Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in a special Technology Day at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The theme of the day was the “Teaching and Learning in Four Dimensions” and focused on the impact that emerging 3D prototyping and immersive technologies are having on the world of fashion and education. The Keynote speakers were W. James Au and Janine Hawkins. James gave an engaging presentation about the principles of Second Life (SL) and how the various user groups interact. Janine is the Editor of Second Style in SL and spoke more specifically about the top designers in SL and how many talented international, especially Japanese, designers are using it to gain recognition and promote their work. I was really struck by just how quickly and profoundly the virtual and real worlds of fashion are converging in the design, commercial and educational realms. You can find an excellent summary of the day’s events on Elaine Polvinen’s Virtual Fashion Technology blog.

The event was organized (exceptionally well, I may add) by Beth Harris, a professor of art history at FIT and a leading proponent of technological innovation in education. Beth originally discovered Cozimo through the web and contacted us to learn more. Since then we’ve developed a close relationship and Beth has shared her considerable experience and passion on the needs of educators. Dealing effectively with rich media is one of her primary concerns and she immediately jumped at the opportunity to experiment with Cozimo’s new WordPress plugin on smARThistory, a blog she maintains with her colleague Steven Zucker.

Thanks to Beth’s invitation, I had the opportunity to meet educators from FIT and other institutions who attended Technology Day. We’ll be setting up full Cozimo accounts for a number of courses in the upcoming semester and we’re looking forward to supporting other educational initiatives they are working on.