I heard a bunch of people got sick!  I wonder if it was the food?  Also heard there is some big news coming out of the ESA, though haven't read exactly what yet.
This is the kind of thing I had in mind.
http://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/
Space Engine is also delving into the VR arena, and the new version will have some exciting new developments in that area.

I'm not sure if other people got sick from the food, but I think just being around lots of new people from all over the world can make getting sick pretty easy! Everyone was pretty jetlagged, too (lots of people pulling 10-20 hours flying to reach Aus), and that probably made it much harder for immune systems to keep up. Mine barely works on a good day so it was probably pretty inevitable that I'd come down with something >.>

I am very very excited to see what happens when SE & VR intersect. Even really limited new features have so many interesting societal applications and it's a pretty cool time to be interested in things like scientific process, knowledge and information-making/sharing, education, publics, etc. Feels almost like we're at an inflection point or something!

That's a really interesting looking game! It looks like a real challenge to develop, given the complexity of all the different dimensions they're aiming to address, let alone the complex interactions and emergent features that you get when everything smashes together. Successfully modelling complex social & sapient organisms + their social structures, systems, institutions, is a pretty big ask, and it would be interesting to know more about their underlying frameworks. And how they're conceptualising this linear stage-progression to 'cosmic dominance' - I'm not entirely sure what that would mean in the end, but that makes it a pretty interesting project/endeavour to observe or think about analytically! Setting that aside though, the idea of playing something like spore that's a little closer to realism/plausibility is very appealing and interesting! Also that plants are open as a sort of path/possibility. I know some biologists who would dig this!

I wonder if what happened at the conference was a precursor to the severe flu season this year.

I think S.E seems to have a small community, a tight nit one. Most of the users that I know of, are right here on these forums. There's some discord servers. Personally I don't interact with users outside of these forums. People here have taught me how to improve my addons, and I've learned how to script solar systems. I think what works well here is that everyone gets along and there is little to no issues here, like things should be. What would make for a stronger community is to bring more awareness about what S.E is and encourage users to join these forums.

Hey Starlight Glimmer, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! It's lovely to meet you

I think S.E seems to have a small community, a tight nit one. Most of the users that I know of, are right here on these forums. There's some discord servers. Personally I don't interact with users outside of these forums. People here have taught me how to improve my addons, and I've learned how to script solar systems. I think what works well here is that everyone gets along and there is little to no issues here, like things should be. What would make for a stronger community is to bring more awareness about what S.E is and encourage users to join these forums.

It's really cool to hear about the ways you use and value the forums, and the kinds of things & skills you've learned here. I've been in some ways a little surprised to find that the majority of people who have been kind enough to fill out my survey, list the forums as their preferred platform, with discord and reddit neck and neck for second.

Not surprised as in, the forums aren't good, I think they're an incredible social space and resource, but I almost expected discord to be more widely preferred, perhaps, due to things like newness, ease of use, integration with other hobbies or games or communities, less text-heavy, etc. Though it might also just be that fewer people who prefer discord were also willing to do the survey :"D Something to investigate~

Maybe the tight knit community that you feel and see here, and see yourself as a part of, is engaged in more writing, creating, and work in the community, and more of this group were more willing to do extra writing for a survey, so forums are better represented in the survey?

Do you see this (the forums) as much of a space specifically for socialising, hanging out, making friends, building community or networks? Or like more of a place to produce/consume/share work, troubleshoot, learn, get resources (not social for social's sake)? Do you think maybe the different platforms or places are for different people or maybe serve different functions? I'd love to hear more about your thoughts and experiences!

Thanks again for stopping by!

The tight nit community makes me feel valued and that is an important part in being in a community for me. I also just prefer the community for community's sake.
These forums seem to be a mix of both, but mostly for the 2nd option. If this forum were to be more active it could probably be both equally.

I wonder if what happened at the conference was a precursor to the severe flu season this year.

Yes I heard about that! It seems to be a pretty brutal year for it, though being in Australia at the moment (and summer, festival season, etc.) my sense of seasonal illnesses might be a little off, and I mostly rely on what friends in the States tell me, so kind of a small sample size. And I think Australians get some hardcore flus and for some reason everyone here gets whooping cough or Aussies don't vaccinate against it or something so maybe we infected everyone who came to visit XD

Hi A-L-E-X! Oh my god did I catch the con-plague. Completely wiped and sick as anything for over a week now, phew!
While it didn't look like anyone was able to get very close to Elon (and no question-time this year either, he shot off stage as soon as the presentation was done), I think everyone was able to fit inside the venue and watch his speech. I was lucky enough to get to spend time live-tweeting it with some pretty cool people, watching and learning how they work, while also trying to absorb the presentation itself! Some very shiny visuals and animations, and exciting bold announcements! It will be interesting not only to see how SpaceX works towards these goals, but also how these announcements affect the wider community and the shapes and trajectories of projects others are undertaking in coming years!

Very exciting about the Australian space agency, though I must admit the name that seems to be sticking/most popular with the people is not even real, which seems like a classic Australian move tbh. I was able to pick up some fancy official booklets and documentation that might contain some interesting tidbits about the new agency's direction & commitments - hope to finally sit down and go through those today - but I think that we'll have to wait and see on lots of the really interesting concrete details! Fun time to be a US-Aussie researching the space community though!

In the outreach/public engagement/education sessions at IAC there were some really interesting examples of projects/smartphone apps designed to educate whilst also crowdsourcing work that utilised AR - some different kinds of applications and possibilities to some of the full VR stuff, but really interesting and full of possibility nonetheless! Fingers crossed I'll get to chat and work with some of the cool people from these projects! 

 I would love to see some kind of projects where professionals and "amateurs" can work together to create large VR projects that bring the reality of space home to every day people!  You could also have scientists of different disciplines working together (this helps counter the side effects of specialization and helps people see the big picture of how all the pieces fit together and accelerate new discoveries.)  This includes earth scientists like geologists and marine biologists, since we have cameras in place in all different environments, we could combine all the data to learn so much more about our home planet also- and what to look for in terms of habitable worlds elsewhere!

While smartphone-based AR seems alot more limited in terms of what you can do (identifying clouds, retracing the path of fireballs you've seen to identify & possibly triangulate location, etc.), the accessibility is so cool - being able to do be involved in projects and learn things just by having a small app and using your smartphone is so easy and just fits into everyday life in a way that isn't really there yet for a lot of bigger, grander projects. Though if we can find a way to make bigger projects, immersive VR exploration, simulations and education, more easily accessible and integrated into day-to-day life (for people as users and as workers behind the scenes on projects) that would be pretty incredible. The elements you identify - of having 'amateurs' being able to co-work alongside 'professionals', and also interdisciplinarity for breadth of scope & relevance are I think really important and also exciting. Some up and coming 'open'-geared VR & citizen science projects are probably gunning for something like this, but there are ofc lots of challenges in the execution (and probably with accessibility too - more specialist hardware required?). Are there any projects (AR/VR apps, collaborative, citizen science, or open projects) that you know of that you think are good examples or ones to watch? I'm sure I only know of a small fraction of what is actually out there!

More details on my research can be found here 

More details on my research can be found here 

This site is dead.
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Ask talley (20 Feb) about that.