Academia FAQ's - Real-World Metaverse
Q: What are the benefits of having a Real-World Metaverse located on our campus?
A: There are many benefits for students, parents, faculty, alumni, and the institution that is covered in the University Metaverse document.
Q: What are you doing to prevent negative/inappropriate images from being posted in the app?
A: We employ Google AI Cloud Vision API & SafeSearch detection for Pornographic, Violent, and Medical posted user content. For an additional human review every photo or video has a button to flag inappropriate content by users on the campus. This flagged content is automatically pulled from public view in the Spotselfie™ Metaverse to be reviewed by a moderation group.
Q: What are you doing to prevent inappropriate comments from being posted in the app?
A: Each comment associated with a picture or video can also be flagged inappropriate as well by using the “Provide Details here…” space for the end user to type in exactly where the issue is within the post (picture or comment) and the username of the flagged person involved.
Q:What are you doing to prevent predators, both external and internal to the university, from stalking and harassing students?
A: External: Requires an EDU email to sign up, ensuring that only verified students can use the app, providing an extra layer of campus security.
A: Internal:
Q: When accepting a friend request in the app, does that then link the other student to your other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter?
A: Spotselfie™ does not link to any other social network accounts but does allow students to simply “share” a picture out to their Facebook or twitter account.
Q: Are you working with any experts such as psychologists to ensure that the wording within the app is the most effective to reach students?
A: Randall K Minas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, ITM Department at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa supervised a semester long focus group with his students where we received valuable input from the group. We revised wording within the app, updated UI design, and app features based on the study.
Q: Do you have any proof that show this app helps with university student retention?
A: Our patented technology was researched at Purdue University as a way to increase college retention rates through supportive socialization.
A: Additionally, we have run focus groups at different campuses. Many students in these groups agreed that the app will help students foster relationships sooner on campus allowing them to more easily adjust to campus life, which directly correlates with a university’s retention rate.
Q: What about retention of students that leave for reasons other than social issues such as financial or academic issues?
A: Financial: Spotselfie™ is powered by new technology called Augmented Reality (AR), which will bring new avenues of revenue generation that Universities have never had before. We can place targeted advertising experiences for students to engage in anywhere on campus through the app's AR view. We can place targeted ads by all types of products that are used/consumed by this age demographic group anytime, anywhere on campus 24/7. The University can decide to allocate a percentage of this new revenue to help students remain in school if their grade point average meets a certain requirement set by the university or college.
A: Academic: The AR advertising revenue can also help to fund private or group tutoring sessions for struggling students.
A: Flying Eye Reality, Inc. would gladly donate a percentage of their revenue share to help with funding additional programs to help with Financial and Tutoring services for students in need.
Q: What happens to the app and its content once students leave for the Summer?
A: Spotselfie™ can go into “virtual campus mode” where all campus and social content follows the users no matter where they live or travel during the summer. This creates a virtual campus that follows them around 24/7. A university student can post a Spotselfie™ in Hawaii and another university student will see it floating around them in their hometown in Indiana.
UNIVERSITY CONCERNS
Q: We believe that students may not be interested in using an app that is sponsored/recommended by the university.
A: The initial user group will create a buzz on campus that will influence the other students that had doubts to join.
Q: We may have staffing issues if the app is going to require a lot of university resources to maintain and administer it.
A: We are be able to maintain and administer 100% on our end, no university participation is required.
Q: We may not want the app to just connect similar students, we would like to see connections between students of different faiths, backgrounds, etc.
A: Our patented urMojo algorithm is designed to mentor connections with other students, even if they are not of the same religion or have the same political aspirations. We are matching students on 16 different questions (with 96 weighted average answers) to allow students to match on other interest, activities, and causes that everyone shares, removing barriers that would normally be in place.
Q: The greatest concern is that no one can say for certain, at this point, what the university's legal, ethical and moral responsibility towards the students will be should we choose to use a Real-World Metaverse.
A: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants immunity from lawsuits based on the acts of users in online social networks.
Q: Is there a University level moderation system that would allow staff to review content and delete if necessary?
A: Yes, each university will have their own administration portal. However, moderation by community works best and is most effective.
Q: The university would like a way to measure the actual success of the app in terms of its goal of student retention.
A: The initial success of the metaverse (3 months) would be measured in app adoption, number of users, average number of a user’s friends, number of sessions a user has per day, etc. From there we can then compare dropout rates based on semester time frame comparisons from prior years.
Q: University would like the ability to allow students & faculty to create groups (public or private) within the app in such a way that only members of the group would be able to see others in the group and their post. These groups could be for specific classes, majors, residence hall floors or anything else a student has in mind.
A: We have already added this new feature to the Spotselfie™, app and it allows students to create public or private “Groups” within the app for other students to join based on University classes, political, sports, interest, TV shows, etc.
A: There are many benefits for students, parents, faculty, alumni, and the institution that is covered in the University Metaverse document.
Q: What are you doing to prevent negative/inappropriate images from being posted in the app?
A: We employ Google AI Cloud Vision API & SafeSearch detection for Pornographic, Violent, and Medical posted user content. For an additional human review every photo or video has a button to flag inappropriate content by users on the campus. This flagged content is automatically pulled from public view in the Spotselfie™ Metaverse to be reviewed by a moderation group.
Q: What are you doing to prevent inappropriate comments from being posted in the app?
A: Each comment associated with a picture or video can also be flagged inappropriate as well by using the “Provide Details here…” space for the end user to type in exactly where the issue is within the post (picture or comment) and the username of the flagged person involved.
Q:What are you doing to prevent predators, both external and internal to the university, from stalking and harassing students?
A: External: Requires an EDU email to sign up, ensuring that only verified students can use the app, providing an extra layer of campus security.
A: Internal:
- Block User – A user can block any other user(s) from seeing them and interacting with their content within the Spotselfie™ app
- Frequent Inappropriate Content Flags - associated to a single user can prompt removal from the app and permanent exclusion.
Q: When accepting a friend request in the app, does that then link the other student to your other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter?
A: Spotselfie™ does not link to any other social network accounts but does allow students to simply “share” a picture out to their Facebook or twitter account.
Q: Are you working with any experts such as psychologists to ensure that the wording within the app is the most effective to reach students?
A: Randall K Minas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, ITM Department at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa supervised a semester long focus group with his students where we received valuable input from the group. We revised wording within the app, updated UI design, and app features based on the study.
Q: Do you have any proof that show this app helps with university student retention?
A: Our patented technology was researched at Purdue University as a way to increase college retention rates through supportive socialization.
A: Additionally, we have run focus groups at different campuses. Many students in these groups agreed that the app will help students foster relationships sooner on campus allowing them to more easily adjust to campus life, which directly correlates with a university’s retention rate.
Q: What about retention of students that leave for reasons other than social issues such as financial or academic issues?
A: Financial: Spotselfie™ is powered by new technology called Augmented Reality (AR), which will bring new avenues of revenue generation that Universities have never had before. We can place targeted advertising experiences for students to engage in anywhere on campus through the app's AR view. We can place targeted ads by all types of products that are used/consumed by this age demographic group anytime, anywhere on campus 24/7. The University can decide to allocate a percentage of this new revenue to help students remain in school if their grade point average meets a certain requirement set by the university or college.
A: Academic: The AR advertising revenue can also help to fund private or group tutoring sessions for struggling students.
A: Flying Eye Reality, Inc. would gladly donate a percentage of their revenue share to help with funding additional programs to help with Financial and Tutoring services for students in need.
Q: What happens to the app and its content once students leave for the Summer?
A: Spotselfie™ can go into “virtual campus mode” where all campus and social content follows the users no matter where they live or travel during the summer. This creates a virtual campus that follows them around 24/7. A university student can post a Spotselfie™ in Hawaii and another university student will see it floating around them in their hometown in Indiana.
UNIVERSITY CONCERNS
Q: We believe that students may not be interested in using an app that is sponsored/recommended by the university.
A: The initial user group will create a buzz on campus that will influence the other students that had doubts to join.
Q: We may have staffing issues if the app is going to require a lot of university resources to maintain and administer it.
A: We are be able to maintain and administer 100% on our end, no university participation is required.
Q: We may not want the app to just connect similar students, we would like to see connections between students of different faiths, backgrounds, etc.
A: Our patented urMojo algorithm is designed to mentor connections with other students, even if they are not of the same religion or have the same political aspirations. We are matching students on 16 different questions (with 96 weighted average answers) to allow students to match on other interest, activities, and causes that everyone shares, removing barriers that would normally be in place.
Q: The greatest concern is that no one can say for certain, at this point, what the university's legal, ethical and moral responsibility towards the students will be should we choose to use a Real-World Metaverse.
A: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants immunity from lawsuits based on the acts of users in online social networks.
Q: Is there a University level moderation system that would allow staff to review content and delete if necessary?
A: Yes, each university will have their own administration portal. However, moderation by community works best and is most effective.
Q: The university would like a way to measure the actual success of the app in terms of its goal of student retention.
A: The initial success of the metaverse (3 months) would be measured in app adoption, number of users, average number of a user’s friends, number of sessions a user has per day, etc. From there we can then compare dropout rates based on semester time frame comparisons from prior years.
Q: University would like the ability to allow students & faculty to create groups (public or private) within the app in such a way that only members of the group would be able to see others in the group and their post. These groups could be for specific classes, majors, residence hall floors or anything else a student has in mind.
A: We have already added this new feature to the Spotselfie™, app and it allows students to create public or private “Groups” within the app for other students to join based on University classes, political, sports, interest, TV shows, etc.