The SLED Picayune

SL Land Mass Data

2008-01-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

Just a few facts for everyone to enjoy:

Avatars walk about about 6 mph (9.65 km/h). Assuming no lag, an avatar can walk from one side of a sim to the other side in about 1 minute, 35 seconds.
Each sim measures 256m x 256m (65,536 sqm). From north to south, a sim is about .159 miles.
The slmaps.com site states that there are currently 3,952 sims on the main grid
If we stacked all those sims in a tight square (approx 63 sims on each side), the distance north to south would be 16,128m, or 16 km, or about 10 miles.
That means it'd take almost 1.5 hours of continually pressing down the "up" arrow on your keyboard for your avatar to get all the way across the fictitious packed-square grid.
The SL main grid map available at Wikipedia is not perfect (it's the one on display at the ICT Library), BUT it shows that the 3,952 sims are not a neat little square. Instead, they are spread out over a vast "ocean."
How big is that ocean? How many sims *could* it hold? According to my measurements, if every piece of SL ocean were covered by a sim, there'd be close to 190,280 sims in SL(see note). IF this ever existed, it would instead take the average avatar (walking) almost 10 hours to go from north to south, and 14 hours to go east to west.

Wow... that's big!!

NOTE: This was arrived at by looking at the map in scale. It measures 53.5 cm x 80 cm. Each sim is about .15 cm x. 1.5 cm. > NS = 356 sims x EW 533 sims.

Where is everyone in SL??

2008-01-22T23:24:00.000-05:00

A friend recently suggested that every time he's in SL, there is no one around (despite the fact that LL records approx. 444,000 logins per week, which is an average of 63,500 or so per day).
Whenever I log in, there always seems to be between 30K and 55K in-world at the same time (this is up from what... 14K in spring 2006?). Anyway, it seems like a ton of people... so where is everyone??? For those of us who have to on occasion explain things to newcomers and/or naysayers, I did simple math, and it explains things a bit.

Currently, there are 3,952 sims on SL's main grid (http://www.slmaps.com/). This means that if evenly distributed, 50,000 users would result in about 13 users per sim. There are sims/areas that attract many times that number, so the likelihood of finding more than a few green dots in any one location is small. Education builds tend not to attract 'hoi polloi.' Hence, lots of emptiness.

I am not SL's biggest apologist (there are certainly things as an educator that I wish a competitor would come along and fix), but when folks tell me, "SL is boring, " I tell them (with a smile), "So is your course website." Maybe I'm not right 100% of the time, but I've seen a lot of course sites, and looking through them is about as exciting as watching KillDisk zero out a 300GB HDD.

SL MAP: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Second_Life_map.jpg

The claim of "no one is there" was put forth by Wired magazine, and a lot of journalists have continued stories along this line because it's easy to replicate the results: Go to Second Life, find no one... and find a bunch of companies pulling out en masse (as reported on APM's MarketPlace on 22JAN08). Their criticism is likely valid for the business world, which wants to put product/service ads & content in front of users. If users are mere vapors, then money spent by companies to use SL (which, all things considered, really doesn't chew up their ad budget too much I suspect) might be better used elsewhere.

Anyway - it's easy to be a critic. As an educator, I'm interested in SL not for the bazillion people I can bring to my plot of land, but what it means for the couple dozen students in my class.

Shameless Plug for Community Colleges in SL

2008-01-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

A new group has formed to support community college faculty, staff and students in Second Life. Are you a community college person? Search for the group "Community Colleges in Second Life" in-world and join us!

This group meets about once a month and will very soon have three in-world locations for our members to find each other and to use for meetings. Walk into the CCSL light! All are welcome!

Contact Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks in-world for more information!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Second Metaverse Meetup

2007-12-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

The Stanford Humanities lab held their second "Metaverse Meetup," this time featuring Jamais Cascio. Cascio discussed "The Metaverse -- what does it include, where is it going, and how will it change our lives?" See the video here.

Howard Rheingold Rocks the NMC House!

2007-12-10T23:43:00.000-05:00

Among other excellent presentations, the NMC Symposium hosted Howard Rheingold who spoke on "Co-Evolution of Technology, Media and Collective Action." Check out the excellent presentation here:

http://sl.nmc.org/2007/12/10/co-evolution-keynote/

You can find other session resources as they are posted at:
http://www.nmc.org/2007-fall-virtual-symposium/resources

Enjoy!

Land of Lincoln Events Scheduled!

2007-12-05T10:14:00.000-05:00

The Alliance Library System and the SL Librarians have announced several events in conjunction with the Land of Lincoln experience. Contact Lorelei Junot or Maxito Ricardo in-world for details and LM's.

*The Land of Lincoln planning group will meet Tuesday December 11 at 5 pm SLT on Land of Lincoln at the new London punch exhibit and book club room.

*Join the Land of Lincoln Book Club facilitated by Maxito Ricardo.
Each month, this group will read a book about an aspect of Lincoln's life, his family, and his work.

Each session will start at 6 pm SLT and will be held at the London Punch exhibit and Lincoln reading room.

*The first book group session will be held January 15. "One Man Great Enough: Abraham Lincoln's Road to Civil War" by John Waugh will be discussed.

* The February discussion will be held February 12 (Lincoln's birthday). The book to be discussed is "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

*On March 12, "The Madness of Mary Lincoln" by James Emerson will be discussed.

*On April 10, the book for discussion is "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer" by James Swanson.

*On May 12, the book for discussion is "The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln." by James Oakes.

*"The Case of Abraham Lincoln" by Julie Fenster is the book for June 12.

Contact Maxito Ricardo (SL) with any questions.

Video Lecture on Augmented Reality

2007-11-24T07:55:00.000-05:00

The Stanford Humanities Lab recently hosted another "Metaverse Meetup" featuring Mike Liebhold, a researcher at The Institute for the Future, who discussed Augmented Reality. Video

This lecture was part of the "Metaverse Meetup" series. The next Meetup discussion is on November 29, 2007 and will feature Jamais Cascio on the "Metaverse Roadmap" (pdf here.)

Want to attend in-world?

When: Thursday, November 29th 2007 from 6pm to 7:30pm PST/SLT

Where: Wallenberg Hall, Stanford University and at Spaceport Bravo in Second Life.

RSVP, please, to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7507931740

"Professor Avatar"article (A. Foster, CHE) in-world

2007-09-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

I have received express written consent from the Chronicle of Higher Education to distribute the latest piece on education in SL by Andrea Foster. Simply find a kiosk and touch it - and the article will be delivered to you!

Request for test users please!

2007-08-11T10:36:00.001-05:00

by Jennifer Young

My name is Jennifer Young (SL jmy Writer), and I'm a lecturer in Creative Writing at the
University of Hertfordshire in the UK. I've been using SL to create an
online student magazine which is hosted inside a virtual literary festival.
The magazine, Orb, is staffed by UH students. The publishing remit is to
publish the best creative writing by UK university students.

The magazine will launch on October 23 with a streaming performance by UK
performance poet Patience Agbabi.

We are in the final stages of design, and we're looking for users to
provide feedback. Would you be willing to spend a few minutes walking
around our site and giving us some feedback? There are post boxes on the
site, or you can email me at j.m.young - at- herts (dot) ac (dot) uk. The SL address is:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/SMIRKworld/128/128/0

Just to make you aware, the pieces of creative writing that are up are
still in draft mode and are acting as place holders. Before the magazine
launch in October, the authors will record audio and provide visuals to
accompany their work. At the moment it's just text with the student
editors' voiceovers.

Thank you for your assistance

CITASA Mini-Conference in SL

2007-08-11T10:18:00.001-05:00

by T. Kennedy

Hi Folks!

The American Sociology Association Conference kick off time is only hours away - and the Communication & Information Technology Section of the ASA (CITASA) Mini-Conference 3.0 is almost here.

This year we are having our Mini-Conference in the virtual world - Second Life - and this years Conference Title is "Web 2.0 and Beyond: The Sociological Significance of Virtual Worlds Supplanting Cyberspace"

We have a great line up of presenters who will share their research and we will discuss what Web 2.0 - 3.0 means to us as Sociologists in the ICT field and the interdisciplinary aspects of this area of study.

Whether you are enroute to NYC and attending the ASA in person or not - please join us in Second Life for the Mini-Conference on Sunday, August 12th 2pm (PDT/SLT) or 5pm (EDT). We will have voice enabled presentations (so bring your headset/mic to NYC), complimented with Powerpoint Slides (these will posted to Slideshare after the conference).

http://www.slideshare.net/citasa
(Program is posted now)

For those of you (and your avatars) who plan to attend the CITASA MC 3.0 in SL - please send me your name and your Second Life avatar's name so we can put you on the Guest List. We have T-Shirts for your avatar and a gift bag of goodies, including a tech-treat from Telus - and of course stimulating conversations!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Tracy Kennedy
Second Life - Professor Tracy

Web 2.0 and Beyond: The Sociological Significance of Virtual Worlds Supplanting Cyberspace Event: CITASA third Mini-Conference to be held in the Metaverse – Second Life
Date of Event: Sunday, August 12th, 2007
Time: 5:00pm – 8:00pm (EDT) 2-5pm (SLT/PDT)
Location Details: The GNWC Virtual Centre for Digital Media in Second Life
University Project (150, 84, 23)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20Project/150/84/23

Timetable & Session Details

2:00 pm (PDT/SLT) 5:00pm (EDT):
Welcome Address

Jim Witte - Clemson University & CITASA Chair

2:15 -2:50 pm (PDT/SLT) 5:15 -5:50 pm (EDT):
Session 1: Social Networking Sites

Dan Trottier
Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario

"Social Networking Sites: A Surveillance Studies Primer"
In recognizing social networking sites as sites of sociological concern, this presentation will offer a surveillance studies perspective to this topic. Using Facebook as a case study, a review of key surveillance material as well as preliminary findings will underscore directions for future research. In particular, the popularized and controversial practice of 'Facebook stalking' will serve to illustrate how lateral (or peer-to-peer) surveillance not only supplements, but may also amplify conventional forms of monitoring.
Questions:
1) Can practices such as deception or dissimulation on social networking sites be regarded as ways of resisting surveillance?
2) What kind of connections does Facebook enable between peer-based forms of surveillance, and practices such as employee screening?

Peter Timusk
University of Ottawa - Ottawa, Ontario

"Exposed Edges and Tighter Nodes: A Suggested Social Networking Hypothesis For Web 2.0 As Seen Through A User Of Facebook A Web 2.0 Social Networking Site".
The author explores previous studies of social networking by pioneers such as Barry Wellman to develop a hypothesis for further empirical studies of the networking properties of websites such as Facebook. It seems to the author, that there is more privacy exposure between persons, and at the same time these same persons are brought closer together by networking on Facebook. Thus edges between nodes in this network structure are exposed revealing these edges to other nodes, while nodes themselves potentially learn more about each other as nodes only not just as edges. It is hoped that this hypothesis and other various hypotheses will help either social network analysts, or those who will be data mining websites such as Facebook, to understand the implications of a network's social structure. Legal and ethical considerations resulting from these hypotheses will also be considered in this presentation.

2:55 – 3:30 pm (PDT/SLT) 5:55 – 6:30 (EDT):
Session 2: Videogames & Gaming

Tracy Kennedy
Communities & Technologies Research Group, Microsoft – Redmond, Washington

"Women's Online Gaming Communities: Don't Hate the Game, Hate the Players"
Pervasive stereotypes such as 'women don't game', 'women don't know how to game' and 'women don't play violent videogames' have long saturated the media as an explanation of why there are not more women gaming. The purpose of this presentation is to address these stereotypes and examine the online gaming experiences of women in Xbox Live that may explain why women appear absent in online gaming spaces. Using data from the GamerchiX Forum, I will discuss issues of harassment that women experience, and how the GamerchiX community (consisting of 2700 female gamers) offers different types of social support to address and overcome these negative gaming experiences, and how GamerchiX creates a safe, secure and encouraging community of female gamers. Moreover, I will explore the role GamerchiX plays in the lives of these women outside of gaming, which often encompass forum discussions that are not related to gaming at all, face-to-face meetings and associations in such spaces as Facebook.

Jeff Preston
The University of Western Ontario - London, Ontario

"Disabilities and Gaming Environments"
Children are encouraged to start playing sports from a young age as competition help build confidence, social skills and physical ability. For a child with a physical disability, there are few opportunities to play
competitive sport, as children are often not strong enough to physically compete or the sport is simply too dangerous, forcing many individuals to begin playing adapted sports with other disabled athletes. Recently, a new solution has emerged that is rarely considered as a source of competitive sporting; video games. For years, computer/console systems have given users the opportunity to take control of computer-generated avatars, the virtual bodies used to interact and manipulate synthetic worlds, and play out excited simulated experiences from the comfort of their own homes. With faster Internet speeds, individuals who play video games are now capable of competing in synthetic worlds with friends across the Internet or on Local Area Networks, leading to the manifestation of competitive leagues like the Cyberathlete Professional League. Online video games, like Counter-Strike, offer youth with disabilities a viable solution to transcend their physical limitations to gain important social skills that most children develop through physically competitive sports, but in a safe and integrated digital environment. This paper considers the possibility of video games as legitimate substitutes for, or complements to, sports currently available to the so-called "disabled" and the benefits of these synthetic experiences.

3:35 – 4:35pm (PDT/SLT) 6:35 – 7:35 (EDT):
Session 3: Virtual Worlds

Michael Reese
Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore, Maryland

"The Potential for Digital Field Assignments in Second Life"
Digital field assignments are course activities in which students collect and analyze data from the field using digital technologies. However, what happens when the field is a virtual, 3-D environment? This presentation will explore the possibility of using Second Life to conduct course research assignments. Case studies being explored at Johns Hopkins and other institutions will be described.
Questions:
1) What is the value of teaching qualitative research skills in Second Life instead of the Real Life?
2) What are students' perspectives on using Second Life as a situated learning experience?
3) How does identity formation operate in Second Life (and how does it transfer to Real Life)?

Michael Roberts
North Harris College – Houston, Texas

"A Scanner Darkly: the death of authenticity under conditions of media-saturation"
A Scanner Darkly, the movie, is a cartoon created by filming live actors and then drawing over them. This is not a new technique. Snow White was Gene Tierney. Bela Lugosi was the Devil in the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia. I will use Philip K. Dick's fiction and the popular films based on those fictions as a template for reading the motives behind mass migration into SL in quest of escape from limitations imposed on the identities such migrants can perform with validation in RL. I will focus on the idea of virtual space as rehearsal space for identities which, while initially constructed in virtual spaces and initially only possible to construct based on virtual resources, might, after construction, migrate into RL. This potential for identities to form in virtual worlds and then migrate to RL renders ambiguous the distinction between role-play and identity, between lives and representations of life, to the point of making the value of the distinction itself dubious.

Leslie Jarmon
The University of Texas - Austin, Texas
Co-Presenter: Joe Sanchez
The University of Texas - Austin, Texas

"The Educators Coop Experience in Second Life"
This presentation discusses the pedagogical value of the teaching and research experience in Second Life based on one case: the Educators Coop Experience in Second Life (SL). The goal of the Educators Coop Residential Community is to provide educators and researchers with a unique residential environment from which to begin exploring, collaborating, teaching, and conducting research more easily and seamlessly. The coop in SL is designed to cultivate new cross-disciplinary relationships and collaborations. Residents are also participants in research exploring the emergence of this kind of experimental SL residential community.
Effective communication requires developing skillful mental flexibility and an understanding of diverse communities of practice, their underlying worldviews, and their material artifacts, including technology and virtual space in particular. In SL, residents can quickly access and interact with educators and researchers from multiple disciplines and countries, without traveling. As Latour noted, "[I]f you want to understand what draws things together, then look at what draws things together" (60; original emphasis). The SL sim "draws things together" in powerful new ways, and its convergence of mediated forms of social interaction offers opportunities for enhanced collaboration in the construction of new knowledge. The ways we are trained to think, talk, read, and write about knowledge are behaviors that affect the kinds of knowledge we construct. Ways of thinking about how knowledge emerges enhances students' ways of thinking about their own disciplines. This presentation poses the question around which the Second Life community is centered: "Are you ready to imagine knowledge differently?" (Fox, 136).

Geoffrey Edwards
Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Geomatics - Université Laval

"Embodiment, Identity and Presence in Second Life – New Wine or New Bottles?"
Nick Yee has written "our insistence on embodiment in virtual environments structures social interactions in these worlds in ways that we may not consciously be aware of… this implies that virtual worlds may be useful platforms for studying things even as visceral as the rules of physical interaction". Identity has been defined as the set of strategies, beliefs, values and representations that are organized for the survival of the entity concerned (Dornic and Edwards, 2007). Presence has a variety of meanings, but here I am concerned with the sense of someone being present, even though their actual physical body may be absent. These three concepts are interdependent on each other, and each of them manifests within the world of Second Life.
Within the field of education, a form of learning called "transformative learning" has gained interest. Ashe et al. (2005) have stated that "transformative learning involves a change in personal feelings, beliefs, and values known as meaning perspectives". This concept of meaning perspectives, introduced by Mezirow in 1990, is very close to current definitions of identity – indeed, the transformation of meaning perspectives
seems to involve change in personal identity. It is proposed that the concept of transformative learning provides a framework for understanding how our conceptualizations of the self, our bodies and our interaction with others are changed in Second Life. The process of transformation ensures that what emerges is, indeed, new wine not just "old wine in new bottles". Within Second Life, identity is multiple, body is performative and presence is determined by the quality of our interactions with others. These ideas are illustrated by drawing on work with scientist and artist collaborators within Second Life.

Joanna Robinson
Great Northern Way Campus – Vancouver, BC
Co-Author: Tracy Kennedy
Communities & Technologies Research Group, Microsoft – Redmond, Washington

"Participatory Pedagogy: Challenging 'Real Life' Practices of Educational Institutions in Virtual Worlds"
This presentation discusses virtual spaces as participatory pedagogy in which student learning is formulated through exploration, reflection and collaboration (Hobbs et al 2006) both individually and as a group. Importantly, we argue that virtual environments such as Second Life have shown educators that we need to rethink existing learning strategies and enhance them with innovative tools that encourage creative thinking and promote technical skills that foster communities of knowledge and practice.
Questions:
1) How can virtual worlds effectively challenge the ways we sociologically frame education and educational practices?
2) What are some of the obstacles educators face when converging real life and virtual worlds into their pedagogical style, and in the classroom?

4:40 – 4:55 (PDT/SLT) 7:40 – 7:55 (EDT):
Closing Remarks

Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins
Ball State University - Muncie, IN

5:00pm (PDT/SLT) 8:00pm (EDT):
Participants and Presenters are welcome to stay and discuss their interests further at the conclusion of the presentations.

TakingITGlobal.org seeks volunteer SL coordinator

2007-08-11T10:14:00.001-05:00

by Dan Winckler

Just passing this on...

http://about.takingitglobal.org/d/getinvolved?view=201

Second Life Coordinator (Volunteer Positions)

Description

About TakingITGlobal

TakingITGlobal is an international organization led by youth, empowered by technology that connects youth from around the world to find inspiration, information and get involved in improving their local, regional and global communities.

About TIG in Second Life

TIG is in the process of developing two spaces within Second Life: an island recently donated by Starwood Hotel and Resorts (SURL) and an office in the Non-Profit Commons (SURL). Once they are up and running, both spaces will provide our members with new and innovative ways to interact with each other, will showcase youth projects and youth-created artwork and will help us draw new audiences to TakingITGlobal's work.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Help TakingITGlobal staff design and implement their presence in on both the Aloft Island and in the Non-Profit Commons office.

• Coordinate live events include open discussions and featured speakers on the Aloft Island.

• Maintain regular office hours within the TIG office in Second Life.

Experience Sought

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of the Second Life platform

• Basic design skills

• Interest in global issues and youth engagement

• Detail oriented and well organized

• Good communications skills (both written and oral)

• Ability to work both collaboratively and independently, including within virtual teams

• Significant interest in youth-related issues and experience working with young people from a wide variety of cultures

• Fluency in Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian or Italian an asset

Additional Information

This is a virtual volunteer position(s), and as such is not tied to a specific geographic location.

Why work at TIG? Working at TIG is an opportunity to improve professional skills, and gain work experience in a positive environment with dedicated young people who want to make a difference. Alumni have gone on to work for leading global NGOs and community organizations, as well as to pursue advanced degrees at top universities around the world.

Contact

Human Resources - jobs -at- takingitglobal (dot) org

The application period for this position will be closing on Aug 17, 2007.

Archeology in virtual environments

2007-08-11T10:04:00.001-05:00

by Rolig Loon

UC Berkeley. Info from their campus web site …………….

Two UC Berkeley undergraduate research apprentices are recreating an archaeological excavation site in Second Life as part of the Remixing Catalhoyuk project. Come visit Okapi Island in Second Life. I'm pleased to announce [3/6/2007] the purchase of Okapi Island in Second Life (coordinates forthcoming). We will use our 65,000 square feet of virtual property to

Advance OKAPI's overall mission to pioneer new tools and practices for learning and sharing information,
Capitalize on several months of exploratory work last semester,
Apply the research of UC Berkeley Anthropology professor Ruth Tringham in remediating places
Contribute an innovative remix of archeological data as part of the Remixing Çatalhöyük project, and
Provide a venue for future research, learning and public outreach.

Program Manager for Open Knowledge and the Public Interest, Noah Wittman is an award-winning interactive media producer with ten years of experience developing multimedia websites, exhibits and curricula. Noah is currently managing the FIPSE Scholar's Box project, developing a new Center for Digital Scholarship, and other projects relating to public scholarship, outreach, and K-12 education.

Second Life metrics for the masses

2007-08-07T08:40:00.001-05:00

by Eric Hackathorn

Hopefully this doesn't come across sounding too much like a sales pitch, but for those willing to splurge a whole Linden consider picking up a proximity sensor. It keeps track of the number of unique avatars visiting a land parcel, total time spent on a land parcel, and average time spent by an avatar over the last hour, day, week, and month. More information can be found here:
http://hackshaven.com/2007/08/05/second-life-metrics-for-the-masses/

Upcoming SLED events

2007-08-07T08:31:00.001-05:00

by Bruce Sommerville

1) Open House: Marlboro College Graduate Center, August 10.

2) Educators Coop Open House, August 8.

3) NMC Symposium on Creativity in Second Life, August 12-18, updated.

The above events have been added to the "SLEDevents in SL" public Google calendar, which may be viewed in your web browser at:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=f3b7ubjteso0776u83v4i38qm8%40group.calendar.google.com

This site shows the event times in SL time.

Google subscribers who add the SLEDevents in SL calendar to their calendar list will see the event times converted automatically to their own local time zone.

NRHM Call for Papers

2007-08-02T08:44:00.001-05:00

Fwd from Ed Lamoureux

Call for Papers
New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia

Editor: Doug Tudhope
Associate Editor: Daniel Cunliffe
Faculty of Advanced Technology, University of Glamorgan, UK
Submission deadline: January 16, 2008
Acceptance notification: February 27, 2008
Final manuscripts due: April 9, 2008
NRHM covers hypermedia, hypertext, interactive multimedia and related
technologies.
We invite papers on the following topics and related issues:
- Conceptual basis of hypertext systems
cognitive aspects
design strategies
- Intelligent and adaptive hypermedia
knowledge representation
knowledge organisation systems and services
the semantic web
- Multimedia issues
time and synchronisation; link dynamics
audio/image/video processing and compression
content-based retrieval
- Interaction
navigation and browsing; search systems;
studies of information seeking and navigation behaviour; testing and
evaluation
user interfaces; multi-modal interaction
- Tools for hypermedia
(automatic) authoring systems
- Applications in business, commerce, digital libraries, e-learning,
information management, the professions, publishing, and public
administration, etc.
The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia (NRHM) is published by
Taylor & Francis and appears in both print and digital formats. For more
details and indicative topics, see the journal website:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp
Submissions may take the form of research papers or shorter technical
notes and should be sent by email to the editors, preferably in pdf
format. Questions and enquiries are welcome.

Call for Expressions of Interest - International Virtual Reality Teaching and Learning Research Inst

2007-08-02T08:41:00.003-05:00

by Ole Brudvik

Title: Call for Expressions of Interest to contribute to a proposed International Virtual Reality Teaching and Learning Research Institute

This is a general call for academics and practitioners involved or interested in the field of Virtual Reality Teaching and Learning (using environments such as Second Life) to express their interest in contributing to or being associated with an International Virtual Reality Teaching and Learning Research Institute. The range of research and development that the proposed Institute would support is intentionally left open, but could include projects such as investigating the efficacy of various virtual reality learning designs, researching the sociological and psychological aspects of learning in virtual reality environments, and the success with which tools and scripts can be applied across different curricula.

Interested parties can nominate roles that they would like to perform, which may include

* advice on the policies of the Institute and the services it provides
* research and development in conjunction with the Institute (utilising support services that would be provided by the Institute)
* evaluation of Institute performance.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the proposed Institute, please provide an Expression of Interest (of no longer than one page) outlining your experience with VREs or related technology based learning applications, any research experience, the reasons for your interest in becoming associated, and the ways in which you would like to be involved. Please return all Expressions of Interest no later than 9th August 2007.

Prospective contributors would form part of a Carrick Grant Application to establish the Institute. This initiative is being lead by Professor John Hedberg, Macquarie University Australia.

Fwd: [Slrl] Social capital in Second Life

2007-08-02T08:41:00.001-05:00

by Kim Holmberg

We are researching social capital in Second life and we want to invite
you to take part of our survey. The purpose of the survey is to gather
information on the users of Second Life and their perceptions on the
social dimensions of the service. We are grateful for your commitment
and appreciate highly the time you spend answering this survey. The
survey is accessible at https://survey.istohuvila.fi/index.php?sid=5

Introduction—Music Academy Online (In-world)

2007-08-02T08:40:00.001-05:00

by Dave Schwartz

Dear Fellow SL Educators,

Music Academy Online, http://www.musicacademyonline.com/, is a real world entity. Our goal is to stimulate interest in Western art music. Accordingly, Music Academy Online will bring together musicians, scholars, educators, orchestras and ensembles, academic and other institutions, and vendors in order to provide music lovers with a completely unique online environment in which to foster and cultivate their appreciation and passion for music.

We are very excited about the possibilities Second Life provides for merging commerce and education. Our facilities in Second Life will include classrooms with audio/video capabilities, screening rooms, museum displays, interactive exhibits, a lecture and recital hall, open air concert space, holodecks and an in-world staff. Our desire is to also make our facilities available to third party educators.

While our specialty is music, we would also look forward to working with diverse disciplines in order to explore the cultural and social contexts for Western art music.

We are located at Nowee (108, 127, 3). We welcome your visit and any feedback you may have. If interested, we would love to give you an in-world tour. Feel free to contact me at your convenience for any reason.

Sincerely,

David Thomas Schwartz, Ph.D. (SL: Benton Wunderlich)

CEO, Music Academy Online, Inc.

Music Academy Online, Inc.

Santa Barbara, CA

ANNOUNCING: SLCC '07 Education Workshop schedule

2007-08-02T08:39:00.002-05:00

by Jeremy Kemp

We are very pleased to formally announce the schedule
for this year's Second Life Education Workshop at the
Chicago Hilton, Friday August 24th through Sunday
August 26th, 2007.

http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=SLCC_2007_Schedule

Lead Sponsor: NMC Virtual Worlds

Over 30 academics from four countries will speak. We
are estimating attendance for the education track to
be 200+, up from 80 in 2006. See:
http://tinyurl.com/2b9nqj

We are still finalizing the in-world event locations.
The entire program is being streamed into SL, and we
should have several hosting locations set up. There
will also be a few events happening in-world only.

For information on the Second Life Community
Convention itself, see: http://slcc2007.wordpress.com/

See you in Chicago!

SLCC Fellowship Awardees announced by NMC

2007-08-02T08:39:00.001-05:00

by Alan Levine

We've just announced the winners of NMC's sponsorship for 3 educators to attend the Second Life Community Convention later this month. Congrats go to:

** AJ Brooks -- Montclair State University

** Johnmac Maverick -- Monroe College

** GrandMasterFoo Woodget -- Minneapolis Public Schools

These fellowships are part of the NMC's planned presence at SLCC in Chicago later this month, where the New Media Consortium and its Second Life unit NMC Virtual Worlds have agreed to serve as the lead sponsor for the Education Track at the conference.

More details

http://sl.nmc.org/2007/08/01/slcc-fellowships/

Design on eLearning - 2nd International Conference, London...

2007-08-02T08:36:00.001-05:00

by Anna Robinson

Designs on eLearning
2nd International Conference
Teaching and Learning with Technology in Art, Design and Communication.

hosted by the University of the Arts, London on the 12th - 14th September 2007.

Charles Saumarez Smith , the Director of the National Gallery will open the conference and Gráinne ConoleProfessor of e-Learning at the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University will deliver the Keynote address.

The conference aims to cast light on established practice in the field, on innovations in teaching and learning with technology, on the challenges and successes presented by the visual nature of our discipline, and on the benefits of online and blended learning.

It aims to build on the success of Designs on eLearning 2005 and on the subsequent Online Conference and Symposium in disseminating and promoting good practice, primarily but not exclusively, in art, design and communication.

http://www.arts.ac.uk/itrdu/conference

3695 SLED list subscribers

2007-08-02T08:35:00.000-05:00

by Jeff Hiles

FYI:

There are currently 3695 members of this email list, according to Claudia Linden. I find such numbers useful when talking with faculty and administrators about education in Second Life.

Universities use of SL

2007-07-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

by Karine Joly

I wrote a piece for University Business including some examples in June:
http://www.universitybusiness.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=797
Hope this helps.

SL + Wii remote

2007-07-27T10:41:00.001-05:00

by Jeremy Kemp

See a Wired write-up today about an MIT prof talking
about connecting the Wiimote with SL for low-cost
training sims:
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2007/07/wiimote

---

Wii + Second Life = New Training Simulator
Steve Mollman Email 07.27.07 2:00 AM

Nintendo games have made the Wii controller a
satisfyingly realistic controller for pretend tennis,
golf and baseball. But how about using it to practice
doing surgery, applying pesticides or operating a
nuclear power plant?

Real-world simulations like these are perfectly suited
to Nintendo's Wiimote, says MIT research fellow David
E. Stone. In fact, he claims the motion-sensitive
controller is "one of the most significant technology
breakthroughs in the history of computer science." Say
what?

For Stone, the Wiimote is the key to building
realistic training simulators within the virtual world
of Second Life. He is helping companies and
universities do that through his WorldWired
consultancy. Clients include a company interested in
training workers for its power plants, a manufacturer
of medical devices and pest-control firm Orkin.

Videos/Slide Shows about SL and Education

2007-07-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

by Alan and Phil

In response to a request for videos about SL...

There have been a number of presentations explaining Second Life posted to various places on the web. However, the specifics of what is going to make a compelling case for Charles Darwin University to enter this community are at least in part dependent on the local issues that address the goals and initiatives that your institution has already set forth in its strategic planning agenda.

Second Life for Education - Slides used in a short presentation for University of Alaska Fairbanks IT Day highlighting how 3D virtual worlds and SL specifically are being used in education
http://www.slideshare.net/iconolith/second-life-for-education

Second Life in 3600 Seconds - An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of Second Life, with particular reference to its use in education.
http://www.slideshare.net/eduservfoundation/second-life-in-3600-seconds

and of course, your Australian colleagues at Wollongong
An Introduction to Second Life - An Introduction to Second Life, it's basic characteristics and the educational possibilities it presents
http://www.slideshare.net/jokay/introduction-to-second-life/

These are just a few of those on the Slideshare.net site (search term = Second life) I'm sure others on the list have some suggestions for you but this might get you started, or get you through as source from which you can modify things to suit your local needs.

ALSO...

http://www.slideshare.net/nmc/second-life-at-mit/

and others from NMC 2007:
A View From Second Life Trenches: Are You A Pioneer or Settler (Cynthia Calongne)
http://www.slideshare.net/nmc/a-view-from-second-lifes-trenches-are-you-a-pioneer-or-a-settler

Building OneCleveland in Second Life
http://www.slideshare.net/shick06/building-onecleveland-in-second-life/

I'm not so sure a presenter-less presentation always gets the message- videos get the message across better - we've recently lobbed about 70 Sl related education videos into a YouTube playlist and others we track at:
http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Intro_videos