3D: The Virtual Burner Complex At Vox Ignis

It's expected that the social, online nature of being a Burner will eventually extend into realtime, really usable, 3D virtual worlds. What's surprising is that the technologies making this happen will become “web browser standards” in the 2010-2012 time frame. These include:

• HTML 5 - This updated version of HTML will include 2 very important elements: vector drawing and secure data saving on the user's computer. Both are necessary for a useful 3D experience. The full HTML 5 should be in wide use by late 2011.
  • UPDATE, OCT. 2011:   HTML 5 is standard in the great majority of smart-phones and tablets.
    HTML 5 Gaining But Mobile Fragmentation Remains — MediaPost
• ANGLE - Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine is a browser technology that marries OpenGL (used by Linux and Apple) and DirectX (Microsoft). The result will enable 3D worlds to look and work the same on nearly all computers. Look for this in mid-2012.
• Open 3D (O3D) - This language and set of protocols allows web developers to place 3D models (like chairs and people) into 3D environments (like houses, islands, planets) that run on a web page. O3D should be out of beta testing by 2011.
  • UPDATE, NOV. 2010:  Strange turns at the top level. WebGL and Adobe Flash seem to be winning the web's early 3D adoption race.
    Battle lines drawn for 3D on the Web — CNET
  • UPDATE, MAR. 2011:  WebGL becomes the accepted 3D language for the HTML5 canvas element. O3D takes a back seat, used as one of many "scene creators" for WebGL.
    Final WebGL 1.0 specification released — The Inquirer
• Graphics card access for web browsers - Both Microsoft and Google are racing to make the rendering power of graphics cards available to web applications. Bottom line: web pages will look and act less like Wikipedia and more like Grand Theft Auto.
  
  • UPDATE, MAR. 2011:  The latest releases of Internet Explorer (9.0) and Firefox (4.0) use the raw processing power of graphics cards to render web pages and run scripts. Tremendous speed increases.
  • UPDATE, AUG. 2011:  Google's Chrome is first to achieve web browser programming breakthrough.
    New Chrome beta goes Native (Client) — CNET
  • UPDATE, NOV. 2011:  All major web browsers now sandbox the GPU to compile and run web scripts at blistering speed, by default.
  • UPDATE, DEC. 2011:  Native Client turns Chrome into high-end gaming platform — CNET

In preparation for this upcoming "tech collision," the Vox Ignis Coding Crew is patiently constructing the Virtual Burner Complex, a world class social and educational virtual reality destination for online Burners. Some of the environmental models in pre-production are shown above.

How To Throw A Successful Regional Burn

HTTASRB is one of the original reasons Vox Ignis was created.

This sub-project of the Burner Public Library is already popular enough to stand on its own, even before going online. HTTASRB will be a "How-To" manual, loosely organized and consisting solely of selected documents donated to the Burner Public Library. It will contain enough information for any reasonably dedicated set of Burners to start their own Regional Burn - based on the documented wisdom and experiences of those who've done it before. The result will be rather hefty since there are so many ways to accomplish the various necessary tasks. Like the library, HTTASRB will continually grow and have no completion date.

The HTTASRB project will begin once the Burner Public Library is large enough to support it.

Vox Ignis Scope Expansion

In late 2012, this website will expand to include information about Compressions, Decompressions, Afterburns, and other similar Burn events.

The Burner Dictionary

A community edited, wiki based dictionary of common Burner terms. Finding a common definition for MOOP should is easy, but what about Radical Inclusion? The definition given in Burning Man's Ten Principles is just a beginning.

This application will be tied into the Burner Public Library.

The Web-wide Burner Blogs Directory

This project is in the early Exploration phase: are there enough Burners out there blogging on a regular basis about their Burner lives to warrant a tool that finds, tracks, and lists them? Would anyone use such a directory of links on a regular basis? How many of these Burner blogs exist outside of Tribe?

Please leave some feedback so Vox Ignis can better evaluate this project's future.

Burner Waves

Google Wave is a free, web based application that could be described as, "document meets conversation." It's a Frankensteinish mash-up of email, chat, RSS, texting, voice transcription, message groups, and dozen other communication technologies using a simple graphical interface (screenshot at right). It's still in beta testing and no one knows quite what to make of it except that it's going to be very disruptive to several communication technologies.

Vox Ignis is very proud to have been chosen by Google as an early developer while Waves was still in alpha testing. Our proposal for development was simple: we would create a Waves-based application that would enable real-time communication, collaboration, and organization between groups of existing event organizers around the world - in essence, a highly interactive community of planners separated by great distances (enabling the enablers).

You can guess which group of event organizers Vox Ignis had in mind.

FINAL PROJECT UPDATE: Google killed the Google Wave application before it left beta testing, opting to include Wave functionality in future Google products. The Burner Waves project has been cancelled.

Vox Ignis RSS Updates

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an automated method for web surfers to receive articles, updates and notifications - and it's built into nearly all modern web browsers. RSS would be a very easy way to update Vox Ignis users about changes to this website. The dealkiller is that years after its introduction, RSS is still used by only 11% of the public (2008), most of those users being blog and news hounds.

Although it was included in the initial design, it does not make strategic sense for Vox Ignis to utilize RSS.

Mobile Device Apps For Burners (“There's an app for that.”)

Building a Burner-info application for mobile devices is a sexy idea. Unfortunately, the state of mobile device apps is in its infancy and the focus is currently on Apple products (iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc.). Apple products are extremely popular but represent only a small fraction of the world's mobile devices. At this time, to cover all the bases, multiple similar apps would need to be created for multiple mobile devices. And all those apps that do the same thing would need to be upgraded regularly.

Until the mobile market matures (one development path for most mobile devices) Vox Ignis programmers will continue to develop for the universal platform: the web.