Engineering Design in Second Life

An October 22 article in Design News by Matthew Traum called "Second
Life: A Virtual Universe for Real Engineering" highlights engineering
innovations using Second Live virtual world.

http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6490691

He talks with Assistant Professor Chang Liu ( a.k.a. Chang Tuxing in SL)
of the Virtual Immersive Technologies and Arts for Learning (VITAL) Lab
at Ohio University (http://rbi.ims.ca/5407-591) and Pam Broviak, PE,
(a.k.a. Pam Renoir in SL) public works director and city engineer for La
Salle, IL.

This is commented on by Egils Milbergs,president of the Center for
Accelerating Innovation LLC, in a October 26 blog article called "Second
Life Will Revolutionize New Product Development and Engineering."

http://innovate.typepad.com/innovation/2007/10/second-life-wil.html

Here is a wonderful quote:

"I see Second Life being used as the first step in the planning process
for many future engineering design projects," Broviak says. "Building
something in there does not take a lot of time. Companies will soon
discover that much of their initial design work can be accomplished
in-world where everyone has a chance to use it and comment on it before
anything is actually built."