Sun Nov 06, 2005
A very sensible use of simulation in the Ruhr
A system to manage traffic flow in the Ruhr will include a simulation package, to forecast in real time the traffic conditions one hour ahead. More...
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Sat Nov 05, 2005
Virtual Graffiti
Interesting essay in CTheory by Belinda Barnet, about 'virtual graffiti' or the 'convergence between the industrial technical system, globalisation, and mnemotechnical systems like writing and photography, to form a global mnemotechnical system. This system incorporates digital information networks like the internet as well as the real-time information events of individuals.' More...
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A quotation from Baudrillard
"...there are no longer any ideas grappling with facts... no longer any actors grappling with events... but a storm of events of no importance, without either real actors or authorised interpreters: 'actio' has disappeared at the same moment as 'auctoritas'. All that remains is 'actualite', action in the cinematographic sense, and 'auction', the selling-off of the event on the overheated news market....
Simulation is precisely this irresistible unfolding, this sequencing of things as though they had a meaning, when they are governed only by artificial montage and non-meaning... if there are any historical stakes, they remain secret, enigmatic: they are resolved in events which do not really take place... it is no longer the event that generates news, but the reverse..."
(From "The Illusion of the End", Stanford 1994, p 14/15/16
More...
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Thu Nov 03, 2005
Gamasutra - Feature - "Proof of Learning: Assessment in Serious Games"
Gamasutra has a really interesting post on how to assess users' performance during serious games, typically used for training.
More...
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Drug effect simulation process announced.
Reports of a software process to model why different cancer cells respond in different ways to certain anti-cancer drugs may cut testing costs by up to $242 million per drug. More...
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More from the Serious Games Summit
The Serious Games Summit includes a presentation by Michael Gibson, who claims that "dramatic simulations can add years of life experience and collective wisdom in a matter of hours." More...
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Serious games: the Institute for Creative Technologies
Gamasutra posts an account of a talk at the Serious Games Summit 2005, given by David Wertheimer and Mike Van Lent of ICT. ICT's is developing artificial intelligence ("which isn't necessarily covered in the way that the Army would need it in video games") to develop cognitive decision-making for training purposes, providing "simulated people to people interaction." More...
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Tue Nov 01, 2005
Exercise 'Common Ground' - coordinated by the UK
The UK Health protection Agency has announced that it will coordinate the Europe wide avian flu exercise, to be called 'Common Ground'. The date and scenario of the exercise have not been announced. I have misgivings about the whole process. More...
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