On October 6, 2009 representatives from NMC’s virtual world building team gave a tour of a project that they created for the University of Washington’s Psychology department.  The goal of this project was to recreate a real-life experiment space using a virtual environment.  The real-life experiment seeks to evaluate people’s responses to office and classroom environments that are decorated in a stereotypical computer “geek” way (e.g. Star Trek posters) versus more neutrally decorated rooms.  The research team is specifically looking at how long people spend and interact with objects in a room and if there are any gender differences.

The tour began with an explanation of how the subjects of the experiment were trained in how to navigate through the Second Life environment.  A maze was created that tested a user’s ability to navigate through the space, once a user was able to successfully complete the maze three times they were thought to have mastered the necessary skills needed to continue with the study.  The hosts of the tour then explained how objects were quickly rezzed so that rooms can be quickly changed into tech-geek or genre neutral.  They made an important point of noting that Second Life is not a photo-realistic environment and that the goal of this project was to make the environment as realistic as possible in the placement of items that were identical to the real-life conditions but not to reach the same level of graphic realism. 

When subjects enter the experiment rooms in Second Life using their avatars a sensor is used to detect what direction they were facing, this information is then emailed to a specific account for data collection. 

Is Second Life even suitable for this kind of research?  The research team found that results from the Second Life experiment were very similar to real-life results.  What does this mean for researchers?  Using a virtual world such as Second Life allows researchers to conserve resources in both finding and building out real-life spaces which costs money and time. 

For more information visits the description of this build available on the NMC web site at: http://sl.nmc.org/2009/10/06/october-vwex/

An article on this study can be accessed at: http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/0901/pages/geeks/geeks.html

Story also appears on http://epirate.shu.edu/

Just joined a new online community dedicated to education in virtual worlds.  I have overwhelmed by the number of groups that have popped up since we first brought students in Second Life two years ago.  I would have to clone myself and my AV in order to attend them all   Anyway, the interface being used on this site is very cool – wondering what they are using to power the site.  You know I am impressed if it inspired me to dust off my poor negelected blog.

Check it out at http://www.rezed.org

Recently I was highlighted in an eSchool News article regarding the use of SL in my class.  It was especially fun when one of my best friends who is a faculty member at Kent State (Lin Lin) and my Director found the article as well   You can read the entire article here: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=6713&page=1

Many colleges have begun to incorporate Second Life into some of their courses’ curriculum, and some have held entire classes based in the virtual environment. At Seton Hall University, students taking Danielle Mirliss’s Industrial and Organizational Psychology course this fall were able to use Second Life as part of a virtual team-building exercise. In it, students were given a cover story in which they were working for a public-relations firm that was building a piece on the best places and people in the Second Life world. The class spent two hours completing a structured scavenger hunt within Second Life, followed by completing a wiki and a survey.

Tomorrow is the grand opening of the “Art of Second Life” – the first major exhibition by the new Aho Museum Curator, Tayzia Abattoir.  I got a chance to sneak over last night and see the Starax exhibit that occupies its own sim.  Starax is truly talented and it is a great loss that he/she is no longer in SL.  Luckily the artifacts of his existence remain.  Be sure to drop by the NMC Campus and take a look.

This week and next is the NMC’s Symposium on Impact of Digital Media and the Slatenight team has been asked to participate.  As part of our program Anya (Angela Thomas) will give a talk on identity that will be followed by a fashion show with a twist.  Instead of highlighting the latest fashions we hope to be able to recruit members of the SL community to showcase their unique identities.  I have already approached Aura Lily and Blaze Columbia but don’t be surprised if I call on you!  Just for fun – here I am in my Halloween costume purchased at Material Squirel. 

In real lile I would describe myself as shy, maybe those who know me would disagree but it really does take a lot for me to approach someone new.  I just realized that I have turned into a shameless networker in Second Life – begging for access to restricted sims, emailing people that I find on blogs to be guest speakers, etc – pretty much anything that will help the students in my organizational psychology course.  As I sit in a hotel room at the National Educause conference, searching the web for more information, I have suddenly become very reflective on the community that has formed in Second Life – it is truly a vibrant community of practice.

What is unique about this community is that the “experts” are hidden behind avatars.  I meet people at the teachers buzz sessions and other events in Second Life but have no idea about what they do in real life (and that they are truly experts in their fields).  My recent campaign to get access to the LearnLand sim is a great example.  I literally went down the names in the group, IMing anyone who might take pity on the this non-consortium member until finally Mark Oehlert, Booze Allen associate, responded and (I am sure it was his influence) shortly after I was added to the LearnLand group.  Mark – if for some reason you stumble upon this post, would you ever consider being a guest lecturer for my class in Sl as well???

What I was really hoping for was for someone from this project to speak to my students about how virtual worlds are being used or how they might be used for corporate training.  I stumbled upon Brent Schlenker’s blog and his posting about LearnLand and asked him to be a guest presenter (keeping my fingers crossed that he can make it).

Digging around even further and after reading more posts on both their blogs I think I might have met them before in world at various NMC events (LOTS of credit to the work that NMC has been doing, especially these events!!).  Who knew that Mark is ChuckNorris and Brent is Rightbrain?  It is really a small world!

October 12-14th – the Alliance Library System and Second Life Library/info Island Grand Opening!

Proposed Scheduel of Events:
Thursday, October 12 – Virtual Worlds and Education:  The Cutting Edge – 4 pm sl – 6 pm sl – Speakers: Pathfinder Linden, Kitty Paul, Puglet Dancer, Professor Boliveau, Lorelei Junot and Maxito Ricardo – Puglet Dancer and Kitty Paul will cut the ribbon to begin grand opening ceremonies at Info Island open air auditorium (Info Island 143, 82, 34)

October 21st at 4pm SL time, Troy McLuhan , from the International Space and Flight Museum, will present  on “life on Mars?” at the NMC Library. 

I was hoping to be able to post this to the NMC Campus Observer but that would have been the second day that I posted the same day as someone else.  Is there some kind of a collaborative blogging etiquette *smile*?  Lori Bell has joined the NMC blog and has posted important info regarding an upcoming event at the NMC library – I’ll wait until tomorrow before taking over the “prime real estate” at the top of the blog.

I did want to thank Blaze Columbia for her generosity (I met “her” in “her” female form but it was explained that sometimes she takes on a male form).  Heidi Trotta (TeeCee in SL) and I are preparing to bring 13 undergraduate students in SL on Monday for several activities.  I saw a posting about Blaze’s SL shop on a fashion blog (can’t help myself – so many talented people in SL) and decided to take a visit. 

After making a purchase (a little to sexy to wear around students) I bumped into Blaze who immediately said hello.  After a bit of chatting and compliments on her designs, I explained to Blaze that while I loved the outfit I just bought I had to be conservative when students where exploring SL with me.  I told her that we were bringing in 13 new SL users this Monday and the very generous Blaze provided me an outfit for all of my 11 female students and an outfit for all 3 of my male students.  It is this kind of generosity that makes SL such a special place – this is sure to make my students feel more at home in SL to know that someone provided something special just for them.  I hope to be able to include a field trip to Blaze’s store as part of their team building project so they can meet her.  Be sure to visit her store at Triumph and checkout her fashions at Blazeblog (lots of great men’s fashions too!!!).

Monday was a very busy day in Second Life for educators – in the morning the NMC Teachers Buzz session featured scultures based on mathematical equations.  I got the rare opportunity to talk about this visit with two math faculty today as we plan to really investigate the SL environment for teaching and learning (more to come).  But the real treat for me was the talk given by Dr. Bransford on his work with LIFE.  I have already blogged about it on the NMC Campus Observer – so be sure to visit my post there. 

 I get teased a lot for my shopping addiction in SL (esp. by partner in crime Heidi) but a recent Wall Street Journal article says that I am not alone.  According to the article, and this should be no surprise to other SL residents, clothing is emerging as the hottest market.  What does this tell us about the attachment to our avatars?  Why do we care so much about our appearance?  In the Slatenight article “Fantasies of Femininity” Anya comments on her avatar: “I enjoy gazing at myself and thinking: yes, that reflects many aspects about me: my softness. my feminity, my mysteriousness, my sexuality and so on.” I think she sums it up well.  The Wall Street Journal article states it less eloquently:

“We found out pretty quickly that people loved owning things,” Ms. Smith says, and many start by buying items for their avatars. “It’s not surprising that fashion and hairstyles and skins are as attractive and as exciting and as valuable as they are, because it’s part of individualizing” the appearance of a player’s online persona.

I am far from an expert on online identity but I am interested in how we can use this knowledge to support the faculty and students to the SL environment.  Do we just set them up with their free accounts and leave them to explore alone?  How much fun can you have being poor in SL?  If we have the means, will providing a small budget ($2000 lindens) help to engage the new SL user?  I think that this is an important consideration when introducing a group of faculty to SL – being able to customize your appearance might result in more commitment to the avatar and more willingness to explore and learn how to use the virtual environment.