Thanks to New World Notes, where I learned of the first crossing of avatars from SL into another grid.

At about 11:00 AM, Linden, Ruth arrived on an OpenSim server
- Zha Ewry

This seems significant.

What it could mean: Soon, parents and school administrators down the street will not have to worry about Mature Content, because they can run their own grid and minors can TP in from the Teen Grid for lessons…

The Jianghu Tea House

Of the educational builds in Second Life that I have seen, one that is sure to keep me coming back is The Jianghu Tea House, Monash University’s new lesson in instructional design.

Like Jianghu – an alternate universe described in the Wulin tradition as coexisting with this one – the tea house exists to complement foreign language instruction given to real world students of Mandarin Chinese. The space is ornate (built by FlyingKnifeModels Oh, a First Life artist) and makes good use of the interactive technology of Second Life.

Students see Mandarin text paired with English phonetic spellings, then listen to pronunciations (via embedded sound files that play when the student interacts with the space). Moving further into the experience, learners are again prompted to interpret text or recognize sounds, reinforcing the association of a written word with its sound (and vice versa).

On first visit, this tea house may appear to be a bit over-the-top. All this for one lesson? However, considering that the space supports a number of different lesson formats (both synchronous and asynchronous content) and can entertain any number of learners over time, the potential for a return on investment becomes more evident.

Open access to the sim may be six months away; however, Xilin Yifu would be happy to give guided tours to visitors from the SLeducation community.

“Every now and again Wulin needs to have a champion, a general or a commander to lead the collective resources of wulin participants for China.”
Wikipedia

There are plenty of educators surfing the grid, looking for the best uses of this new technology. By all accounts, Xilin may be one of the heroes showing us the way.

To this Second Life resident, virtual reality represents an exciting opportunity to develop rich, engaging instructional content. Many educators seem to agree and there are plenty of educational sites to explore. Still, it is difficult to predict what will be effective, which design elements are essential. It is likely that we are far from seeing any standards emerge for instructional design.

“The Source is Within” – a SL art installation

There is, however, something to be learned about engaging a Second Life user. Rezzable’s community of artists, designers and developers seem to consistently deliver an experience. Have you visited “The Source is Within” (SLURL), their recent installation showcasing the SL imagery of Melodious Source? This is a must-see build, in my notecard.

As evidence of their ability to capture attention, have a look at this video. The interactive object seen in that video was developed simply to promote a current event in the grid (titled “Garden of NPIRL Delights“; loosely, a festival of building in SL). If you happen to have a parcel—and room for 24 prims—a description of the interactive invitation can be seen here, they are distributing the object freely.

And finally…thank you, Bettina Tizzy, for the information shared at Not Possible IRL. The care you take in writing every post is apparent to this reader.

Newly focused attention on the 3D Web has given the impression that a confluence of activity is taking place. Every time I dive into the web since entering the grid of Second Life—surfing like I was when I started this weblog—I find more content than I can keep up with. Timely, pertinent stuff from many sources. Often and right in the middle of reading the longest of these pieces, I stop and think “I have scripting to do!”

Technology has been advancing rapidly since before me; but, what of the pace of the advance? What is time? How much of this document would you get through before you realized there was something else you could be doing to contribute to the metaverse?

Metaverse Roadmap: Pathways to the 3D Web

“What happens when video games meet Web 2.0? When virtual worlds meet geospatial maps of the planet? When simulations get real and life and business go virtual? When you use a virtual Earth to navigate the physical Earth, and your avatar becomes your online agent?”

Longfin Rest Area

Jumping with both feet. Azwaldo Villota now has a home. 4096 m² on the new mainland of Nautilus.

Stata Center at MIT

“Virtual Worlds: Where Business, Society, Technology & Policy Converge” – the metaverse conference at MIT. Is this what IT was like in the early nineties with the birth of the World Wide Web? Bob Sutor: posts the agenda with links to videos. My impression – given Mr. Sutor’s description before the event – was that the conference discussion would center on standards for implementing the many platforms that are likely to emerge. (How will Azwaldo Villota – my Second Life avatar – travel to an IBM grid, or the Pepsi-verse?).

Opening remarks by Frank Moss, the Director of the MIT Media Laboratory (who hosted the event), highlighted the potential for new technologies to allow us to connect “in many different dimensions” while also pointing out many of the challenges faced in bringing virtual worlds (VW) to the mainstream user. Joey Seiler of Virtual Worlds News posted notes during the conference. Good read, well done.

Most significant to me – perhaps – was that Mr. Moss went over the time alloted his opening slot. Where ideas seem to move at the speed of light, is time of little consequence?

What models of education will replace our current traditional system? Business needs educated candidates; lacking that they will need to do the training themselves…

How can I help?

Kathy Schrock is in the house! I just walked into the ICT Library in Second Life with a celebrity. Started a conversation with an avatar, just a simple “Nice shirt” to open the channel. She was wearing the ISTE long sleeve, one of my favorites. She said she liked it, that I could get one too, and after a bit of chat she she posted her URL in the chat box.

I am not so aggressive with the acronyms, but found the letters “O-M-G” jumping out of my fingertips. She explained that it was only her second visit into the grid, given her first visit had brought a grief attack (watch those public spaces!). When she expressed her skepticism regarding user-generated content, I should have said “Nice shirt” again. Instead, I mentioned Curriki. She then brought up her stance regarding Wikipedia…

So, here was another lesson from the metaverse:

’tis a level playing field.

(Should have grabbed a snapshot. Doh!)