Claudia Linden Responds to Banning of Second Life in Australia

The following is a comment by Claudia Liden, Second Life’s Community Developer focused mainly on higher education. She states in a SLED mailing list post dated Tue, 30 Jun 2009:

Greetings, SLED community.

Linden Lab has received no indications from the Australian government
that it plans to block Second Life and will keep our community apprised
of any developments on that front. In the meantime, we want to assure
Australian Residents that Second Life remains accessible and functioning
in your region.

Australia has and will continue to be an important market for Linden
Lab, and we?re committed to providing the best possible Second Life
experience for the users in that market. Some of the most exciting uses
of Second Life have come out of Australia, a diverse community of
Residents that includes major universities, K12 schools (in Teen Second
Life), large enterprises and many thousands of consumers, who spend
hundreds of thousands of hours inworld each month.

Regards,

Claudia

Banning Second Life in Australia

Spread the word. Post your opinion on the net. This is an outrage!

I’m dumbfounded. The same kind of thinking happens in Japan also, where one person in 1 million is murdered by fork and the whole country is forced to use spoons for the rest of their lives. It’s to protect the good of the people…huh?

Logics guys. Come on. Oh right…that taxi driver in Thailand who killed those people while reenacting a video game scene. It’s ok to ban video games because they kill, but not alcohol and tobacco. hmm. Um..maybe if video game are proven to be bigger killers than the marijuana trade we can legalize marijuana.

I digress. How did you come to this decision?

Well, here is a video. And here is an article the refutes it.

A sovereign nation should, at times, be held accountable for their convictions. If there is an overwhelming vote to ban online gaming,  IN THE HOME, then shouldn’t it be the voters themselves who should prevent underage children from accessing these games rather than leaning on the government to father these rules for them?

A possible solution could be that OUTSIDE OF the home we could have limited access to adult related sites in places like schools and government facilities. Internet cafes and the like should be required to administer age verification protocols,  and businesses should be asked to follow some sort of filtering.

Banning Second Life without understanding the benefits it provides to so many is simply naive. Do your research Australia. Take a look at Cypris Village, our co-op not-for-profit virtual language learning community, and tell me if you think your decision is becoming of a first world nation.

Extracting Backchannel Chat Links

Ya know when you are teaching a lesson in SL and everyone is texting while you’re speaking. Many times they are commenting on what you say and at other times they’re just chatting and making unrelated jokes or nonsense like, “WHOOOOOOOTTT”. Well, this is called “Backchannel” talk. and it’s a very important part of the interactive virtual world experience. It allows students to discuss what the teacher is saying while they are saying it as well as giving an opportunity to ask questions whenever they want to.

I recently tried this out in my class. I am teaching a first year writing class in the computer lab. Because they are first year students, they don’t quite have the confidence to step up and ask a question in front of their classmates, especially in English. So I thought this would be a great environment for using backchannel chat. I found a great site called Today’s Meeting that has a very simple interface for hosting backhannel chat. I simply opened a room and told all of the students to join and if they have any questions or comments to just type them in the box and send. I also tried to tell them that they can type messages to their friends or anything they would like … but keep it clean.

The first thing I had them do with this new tool was to send me a link to their blogs. I was using EditGrid but they don’t seem to have the app linked to Facebook anymore. So I thought it might be easy to do it this way. They all posted their blog links. But then I had to figure out how to extract those links and make a nice list so that I would only have to click down a list. Here’s what I did:

1. Copied and Pasted the entire text of the chat into a word document. I’m sure you can see a lot of uses with just doing that…like building dialogues by setting up different groups in different chat windows. So fun!
2. Here comes the tricky part: Then press Alt + F9. This reveals the background code.
3. Open the Find box. Edit>Find
4. Type ^19 HYPERLINK and put a check in the box next to “Highlight all items in this document”
5. Then copy and paste the selected text into another document
6. Press Alt + F9 and VOILA! A list of your students blogs.

After we did the link posting, I went on with the teaching portion of the class. No questions posted. The when it came to doing the activity in class, and I was running around answering questions, I told them to post their questions in the chat and I would answer them. I had to run up to my computer to see who asked a question but it soon got interesting when a couple students started answering questions in chat for me. Wow. I think we’re on to something.

Call me in Second Life via Skype

Yep. That’s right. In beta now. Non-residents will be able to contact your avatar via a standard phone by dialing a special number and entering your avatar’s extension. Now my friends, students, and colleagues can come closer to experiencing virtual worlds as an engaging, almost completely realistic recreation of real world communication.

NOTE: This feature will NOT be free in the future.

Here is a quote from the Second Life Blog describing the new technology:

Voice has been an integral part of Second Life experience since it launched in 2007. Today, over 50% of Residents use voice everyday, 97% of Second Life regions are voice enabled and Residents are now consuming voice at a rate of over 1 Billion minutes per month making Second Life one of the largest VoIP providers in the world.

Because we know how using voice can transform Second Life for different users of the world, we’re developing new voice products to suit the needs of our wide audience. From voice fonts to SMS text messaging out to client-side session recording, Second Life Voice is evolving to meet the needs of both consumers and enterprise.

Today, we’re excited to introduce AvaLine, a new service which enables Residents to receive voice calls inworld from an outside number. This marks the first time a Resident will be able to communicate with a non-Second Life user within Second Life. The service goes into a limited Beta trial today and will launch as a full offering in Q3.

In addition, SLim – Second Life’s one-to-one text and voice application enabling Residents to interact with other Second Life Residents without having the viewer open - relaunches at the same time with a new look and functionality.

Get your AvaLine and SLim now.

Check the Knowledge Base for more information.

Standalone University Campus

According to an article in the Chronicle for Higher Education, Case Western University has become the first to implement a standalone version of Second Life behind their firewall. This might sound unlikely that they are the first to accomplish this since I myself have SL installed on my home computer. The power in this feat comes from getting administration, faculty, and students all on the same page. Each part of the organization has to understand (1) What is it? (2) What can it do for me? (3) How much time/money will it cost? (4) How is it better than what I have right now? It seems Case Western has at the very least been able to overcome many or maybe most of these hurdles to date. Good luck guys…my future depends on your success.

Social Networking World Outlook - McCann

Second Life Activity for Language Learning

Here’s an example of an activity I made the other night in Second Life. Learners teleport from the ground up to a corner of this hollowed mega prim. They walk up to a door, touch it, and are then asked a question. If they answer the question correctly the the object turns green, alpha 50% and goes phantom. The learner has 5 seconds to pass through before it resets itself. It’s a simple script but was quite effective. The fun comes when students try to walk around the object without falling. I also said others can try to push their friends off! haha. When someone answers all four questions right there is a balloon realease congratulating them. I’d like to make this some other type of reward. Also, the learners must ask the teacher the answers to the questions promoting communication. A question example is, “How old is Professor Merryman?” They must ask me to find out.

Can teachers teach with computers in Japan?

Take a look at this chart from a 2006 study conducted by the Ministry of Education. It shows that in 2005, over 85% of secondary teachers responded saying they could teach classes using computers. But only 67% of upper secondary teachers said they could do the same. Why the difference? And would this trend mean that it is even worse in universities? I would have to say, “Yes”. A large percentage of the teachers I know don’t use a computer to prepare for their classes much less even think of using them to teach with. I even know a few who only recently began using a computer.  Old habits or old age I guess.

英語　Study English in Second Life

Would you like to learn in English in Second Life?

I am available to teach Japanese students how to communicate better in English.

Please IM Mystie Slade in Second Life for more information.

Dissertations on Second Life

Here is a list posted to the SLED mailing(searchable by thread) list by Jeremy Kemp. Thanks always Jeremy.

Rycroft, Alan E. (2007). Young adults and virtual public spheres: Building
a new political culture. M.A. dissertation, Royal Roads University (Canada),
Canada. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities
and Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT MR29791).

Kelley, Matthew James (2007). Utopia redux: On the convergence of
community, technology and open source society. Ph.D. dissertation, The
Pennsylvania State University, United States — Pennsylvania. Retrieved
March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social
Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT 3266137).

Moon, Jang Ho (2007). The new ways of corporate communication in virtual
environments: Case studies of Second Life. M.A. dissertation, University of
Southern California, United States — California. Retrieved March 9, 2009,
from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection
database. (Publication No. AAT 1447046).

Caravella, Mary Neuner (2007). Privacy, strategic information disclosure
and new customer acquisition: Implications for customer relationship
management. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, United States –
Massachusetts. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The
Humanities and Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT
3273199).

Williams, David Allen (2008). Virtual aesthetics and ethical
communication: Towards virtuous reality design. M.A. dissertation, Clemson
University, United States — South Carolina. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from
Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection
database. (Publication No. AAT 1450704).

Carter, Cheryl A. (2008). The Panhellenic Project: Assessing learning
engagement using Web 2.0 technologies. Ed.D. dissertation, Pepperdine
University, United States — California. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from
Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection
database. (Publication No. AAT 3330961).

McAulay, Alex (2008). Surfing the interzones: Posthuman geographies in
twentieth century literature and film. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States — North Carolina. Retrieved
March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social
Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT 3304355).

Antonijevic, Smiljana (2008). Rhetoric, culture, and avatars: A
microethnographic analysis of nonverbal communication in multiuser, 3D
virtual environments. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, United
States — Minnesota. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses:
The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT
3311458).

Jamison, John B. (2008). Educators in a strange land: The experience of
traditional educators when immersed into the virtual environment of Second
Life. Ph.D. dissertation, Capella University, United States — Minnesota.
Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and
Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT 3307549).

Atlas, Stephen A. (2008). Economic experiments in virtual worlds: Framing,
reciprocity & trust. M.A. dissertation, Tufts University, United States –
Massachusetts. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The
Humanities and Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT
1450772).

Franklin, Janice Lynn (2008). Dimensions of sound in virtual online
immersive environments: A theoretical exploration. Ph.D. dissertation, The
University of Texas at Dallas, United States — Texas. Retrieved March 9,
2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences
Collection database. (Publication No. AAT 3340474).

Hebert, Sara (2008). Digital memorialization: Collective memory, tragedy,
and participatory spaces. M.A. dissertation, University of Denver, United
States — Colorado. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses:
The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT
1453941).

Cabiria, Jonathan (2008). A Second Life: Online virtual worlds as
therapeutic tools for gay and lesbian people. Ph.D. dissertation, Fielding
Graduate University, United States — California. Retrieved March 9, 2009,
from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection
database. (Publication No. AAT 3310397).

Derby, Jacqueline C. (2008). Applying online virtual worlds to informal
professional development: A study of rural teachers participating in Second
Life. Ph.D. dissertation, Walden University, United States — Minnesota.
Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and
Social Sciences Collection database. (Publication No. AAT 3320290).

Fox, F. Sutter (2008). A formative evaluation of a surface warfare
simulation to improve problem solving. Ed.D. dissertation, University of
Southern California, United States — California. Retrieved March 9, 2009,
from Dissertations & Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection
database. (Publication No. AAT 3325081).

Not dissertations but papers I’m adding so I have another resource:

Galarneau, L. (2005). Spontaneous Communities of Learning: Learning Ecosystems in Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming Environments. Paper presented at the Digra 2005: Changing Views - Worlds in Play, Vancouver, Canada.

IBM continues seeing benefits in Second Life

IBM will continue to research and develop its relationship with Second Life even after the departure of its “Metaverse Evangelist,” Ian Hughes.

Today IBM is hosting a Second Life meeting for 250 employees in its custom conference center, built behind a privacy firewall. IBM invested $80,000 to build a virtual conference center and firewall to keep events private, for a big meeting in October. That first conference saved the company $350,000 on travel and productivity alone, so needless to say the return on investment was impressive. And IBM says it’s found some surprising benefits — saying that the virtual world encourages collaboration between people who would be unlikely to interact in a real-world environment. The company is so pleased with the results from its virtual conferences it plans to continue them regardless of the economic environment.

The recession has helped Second Life’s traffic and it’s economy. User transactions — of which the company get’s a cut — have grown 30 percent since September. People are spending more time at home and online and companies are spending less time on money on travel.

Linden Lab is hoping that its virtual world can become a real option for companies in these tighter times.

With companies such as IBM seeing the cost benefits alone of using virtual meeting spaces, the education sector should realize the direction global business is taking and begin planning for the future of communication. The video phone has come and passed. Virtual world communication is our next frontier. Make cultural change now.

Streaming Performances and Communities

Yep. I figured it out. I’ve spent the last last week setting up my computer to stream me playing my WX5 midi wind controller in Second Life. It wasn’t easy, but after a lot of trial and error I was able to play Honesty by Billy Joel complete with accompaniment via Sonar Cakewalk (with voice). The 30 second delay between what I play and what they hear is a bit frustrating, as is the inability to interact with the listeners in real time, but fun at any rate.

I was inspired this past week after attending a couple concerts in SL. I watched and learned how they hooked up their systems, talked to the crowd, what they played, and what they earned in tips and revenue from song sales and misc items. Seems I can make a little extra cash to pay for my time in SL.

I’m mostly interested in this as part of my plan to create a fun active learning community. I’m figuring out that in order to consistently attract language learners and native speakers, there needs to be more stress put on the interactivity side of learning. I’ve chosen not to address the concerns of beginning speakers and concentrate solely on intermediate and above. Learners at this level are expressing more interest in practical speaking time with some correction. This. combined with their desire to have fun during their free time means they would like to have fun and learn too. I would like to provide a community for them to reside, play and learn. Live concerts is one aspect I am exploring in our new video sphere nightclub.

OpenLife Failing Education

I was a big advocate of Openlife as of recently when I learned, not only will voice not be offered anytime soon, but that now “they”=Sakai has decided to use their own proprietary browser. There has been hype for months and months about all the great things that will come to be the new 3DX server technology with lots of new bells and whistles, but yet nothing has really materialized.

I had hopes of helping to create a fantastic community of educators. That’s not going to be possible anymore without the ability to connect virtual worlds. Hypergrids are absolutely necessary for this to work. OpenSim and the Second Life community are far more advanced and have the resources to deploy massive code changes through their devoted network. Sakai…well…unless the other few employees have some very big connections, I don’t see how this will happen.

Mo Hax, in his post titled “Stay away from OpenLife, for now,” makes some very good points about the seemingly fragile future OpenLife holds.

1. Sakai from OpenLife announces no browser but their browser.
2. Second Inventory breaks in OpenLife and people squawk
3. Someone gives Kristen enough GPL grief about the browser she has been working on to cause her to delete her blog and give it up.
4. OpenLife makes no change to their web site and still requires you download and use one of their browsers, no SL, no Hippo.

He goes on to talk about how Sakai has taken the OpenSim and turned it into a profit. Understandable, and his right to do so, but where does that leave the education industry? If Openlife decides to go it on their own, then we must look elsewhere. Sakai, I hope you can get the credit system up and running soon. We had some great talks and some wonderful visions. I wish you the best.

Disabled and Second Life

Where does one go to find friends if they are physically disabled? The obstacles involved in leaving home and reaching the destination is just one problem. Watch this very inspiring video to see how one woman, bound to her wheelchair, is able to communicate with her new friends via Second Life.

Cypris Chat - 1/27 5:00AM

We’re meeting tonight at 5:00AM if you would like to join us. We’ll be studying for about an hour and then visiting a few interesting places together. Tonight’s topic will be geography and languages. See ya later!

Join us in Cypris Village
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cypris%20Island/12/29/22