Professor Brian Hay will be visiting UB on Monday July 20th. Brian is a Visiting Professor in Tourism at both Strathclyde University and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland and previously worked for twenty years as Head of Research at VisitScotland/Scottish Tourist Board. One of Brian's present research interests is in 'Second Life' (SL) the online virtual reality site. This virtual reality site is becoming popular, not only from a consumer perspective (real people living out 'virtual' lives they want to but cannot in a real world), but also a business perspective. Major companies such as Telstra, IBM, Toyota, Coca-Cola and ABC have set up bases in Second Life in the hope of connecting with customers in a 3D virtual setting. On the business side, Second Life is growing because of the circumstances in the real economy, rather than in spite of them. There are now businesses trying to cut costs and are holding virtual meetings in Second Life rather than flying staff from various locations to meet in person.
DATE: Monday 20th July
TIME: 11am
VENUE: B901
I think that whilst Brian's focus is on the tourism industry, there are several possible cross overs in terms of the education sector, and this will be of interest to a number of academics researching on or utilising SL for teaching.
Links of interest: Brian's paper on Fantasy Tourism and SL
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