Journalism and RTA Media Professors present at Economist Impact’s Metaverse Summit

Journalism Assistant Professor Adrian Ma and RTA Media Production Assistant Professor and Director of the Red Bull Gaming Hub at The Creative School Dr. Kristopher Alexander presented at Economist Impact’s Metaverse Summit last month. The conference, which took place over two days, had over 400 attendees in-person in San Jose, California and over 2000 attendees participating virtually. Organized by editors at Economist Impact, day one took place in San Jose while day two took place in a Metaverse platform custom-built for the event. Both days featured guest speakers from the worlds of gaming, blockchain, 3D asset creators, marketing, business leadership and more. Among those in attendance were Avery Akkineni, Andrew Yang, Matthew Ball, and Neal Stephenson.

Virtual participants, including Ma and Dr. Alexander, navigated the conference digitally through the creation of an avatar exploring a 2D virtual campus with a conference hall. All the participants could move about freely and communicate using their microphones and a host of avatar action controls.

Embracing cross-industry learning experiences

The Metaverse Summit specifically aims to provide insights to leaders and professionals in the marketing, technology, digital innovation, education and social media industries. Attendees were also from a variety of companies, including Meta, EY, Siemens, Telus and LVMH. As such, the conversations were diverse and offered multi-level perspectives on the impact of the Metaverse on business, culture, society and infrastructure, explains Ma. 

“Some of the topics on day one included broader conversations about what the Metaverse is (and could be), the future of digital commerce and how to build accessibility into the Metaverse, while the day two virtual sessions tended to be a bit more granular, delving into specific opportunities and issues presented by the metaverse,” he said. 

Ma  moderated a panel discussion titled "Interoperability and standards: how will we move between virtual worlds, and will we be able to take our assets with us?" that discussed the inherent challenges in attempting to give users the ability to seamlessly transfer their assets from one metaverse to another one. 

“For example, if you bought a cool virtual vehicle for your avatar in one world, could you bring it into another Metaverse? It's a small example, but immediately it becomes a multi-level challenge of how to render the graphics and how that item operates in a new system,” he explained. “Can it have the same capabilities as it did in the previous metaverse? It also leads to complex conversations about asset ownership and who exactly sets (and presumably enforces) protocols on cross-platform asset interoperability.” 

Teaching future-thinking skills to current students

To discuss bridging the gap between theory and practice at The Creative School, Dr. Alexander presented a session titled “How can you create Metaverse content that can maintain utility and value?” that explored the topics of consumer demands as it relates to the metaverse and how to best extend the life of a digital asset.

"The Metaverse Summit was a great opportunity to show the world how we equip students with the tools to compete in the global market, while arming them with the tools to bring their stories from concept to reality. My presentation highlighted the importance of students using production tools, like Unreal Engine, to provide specific solutions for complex problems, like equality of excellence in the workforce,” Dr. Alexander said. “The presentation focused on how we fuse theory with practice at The Creative School, as a means of imbuing students with the tools to shift from passive observers, to active creative participants. The Metaverse needs to be created, and we teach creators."

To explore the full list of topics and speakers at the Metaverse Summit, click here (external link, opens in new window) . 

The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University 

The Creative School is a dynamic faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Comprised of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.