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Federal Interest and Cyber Security: Government Takes a Serious Look at Virtual Worlds

A written transcript of this episode is available on Slideshare.

How is government using virtual worlds? What platforms are emerging as standards? How are security concerns being addressed? Are proprietary or open source solutions the preferred approach?

Federal agencies are increasingly looking to virtual world technologies as both an opportunity and a potential threat. On this episode of Metanomics, we are joined by Dr. Paulette Robinson and Dr. Robert Young, leading figures in the adoption of the metaverse at all levels of government.

Dr. Robinson will discuss insights into the types of applications and uses for virtual world technology for training, collaboration, and data visualization. She will discuss what she saw as the major trends and issues arising from the recent Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds meeting in Washington D.C.

Dr. Young will address the current and emerging issues around security, including specific approaches being taken to make virtual world environments secure from hacking or griefing, and the broader issues around cyberterrorism and identity or commercial fraud.

Join us in Second Life or on the Web for this look at how federal agencies are embracing virtual world technologies.

Guest Biographies

Dr. Paulette Robinson

Dr. Paulette Robinson is the Assistant Dean for Teaching and Learning for the iCollege at the National Defense University. She is also manages technology for the College. In this position, she manages a distributed learning instructional design group, oversees technology purchases, reviews emerging technologies for inclusion in the iCollege labs, and implements technology and facilitates instructional use of technology for the College. As part of her position, she is also responsible to review all student assessment plans and create evaluation capabilities for College courses and programs.

In addition, she is the leader for the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds. A group of over 1,500 from government (federal, state, local and international), industry, and academia who are interested in the use of virtual worlds in government, confronting and solving common issues, as well as sharing best practices. She is co-leading a vGov project to provide secure access to virtual worlds for government.

Before joining the Federal Government, Dr. Robinson was the Assistant Director for Academic Support in the Office of Information Technology at the University of Maryland where she managed an instructional design team specializing in e-learning, mentored faculty in the appropriate use of instructional technologies in their courses, investigated as well as recommended emerging instructional technologies, and consulted with the Center for Teaching Excellence on student assessment through faculty workshops and campus-wide presentations.

Dr. Robinson has over 20 years experience working in higher education as an administrator and faculty member. She focused her doctoral studies within higher educational policy, planning and administration in the areas of curriculum, instructional technology and e-learning. She has given over 50 presentations at national conferences and is the author of several book chapters and journal articles.

Dr. Robert Young

Robert Young is Director of the National Defense University Information Assurance Lab and teaches Information Assurance at the IRM College. He hold numerous certifications including: Physician Assistant (PA) – Certified, National Association for the Accreditation of PAs, Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified HIPAA Security Professional (CHSP), Information Security (INFOSEC) Assessment Methodology (IAM) Certificate, CISSP – Information Systems Security Engineering Professional (ISSEP)(c), CISSP – Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP), CISSP – Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP).

Robert Young earned a BS and MPAS from the University of Nebraska and his Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Areas of Expertise: Information security (INFOSEC) and information assurance (IA) expert; extensive knowledge of network and systems security principles, safeguards, and practices; analyzing security requirements, auditing security practices and procedures, designing and implementing security policies, and managing and maintaining an ongoing and effective security infrastructure; common criteria and DoD Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP); Communications Security (COMSEC), Computer Security (COMPUSEC), EMSEC, Unit Information Assurance Manager (UIAM), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Certificate Authority Workstation (CAW) and Security Awareness Training and Education (SATE); Windows 95/98/NT/XP/2000, firewalls, trusted operating systems, and trusted facility management; server, workstation, peripheral, and LAN hardware maintenance.