a snapshot of ... in second life

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Andy Powell, Eduserv [email protected]

www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation

A snapshot of … in Second Life

UKSG Meeting – Caught up in Web 2.0

Nov 2007UKSG Web 2.0 event

Second what?

• 3-D virtual world

• MUVE

• run by Linden Lab

• ‘proprietary’, but public commitment to open standards and OSS

• populated by avatars, aka residents

www.secondlife.com


So it’s just a game right?

• can use SL to build games – including shoot ‘em ups

• but such activities frowned on in public spaces

• looks and feels like a gaming environment

• but no purpose as such

– use it to buy / sell, entertain, learn, collaborate, …

• do not approach it simply as a game – you’ll be disappointed!

image by J0@nn@ @ flickr.com


Joining SL

• two steps– register

– install client software

• note technical requirements


What does it cost?

• basic accounts are free

• need to pay monthly subscription ($10) to own land

• land can be quite expensive

• ‘land use fees’ for owning more than smallest plot


Naming / identity

• every avatar has a name

• chosen at registration

• can’t be changed

• though can have ‘Alt’s

• mine is Art Fossett - not an anagram!


Identity / appearance

• on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog

• in SL no one knows you’re a bloke

• appearance can be changed instantly

• wings and tails (‘furries’) seem oddly popular!


Communication

• chat

• IM

• group IM

• IM <-> email

• voice – however support for voice fairly recent and not clear what impact it is having


Building and selling stuff

• anyone can build

• objects made out of basic building blocks – prims (cubes, spheres, …)

• objects can be textured for realism – but uploading costs L$10

• objects can be scripted

• in-world currency enables buying and selling of goods


SL and Web 2.0?

• prosumer

• remote apps

• social

• API


SL APIs

• scripting language can issue HTTP GET and POST requests

• can integrate with Web 2.0 services

• but significant limitations currently

• no built-in HTML, XML or JSON parsers so need to parse externally

• SLURLs can be bookmarked in del.icio.us

• some good examples – Second Talk, SLoodle, SLtwitter, BlogHUD, RSS readers, Facebook


Hype

• SL very over-hyped

• significant complaints that stats are misleading

• i.e. worse than Web stats

• LL have improved the way they report usage but…

• SL also (inappropriately) touted as Web 3.0


Usage statistics


Uptake in UK

• July 2007 snapshot of use of SL in UK HE and FE

• undertaken by John Kirriemuir

• funded by Eduserv

• fragmented and somewhat cloudy picture

• activity happening at multiple levels – sometime within same institution – not always visible, even within the institution

• series of snapshots planned over next 12 months

http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/sl


Major findings

• some SL activity at 43 institutions

• 15 of those building an institutional presence

• what are they doing?– small-scale activities…

– hosting exhibitions of students’ work

– researching possibilities

– building tools


SL and learning

• widespread interest in use of SL in education

• explicitly encouraged by Linden Lab

• not clear that people really know how to use SL yet

• but some interesting examples of use

• arts, social sciences, law, psychology, archaeology, languages, …


SL and research

• even less clear what is possible here

• but note that Nature Publishing have an 2 islands (‘Second Nature’)


SL and libraries

• strong library community in SL

• centred around Info Island

• reference desk

• information literacy

• book-related activities


SL in context

• SL is one of many virtual worlds

• there.com, World of Warcraft, Entropia Universe, Active Worlds, Croquet, Metaverse, …

• not clear that SL is the answer

• SL client now released as open source

• clear demand for server to made OSS also

• some commitment to this by LL (partly because people are reverse-engineering the server anyway)


Finding out more

• SLED list – run by Linden Lab, US-centric but is the main forum for learning-related SL issues

• [email protected] (UK)

• [email protected] (libraries)

• in-world UK Educators group (open and free to join)

• lots of Second Life Facebook groups

• pointers to other resources on the Linden Lab Second Life Grid education page

http://secondlifegrid.net/programs/education


Conclusions…

• too much hype

• no clear best-practice (or even much practice) around e-learning

• high technical requirements

• impact of voice not clear

• but… useful experimental environment

• building and scripting environment very powerful

• seems likely that 3-D virtual worlds of some kind will be part of the future

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Conclusions…

• sustainability, ownership and privacy issues around use of and reliance on US-based commercial-run, externally hosted service

• unclear what student perceptions and attitudes are

• but generally accepted that SL is a minority sport at the moment and is likely to remain so

• SL appears to be most suitable for active, constructive learning styles

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questions…

a snapshot of ... in second life

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