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3D Model of Osama’s Abbottabad Compound Used in Training Special Forces (Wired Dangerroom Report)

Wired’s Dangerroom reports on the amazingly fast transformation of Osama’s last known lair into a recruiting and training ground for the US special forces:

TAMPA, Florida — To passers-by, T.J., a fit 20-something, is running around a red felt carpet about half the size of a basketball court inside a convention center. In his mind, he’s wearing a full set of body armor, his face obscured by a ski mask with a death’s head silkscreened on it. And he’s just dropped a terrorist inside Osama bin Laden’s Abbotabad compound.

“Pushing out!” he yells, eyes obscured to the outside world by virtual reality goggles. His partner in the simulation, David, nods to acknowledge. It’s time to move past the courtyard to hunt the leader of al-Qaida.

Two ginormous flatscreens just outside the carpet area show the progress of their avatars through the simulation. A technician shows the map of where they are on a computer screen. It’s a trapezoid — a replica, down to all publicly available details, of the most famous Pakistani compound in history. (OK, OK: minus the porn.)

“Open door,” T.J. bellows. “Flow in!”

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Sorin Adam Matei

Assistant Vice President for Partnerships in Strategic Defense Innnovation and Professor of Communication at Purdue University, Director of the FORCES initiative leads research teams that study the relationship between technological and social systems using big data, simulation, and mapping approaches. He published papers and articles in Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Information Society, National Interest, and Foreign Policy. He is the author or co-editor of several books. The most recent is Structural differentation in social media. He also co-edited Ethical Reasoning in Big Data,Transparency in social media and Roles, Trust, and Reputation in Social Media Knowledge Markets: Theory and Methods (Computational Social Sciences) , all three the product of the NSF funded KredibleNet project. Dr. Matei's teaching portfolio includes technology and strategy, online interaction, and digital media analytics classes. A former BBC World Service journalist, his contributions have been published in Esquire and several leading Romanian newspapers. In Romania, he is known for his books Boierii Mintii (The Mind Boyars), Idolii forului (Idols of the forum), and Idei de schimb (Spare ideas).

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