second guessing: is there a context for second life® in legal education?
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Bromby Martin JonesResearch Fellow Senior LecturerGlasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University
Second Guessing – Is There A Context for Second Life® In Legal Education?
What is Second Life?
• Virtual World / sim(ulation)– No objectives, game plan, points or prizes– Tabula rasa for creating anything:
• Islands – communities• Buildings – commercial or private• Objects – transferable
• Demo of Second Life [Teleport to GCU](or view screenshots of various UK university sims)
Drivers to Look at SL
• Investment by university– C U There Project– Caledonian Academy competition
• Can we find any benefits?!– Law curriculum– Non-distance learning
Use of SL in Law Curriculum
Fizzy Soderberg
[image]
Seattle Law School “class pet” for their first year property law course
(see Elizabeth Townsend-Gard at TerraNova Blog)
Fizzy’s Role
• Task One: The Rules of the Game /Design the Avatar• Task Two: First in Time (Exploration and Orientation)• Task Three: Provision of Legal Services & Dispute Resolution• Task Four: Property ownership• Task Five: IP 1 Trademark• Task Six: IP 2 Copyright• Task Seven: Contractual Disputes• Task Eight: Controlling Defamatory/Offensive Material• Task Nine: Controlling ‘virtual’ offences against the person• Task Ten: Age issues and child protection in SL• Task Eleven: Financial Services / Money Laundering / Gambling in SL• Task Twelve: Final evaluation, discussion of the experience
Fizzy’s Role
• Task One: The Rules of the Game /Design the Avatar• Task Two: First in Time (Exploration and Orientation)• Task Three: Provision of Legal Services & Dispute Resolution• Task Four: Property ownership• Task Five: IP 1 Trademark• Task Six: IP 2 Copyright• Task Seven: Contractual Disputes• Task Eight: Controlling Defamatory/Offensive Material• Task Nine: Controlling ‘virtual’ offences against the person• Task Ten: Age issues and child protection in SL• Task Eleven: Financial Services / Money Laundering / Gambling in SL• Task Twelve: Final evaluation, discussion of the experience
Restrict to these for a Level
2 module in Legal IT
Our Task (1..)
Overview in Lecture Theatre• Demo and basic overview of SL
– Illustrated with media coverage– Rationale given for ‘exploration’ task
• Students allocated in pairs– Register their avatar– Begin to look around ‘orientation island’
Our Task (.2.)
Facilitated lab sessions• Week 1
– Induction with C U There team– Distribution of SL software on USB keys
• Week 2– Q/A and problems– Sharing of some resources and locations
• Week 3– Review of resources– Evaluation questionnaire
Our Task (..3)
Encouraged to:• visit: – a law office
– another legal (or quasi-legal) service, and
– somewhere where a legal issue could arise
• meet: – a student
– an academic or other professional, and
– someone else with views or experience of legal issues in SL
Screenshot of SL search directory
Find a location!
Find a person!
Enter search
term!
Screenshot of SL and notecard facility
Write thoughts
etc!
Add tags and comments!
All my postcards automatically arrive here!
My own
Reader!
The joys of RSS!
Individual
feed from
each avatar!
URL for google reader share pagePublic url for anyone to view!
Click here to teleport
directly into SL yourself!
Student avatar name!
Student Findings (1..)
• Mainly law offices replicated in SL– Few resources present
• ‘Click here to email real world’
• Information boards
• Notecards to keep
– Few people present• No-one met a professional RL or SL person
• Few met any students (no significant interactions)
Student Findings (..2)
• Services for ‘in-world’ legal aspects– Game style
• Marriage and divorce• Police fines, fantasy trails, jail• Notary service
• Services for ‘real world’ legal aspects– Few beyond usual internet provisions
• Meeting rooms• Seminars, conferences and events
Staff Observations
• Acceptance of technology– Some initial reluctance– No lack of ability
• Keeping on the task– Avatar maintenance and appearance– Social locations (beach, dance club)
Questionnaire (1..)
• 19 Respondents (37%)
• 100% students had never used SL before• 58% had played the The Sims• 37% stated that they never played computer
and video games
Questionnaire (..2)
• 89% spent 0-5 hours in SL
• 11% spent over 10 hours
• Nobody visited more than 50 places
• 82% visited less than 10 places
Questionnaire (..3)
Description of orientation process
V Easy 37%
Q Easy 53%
Q Diff 0%
V Diff 10%
Questionnaire (..4)
• Communication with other avatars
Often 5%
Sometimes 32%
Rarely 53%
Never 10%
• 58% offered friendship to other avatars
• 59% accepted friendship to other avatars
Questionnaire (..5)
“I will use SL in the future”
Strongly Agree 6%
Agree 31%
Neither Agree/Disagree 16%
Disagree 31%
Strongly Disagree 26%
Conclusions
• Investment by university– Financially committed to SL?– User support for OpenSIM?
• Can we find any benefits for on campus students?!– Fizzy comes to Scotland?– Meetings / seminars with externals? (SLBA)– International negotiation competitions
• Any ideas!?!
Thank you!
• See LILAC wiki for more info• View Google Reader public page• Subscribe to SnapZilla RSS feed• IM Forensis Michalak
or Juris Lehrner ‘in world’• Visit some of the resources!