I was hard at work tracking down a speaker for our grad student meeting Wednesday when I got an IM from my friend Noir asking about the public NMC campus space. I had heard on the SLED listserve that there was going to be a public campus but I did not think it had officially launched. I went on the SL Observer and there was nothing (poor CDB is still the lone writer – I need to contribute soon!). I checked the search feature in SL and it also turned up empty since the new name was not announced.

Snooping around, which seems to be what I do best lately in SL (still trying to track down anyone from the Masie LearnLand campus – they must think I am crazy) I came upon flickr pics of Learn, NMC’s new public campus.

There has been much discussion about closed spaces and some members of the SLED/Grad student group felt very strongly about meeting in a public space. There is some value to people floating in and out without needing special access. While I understood this point I was disappointed not to use the NMC campous with all its great meeting spaces. We could have really used the ampitheater when we hosted Chris Dede’s talk – the turn out was wonderful. Well, I personally cannot wait to use this space and will continue to consider the closed space for when I introduce my undergraduate to SL in the fall.

Great job guys!