There is a general agreement that getting people to cooperate in geographically dispersed teams is crucial for global organizations in the 21st century. As companies begin to compete globally, virtual teams, which consist of members who work and live in different countries, are becoming increasingly common. They typically do not meet physically but communicate and coordinate their tasks using information technology in order to accomplish their goals. In recent years, 3D Collaborative Virtual Environments have been developed to facilitate the work process of virtual teams. 3D CVE make it possible for virtual teams to communicate synchronously and to perform actions simultaneously using various types of shared applications while being present in the same virtual room embodied as avatars.

The ShanghAI Lectures on embodied intelligence will be broadcast by videoconference from Jiao Tong University in Shanghai to universities across the planet, complemented by 3D collaborative virtual environments and other community-building activities to promote interaction and cooperation among the participants.

Institution: Artificial Intelligence Lab, University of Zurich
Year: 2009
Location: WorldWideWeb
Program: Collaborative Virtual Environment
Status: Complete
Design Team: Martin Henn, Markus Jacobi, Max Schwitalla