Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are an important element of the Metaverse as they support functionalities at various Metaverse layers, including the creation, trade, and ownership of digital assets. This paper focuses on the details of NFT dynamics within the Metaverse and emphasizes the mechanisms that support value creation and distribution in this area. This chapter explains the role of NFTs in decentralized ownership tracking, as well as addressing the challenges related to copyright and intellectual property. We draw parallels between traditional and virtual economies and highlight key differences and similarities. Moreover, we investigate the influence of NFTs on wealth disparity and the distribution of digital assets, and we report their potential benefits and drawbacks.
Rapid advances in digital technology are transforming higher education. The Metaverse, combining virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality technologies, blockchain, digital twins, and non-fungible tokens, offers an exciting, personalised, and interactive learning experience, making it a powerful tool in modern higher education. In this paper, the authors set out to analyse scientific sources that highlight the use of the Metaverse in combination with AI technologies to improve higher educa-tion. To achieve this goal, scientific papers were selected from three international scientometric data-bases (Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC), a search strategy was developed based on key search queries and inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a bibliometric analysis and narrative review of the selected scien-tific papers was conducted. Using bibliometric analysis in VOSviewer, network visualisation was per-formed to analyse and display the co-occurrence of keywords in the selected scientific publications. A narrative review of the papers selected according to the established criteria was used to identify ways to combine the Metaverse with AI technologies to enhance higher education; the main directions include the creation of user-friendly and useful environments and their expansion to virtual university campu-ses, the implementation of AI capabilities for security in the Metaverse, creating personalised user expe-riences based on their behaviour and preferences, facilitating real-time communication, generating con-tent for the Metaverse, combining the physical and digital worlds, and implementing AI tutoring.
In the Web 3.0 era, online communities such as the DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, and the Metaverse are expected to become more important. To propose a good community design from the perspective of social capital for the Web 3.0 era, we surveyed 1019 Japanese social media users to investigate the relationship between social media experience and the accumulation and imbalance of social capital. Results suggested that the accumulation and imbalance of social capital directly induced experiences of Curiosity, Challenge, and Flow. Considering the total effect, those with a bridging-biased social capital imbalance were found to be strongly induced to experience Curiosity. In contrast, those with a bonding-biased social capital imbalance were strongly induced to experience Flow and Challenge. The behavioral principles of the latter type of people are likely to be influenced by environments that amplify biased opinions, such as filter bubbles and echo chambers. For people with bonding-biased social capital to appropriately utilize online communities, online community operators should provide a mechanism for noticing information bias.
Online courses are commonly used for employee training in various organizations. Currently, online training primarily relies on the utilization of online courses and live broadcasts. This method of learning is unidirectional and lacks interactivity, resulting in a restricted and unstimulating learning environment. Additionally, the course system and pathways for different employees and positions are not adequately defined, leading to confusion. Moreover, attending these training sessions requires a significant investment of time and energy. To address the specific needs of corporate employees in online training, advanced metaverse technology and Non Fungible Token (NFT) technology are employed to create an immersive online course training system. The proposed system promotes engaging and segmented learning through gamification. Additionally, the NFT-based incentive mechanism is implemented to boost employee motivation and improve the effectiveness of their participation in company training.
In this paper, we propose MetaEd, which is a metaverse enabled virtual classroom and content generation framework, with networking services employed over fifth generation (5G) network. The framework is designed for Education 5.0 space, and presents two key functions- a virtual classroom setup, where the teacher and the student avatars can interact (like in physical classroom) in near real time latency, which is assisted by ultra-reliable-low latency service (5G-uRLLC). Secondly, we present the digital content generation on meta-verse space, where digital assets (contents) with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are stored. The entire data is stored in offline interplanetary file system (IPFS) ledgers, and the content hash reference is stored in blockchain. The framework is operational over a Web 3.0 platform, which allows AI-based cognition to users to enhance personalization. The framework is deployed via simulated metaverse environment (Unity 3D) space, where avatar creation is done through Blender. Performance metrics shows a significant improvement of 59.93% in user-experienced bandwidth, lowered transaction size by 44.07% in blockchain, 44.37% in jitter rates. and 66.31% improvement in object rendering time for avatars, which signifies the viability of the framework in real Education 5.0 scenarios.
The metaverse, a term first coined in Neal Stephensonโs 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash , represents a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality, augmented reality (AR) and the Internet. This digital universe allows users to interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. The concept has evolved from fictional imaginations to a significant focus of technological development, aiming to create immersive, digital worlds where people can work, play, socialise and participate in a variety of experiences that span across both the digital and physical worlds.
Research on the metaverse has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by advancements in technology, the thriving gaming industry, the expansion of social media and virtual communities, economic prospects, and the captivating vision of a new digital interface that transcends the current internet environment. To uncover research themes within the metaverse, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of research trends in this field using publications from Scopus, a widely recognized and extensively utilized scholarly database. Employing BERTopic, an advanced topic modeling technique, we analyzed 2,181 research articles focused on the metaverse. The exploration of the metaverse had humble beginnings with a single publication in 1995 but saw a substantial increase after 2020, reaching explosive growth with 1,041 publications in 2022. The application of the BERTopic model revealed 12 primary topics, each associated with significant keywords. These main topics encompass education, healthcare, blockchain, conferences, fashion, NFTs, cybersecurity, web3, research, video streaming, tinyML, and industry. Notably, among these subjects, education, healthcare, and blockchain exhibit significant research activity. In light of the global concern over the digital divide, we conducted investigations focusing on case studies involving digitally disadvantaged groups, such as individuals with visual impairments and the elderly. However, it is noteworthy that we identified only five studies addressing this issue, indicating limited research presence in this crucial area.
Metaverse is a new Internet application and social form that integrates various new technologies. It provides an immersive experience based on extended reality technologies, generates a mirror image of the real world based on digital twin technology, and builds an economic system based on blockchain technologyโฆ
Metaverse has received significant attention as more individuals are interested in developing virtual environments and exploring digital worlds. The educational Metaverse has attracted particular interest, as it offers the potential for highly immersive and interactive learning experiences. Nevertheless, developing an educational metaverse faces several challenges, such as system robustness, latency, and data privacy and security. Blockchain technology provides a decentralized and secure approach to data management and storage. This paper provides a privacy-preserving lecture-sharing scheme for the educational Metaverse by using attribute-based encryption. Our approach ensures that only authorized students can access lecture materials while maintaining data privacy and security. Furthermore, we implemented a prototype of this platform on the Ethereum test network, illustrating the effectiveness of our solution in improving the efficiency of lecture sharing while guaranteeing data privacy.
Today, technology continues to develop rapidly. As in many fields, innovations are emerging that will change the social, cultural, and economic relations that affect peopleโs daily lives. The process, which started with the opening of the door of the virtual world, which is said to be more advanced than ever, with VR, seems to reach a new dimension with the introduction of the concept of the metaverse. In addition to the innovations and effects it will bring in all other economic and financial related processes such as Cryptocoin, NFT, blockchain, Web3, the metaverse will also reveal a new narrative paradigm. It will be important to consider the narrative form in the metaverse era, which can be seen as an upshift of innovations from digital storytelling to the interactive narrative that emerged with the digital transformation. It is also important to consider the grand comprehensiveness of the metanarrative regarding the whole, the specificity of the narrative in the metaverse about each subject or object, and how this will be reflected in the big picture. As stated, in the metaverse era, how will the transition of the narrative to the storyliving stage rather than storytelling affect or result in the ontology of the processes of creating a narrative, conveying it through a medium, and being experienced by individuals? This study will be research on the concept of the metaverse and the questioning of the narrative concerning the social, cultural, and economic fields transformed by technology.
A recurring theme in the public debates is the lack of diversity among the developers and decision-makers in infrastructural personnel, in the big data used, and in software implementations. Metaverse appeared as a core concept as part of a cluster of other terms such as Web3 and blockchain. Many businesses and brands aim to participate in an emerging metaverse scene, and diversity issues are at the forefront of early attempts in the imaginaries and practices of the metaverse. Imaginaries are essential because the metaverse is growing through interrelated technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as new developments in artificial intelligence and blockchain applications. It is an ongoing project, and all may shape the outcome, from decision-makers to authorities and audiences. As a keen follower of journalistic talk, corporate and institutional discourses, and industry leaders, in this chapter, I intend to demonstrate what types of issues concerning diversity debates take place in the early days of metaverse.
Mohammad Hadi Zahedi, Elham Farahani, Karim Peymani
Metaverse is a new type of social network based on Web3 and has multi-technology, decentralized and hyperspatial temporal features. In the Metaverse world, people play roles online and in 3D in the form of avatars. Therefore, the fields of electronic education can also take advantage of this new potential and provide the path of changes for availability and sustainability in the future. Until now, most of the research regarding the discussion of Metaverse and e-Learning has been around the benefits and the possibility of implementing educational systems on this platform, and they have focused more on the progress that Metaverse has made so far, and an educational system based on Metaverse has not yet been operationally implemented. All items are at the design level and in the best case, only a 3D environment is created to present the content non-dynamically. In this paper, we will present a Metaverse virtual e-Learning environment model, all the basic and infrastructural elements, and we will show the ideal mechanisms and technologies and their challenges. This model will lead to the easy development of Metaverse applications in the field of e-Learning.
Abstract The potential of the metaverse in the field of education is an area of increasing interest, with many researchers exploring the space to increase the ease and efficacy of student education while reducing time and labor requirements to deliver effective teaching. However, there has been little work into the systematic and technological aspects of delivering education through the metaverse. To fill this gap, we propose a metaverse education system that takes good advantages of virtual reality and Web3 blockchain techologies to create a social learning environment. With this added emphasis on social aspects, learners are able to socialize and engage in collaborative efforts to improve their own knowledge. Using blockchain technology, the system can also help to ensure security and transparency while also keeping progression and grading fair for all participating students.
The term Metaverse is emerging as a result of the late push by multinational technology conglomerates and a recent surge of interest in Web 3.0, Blockchain, NFT, and Cryptocurrencies. From a scientific point of view, there is no definite consensus on what the Metaverse will be like. This paper collects, analyzes, and synthesizes scientific definitions and the accompanying major characteristics of the Metaverse using the methodology of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Two revised definitions for the Metaverse are presented, both condensing the key attributes, where the first one is rather simplistic holistic describing โa three-dimensional online environment in which users represented by avatars interact with each other in virtual spaces decoupled from the real physical worldโ. In contrast, the second definition is specified in a more detailed manner in the paper and further discussed. These comprehensive definitions offer specialized and general scholars an application within and beyond the scientific context of the system science, information system science, computer science, and business informatics, by also introducing open research challenges. Furthermore, an outlook on the social, economic, and technical implications is given, and the preconditions that are necessary for a successful implementation are discussed.
Education is the foundation of basic human rights and the peace of mankind as well as the pursuit of sustainable development. In this article, we have developed a blockchain-centered educational program contributing to Goal 4, Quality Education, among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education for SD (ESD). The education program featured herein consisted of three lessons in total and has been developed to accommodate gamification techniques. We implemented the education program on 704 elementary school students in Korea for three years from 2019 to 2021. The effectiveness of the education program was primarily analyzed by paired t-test and technical statistics analysis. In a pre-and post-education survey, digital literary, literacy, and numeracy were all significantly improved, with satisfaction level rated at 3.91 out of 5 points. We hope that the blockchain-themed education program proposed herein will provide implications for the promotion of inclusive and equitable quality education.
We are living in a digital age, and the Pandemic has accelerated innovation in health care and has surfaced new business models and opportunities for health. Beyond the applications in telehealth, supply chain, payments, secure data sharing, and remote monitoring are also essential innovations in Blockchain and Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that allow people to exchange value on a decentralized network. Futurists and technologists are also exploring how the Metaverse can play a role in different sectors. This Commentary aims to explore how the Metaverse may be used in the future to change, enhance, and possibly transform health care. The five covered areas are collaborative working, education; clinical care, wellness, and monetization.
AbstractFor learner's self-directed distance education, the need for Problem Recommendation learning guidesreflecting accurate learning patterns based on learner data is increasing. In this paper, based onblockchain based smart contract technology, various learner data generated in the distance educationenvironment were collected and accurately managed to analyze Problem Recommendation patternsfor individual learners and gave weights for each learning situation. It is possible to present the optimalProblem Recommendation path when individual learners solve problems based on the assigned weightsfor each learning situation. To evaluate the performance of this study, the learning satisfaction with theexisting similar learning environment, the usefulness of the Problem Recommendation guide, and theprocessing speed of learner data were analyzed. As a result, compared to the existing learningenvironment, the proposed learning environment improved learning satisfaction by 19% or more, and itwas confirmed that the learning data processing speed was improved by more than 20%.