Course Info

Module [Module Number]	Schwerpunktmodul Seminar Information Systems l [1277MSSIS1] Schwerpunktmodul Seminar Information Systems II [1277MSSIS2]
Regular Cycle	Summer Term
Teaching Form	Seminar
Examination Form	Seminar Paper, Presentation
Teaching Language	English
ECTS	6
Instructor	Prof. Dr. Stefan Seidel
KLIPS	Summer Term 2024 (First Registration Phase)
Syllabus	(will be uploaded soon)

 

Hiro is the main character in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash. Originally published in 1992, Snow Crash describes a future dystopia where Hiro—and many others—escape a dreadful future in the Metaverse. In Stephenson’s novel, the Metaverse is a large-scale virtual world that is populated by avatars.

In recent years, the term “Metaverse” (often referring to “the” Metaverse, capitalized and singular) has gained significant attention. We have been witnessing the rise of various crypto-based metaverses (in plural form and lowercase), new Metaverse applications, and public discourse around how the Metaverse will change private and professional life. However, it’s important to note that “Metaverse” is currently more of a rhetorical device for conceptualizing a wide range of contemporary developments, rather than a term with a universally accepted definition. These development include next generation video game engines, new business models around video games, the application of augmented and virtual reality, novel types of experiences, artificial intelligence for content generation, and the convergence and merging of various private and professional applications, among others.

It is against this background that this seminar aims to discuss the notion of the Metaverse and explore key questions around Metaverse design (i.e., the design processes conducted by, and the decisions made by, various involved actors that will shape the Metaverse) and Metaverse strategy (i.e., the strategic decisions private and public organizations make in relation to the emerging Metaverse).

Students will …

• understand the main concepts, theories, and methods related to the Metaverse;
• analyze design approaches as well as strategic choices organizations make in relation to the emerging Metaverse;
• identify relevant data sources, collect data, and process the data in order to develop a key deliverable of the seminar project;
• provide critical feedback on their peers’ work; and
• write up their findings in a seminar paper, present them, and defend them in critical discussion with fellow students.

Course Design

The seminar consists of four key elements.

• First, students will be exposed to main concepts, theories, methods, and applications related to the Metaverse.

• Second, each student will work on a specific topic related to those concepts, theories, methods, and applications and write a seminar paper. Topics will be presented and assigned in the first session.

• Third, other students—peers—will read and evaluate those seminar papers, each student providing a review on another student’s work.

• Fourth, seminar papers will be presented and discussed in class.

Assessment

The course grading is:

• Final paper (60%)
• Presentation (20%)
• Peer review (20%)

Selected Readings

Required

Ball, M. (2022). The metaverse: and how it will revolutionize everything. Liveright Publishing.

Dwivedi, Y. K., Hughes, L., Baabdullah, A. M., Ribeiro-Navarrete, S., Giannakis, M., Al-Debei, M. M., ... & Wamba, S. F. (2022). Metaverse beyond the hype: Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy. International Journal of Information Management, 66, 102542.

Peukert, C., Weinhardt, C., Hinz, O., & van der Aalst, W. M. (2022). Metaverse: How to approach its challenges from a BISE perspective. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 64(4), 401-406.

Seidel, S., Berente, N., Nickerson, J., & Yepes, G. (2022). Designing the metaverse. Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS 2022).

Further literature will be provided at the first session.