Facilitating interactions between children and experts

Abstract

A virtual environment may be provided to facilitate education and knowledge gathering by users. The users may include children, youth, and/or other users. The users may be enabled to form connections between themselves and/or experts, and to communicate between themselves and/or with experts. Users may be provided with a different interface than experts.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system configured to provide a virtual environment to users for connecting expert users assigned to one or more of a plurality of categories of expertise and non-expert users not assigned to a category of expertise, the system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors programmed by machine-readable instructions to:   provide one or more spaces within the virtual environment, wherein each space corresponds to at least one category of expertise, the one or more spaces comprising at least a first space corresponding to a first category of expertise;   assign a first expert user, from among the expert users, to the first category of expertise, wherein the first expert user is designated to have knowledge relating to the first category of expertise;   receive an indication of an interest in the first category of expertise from a first non-expert user, wherein the first non-expert user is not assigned to any one of the plurality of areas of expertise;   provide, via the first space, a selectable listing of expert users, including the first expert user, assigned to the first category of expertise;   receive, from a first non-expert user, a selection of the first expert user from among the selectable listing;   provide information that describes the first expert user responsive to the selection, wherein the information is configured to provide information to the first non-expert user to decide on whether to request to be connected with the first expert user;   receive, from the first non-expert user, a request to establish a first type of connection between the first expert user and the first non-expert user; and   establish the first type of connection between the first expert user and the first non-expert user based on the request.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first type of connection can be requested only by the non-expert users to connect with the expert users, and cannot be initiated by the expert users to connect with the non-expert users. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 receive educational content from the first expert user;   provide, based on the first type of connection between the first expert user and the first non-expert user, the educational content.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 generate a non-expert interface for the first non-expert user, wherein the non-expert interface comprises a user wall format, the user wall format including a presentation of a feed of wall items displayed in chronological order;   format the educational content as a wall item;   wherein to provide the educational content, the one or more hardware processors are programmed to include the wall item in the user wall format.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 establish a second type of connection between the first non-expert user and a second non-expert user, wherein the second non-expert user is not assigned to any one of the plurality of areas of expertise.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 grant access to the feed of wall items to the second non-expert user based on existence of the second type of connection between the first non-expert user and the second non-expert user.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 deny access to the feed of wall items to the second non-expert user based on existence of the second type of connection between the first non-expert user and the second non-expert user.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the second type of connection can be requested only by the non-expert users to connect with other non-expert users, and cannot be initiated by the expert users to connect with the non-expert users. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 include, in the feed of wall items, a notification of an activity of the second non-expert user, a communication to the first non-expert user from the second non-expert user, or a virtual gift from the second non-expert user.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 deny access to the feed of wall items by the first expert user, wherein the expert users are not permitted access to wall items of the non-expert users.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 generate a non-expert interface for the first non-expert user;   identify one or more interests of the first non-expert user; and   provide the one or more interests via the non-expert interface.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the non-expert interface comprises a user wall format, the user wall format including a presentation of a feed of wall items displayed in chronological order and wherein to provide the one or more interests, the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 generate at least one wall item based on the one or more interests; and   post the at least one wall item to the feed of wall items.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein to obtain the one or more interests, the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 determine usage patterns of the first non-expert user with respect to the system; and   determine the one or more interests based on the monitored user activity.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 generate a catalog of user interests for the first non-expert user, wherein the catalog includes the one or more interests;   receive an indication of at least one user interest from the first non-expert user; and   add the at least one user interest to the catalog.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 identify second content based on the catalog; and   provide the identified second content to the first non-expert user.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein to identify the second content, the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 identify one or more expert users with whom to connect based on the catalog.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the non-expert interface comprises a user wall format, the user wall format including a presentation of a feed of wall items displayed in chronological order and wherein to provide the one or more interests, and wherein to provide the identified second content, the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 generate a wall item based on the identified second content; and   post the wall item to the feed of wall items.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more interests includes a first interest and a second interest, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 obtain, from the first non-expert user, an indication of a first level of importance of the first interest;   obtain, from the first non-expert user, an indication of a second level of importance of the second interest;   generate, based on the first level of subjective importance and the second level of subjective importance, an interest map that graphically represents at least the first interest and the second interest; and   provide the interest map via the at least the first interface of the second interface type.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further programmed to:
 determine, based on an input from the first non-expert user, an adjustment to the first level of importance or the second level of importance;   generate, based on the adjustment, an updated interest map; and   provide the updated interest map via the at least the first interface of the second interface type.   
     
     
         20 . A method for providing a virtual environment to users for connecting expert users assigned to one or more of a plurality of categories of expertise and non-expert users not assigned to a category of expertise, the method being implemented by one or more hardware processors programmed by machine-readable instructions to perform the method, the method comprising:
 providing, by the one or more hardware processors, one or more spaces within the virtual environment, wherein each space corresponds to at least one category of expertise, the one or more spaces comprising at least a first space corresponding to a first category of expertise;   assigning, by the one or more hardware processors, a first expert user, from among the expert users, to the first category of expertise, wherein the first expert user is designated to have knowledge relating to the first category of expertise;   receiving, by the one or more hardware processors, an indication of an interest in the first category of expertise from a first non-expert user, wherein the first non-expert user is not assigned to any one of the plurality of areas of expertise;   providing, by the one or more hardware processors, via the first space, a selectable listing of expert users, including the first expert user, assigned to the first category of expertise;   receiving, by the one or more hardware processors, from a first non-expert user, a selection of the first expert user from among the selectable listing;   providing, by the one or more hardware processors, information that describes the first expert user responsive to the selection, wherein the information is configured to provide information to the first non-expert user to decide on whether to request to be connected with the first expert user;   receiving, by the one or more hardware processors, from the first non-expert user, a request to establish a first type of connection between the first expert user and the first non-expert user; and   establishing, by the one or more hardware processors, the first type of connection between the first expert user and the first non-expert user based on the request.