These are all pretty big things. Interoperability is something that’s been discussed for a while now and the idea of allowing avatars to move freely from one virtual world to another is a pretty sweet thing. With as scattered as I feel in the social media realm these days, the ability to have just one avatar, one identity, that’s able to move around .. makes me happy.
Vivaty and Lively are virtual worlds that are web-based and they both allow you to create your own ’scenes’ and interact with others. There’s a lot of customization in both - you can change how your room looks, move furniture around, pick new clothes/hair for your avatar. Vivaty works with Facebook and AIM and Lively is its own thing that you can embed in your own website. Both very cool, both with a lot of potential.
I don’t see myself using either Vivaty or Lively much right now for a few reasons. The main reason is that both are PC-only at this point and I spend most of my ‘free time’ on my Mac. I’m sure it’s being worked on and I sure hope so. The PC only stuff makes me cranky. If we can get people to move from one virtual world to another, surely we can get these things to work on a Mac.
The new CEO of Linden Lab visited Global Kids today where a group of teenagers were working in both New York and Chicago learning about Tanzania as part of the “I Dig Tanzania” program. Mark Kingdon spoke with the students and seemed to be really impressed with the work they’re doing.
Some quotes from the video where Mark talks about his feelings related to Global Kids and Second Life:
“Second Life is an amazing platform for personal growth and we’re really excited about the opportunities for people to connect and learn in Second Life”
“What you’re doing here is like a dream… I’d like to go back to school and learn it this way”
“Seeing something like this is incredibly inspiring because for me because it takes learning to a whole new level. This is different than a lot of classrooms”
“I love the fact that you’re connecting with students in other places too, that’s just so awesome because it helps to build relationships and see different points of view..”
There’s been a lot of discussion happening in my world related to learning design and learning spaces. The local Penn State community has been talking about the Learning Design Summer Camp and the way that it’s being organized. The entire concept behind it is that it’s now up to the community to organize it, plan it, and make it happen. The recent blog posts by Cole Camplese and Chris Stubbs talk about this, and start the conversation about Web 2.0 and open participation. You should really read both if you have time.. they’re worth it.
Those posts have now led me to think about learning spaces as well. I will be speaking at several upcoming conferences related to virtual learning spaces, and how we are rethinking where learning can actually take place. As I start to toss all these things around in my head, it’s as though our entire culture is so close to the edge of change that I feel as though I should put up some signs or something to let everyone know that it’s all about to explode… and in a big way. I think that the more we dive into the meaning of community and participation online, the ‘water cooler’ no longer exists in the back corner of the office, but on websites, mobile phones, and in these tools of technology that are changing our lives. We’re no longer stuck asking our office mate if they know how to do something, because we truly.. have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. If we’re feeling particularly personal we can twitter a request that no doubt, several people will answer. If we’d rather remain a little more quiet, we can ask Google who will provide us with so much information on any particular topic that we’ll have to filter it ourselves.
I’ve been asked to participate in several EDUCAUSE sessions this fall and winter to discuss learning spaces and initiatives. Initially I was really focused on the spaces I’m creating in Second Life for our online students. More and more though, I’m seeing that almost every online community and conversation is a learning space in itself. Like so many other people have been saying lately, this is a very exciting time to be thinking about our culture and how we learn and communicate.
A quick search under “Places” for “coffee” in Second Life (without the mature areas showing) puts my little coffee shop in Mill Pond at number 3 on the list. It also puts my island, Mill Pond, at number 7.
If we turn on the ‘mature’ areas, we’re listed at number 4 and number 8.
Now, if you search Places and select only “Hangouts” from the drop-down menu in search? We’re number one out of 48 hits listed for “coffee”. Pretty neat stuff.
Many huge thanks to Nate Tobey and the great folks at WPSU here at Penn State for taking some video and audio footage I captured and turning it into this great video about our Virtual THON that was held at Penn State and in Second Life in February.
While I appreciate your obvious concern for the well-being of the children of America, and I’m certain that running for re-election in your suburban Chicago district must put an extreme amount of pressure on you, allow me to point out that your newfound disdain for Second Life is a bit puzzling.
I do realize that your campaign managers likely felt that taking a stance against a relatively new, exciting, immersive technology that allows for experiential learning and gives children the opportunity to explore and experience learning in new, creative, and engaging ways was a good idea to aid your re-election campaign. It’s good, sometimes, to be the person standing up and defending our children - pointing out the evils of technology and keeping them safe from all of the bad people on the internet. I would imagine that in your view, places of learning like schools and libraries would definitely not want to use these sorts of things. For all we know, children might learn to work together and solve problems and goodness knows we don’t want that, do we Representative Kirk.
I’m sure that all of the children who have used Second Life in libraries and schools would be really pleased to know that you no longer want that to be available to them. I’m sure that the children involved in programs all over the United States that are interacting with other students would agree that this is a terrible, scary place and they’ve just been waiting for a hero like you to come along and slam those doors of opportunity shut.
I am also intrigued by your comment that we should “take action to warn parents of the similar dangers and sexually explicit content found on Second Life.”. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, Representative Kirk so you may want to have a seat… there is sexually explicit content all over the internet. If you don’t want to see it, you don’t look at it. Shocking, I know. Maybe it’s best if we just cut off our children from the internet completely. We wouldn’t want them to see anything inappropriate and God forbid they might receive a spam email from someone rife with these aforementioned ‘dangers’.
In conclusion, Mark (I can call you Mark, I hope) while I can definitely appreciate the fact that you’re under a lot of stress and pressure in your re-election campaign and I’m SURE that you’re proposing this legislation out of the goodness of your heart and your inherent need to stand up and protect our children, but…. you’re way off base here.
I would be more than happy to meet you in Second Life and show you some of this explicit ‘dangerous’ content that you’re so focused on, but I’d also very much appreciate the time and opportunity to show you the incredible, amazing things being done in Second Life - many of which are from libraries and schools all over the world.
Sincerely,
Shannon
P.S. You should really not make such a big deal about this sort of legislation, you kind of look like a dork.
A discussion took place yesterday on the Second Life Educator’s mailing list that quickly turned into a fairly heated argument with each side stating their positions. I truly got to the point where I just didn’t even read the emails anymore and deleted them immediately upon their arrival in my inbox.
The discussion began when a fairly new educator to Second Life asked how she might go about giving her students a quiz in-world. Someone responded back to her fairly quickly in what was, in my opinion, a judgmental tone asking why she’d want to do that in Second Life vs. just on the web. He talked about the use of the virtual space and how we should really just use the best tool for the job and maybe that’s the web instead of Second Life if you’re wanting to give a quiz.
In response, another educator called him out on that and referred to several comments he’d made before about these same things and who was he to judge what would be best?
Fast forward about 4 hours and about 30 emails later with an awful lot of unnecessary back-and-forth and now I’m deleting emails on the subject.
I see the point that it really is important to use the best tool for the job and maybe that means that giving a quiz inside Second Life is not the ‘best’ way to do something. However, things like Sloodle (from what I understand) were developed for this purpose. Believe me, I’m all about using the best tool for the job and I’m a firm believer in the fact that what might be the best thing for me to use, might very well NOT be the best tool for you. That being said, I also completely value the immersiveness of Second Life and virtual worlds and if we’re teaching students in that environment, then I think that sometimes it’s also beneficial to assess their learning in the same space without removing them and testing them on the web.
My frustration with the discussion stems from this - Why are we so quick to judge and tell people what they should be doing because *we* think that’s the best way. Why are we not recognizing that every person has different methods and goals they want to accomplish and why are we not helping them, unconditionally, to reach those goals?
The first week of September is shaping up to be a really interesting and exciting time. Not only is the Second Life Community Convention being held from September 5-7 in Tampa, FL with a track dedicated to education, but the Virtual Worlds Conference being held in Los Angeles, CA on September 3,4 is also now featuring education as one of the focuses.
It’ll be a busy week with some pretty fantastic ideas, inspiration and connections. I can’t wait.
I just read a blog post that I saw posted on twitter related to Second Life and businesses. The article refers to McKinsey & Company (a managment consulting firm) and how they are saying that companies and businesses that are not engaging in the use of virtual worlds are doing so ‘at their own peril’.
I found this section of the article really interesting:
“The next phase of Second Life’s development, analysts said, would involve businesses developing very specific 3D applications, which for instance would enable them to conduct virtual meetings, saving on transport costs, and to undertake advanced staff training.
Trucking companies, for instance, are teaching drivers how to parallel park their vehicles using simulations built in Second Life; Hilton, the hotel chain, is collaborating on a tool to train receptionists in virtual lobbies, and energy giants are developing applications that can help them to train staff on how to deal with a hostage situation on an oil rig.”
For me, that’s the difference that virtual worlds bring to the table. It’s experiential. You *do* things there. I had someone tell me in a meeting one day that he’d “rather look at a real photograph than look at that same thing built in Second Life”, because it seemed “fake” to him. I understand what he’s trying to say, and nothing in a virtual world will ever be truly exactly as it is in RL (at least not for the foreseeable future) and so perhaps to some folks it can feel like we’re not being honest or truthful in what we’re representing in a virtual space. The ability, however, to *experience* these spaces is what makes it so powerful. Looking at a photo of a dorm room, for instance, is much different than having your avatar walk into that room and experience the space. That experience, in my opinion, actually IS more real than looking at a photo of the space.
For people not aware of or using virtual worlds to conduct business, meet and socialize with other people, or as a creative outlet, then perhaps these environments do seem ‘false’, but for those of us actively using the space it’s incredibly real.
It was announced today - Linden Lab has a new CEO. Mark Kingdon, formerly of Organic, Inc. is now the CEO of Linden Lab and the man now tasked with bringing Second Life to the next step (and hopefully many more steps after that!).
From the quick amount of reading I’ve done since I saw the announcement on twitter, I have to say that in my opinion, I think Mark might be a great fit and just the person we need right now. I love that he has a background in business, economics, AND art. Maybe he’ll realize how powerful and talented the Second Life community is, and maybe what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning of some really fantastic stuff.
