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irony of ironies,
just after yesterday's post subtitled "Come on in, the water's fine!",
i (and all my neighbours) had a reminder that things in-world are basically just a bunch of ones and zeros.
here's what happens when those ones and zeros get jumbled up :-P
it's actually more than just my skybox losing artificial gravity and crashing 500 metres to the ground :-P
as you can see, the water in the pool has somehow managed to retain its integrity, even though the aluminum walls of the pool are nowhere to be seen (that transparent, eh?) further, the real mess is _inside_ the skybox, with prims from sea-level, and prims from the sky, all mashed together in some kind of awful Philadelphia-experiment gone really, really awry... and that's not even taking into account the bamboo and coconut emerging through the floor and walls in patterns which would make Picasso proud.
i don't have the heart to take a pic of the scene inside.
and! i wonder what my neighbour immediately to the north of me (rightside of the pic) thinks of returning home from work to find a holodeck in her front yard... so much for architecture 'in-keeping' :-)
i honestly have no idea how long it will take me to get things sorted :-P
and i was _so_ looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet today, which happens to be my fourth anniversary in the blogosphere :-)
ah well, at least some of you might be able to put your feet up and relax today :-) if you can, please do find time to read Gwyneth Llewelyn's reflections on the first Workshop on Communication, Education and Teaching, held at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. apparently, i'm not the only educator who thinks that a strong case can and should be made for supporting and enabling text-based chat in learning environments :-)
oh yes. one more piece of conference news to share: in conjunction with this year's Redesigning Pedagogy conference (organised by the National Institute of Education, Singapore, on the theme of 'Culture, Knowledge and Understanding'), a book has been published in which i've contributed a chapter. The editors are C Shegar and R A Rahim, and it's titled Redesigning pedagogy: Voices of practitioners, published by Pearson Education. My chapter's entitled Adolescent perceptions of space and place in virtual and photographic environments; it's a throwback to my PhD research back in 2005.
in all things, give thanks :-) and i honestly thank God that - mess (and messier aftermath) notwithstanding - it's another breathtaking sunset in the Imzadi sim.
Amen.
i'd just like to draw attention to a very recent initiative by KJ Hax (RL: Kevin Jarrett) and Laelia Laval (RL: Nancy Sharoff) :-)
they've started what they term SLolar Central, which is intended to be a gathering place (both in RL through a Google Group, as well as in-world on EduIsland II) for so-called Second Life Scholars (SLolar, geddit? :-P ).
if you're an educator who's committed to exploring the possibilities of Second Life, such as new ways of communicating, building, and exploring space, and especially if you are in need of a free temporary (one-month) home in Second Life, then i would strongly encourage you to at least stop by their Google Groups page. over time, the plan is for wiki-esque collaboration as well as for space for reflective blog entries. the vision is to create a community of learners devoted to exploring SL and sharing the experience.
SLolar Central is located on three floors (including the ground floor) of this building:
it's quite a contrast from my skybox, which is definitely pushing the boundaries of good architectural taste, i know :-P
the skypool was constructed by my good friend Bouncing Box using transparent aluminum. i think i was inspired by the Monean aquatic homeworld in the Delta Quadrant.
do check out Bouncing Box's shop - the Box of Wonders; he has a range of finely-detailed Star Trek-themed skyboxes for sale. he's just across the water from my island home, and the Imzadi sim is really one of the most beautiful i've seen in Second Life - but don't take my word for it :-P
(NB: he's not in any way responsible for the tastelessness of the architectural mish-mash :-) )
adjacent to the skypool is essentially a loft-like area. the final structure you can see is a holodeck.
if you're in the neighbourhood, do drop by and say hello :-)
the one-hundred-and-seventh episode of ventriloquy concludes - for now - my thoughts and reflections on the recent inaugural Second Life Best Practices in Education conference. i've attempted to cover this conference through two primary means - one by blogging directly from in-world, through Koz Farina's eminently useful blogHUD (vide the three posts immediately preceding this one), and two by blogging post-facto in a much more reflective manner, as is my custom.
frankly, the pictures i uploaded from in-world using blogHUD took such a long time to appear here in this blog (and when they did, the order had been jumbled and i had to apply a bit of post-processing - not all that surprising, because they had a transit stop at flickr along the way) that i resorted to taking traditional screen captures instead.
do join me as i celebrate my first fortnight in Second Life, in this 9.1 MB download :-)
trapped in my own skybox :-P (a quick and dirty bit of problem-solving rezzing)
Jeremy Braver (RL: Jeremy Koester, 8th Grade Math teacher from San Antonio, TX) giving us the grand tour of Liber Terra Island at We The Living
Jeremy's session was entitled 'Gaming and Learning in SL: an outside-the-box look at immersive environment opportunities in SL'
Jeremy showing us a holodeck
operating at the boundaries between the real and imagined: setting foot in the SMS simultaneous-installation
here's a shot of me interacting with an (entirely coincidentally) almost identically-clad person in Amsterdam
people fall asleep at virtual conferences too
Show notes:
- Take me out to the holosuite (Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki)
- metaverse (wikipedia entry)
- W H Auden (wikipedia entry)
- Gertrude Stein (wikipedia entry)
- the Gaming and Learning in Second Life group managed by Jeremy Braver
- my 18 April 2006 blog entry (the quantum classroom ®)
- Art Fossett's 20 April blog entry (An English village) Artsplace SL
- Tabitha Tsai's 22 May blog entry (Global Kids presents Prof. James Paul Gee on Sloodle!) SLED Picayune
- Jeska Linden's 24 May entry (the plan for voice) Second Life blog
- Owen Kelly's 25 May editorial for the SLED Picayune (Underlying pedagogical assumptions)
- the SMS simultaneous-installation by Overig Solzhenitsyn at the Chiellerie gallery, Amsterdam, and in-world, at Lhotse
[update: quinn.anya has an excellent reflective piece on the conference (At a virtual conference in my real pyjamas) over at her blog Alamai]
Featured wardrobe:
- navy fitted tee, by Avant Scofield, the Good Life, at Sterling Pointe
- olive loose-fit microfibre cargos, by Truth Hawks, Truth, at Odessa Luxurious
The abstract of her paper:
Second Life is a unique medium for education in that it combines interactive visual and some audio with written interactive dialogue. As such, it has the power to engage people emotionally as well as intellectually. This combination makes learning both more enjoyable and more long-lasting. The Center for Water Studies on Second Life's Better World Island is an ongoing experiment in promoting environmental awareness and responsibility, as well as encouraging innovation in the management of precious real life water resources. It is also an example of what can be done with minimal resources to provide rich, multi-media educational experiences. To that end, the Center contains simulations of six different real life water habitats: a Mangrove Swamp, a Pacific Northwest Rainforest, Pondlife, a Waterfall with stream, a Coral Barrier Reef, and an Ocean beach with Undersea Marine life, all of which are stressed by human activities in real life. Each setting provides both visually attractive places to explore and meet with others, and notecards with information about the real life counterpart habitat. The Center also hosts educational presentations and discussions by environmental groups who are working in Second Life. In that way, the Center is a catalyst for community-building that has reached individuals in many different real life countries.
interactive map of where i posted from
[update: Soso Gao's blog - BAOBAB: Maison de l'Environnement - is here :-) ]
Technorati Tags: education, geography, place, Second Life, SLBPE2007
The abstract of her paper:
There really are good places in SL to send students to, where they can learn and understand about the subjects they are working on in their courses, within a real life practical situation. It is not wise to see SL as a flat, internet based, page. It provides interaction with it's own set of rules and social skills that must be learnt. Already accepted as being the forerunner to the next generation of the internet, companies are embracing this as a place to educate their own staff. For education, sims with cultural and historical significance are there to provide students with an insight into that culture, as well as for them to look at their own surroundings more acutely. How many of us look at real buildings and take in their splendour or appreciate why they were built? Now students often say 'I can do that, or I know someone who can do that, building in 6 prims'.
Non-educational sims of this style are built with appreciation of the real life environment. Ease of use is important with the internet - so making people feel 'at home' is prime. To do this, it means attention to detail, both of the history and relevance of the region and to the actual construction of the virtual buildings themselves. Art appreciation and historical knowledge are important in building in Second Life, as is a passion for reproducing and creating a virtual world that people feel comfortable in to work, socialise and play. From a good foundation, such as well reproduced historical buildings, comes an opportunity to learn about commerce too.
These regions do not come free, they require considerable set up costs and maintenance as well as the dreaded tier costs. This requires a team of skilled labour, many with transferrable outside skills, such as selling and marketing, graphic design and journalism. These skills cover a plethora of abilities and students have an opportunity, at present, to learn and practice skills in this mocrocomplex, they may then take out into the macro world and use confidently.
The London Virtual Commerce project provides internship opportunities for students in a vast range of transferrable disciplines, with knowledgable mentors and guides. This long list include sales and marketing, journalism and creative writing, finance & management, graphic design with historic and current research, as well animation, script design and web building skills; most importantly, an opportunity to work as part of a team and develop social skills.
Other ways to use non-educational sims is via treasure hunts and as research material. The interactivity of the medium means that as people forget less when more of their brain is engaged, engaged, more information should be retained here, than using more traditional teaching tools. Second Life interviews are also an excellent source of material. I myself have been interviewed twice, once on campus, because I just happened to be there, the other by a Psychology Student for their dissertation.
Summary: SL has good, safe, non-educational Sims that work for education. These sims offer support for educational establishments, providing transferrable skills students can use elsewhere. The London Group of sims are part of that network. Attention to detail and accuracy is paramount within the London Virtual Commerce team. Good foundations and research ensure stability for progress. Historical accuracy is imporant, as out of the past comes the future and to ensure stable commerce we need an attractive location too. As well organised regions, it is easy for learning to take place within a well educated and comitted team. Internships are obviously welcomed by the group. Therefore I hope to show that non-educational sims do work for education and collaboration with sim owners is to be encouraged. The most perfect shape in nature is a sphere so Best Practice in Education is also perfect when well rounded.
Technorati Tags: place, Second Life, SLBPE2007
interactive map of where i posted from
Technorati Tags: Second Life, SLBPE2007
i've bought myself a yacht :-)
more specifically, i've bought myself an SSA-1871 Steamray, from Second Skies.
i've promptly christened it - what else? - the Raymaker :-)
it's designed by Gaius Goodliffe, and was inspired by steampunk and Jules Verne (who published Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870).
i can carry two passengers, so do let me know if you'd like a ride :-)
it's the perfect vehicle from which to explore the waterways and skies around the island paradise that is my home-sim of Imzadi, and beyond.
[update #1: 25 November 2007 - i took the difficult decision today to leave Imzadi. my new home sim is Skye
update #2: 19 October 2009 - once again, i have made the difficult decision today to change my home sim - i now live at Over Look, in Cassiar
update #3: 3 June 2016 - i have left Cassiar and currently do not have a formal home sim]
the Raymaker in formation with two Trek-themed skyboxes (designed by Bouncing Box) at approximately 500 metres altitude
the Raymaker, spending its first night berthed under the stars
yesterday, my good friend Bouncing Box helped me to design something that we're both very proud of.
we call it the Donut Bench.
the Donut Bench is one of those things that (for now at least) is only technologically and physically feasible in environments such as Second Life.
but more than that, it is something which was designed specifically to take advantage of the affordances of Second Life, and therefore makes just as much (if not more) sense within Second Life, as it would in real life.
as you can see, the Donut Bench has a disarmingly simple design. it's also very lo-prim, which is, of course, a huge advantage in any context in Second Life, especially one to do with learning environment design, which is the specific context that had initially prompted me (through God's inspiration) to come up with the idea.
basically, i wanted a flexible seating solution for learning environments in Second Life.
presently, quite a bit of Second Life mimics too closely real life - a point not missed by Kim Flintoff. partially as a consequence of the difficulty of thinking outside the Real Life Box, seating arrangements in Second Life also tend to mimic those in real life. i wanted something that could easily make sense in both a one-to-many lecture environment, as well as facilitate small-group discussions, in a three-dimensional virtual space.
the group discussion aspect seemed to necessitate a ring-shaped arrangement.
such a seating structure is easy to rez with the built-in tools in the Second Life user interface.
but then i kept thinking of Kim's point - about thinking beyond convention.
in Second Life, one could easily make a floating bench, but what's the point in that - we've had anti-gravity thingies featured in science-fiction for years.
no, Second Life is not science-fiction :-) the metaverse is something else, altogether.
then, possibly because of sub-conscious inspirations from three-wheeling Citroëns, it hit me.
we could just have one leg.
the result is something that is worthy of (in my opinion, at least :-P ) the best of Starck, in its simplicity, elegance, and flexibility.
because it is a Second Life artifact, it can be treated like any other in SL, and can be sized to suit the pedagogical context. people can sit facing each other, facing different directions (such as while looking at multiple screens on different walls), or facing in a common direction (such as when attending a traditional lecture). the common space in the middle can allow for group-collaboration on the co-construction of other artifacts and learning objects.
Donut Benches of various radii (subject to a maximum of 5 metres) can also be placed within each other as concentric circles, for pairwork. such concentric arrangements can also be permutated in terms of height, such as to allow those at the back (whether the 'back' be the innermost or outermost ring, depending on the activity) a better view. the single leg of each bench means that there is always lots of free space beneath the benches for storage, or movement, or rezzing. finally, Donut Benches can also be made to auto-rotate, so that those sitting on the bench can view various exhibits over time, while being comfortably seated.
thank you, Bouncing Box, for your time and patience yesterday. i really do appreciate it.
Bouncing Box and I, sitting on the world's first Donut Bench :-)
(he's designed some really cool Star Trek-themed skyboxes, by the way. get in touch with him to find out more)
Kenneth Y T Lim: Disciplinary Intuitions and the Design of Learning Environments
Biz Stone: Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content
Bo Leuf: The Wiki Way: Collaboration and Sharing on the Internet
D. R. Garrison: E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice
David Perkins: SMART SCHOOLS: FROM TRAINING MEMORIES TO EDUCATING MINDS
George Myerson: Heidegger, Habermas and the Mobile Phone (Postmodern Encounters)
James E. Katz: Perpetual Contact : Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance
James Paul Gee: What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
Noah Wardrip-Fruin & Pat Harrigan (eds): First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game
Peter Morville: Ambient Findability : What We Find Changes Who We Become
