As part of the Birmingham Bereavement Project, this pilot project examines bereavement training using virtual world technology. It seeks to assist in improving communication and practical care at end of life and bereavement.

A scenario-based training exercise has been developed using Daden's PIVOTE vlearning software. The scenario is based around the expected death of an adult on an acute ward and participants work through by answering questions and choosing options. The scenario is practice based and links to national policy and guidance.

The simulation will be part of a workshop for nurses and healthcare assistants.

(Simulations in Higher Education Linguistic Localised Avatar)

Project aimed at providing information and support to students, with the secondary objective of utilising the concept to support the delivery of learning simulations. Its main objective is to harness the reach and effect of information already available online by developing an interaction method that will mediate the communication process in a more natural way and that will help overcome communication barriers such as cultural and linguistic differences.

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The University of Central Florida (UCF), commissioned Daden Limited (Daden) to develop several accountancy orientation exercises in Second Life on UCF's campus "ReallyEngagingAccounting". Students were set exercises in-world and submitted their homework through the dropbox system available on the campus. Daden developed several multi-user training exercises using PIVOTE which would allow students to learn, through practice, to use the in-world tools and complete their assignments.

Read Daden's full press release on Virtual Training for Accountancy Tools

The £188.8m Library of Birmingham will be a major new cultural destination, rewriting the book for 21st century public libraries. It opens in 2013. During the design stage Birmingham City Council contracted Daden to deliver an interactive virtual model of the new library, primarily to support community engagement, to inform the internal fit-out and to investigate the potential of a mixed physical/virtual library space. Daden used the architect's images, plans, drawings to build the Virtual Library of Birmingham in situ on "Centenary Square" in Second Life.

The Virtual Library of Birmingham is currently proving to be a valuable tool for library staff working on the new development and was launched on Second Life in July 2011, allowing the public to explore the new library in the virtual world

Read more about The Virtual Library on the Birmingham City Council website

Watch a video of the Virtual Library of Birmingham

Read Daden's full press release on the opening of the Virtual Library of Birmingham

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Daden awarded a contract to create the laboratory functionality to enable scenario-based training as part of the University of Leicester's SWIFT project in Second Life. Based on Daden's open-source award winning software PIVOTE, the project enables students to learn how to screen for inherited genetic disease. Daden developed the virtual equipment and processes and created new on-screen 'windows' in the lab which gives instructions, provide feedbacks and allow each student to make choices about how to proceed with their experiments. The equipment mimics real-world use including micropipettes for moving liquids and gel tanks for separating DNA.

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Daden originally created this scaled simulation of low orbit and geostationary debris as a pro-bono project for the NASA/Florida Chapter of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) back in 2009. Recently the Chapter wanted to move the simulation to Dream Metaverse/OSGrid on OpenSim. Daden ported all the assets and scripts across to their own internal instance of OpenSim, checked the system out, and then packaged it as IAR and OAR files for the Chapter to have uploaded to the new home. The simulation can be seen on the Anvard sim in OSGrid. Daden have also moved their Tranquility Base simulation across to OpenSim, and the OAR file for that is available for sale.

The 2010 British Science Festival was held in Birmingham, so we worked with BSF to create a map in Second Life of all the UK science-related projects being undertaken there. More details on the Virtual Science microsite. Visit the BSF2010 build in SL.

Working through a US consultancy, Daden created a PIVOTE based Hurricane Shelter Learning Simulation exercise for training Emergency Managers what to do when a hurricane strikes. The exercise involves the learner taking the role of the Hurricane Shelter Manager - opening, running and closing the shelter. The training simulation, helps Emergency Managers practice their shelter management skills in a realistic environment. Trainees are scored throughout the simulation. These two videos highlight why the client chose to create the exercise in a virtual environment and takes you through what the training will entail.

• "An Adventure in Emergency Preparedness Training"
• New York City Hurricane Shelter Simulation Training

Daden provided Barnfield College staff with a variety of Second Life building/scripting and server/AI scripting training courses and tutorials to support them in their own SL builds. We have also provided them with our managed RegAPI service for SL.

A learning environment on teen Grid to teach young people in South Lanarks about issues such as knife crime, territorialism and sectarianism. Used the PIVOTE open-source virtual training authoring tool.

• Times Education Supplement coverage
• Hamilton Evening Times coverage

Virtual solution provider Metaversense hosts its SL offices on Daden Cays, and working with Metaversense we provided mobile operator Cellcom with a homestead island for its own Second Life trial.

Through LearnDirect the UK Government's University for Industry delivers vocational distance-learning to adult learners. As part of a modernisation of their services they have been assessing a variety of new technologies and Daden was commissioned to build proofs-of-concept for two learning exercises in SL - an NVQ in Customer Service and Entry Level 2 speaking and listening. Daden based both exercises around a street scene simulation and used PIVOTE to manage the student exercises. Both tutor and student response has been excellent.

Theatrebase was an Advantage West Midlands funded project to develop a proof of concept of how virtual worlds could be used by theatres and touring companies to improve their planning and management of the technical aspects of backstage operations. Working with Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Hippodrome we recreated both the Hippodrome Theatre and a BRB stage set and showed how SL could be used to move sets around the stage, record positions and then replay the complete get-in, performance and get-out of a stage production. We are now working with our partners to bring the final system to market.

As an innovative way to get people involved in space exploration and to better understand the legacy of Apollo 11 we created a simulation of Tranquility Base in Second Life which lets students follow the exact paths walked by Armstrong and Aldrin and view the photos they took from where they took them. Equipped with spacesuits, life-support, radio "beeps" and even a moonwalk animation this is a truly immersive and educational experience. Watch the video on YouTube

Wolverhampton University's Library runs ASSIST - an on-line information service. In order to help students to find information more easily we worked with the Library Staff to put over 2000 questions that they had been asked into a chatbot, which could then not only answer the questions but also load the correct web pages from the ASSIST web site.

Southampton University had several departmental led SL builds but the University marketing department was keen to bring them together as a cohesive, branded whole. We built the home sim for the University, basing it not on campus buildings but on the topography of the campus which has a very prominent stream and valley running through it which work well in SL. For a campus tour we used Datascape to create a Google Map model of the campus in 3D, with each building linked to a 360 degree photographic panorama. A number of sky pods were created to provide homes for individual department initiatives.

As part of the JISC PREVIEW project we created a training and assessment system for paramedics in Second Life. The system that we developed has since been released into Open Source as PIVOTE and is being used and trialled by educators across the globe.

-Visit the PREVIEW web site

-Times Higher Education Award 2009

Coventry University wanted to explore how problem based in Second Life could be used for training care home managers and for problem based distance-learning. For the training we used our Discourse chatbot system to drive avatars in Second Life, which could then be used in a number of ways including:

• As eActors within short machnima films which could later be shown to students
• As eActors within short playlets which were acted out by the bots in front of the students
• As "Non-player-characters" within scenarios with whom the students could interact - this was both the most technically challenging and the most effective.

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YOUTUBE video: Coventry University

We built an initial presence in Second Life to support their School of Computing and Information Technology - particularly for students on their Gaming and Digital Media courses.

We've completed two projects for Southampton Solent University. The first was to create a whole sim build for their Creative Arts faculty - a large imagined build featuring a large auditorium and catwalk for fashion shows, a working lighting desk, nightclub and shop units. The second build was a further sim for an underwater "information maze" as a more immersive ways to teach new students about information search.

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For this client we redeveloped an entire sim and several floating islands to create a number of areas of interest - including a maze and a lovely pastoral area of raised beds, butterflies and swings. We then created a huge geodesic structure to hold examples of the clients products, each linked back to the relevant page on the clients web site where the purchasing action could take place.

Video production company Infinite Wisdom were looking for an innovative way to make a cause related web soap pilot. They gave us the RL script they were shooting, and images of the actors and set, and we created the same scene using our AI based virtual actors - just shout "action" and they act out the scene time and time again - and "viewers" can not only watch the scene as virtual drama - but also talk to the actors or play some of the roles themselves.
Click to view a video excerpt.

Elevate - a construction skills project in the North-West run out of Blackburn College - which has taken space on our Daden Cays virtual business park to develop virtual training for construction trades.

We used our innovative Datascape to produce a dynamic map of Birmingham in Second Life using Google Maps, overlaying it with 3D models, 360 degree panorama, videos and web cams. This has not only brought interest in Birmingham through in-world and tech PR but also acted as a basis for discussions about the role of virtual worlds within the City Council. ../continued

Daden built BCU's Millennium Point campus building in Second Life. This is a BIG building covering 2 sims at 1:1 scale. Daden detailed all the public areas and some private BCU areas and sourced and customised camera equipment to be used by students on health & safety training simulations in the build. ">Read the press release.

A web based chatbot which acted as a virtual newsreader for the Grimsby Telegraph - Kate enabled reporters to enter a daily news summary which she can then read out to visitors.

As part of a website redesign Hanover Housing were looking for a new way to help their users - many elderly and unfamiliar with the web - to find the right information on their web site. We created a chatbot for Hanover Housing which would not only repond to plain language queries but also speak the response and offer up web links to relevant pages. ...continued

Daden helped advise the Serious Games Institute on the development of its SL island, and built a Registration System and Orientation Area to allow visitors to its web site to sign up and enter SL directly without visiting the SL web site or the public SL orientation. Daden have since collaborated with the SGI on a number projects.

Daden helped the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel to host its first (and probably Israel's first) mixed RL-SL conference, with slides and audio streamed to audiences in both locations.

Working with Cow PR and Vauxhall we arranged with over 50 major property owners in Second Life to deploy voting kiosks and gather votes for the Corsa Guide to Second Life micro-site. Winners were announced at a major party at Wheelies, attended by senior execs from General Motors in the USA.

We helped Coventry University get set up in Second Life. We provided consulting support to their senior staff, and skills training and support to a team of student builders. As a result the University now has a cadre of skilled builders to move faculty projects forward. We have had an ongoign relationship with Coventry ever since, including developing AI based avatars for their JISC PREVIEW project, supporting them on AI work with other clients, and collaborating on funding proposals.
- Read the Press Release