SL at IUSB Nov 08

Do I Need a Second Life? Chris (Mr. Karen) Clark Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning University of Notre Dame Indiana University South Bend November 19, 2008

Today’s session
Virtual worlds
Second Life
Use in higher education
Projects at Notre Dame
Discussion: opportunities and challenges
http://slideshare.net/cclark2/

World of Warcraft screen capture

What is a virtual world?
Online graphical environment
Multiple users
Interaction via avatar
A subset of real-world features
Gravity, Topography
Communication

Penguin Club screen capture

Different virtual worlds
Orientation and audience
Game: World of Warcraft, Runescape
Kids: Webkinz, Penguin Club
Social: Second Life, Active Worlds
Capabilities
Travel, content-creation, etc.
Realism

Second Life

Second Life (SL)
Social environment created by users
Launched by Linden Research in 2003
Basic account is free, premium is $72 /yr.
Software for Mac or Windows
85,000 paid accounts
55,000 online at any given time
Internal economy, US$ 1 ≈ 265 Linden $

As of November 2008:
26,000 sims
16,000,000 registered users

What can you do in SL?
Edit your appearance and profile
Walk, sit, run, fly
View in first or third person
Text chat, voice chat, instant message
Search, teleport, save a landmark
Add friends and join groups
Give, receive, buy, and sell

Ladies’ fashions in SL

What more can you do?
Use a gesture or animation
Attend an event
Take a picture, make a movie
Create an object, move, rotate, edit
Build
Create clothing, hair, skin, eyes
Write a script (program)

Hezekiah building

What else about SL?
Avatars: diversity and “flexible identity”
Non-human
Gender
None of these in Second Life
Hunger, illness, death, weather
Score, winner, loser, levels, end
Rather than rules - behavioral guidelines

Machinima - Molotov Alva

Banned behavior in SL
The "Big Six"
Intolerance
Harassment
Assault in a Safe Area
Disclosure
Indecency in an area rated PG
Disturbing the peace

Second Life and Higher Education

SL & higher ed
New tool, not ready for prime time
Pioneers now exploring
Online meeting / discussion
Role-playing
Creativity, exhibition - build or design
Simulation or demonstration
Tour

Tour: Buffalo fashion

Tour: Genome Island

Tour: Nutrition Game

Tour: Renaissance Island

Tour: Virtual Starry Night

ND projects on Sophia
Library skills games
Stinson-Remick building
Salvadoran culture
Basketball game
Skip

Library game

Stinson-Remick

Student projects

Discussion: Opportunities & Challenges

Challenges
Learning curve
Hardware and bandwidth requirements
Congestion when online
Undesirable content and behavior
Negative perceptions
Copyright and intellectual property
Privacy and security

Opportunities
Sense of presence
User-created buildings, clothing, etc.
Interaction, collaboration
Appeal to students
Immersive environment, serious game
Data visualization
Infrastructure for commerce, game, etc.

Visit Sophia! More at http://flc-vw.wikispaces.com/

SL at IUSB Nov 08

by Chris Clark on Nov 19, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

SL at IUSB Nov 08 — Presentation Transcript