Educators Debate Voice in Second Life – Chronicle.com

Today the Chronicle posted Educators Debate Voice in Second Life – Chronicle.com in their wired campus blog.  The addition of voice has many positives as Alan Levine identifies but also lessens the experience of Second Life community members that are hearing impaired.  A point at Andrea Foster raises.  To know its true value we will have to see how it plays out.

What is more interesting is the First and only comment -

This stuff is getting out of hand. People who spend all of their time in Second Life, need to get a life. This is not social interaction, it is hiding behind a computer screen so you donâ??t have to interact with other people. To play a a game in a virtual world is one thing, but to participate in a virtual world just to exist is pathetic. Why donâ??t you spend you time doing something useful and become a productive member of society. This wasted time could be spent doing volunteer work or helping others in some way. This type of activity is doing much more harm to society than anyone realizes. People are spending too much time on their fake lives and not enough on their real lives and this creates problems when they have to deal with others in the real world. Stop hiding from life and live it.

â?? anonymous

First, the angry tone and signing it anonymous, How does that benefit society?   I am fine with people thinking Second Life is fluff because the decision is still out on practical applications of Second Life.  What is clear is that interesting things are happening in Second Life.  Individuals are drawn to it and find something there that keeps them coming back. Is this phenomenon fueled by ones need for a sense of community/engagement with others?  Or is the draw because it allows one to be the person they wish to be through their avatar?  If it is either of these then how do we as educators/community members develop similar connections with our fellow man(or woman) in the non virtual world?
Secondly, I am not a Second Life disciple by any means but the assertion by the commenter that all interactions in Second Life are fake is presumptuous.  I have experienced very real and practical interactions with instructional technologists and educators from around the country through Second Life.  For the regular user of Second Life it is clear that their interactions are very real and rewarding for them  as they continue to invest time, money and emotion into Second Life through their avatar.

More thought and less inflammatory comments are necessary.

Creating a University in Second Life…

Finally got to read Jeff’s post Second Life Speaks – Imagine the POTENTIAL! at EduTechie.com.   In the post are a few imagine with me segment of how Second Life could be added into a course/learning experience.

It sparked an idea – what about an  art museum that a faculty member/student could populate with images from the campus digital assets management program (we use Luna) but that is another idea/day and requires resources not at my disposal. 

Towards the end of the post there is mention of the UNC island(that is being built).  As I was curious, I  jump on SL and teleported to the island.

This is what I found.

A campus in development.  The features emulating the ‘real’ campus.  Does this make it easier for students/staff to merge the real and virtual worlds?

At the center of the current campus there is a map and welcome billboard. The welcome statement conveys this space as one of community, creativity, and idea exchange.

On closer inspection of the map it looks like the map for visitors from the UNC web site.   I find that funny.  Not sure why as using this real world artifact makes sense.   Perhaps the funniness of it comes from my discomfort with intersections of my real life and my experiences in a virtual world.

The buildings are still in progress.  This one has a blue print with photos of the real world image.  I assume to assist in the development.

The history of the University spans over 200 years (the first building’s cornerstone was laid in 1793).  I wonder will the second life campus be a corner stone of the next 200 years or just an interesting experiment?

Don’t get it either…

The Digital World Second Life Gets Newspaper and Reality TV Show.  Wow, how exciting!
Okay, I really am not excited.  For three weeks now I have been trying to understand the educational buzz around Second Life. People and organizations I respect are really high on the virtual world that is Second Life.  And while I am impressed by the technology that allows us to connect in this alternate world cause really how cool is it that we can interact with people, space and object virtually.  But at the same time I have had to upgrade at least twice and once I couldn’t make the connections cause it stalled my computer.  So it has been frustrating making the technology work from time to time.