What is the Metaverse and What Does it Mean to you and your organization?

There is a lot of buzz generating about the Metaverse. Even Facebook changed it’s name to Meta, but the Metaverse is much more than that. For those of you who remember SIMCity and other virtual worlds, the Metaverse brings these games a virtual reality where financial transactions, real estate purchases, entertainment, and human interaction using avatars all  play a role along with many other aspects of seeing and interacting with others virtually. We are fortunate to have two experts help us navigate through the Metaverse and help use understand how we as IT leaders can benefit from this new virtual world. Immersive learning is another area that is showing some of the greatest potential use and these experts will share how all of these areas can impact your organizations. 

Moderator: Michael Cannon, Chief Technology Officer, Stafford County

Panel (Bios below): Ada Rose Cannon & JJ Ruscella

Ada Rose Cannon Bio:

Ada Rose Cannon is a developer advocate for the Web Browser Samsung Internet, she is also co-chair of the W3C Immersive Web Groups. These 2 groups work to ensure that the Web continues working on the next generation of Immersive Hardware including VR Headsets, AR Headsets, AR capable handheld devices like smartphones and other new devices which should arise. The main push of this effort are the WebXR APIs which are browser APIs to give Web pages access to the sensors and displays of Immersive Hardware in a platform agnostic way.

JJ Ruscella Bio:

JJ Ruscella, Executive Vice President and Chief Immersive Officer for AccessVR, LLC, is a thought leader in immersive experience design having created and published the world's first taxonomy for immersive design. Founder of Virginia's Virtual City Brain Trust, Ruscella advises government, academia, and corporate entities on the adoption and application of immersive technology