Simpson Thor, a student in the Women in Science class, looks over the dancing crowd below.
posted by Fleep Tuque on University of Cincinnati using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
Second Life
26
Nov 07
Simpson Thor Looks Over the Crowd
26
Nov 07
Who knew Sweetpea was a fiddler?
Professor Nancy Jennings, aka Sweetpea Sunnyside, entertains the class with some mad fiddle playin.
posted by Fleep Tuque on University of Cincinnati using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
26
Nov 07
All Duded Up for a Barn Dance
On my way to the Barn Dance being held on the University of Cincinnati island tonight. YEE HAW!
posted by Fleep Tuque on University of Cincinnati using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
19
Nov 07
PO Box Bad Scripter
The goal was to have a “Post Office” on campus with a directory of our faculty and staff, a mailbox for their students to drop notecards, online status indicator that could be clicked to send an IM, and a teleport to their office location. A programmer I’m not, and at 5 prims a pop, gets a little pricey with 30 members, but what can you do? Cobbled together a bunch of freebie scripts and hope this will work for now. Someone needs to make a pretty product that doesn’t have anything to do with slaves or escorts.
posted by Fleep Tuque on University of Cincinnati using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
19
Nov 07
Crazy productive week
Thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes regarding my grandpa’s health, we’re all holding up ok for the moment and I appreciate all of the kind words and support you’ve sent my way. For me, the best distraction when I can’t be there is to throw myself into work, and this week has been pretty busy.
Ohio Learning Network SL Monthly Event
On Tuesday, I held the second Newbie Q&A session for members of the Ohio Learning Network. We covered the communication window, inventory management, opening and unpacking boxes, and tested the voice client. If you work in a member institution of the Ohio Learning Network, please check out the OLN Second Life resources that we’re working hard to provide. I’ve been graced with the honorary title of Second Life Ambassador for the Ohio Learning Network, and I hope to do my best to facilitate exploration of the medium around the state. Let me know how I can help!
UCSLLC Meeting
For the first time, the UC Second Life Learning Community meeting was so large we didn’t have enough chairs, let alone computers. I’ll take that as a good problem to have! Meeting notes for those who missed it are here.
National Distance Learning Week Panel in SL
The “Distance Education on the ‘MUVE'” panel at ISTE on Wednesday was a terrific success. I was very excited to moderate the event, and was impressed yet again by Peggy Sheehy, Lindy McKeown, and Sarah Robbins as they discussed using SL for education. Also kind of cool to see it covered on CNN‘s news about SL site.
Philip Rosedale Speaks
Managed to catch Philip Rosedale’s presentation to the Managing Virtual Distance conference held by the Institute for International Research. Metaversed did a great job summarizing the presentation, and though nothing terribly earth shattering was discussed, I was really tickled to have Philip speaking right into my ear through the voice client.
“We are IT” Day
I was very pleased to participate again this year in the “We are IT” day campaign, a project of the State of Ohio aimed at recruiting more women and girls into Information Technology professions. I had lunch with a table of middle school girls at Cincinnati State and talked to them about my job and the importance of IT in their education. The hot topic: Their parents forbid them to have a MySpace page and they feel left out. Hmm.
Presentation to Construction Management freshman
On Friday, I gave a presentation to freshmen in the Construction Management program at the University of Cincinnati College of Applied Science about how Second Life might be used in their studies. We visited the UC Island of course, and also the Gallery of Reflexive Architecture in-world, created by Keystone Bouchard and my friend Fumon Kubo. The students had a lot of great questions and several of their faculty are now interested in exploring SL, too.
First Peer Reviewed Article
And finally, I got notice late Friday night that an article I wrote with colleague Nancy Jennings had been published in the International Journal of Social Science. It’s the first thing I’ve had published in a peer reviewed journal and I’m really excited to have reached this milestone!
Virtual or Virtually U: Educational Institutions in Second Life
Abstract: Educational institutions are increasingly exploring the affordances of 3D virtual worlds for instruction and research, but few studies have been done to document current practices and uses of this emerging technology. This observational survey examines the virtual presences of 170 accredited educational institutions found in one such 3D virtual world called Second Life, created by San Francisco based Linden Lab. The study focuses on what educational institutions look like in this virtual environment, the types of spaces educational institutions are creating or simulating, and what types of activities are being conducted.
Keywords: educational technology, emerging technology, metaverse, Second Life, virtual worlds
Jennings, Nancy, and Chris Collins. (2007) “Virtual or Virtually U:Educational Institutions in Second Life.” International Journal of Social Sciences, 2(3), 180-187. http://www.waset.org/ijss/v2/v2-3-28.pdf
Phew, what a week!
18
Nov 07
Legal Liability of SL for Institutions
I meant to properly blog this the other day, but hopefully some saw it through a brief tweet.
In this video, an Iowa State University panel of faculty, staff, and administrators consider the implications of using Second Life from an institutional perspective. Both the pros and cons are debated, and I would recommend it not just to educators, but those representing an institution of any sort. When discussing legal liability issues, the focus is necessarily on US law, but the.. ethical and philosophical questions inherent in the presentations really will apply globally.
I’ve been to many panels and presentations and conference sessions about Second Life, but this one gets to some questions that I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere, and despite the fact that most of the participants seems to have done some homework on Second Life, with many having accounts and demonstrating competence in-world, many of the participants are what I’d consider laymen in SL terms. Not newbs, but not residents. And their concerns are ones that I imagine will be shared by many of our bosses and administrators and legal departments and HR departments.
Worth the time investment to watch the whole panel, the Q&A can be skipped.
View the Iowa State University Second Life Panel video here.
15
Nov 07
Growth of the Grid
Philip says we’ve reached an early critical mass, from 16 CPU cores in 2003, to the point where we are now seeing emerging properties and creativity. About 100 terabytes of user data, and growing about 10% a month.
posted by Fleep Tuque on IIR NY HQ using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
15
Nov 07
Philip Speaks!
After a few minor glitches getting everyone going on the group voice call, Philip begins his talk with some background information about the start of the Second Life project.
posted by Fleep Tuque on IIR NY HQ using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
15
Nov 07
Philip’s Snazzy Suit
I really don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a suit before, where’s the famous codpiece? I feel cheated.
posted by Fleep Tuque on IIR NY HQ using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
15
Nov 07
Strange Presentation Space
The venue has a split level floor with conference style seating, but hard to get a good view of everyone in the room this way!
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