3-D is Rocking Your Business Communications World

The 2-D world of wikis, blogs, tagging and social networking are difficult to wrap our minds around and, in terms of our communications objectives they may seem rather – well, subtle (if not down-right obtuse). A lot of us are still trying to get a handle on many of the 2-D new media tools and are wrestling with how they fit into our communications initiatives.

Fortunately, innovation doesn’t wait for us.  The 3-D web is under very active development. So, how about a dose today of what’s coming in the delivery of 3-D content in our own real life?

Last February at the TED conference Jeff Han of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences demonstrated publicly for the first time his “interface free” touch-driven computer interface that will “change the way we interact with machines.” You simply need to watch this.

In April, Google released SketchUp and 3D Warehouse that allows us to create and then overlay a 3-D model onto Google Earth.  With the 3D Warehouse Network Link installed, when you are viewing Google Earth images you see little blue house icons all over the globe - those indicate where 3-D models are available. With a click you zoom down into a 3-D model of The White House, a giant glacier off the coast of Nova Scotia, Santa Claus’ house in Finland, the Notre Dame cafeteria in France. And of course it is all “consumer generated.”   No way to describe it in words – go see the (5 second) demo at Google Earth.

And, in July, Microsoft announced Photsynth – again you have to see it to appreciate it, but basically it finds similar images all over the web and stitches them together to create a 3-D model you can explore.  This Microsoft video demonstrates how Photosynth works with everyone’s web images of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

These 3-D “interfaces” are 5 years away  - but now is the time to start thinking and experimenting with 360-degree content.  Simply start adding 2-D multimedia to your content to begin "thinking 3-D" – audio, video, animation, podcasts, blogs, wikis, tagging -  they are all available now and assist us in thinking about the “total content experience” that is going to be a requirement for the 3-dimensional, immersive web.

Second Life is a great 3-D laboratory we can use now.  It’s readily accessible, it’s cost-effective, it’s a platform into which you can build 360-degree content.  But, it’s only one of the ways the web is moving to 3-D.