Dispatches from the Imagination Age: From the Fire Pit to the Forbidden City: An Outsider’s Inside Look at the Evolution of IBM’s Virtual Universe Community

is a 12-page paper that gives interesting insight into IBM’s moves in the virtual worlds space. It’s a mix of forward-thinking (they have people who do nothing but machinima?) and catch-up (I particularly liked the moment where a few IBM staffers decided on a definition of “virtual universe” in 2006 — fortunately, it matches the one all the rest of us use!).

It’s not very long, and it’s an interesting read.