Why Second Life?

Patricia F. Anderson, pfa@umich.edu (a.k.a. Perplexity Peccable)

Assisted by Marc Stephens(a.k.a. Memetic Projects)

© 2008 Regents of the University of Michigan. All rights reserved.

First, Why Virtual Worlds?

• ROI– Economics– Skills building / modeling– Transferability

• Access– Global – Asynchronous– Synchronous

Why Virtual Worlds

• Qualitative– Vision– Diversity– Collaboration– Community

• Future & Current Trends– Virtual Worlds for Children & Youth– Integration– Portability– Scalability

Why Virtual Worlds

• IBM GIO Report: http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/www_innovate.nsf/pages/world.gio.gaming.html

Why Virtual Worlds• Trondsen, Eilif. Virtual Worlds and Collaborative Work,

Survey Results: http://sric-bi.com/news/VWCcollabwksurvey2008-03.pdf

Where are our kids?

• Gaia: http://www.gaiaonline.com/

Who’s there with our kids?

• Motherhood is Hell: February 28, 2008: Confessions of a Middle-Aged WebKinz Addict: http://motherhoodishell.blogspot.com/2008/02/confessions-of-middle-aged-webkinz.html

What are our kids learning in virtual worlds?

• Alice: an Educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment: http://www.alice.org/

Why should we care if our kids play there?

• The Affordances of Virtual Worlds and 21st Century Learning Environments (Tuesday 29th April 2008 9:53am): http://spotlight.macfound.org/main/entry/affordances_virtual_worlds/

New developments

• Naone, Erica. Whole Body Gaming (Monday May 5, 2008): http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/GadgetGuide/story?id=4790043&page=1

New developments

• Emortal, the next generation playground: http://www.emotiv.com/

Important Virtual Worlds Trends

• MediaGrid– Second Life– World of Warcraft– Wonderland– Croquet

• OpenLife• OpenSim

So You’ve Heard About Second Life

• Screenshot of SecondLife website

• http://secondlife.com/

So You’ve Heard About Second Life

• “Second Life is a 3D online digital world imagined, created, and owned by its residents.”

• “Your world. Your imagination.”

• http://secondlife.com/

So You’ve Heard About Second Life

• Also known as the Metaverse, a term from Snow Crash, a novel by Neal Stephenson.

• What does it mean -- “3D online digital world”?

http://abyss.hubbe.net/fredrik_favs.html

Second Life is a Virtual World With:

• Doctors, bankers, candlestick makers;

• Builders, workers, dancers, shirkers;

• Churches and homes; gardens and domes;

• Libraries, museums; teachers and beach bums!

Second Life is Growing …

• From ~2002 to ~2007 …

Who is Already There? Corporate

• Adidas• Apple Inc.• Best Buy• BMW• Cisco Systems• Coca Cola• Comcast• Dell• H&R Block• IBM

• NBA (basketball, really)• NBC• Nissan• Pontiac• Reuters• Sun Microsystems• Toyota• The Weather Channel• Warner Brothers• … and many more …

Who is Already There? Businesses

• Map of corporate presence inSecond Life from the Kzero blog. (Second Life Brand Map version 1.6)

Source: Kzero: Second Life Brand Map: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=431

Who is Already There? Schools

• Bowling Green State University

• Columbia University• Duke University• Drexel University• Harvard University• New York University• Ohio State University• Pennsylvania State

University• Princeton• Stanford University• SUNY

• Temple University• UCLA & UC - Berkeley• University of Cincinnatti• University of Colorado at

Denver Medical Center• University of Kansas

Medical Center• University of Texas Medical

Branch• University of Tennessee

College of Medicine• Vassar College• Virginia Tech

… and over 100 more. Source: SimTeach: http://tinyurl.com/2fen2s

Who is Already There? Schools

• Map of colleges and universities with a presence inSecond Life from the Kzero blog. (Second Life College Map version 1.6)

Source: Kzero: Second Life University Map: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=551

Why Second Life …

• Be where the students are• Engaging our new students• Immersive environment (you gotta see it to

believe it)• Allows interactive distance education on a

level previously unimaginable• Personal productivity - meetings and more• Collaboration & simulation & visualization,

oh my …

More Practically …

• Professional Engagement• Economics• Discovery• Education• Productivity• Collaboration• International / Global• Qualitative Reasons

Second Life Now or Later?

• “Imagine it’s 1949 and you’re a big brand. Do you NOT participate in TV? Or, it’s 1925. Do you NOT participate in radio?”

• Tuple vs. Kipple. Value of Measuring Engagement. June 7, 2007.

What’s There? Basilica di San Francesco di Assisi

What’s There? Nanotechnology Island

What’s Happening There? Interacting with Cells

What’s Happening There? Outer Space Simulations

What’s Happening There? Clinical Training

What’s Happening There? Historical Reenactment

Things to Do: Meetings

Things to Do: Concerts

Things to Do: Events

• Images of presenter with slides in front of a conference audience at the Second Life Best Practices in Education annual meeting.

Things to Do: Information

Things to Do: Outreach / Advocacy

Things to Do: Data Visualization

Things to Do: Collaboration

– Think wiki-types of functionality in visual and 3D spaces

Things to Do: Healthcare Consumer Communities

Education

• Ohio University Second Life Campus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA

Education Ideas• Basic sciences

– Interactive anatomical & cellular models– Class or small group interaction with anatomical

avatars

• Communication skills– Patient history taking– Problem solving– Cultural competencies– Ethical role-playing

• Clinical space design & modeling

Education Ideas

• Guided discovery– Treasure hunts

• Exploration• Construction• Design• 3D modeling• Roleplay• Meetings • Distance learning• International teaching

What You Need To Know Beforehand

• Tech– Bandwidth– Hardware– Screen resolution / Video cards– Frequent Downloads / Software Updates

• Social & Planning– The Wednesday Factor

• (grid is down for upgrades)

– Small Groups– SLURLS – Money in SL

• Go shopping with a muscle man

• Build a cathedral. Visit with angels, devils, and dragons

• Build a skeleton for a giant, with a beating heart. Teach others how to help.

• Scan an Easter Island statue and import it as a 3D object.

• Explore a coral reef ecosystem -- in high heels.

• Piggyback a ride on Saturn and take tourist pics of the rest of the solar system.

“Your imagination. Your world.”

Starter Resources for Higher Ed SL Education

• Conklin, Mega S. 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom. http://facstaff.elon.edu/mconklin/pubs/glshandout.pdf

• Open Sledware (Open Courseware in Second Life): http://opensledware.wikispaces.com/

• Second Life Educators Archives: https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/educators/

• SimTeach Wiki: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php

Starter Resources for SL Science & Research

• McConaghy, T. Troy. A Sampler of Science in Second Life. Nature Network: http://network.nature.com/blogs/user/U475C43B9/2007/06/17/a-sampler-of-science-in-second-life

• Second Life Research: http://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/

• Science & Technology in Second Life: http://scilands.wordpress.com/blog/

More Resources Cited in This Presentation

• The Affordances of Virtual Worlds and 21st Century Learning Environments (Tuesday 29th April 2008 9:53am): http://spotlight.macfound.org/main/entry/affordances_virtual_worlds/

• Alice: an Educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment: http://www.alice.org/

• Gaia: http://www.gaiaonline.com• IBM GIO Report:

http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/www_innovate.nsf/pages/world.gio.gaming.html

• Motherhood is Hell: February 28, 2008: Confessions of a Middle-Aged WebKinz Addict: http://motherhoodishell.blogspot.com/2008/02/confessions-of-middle-aged-webkinz.html

• Naone, Erica. Whole Body Gaming (Monday May 5, 2008): http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/GadgetGuide/story?id=4790043&page=1

• Trondsen, Eilif. Virtual Worlds and Collaborative Work, Survey Results: http://sric-bi.com/news/VWCcollabwksurvey2008-03.pdf

More Resources Cited in This Presentation

• Kzero: Second Life University Map: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=551

• Kzero: Second Life Brand Map: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=431

• Brandon, John. The 8 Top Corporate Sites in Second Life. Computerworld May 2,2007. http://tinyurl.com/3yzzgk

• Second Life Research: Brand Entry Timeline for the Automotive Industry. http://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/brand-entry-timeline-for-automotive.html

• Tuple vs. Kipple. Value of Measuring Engagement. June 7, 2007. http://blogs.electricsheepcompany.com/joel/?p=21

•Want to get started? Come to our next presentation in two days!