A Brief Introduction to the Open Simulation Platform

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A Brief Introduction to the Open Simulation
Platform
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A Brief Introduction to the Open Simulation
Platform
Lightening Fast
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• The views expressed in this report do not
  necessarily reflect those of the United States
  Institute of Peace, which does not advocate
  specific policy positions.

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Discussion Points(Why, How, What)

1. The Kool-Aid Simulation Training is the Future
2. A Vision of that Future
3. Working Backward From the Answer
4. The Sit in the Dark Guide to Construction
5. Actors, Phases and Interactions
6. Authors and Instructors and Students
7. This is a reality
8. Gedankenexperiments
9. This is Not Going Away

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The I Believe in Simulation Kool-Aid

1. It is better to allow people to make their
   mistakes in a simulated, as opposed to a real,
   reality.
2. In a simulation participants can obtain empathy,
   see the world from different perspectives.
3. In a simulation participants can gain humility
   an appreciation for complexity and unknown
   unknowns.
4. The act of creating a simulation gives a person a
   more a holistic view.
5. Simulations help prepare people to make better
   decisions, and we need people making better
   decision Today.

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The Future

• In the future we will prepare people for what
  might come at them by putting them into simulated
  experiences.
• In the future, creating simulations will be an
  everyday experience. (And not just by us!)

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Working Toward A Goal
Consider where you are and where you want to be.
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Working Toward A Goal
Consider the next/previous states closest to
each end point.
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Working Toward A Goal
Finding a viable path is key.
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Working Backward from the Answer

1. In the future, simulation training will be the
   norm. (One big truth)
2. Simulation technology will be invisible.
   (Follows from above.)

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Working Forward from What We Have

1. Motivation (Gumption)
2. Open Source Software

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The Sit in the Dark Guide to Construction

1. Close your eyes and ponder what the ultimate
   simulation creation interface would look like.
2. What would it ask you?
3. What would it try to fill in for you?
4. What things could change, and what things would
   need to be constant?

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A Simulation is a Set of Interactions over Time
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A One Stop Invisible Technology Shop Implies
Many Perspectives
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Authors Perspective
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The Printing Press
Enabling terrible authors since 1439
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Technology Spectrum
From BOGGSATT to Holodeck
The OSP currently creates simulations at the
level of Technology Enhanced Role Play (TERP).
I also like to think of this as the Strategic
Communications level.
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Why TERPs?

1. Allows people playing your simulation to act more
   as they would in the real world communicating
   via email and chat, working on draft agreements
   together, etc.
2. Allows people to be physically located in
   different places.
3. Allows the linking-in of real time data available
   on the web (such as current articles and videos)
   to your simulation.
4. Reduces the work on instructors running the
   simulation, thus increasing the chances that it
   will get played.
5. Allows the automated tracking of data (how
   students respond to events, for example)
   allowing accessible experience to accumulate.
6. Opens the door to further automation, such as the
   addition of hard constraints, by keeping your
   data in a standard format (XML).
7. Provides places to put information (such as your
   objectives, audience, plan for playing it, etc.)
   to help make sure one has all bases covered.
8. Opens the door to improved sharing and
   collaboration by keeping the design
   considerations together with the simulation.

Accessible experience is experience not
trapped in one persons head.
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TERP

• Technology Enhanced Role-Play

As technology has come to be a vital part of our
lives, it just makes sense to include it in our
role-play.
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Stairways From TERP to GAME
TERPs with enough intelligence may begin to look
more like games. We are helping develop the user
interface to help mere mortals write games.
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Bringing it Down to Earth(Simulation Creation)
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Student (After Playing in our Afghanistan
Reintegration Simulation) This simulation made me
realize that theory is so much different from
practice. Even if we have a clear plan and good
intentions, problems always happens I have never
been sensitive about how to write something as I
was today. Instructor (Facilitating
Simulation) Today was great - the kids were using
the Simplatform during class while they did
research, and they were getting a lot done. It
was actually really interesting watching them.
They also seem really into it - they're excited
about trying out something new like this.
"Thanks" doesn't seem like enough, but really,
thank you! Student (After Partaking in Creating
Simulations) The creation of online simulations
through the OSP was surprisingly easy. Drafting
the storyboard and materials are the hardest part
of the process, but once those documents are
completed they can be easily plugged into the
online simulation platform. Programming a
simulation is pretty straight-forward and does
not require any in-depth training and the online
tutorial provides the basic information necessary
to start the process. As a result the OSP is
program suitable for novices to experts in the
field, as it can produce simulations as simple or
as complicated as the creator desires. Instructor
(At GWU, where students authored
simulations) Simulation design and facilitation
has always been something that has been carried
out in institutions, in universities, and in
expensive training programs. It has been, until
this point, only available to the elites. The
OSP levels the playing field by providing access
to these life changing skills for anyone with an
internet connection.
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OSP Con 2010
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Gedankenexperiments

1. If Wikipedia didnt exist, would someone have to
   create it?
2. If YouTube didnt exist, would someone have to
   create it?
3. Doesnt someone need to create the ability for
   all of us to easily create and share simulations?

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Why This is Not Going Away

• It is an idea whose time has come.
• It is in use.
• It cant be killed Its Open Source nature keep
  it alive.
• As long as I have life and breath

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Thank You!
scole_at_usip.org
Tutorials Online at demo.opensimplatform.org
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What is Open Source?
Its the opposite of proprietary. Essentially
anyone can see and modify the underlying source
code. Some examples include

1. Moodle
2. Wikipedia (Open Source-ish)
3. FireFox
4. Apache
5. Linux

Linux makes Windows better.
Ted Kaelher of ManTech
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What Do You Mean by Crystal
According to the web site of David Wheeler, if
one were to develop Linux 7.1 from 2001,
It would cost over 1 billion It includes
over 30 million physical source lines of code
(SLOC). It would have required about 8,000
person-years of development time, as determined
using the widely-used basic COCOMO model.
Linus Torvald did not contribute all 8,000
person-years. He created something good enough
for others to contribute to. He created the
crystal.