A pause for reflection from Ethan Zuckerman: “The metaverse isn’t about building perfect virtual escape hatches—it’s about holding a mirror to our own broken, shared world” from: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/facebook-metaverse-was-always-terrible/620546/

As we continue to explore variations on the metaverse (variations of online digital spaces), which I think are inevitable, and as we inch even closer to a near Ready Player One existence, my question is where do/can we go from here? Can #softwareengineers & #computerscience practitioners make a difference? I think, maybe yes?

Towards this, my students have been exploring (PDSA) solutions in the realm of providing immersive experiences around the UN’s 17 SDGs and it has been interesting to see how my students are providing opportunities for folks to “[hold] a mirror to our own broken, shared world” while also providing knowledge growing opportunities embedded within their computer system creations to allow humanity to positively progress forward. I look forward to sharing my student’s creations from this current term in a future post (here’s my post about my student’s creations in a past class).

As I continue to explore this idea it is my hope that when my students are unleashed into the world that they take with them a sense of duty in the spirit of Eli Pariser’s idea of being responsible/ethical digital urban planners – those that seek to create palaces for the people where we all can all learn and grow in a more human(e) way.