This research seminar examines the social practices of Residents of the virtual world known as “Second Life.” Students will make oral presentations on some of the research and instructional activities that are currently going on in the growing field of “avatar psychology” and “immersive cultures.” The virtual world forms part of the mental world. This relationship is based on a description of the substance and anatomy of the mind. Such a theory is available within the perspective of substantive dualism (or two worlds). It provides a theoretical basis for discussing the immortality of the mind or self. Students will have the option of carrying out a collaborative research project with their avatars in Second Life. All students publish their reports on the Web to become part of the cumulative Online Generational Curriculum that Dr. James has maintained since 1994.

Schedule of Weekly Readings and Oral Presentations

Class 1 (J15)

Syllabus information and class procedures.

Debate:

Teams of two propose a theory of immortality and life after death. Students rate the proposals and members of the top proposal receive one bonus point.

Class 2 (J22)

Teams of three present these Readings:

(1) Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (see Section below) From beginning up to the Section on Propositions of Virtual Psychology

(2) The Organic Mind Section titled Discovering of the Mental World of Eternity

(3) Serious Virtual Worlds (first half) (see Section below)

Class 3 (J29)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1) Serious Virtual Worlds (second half) (see Section below) [2, 3, 4]

(2) The Organic Mind Section titled Mental Anatomy Notation System [6, 7, 8]

(3) Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (see Section below) From Section Affective and Circulatory Systems up to the Section on Physical World, Mental World [9, 10]
(Note: We are doing again a portion of last week’s Readings, so that we can focus in on more specific topics this time)

Part B:

Three different Teams give explanations of Diagrams 1, 2, 3 below, followed by general discussion.

Part C:

General discussion on how Second Life Residents establish social presence in virtual world.

Class 4 (F/5)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(4) Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 1 and 3 [2, 6, 11]

(5) The Organic Mind Two Sections titled The Vertical Community and Intersubjectivity in Virtual World and in Mental World [3, 4, 9]

(6) Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (see below) Section titled Research Methodology in Mental Psychology [7, 8, 10]

Part B:

Three different Teams give explanations of Diagrams 1, 2, 3 below, followed by general discussion. (Repeat from last Class).

Part C:

General discussion on how Second Life Residents establish social presence in virtual world. (Repeat from last Class).

Class 5 (F/12)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1). Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 3 and 4 [3, 7, 10]

(2). The Organic Mind Two Sections titled Mental Anatomy of the Individual's Threefold Self and Male and Female Human Anatomy [2, 8, 11]

(3). Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (see below) Section titled Research Methodology in Avatar Psychology [4, 6, 9]

Part B:

Three different Teams give explanations of Diagrams 4, 5, 6 below, followed by general discussion.

Part C:

General discussion on how Second Life Residents establish social presence in virtual world. (Repeat from last Class).

Class 6 (F/19)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1). Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 5 and 6 [4, 7, 11]

(2). The Organic Mind Section titled Personality Development and Spiritual Growth [3, 6, 10]

(3). Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (see below) Section titled Rational Psychology vs. Empirical Psychology [2, 8, 9]

Part B:

Three different Teams give explanations of Diagrams 4, 5, 6 below, followed by general discussion.

Part C:

General discussion on how Second Life Residents establish social presence in virtual world. (Repeat from last Class).

Class 7 (F/26)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1). Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 7 and 8 [3, 8, 11]

(2). The Organic Mind Section titled Mental Physiology to the Section titled Mental Physiology of the Threefold Self (inclusive) [4, 9, 10]

(3). Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology Section titled Dualist Empiricism [2, 6, 7]

Part B:

Three different Teams give explanations of Diagrams 4, 5, 6 below, followed by general discussion.

Part C:

General discussion on how Second Life Residents establish social presence in virtual world. (Repeat from last Class).

Class 8 (Mr/5)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1). Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 9, 10, and 11 [2, 4, 7]

(2). The Organic Mind Section titled Mental Self-Witnessing and Exercises [8, 9, 11]

(3). Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology Section titled Avatar Psychology and Cognitive Science [3, 6, 10]

Part B:

Come prepared to discuss the instructions for the written report. You need to print it out.

Class 9 (Mr/12)

Part A:

Three teams present these Readings:

(1). Dr. John Suler on Cyberpsychology (see below) Articles 12, 13, and 14 [3, 8, 11]

(2). The Organic Mind Section titled Body-Mind Correspondences in Popular Symbolisms, Section on Three Ways of Knowing God and Section on Divine Psychotherapy (first one third of whole Section) [4, 6, 10]

(3). Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology Section titled Body-Mind Correspondences

[2, 7, 9]

Part B:

Come prepared to discuss the instructions for the written report. You need to print it out.

Class 10 (Mr/19)

Discussion on New Diagrams.

Team Exercise: Three Quiz Roles on Rational Spirituality

Class 11 (A/2) (no class M/26)

Presentation of Readings

Team A: 3, 4, 8

Select various types of information to present from this site:

Living through an Avatar: VWN Resource Database: Avatars and Personification:

www.virtualworldlets.net/Resources/Menu.php?NewsMenu=Yes&Category=45

Team B: 2, 6, 10

Virtual reality as a leisure activity for young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.

A virtual reality scenario for all seasons: the virtual classroom.

Doing play: competency, control, and expression.

Team C: 7, 9, 11

Design and testing of a virtual environment to train stroke patients with unilateral spatial neglect to cross a street safely.

Virtual reality and the person-environment experience

Blind persons navigate in virtual reality (VR); hearing and feeling communicates "reality".

EXERCISE

Two per team. Alternate roles. Interviewer and Author answers. See Instructions for Typed Report.

Questions Student Team

4, 19 2 and 4

6, 7 3 and 9

9, 12 6 and 7

13, 17 10 and 11

Class 12 (A/9)

Presentation of Readings

Team A: 3, 4, 8

Managing Our Eternity

The Laws of Providence and Permissions:

Regeneration and the Divine Psychologist:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226430775

Team B: 7, 9, 10

Why This Is a Perfect World Despite Evil:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226529886

Virtual Intersubjectivity

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226529927

Team C: 2, 6, 11

Second Life Affordances for Social Practices by Residents

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226529928

Observing Stages of Acculturation in Becoming a Resident of Second Life:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226529929

Social-Biological Features of Second Life Technology:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226529937

Class 13 (A/16)

Presentation of Readings

Team A: 3, 6, 7

Exercise for Self-witnessing the Threefold Self on the Daily Round:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212036252

Team B: 2, 9, 11

The Seven Avatar Bodies:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226097593

Team C: 4, 7, 10

The Virtual and the Actual
Discovering the Vertical Community
What Dreams Are Made Of

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226097608

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226097593

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226430817

Class 14: (A/23)

Team A: 8, 9, 10

Overall Explanations of the Diagrams; Material Loves; Rational Loves; 12 Anatomical Layers of Existence

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm#_Toc226552848

Team B: 4, 6, 7

Body-Mind Correspondences in Popular Symbolisms

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212519339

Correspondences in Our Thinking and Language.

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/Users/Leon/AppData/Roaming/theistic/correspondences.htm#language

Team C: 2, 3, 11

Exercise on Mind-Body Correspondences

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212519340

Class 15: (A30)

Team A: 2, 4, 6

Taxonomy of Unregenerate and Regenerate Loves in the Natural Mind

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212519343

Team B: 3, 7, 8

The Anatomy of Spiritual Combat in Temptation

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212519350

Team C: 9, 10, 11

Altruism and Selfism; Love is a Substance; The Biophysics of Creation http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm#_Toc212519351

Readings

Lecture Notes on Avatar Psychology (2009) by Leon James

See text in the Section below.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Organic Mind: Discovering the Mental World of Eternity (2008) by Leon James:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/mental-psychology-p1.htm

This online book describes the principles of mental psychology, and provides a basis for examining cyberpsychology, in particular, avatar psychology and the virtual self. Mental psychology topics include dualism, discrete degrees, immortality, eternity, mental anatomy, development, inherited traits, regeneration, marriage, vertical community, heaven, hell, God.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Second Life Wiki For beginners. Searchable complete information on most things in SL with useful links.

https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=3927

From Wikipedia

Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based 3D virtual world launched June 23, 2003 and developed by Linden Research, Inc, which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. A free downloadable client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade items (virtual property) and services with one another.

In 2008, Second Life was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the development of online sites with user-generated content. Philip Rosedale, President of Linden Lab, accepted the award.

The Metaverse is a virtual world, described in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. The word metaverse is a compound of the words "meta" and "universe".

Although many people have assumed that the inspiration for Second Life originated from Philip Rosedale's exposure to Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, he has suggested that his vision of virtual worlds predates that book and that he conducted some early virtual world experiments during his college years at the University of California San Diego, where he studied physics.^[3]

At the beginning of September, 2008, just over 15 million accounts were registered, although there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage. In January 2008, residents spent 28,274,505 hours "inworld", so on average about 38,000 residents were logged on at any particular moment.^[6] Despite its prominence, Second Life has notable competitors, including Entropia Universe, IMVU, There, Active Worlds, Kaneva, and the erotic-oriented Red Light Center.

Residents are the users of Second Life, and their appearance is their avatar (often abbreviated to av, avi or ava). The basic avatar is human in appearance, but may be of either gender, have a wide range of physical attributes, and may be clothed or otherwise customized to produce a wide variety of humanoid and other forms.

Avatars may be creative or can be made to resemble the person whom they represent.^[8] A single Resident account may have only one avatar at a time, although the appearance of this avatar can change between as many different forms as the Resident wishes. A single person may also have multiple accounts, and thus appear to be multiple Residents (a person's multiple accounts are referred to as alts).

A player's identity is generally less anonymous in Second Life than in other virtual worlds. Any avatar and any object in the world can establish whether or not real payment info is on file for his or her avatar,^[9] although they cannot access any personal details from this payment information; this was implemented to provide age verification and also to enable users to distinguish between established paid-for accounts and free alts which can be thrown away at any moment. Some in-world services also require the resident to disclose his or her real name or other personal data to different source, although this is voluntary and hence the resident can choose not to use the services which require such disclosures.

A resident's creations are likewise far less anonymous in this virtual world. The Linden servers register your avatar as the uploader or creator of the object. While this is not an official notice, it can be used to help establish who introduced an item to the system first.^[10]

The Second Life world runs on Linden Time, which is identical to the Pacific Time Zone. The virtual world follows the North American Daylight Saving Time convention. Hence it runs 7 hours behind UTC most of the year, and 8 hours behind when Standard Time is in effect during the winter. The servers' log files actually record events in UTC, however.

User-generated content comprises a large portion of the activity within Second Life. Second Life may be considered part of the web 2.0 phenomenon in that the Residents, not Linden Lab, create most of the content of the world. Built into the client is a 3D modeling tool that allows any Resident to build virtual objects. Residents can also create gestures and animations using software such as Blender, Poser. Second Life also includes a scripting language called Linden Scripting Language, or LSL, which can be used to add autonomous behavior to objects and create dynamic systems. User generated content can run the gamut from simple furniture and apparel to complex systems such as the artificial life experiment of Svarga, where a complete ecology runs autonomously.^[15]

Second Life allows users to give, or sell, objects that have been created to other residents. The Second Life Terms of Service ensure that users retain copyright to any content they create. Within the server and client is a permissions and digital rights management system which prevents Residents from casually disregarding a creator's copyright. The creator of an in-world object decide whether or not any recipient of them can modify, copy, or transfer the creation. These limits are respected both by the client and server; however, as the visual data of an object must be sent to the client in order for it to be drawn, unofficial third-party clients such as CopyBot can bypass them - though such use is prohibited,^[16] and may be prosecuted under the DMCA.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Serious Virtual Worlds: A Scoping Study (2008) by Sara de Freitas:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/seriousvirtualworldsv1.pdf

This report provides a scoping study of the use of serious virtual worlds to support learning and training, including a review of the field and case study examples. The report also provides valuable resources such as a typology and a list of virtual worlds. In previous work it was identified that there were a great range of different virtual world applications (de Freitas, 2006), and in preparing this report, 80 virtual world applications were identified with another 100 planned for 2009. The field is extensive, not just in terms of potential use for education and training but also in terms of actual usage and uptake by users, and Second Life currently has 13 million registered accounts (as of March 2008). This report however is focused upon how the virtual worlds can be better understood and used in the context of education and training. The use of Second Life for supporting seminar activities and lectures and other educational purposes has been documented in a number of recent reports (eg de Freitas, 2006), and Kirriemuir (2008) lists a wide range of examples of Second Life use by UK universities. (p.4)

Contents

1.0: Introduction and Background...............................................................4

2.0: Review of Virtual Worlds.......................................................................7

2.1: Historical perspective of virtual worlds...................................................................................................................10

2.2: Role play worlds: multiplayer role play online games...........................................................................................12

2.3: Social worlds: open-ended exploratory immersive worlds....................................................................................12

2.4: Working worlds: corporate and business 3D spaces and intranets......................................................................13

2.5: Training worlds: 3D training simulations and serious games...............................................................................15

2.6: Mirror worlds: using geo-spatial databases and mapping services......................................................................15

3.0: Case Studies of Practice.....................................................................17

3.1: Active Worlds Educational Universe: supporting science teaching in schools.....................................................17

3.2: SciLands in Second Life: science education and virtual conferences...................................................................19

3.3: Croquet Community: supporting forums for research...........................................................................................21

3.4: Project Wonderland: teaching tool for collaborative learning in mixed reality spaces .......................................................................24

3.5: Forterra’s OLIVE platform: supporting surgical education and major incident training......................................27

4.0: Challenges and Opportunities in using Virtual World Applications...30

4.1: Participation of learners in constructing spaces, content and activities...............................................................31

4.2: Blending between virtual and real spaces and experiences..................................................................................34

5.0: Conclusions.........................................................................................36

References.................................................................................................38

Appendix A: Experts Consulted for the Review.........................................41

Appendix B: Glossary of Terms.................................................................42

Appendix C: List of Virtual Worlds.............................................................44

Appendix D: Useful Resources..................................................................48

Appendix E: Related UK-based Research Projects..................................49

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

John Suler on Cyberpsychology

Articles:

1. Presence in Cyberspace

2. The Two Paths of Virtual Reality

3. The Basic Psychological Features Of Cyberspace

4. Human Becomes Electric: Networks as Mind and Self

5. Presence in Cyberspace

6. The Online Disinhibition Effect

7. The Psychology of Avatars and Graphical Space

8. Types of Avatars, Part 3: Visual Social Grease. Avatars: Aberrant Av Behavior

9. Cyberspace as Dream World

10. The Psychology of Avatars: A Study of The Palace

11. Second Life, Second Chance

12. Computer and Cyberspace Addiction at the "Palace"

13. The First Decade of Cyberpsychology

14. Ethics in Cyberspace Research Consent, Privacy and Contribution

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html

Bibliography for SL Research and Instruction

_1.Directory of Second Life Resources:
http://tinyurl.com/JJD-SL-Resources

2. Create an account
https://join.secondlife.com/

1. Basics tutorials
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials/Basics

2. Tutorials blog
http://secondlifetutorials.blogspot.com/

3. Lyr Lobo's Getting Started Guide
http://ctusoftware.blogspot.com/2008/08/second-life-getting-started-guide.html

4. Things every newbie should know before starting 2nd life
http://sl4nowt.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/30-things-every-newbie-should-know-before-starting-second-life/

5. 30 things to know (maybe not)
http://www.irisophelia.com/2008/12/thirty-things-i-want-you-to-know.html

6. Beginners' Resources
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/secondliferesources#beginners

7. Speaking SL
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Glossary

8. Making it simple: Creating a new avatar using the NCI/Caledon community gateway (PDF)
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/techweb/DesktopModules/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=4772

9. Citations and Scholarly References about Second Life and Virtual Worlds http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SecondLife/SecondLifeCitations.html

10. Scholarly articles - SLIS Second Life Wiki
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/sl/index.php/Scholarly_articles

11. Joe Peterson/ Second Life Bibliography
http://www.ebusiness-newcastle.com/blog/?page_id=55

12. Joe Sanchez
http://research.educatorscoop.org

13. Bibliography of Second Life Education
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib

14. Virtual Social Worlds and the Future of Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2jY4UkPbAc

15. Introduction to Second Life
http://blip.tv/file/262909/

16. Blog for SL "Freebies" list of places to go for free Stuff
http://fabfree.wordpress.com/freebie-break-down/

17. Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag

18. Introduction to Second Life and its Educational Possibilities
http://puritansguidetosecondlife.blogspot.com/2007/09/introduction-to-second-life-and-its.html

19. Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfsSGBraUhc

20. A Writer's Guide to learning about SL
http://www.writersinthevirtualsky.com/a-writers-guide-to-learning-about-second-life/

21. More - From Howard Rheingold
http://www.socialtext.net/socialmediaberkeley/index.cgi?introduction_to_second_life

22. Resources from a 2007 "Hit The Ground Running" workshop for educators
http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/NMC2007_Hit_The_Ground_Running

23. Slideshow from the same workshop
http://www.slideshare.net/trottahe/hit-the-ground-running-in-second-life/34

24. Introduction to Second Life by 2 experienced educators
http://www.slideshare.net/jokay/introduction-to-second-life

25. Training simulations in Second Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJTzNSV8pb0

26. Principles of Good Practice
http://magazine.openhabitat.org/tal/principles-good-practice

27. eLearning, SL articles
http://www.elearninglearning.com/second-life/

28. Channel for Metaworld - The Second World Monitor
http://www.mogulus.com/metaworld2

29. More - Berkman Center: Second Life: Open Education and Virtual Worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3sblfBjh_4

30. What is SL?
http://secondlife.com/whatis/

31. SL Wiki
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Main_Page

32. Help portal
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Help_Portal

33. Official blog
https://blogs.secondlife.com/index.jspa

34. How to speak Second Life - Glossary
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:Glossary

35. System Requirements for SL:
http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php

36. SL Community Standards
http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

37. SL Terms of Service
http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php

38. Linden Labs Privacy Policy
http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php

39. Online Safety
http://secondlife.com/policy/security/

40. Abuse risks
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=3989

41. Construction Tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVSzh_QTE00&mode=related&search=

42. How to Make Tiny Prims:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6XqQM9hgB0&mode=related&search=

43. How to Use the Building Grid:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8k-XoIPycm8

44. Video Tutorials in scripting
http://klinelabs.com/vidtut.php

45. Keyboard shortcuts
http://hippasus.com/resources/secondlife/SL_Keyboard_Shortcuts.pdf

46. SL cheatsheet
http://www.kippiefriedkin.com/resources/secondlife-viewer-cheatsheet.pdf

47. Tips & tricks
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/tnt

48. Tom Werner's Business Blog for Second Life
http://brandon-hall.com/tomwerner/?tag=second-life

49. White paper on making machinima
http://static.secondlife.com/_files/making_machinima.pdf

50. Second life Movies & Machinima forum
http://forums.secondlife.com/forumdisplay.php?f=278

51. SL on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=%22Second+Life%22&aq=f

52. Culture, Techne, and Virtual Worlds: An Interview with Anthropologist Tom Boellstorff
by Dusan Writer
http://dusanwriter.com/index.php/2009/01/24/culture-techne-and-virtual-worlds-an-interview-with-anthropologist-tom-boellstorff/

53. SLCC 2006 proceedings
http://www.simteach.com/SLCC06/slcc2006-proceedings.pdf

54. SLCC 2007 Proceedings
http://www.simteach.com/slccedu07proceedings.pdf

55. Judith Molka-Danielsen and Mats Deutschmann (eds.) (2008) Learning and Teaching
in the Virtual World of Second Life. Tapir Academic Press
http://butikk.tapirforlag.no/en/node/1195
http://slenz.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/the-slenz-update-no-42-january-28-2009/

56. Tom Boellstorff, Coming of Age in Second Life (2008) Princeton University Press
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8647.html

57. Tagging the New World - Sloog
http://www.sloog.org/

58. Digging in Second Life
http://digging.secondlife.innx.co.jp/

59. Libraries and associated organizations in SL:
http://infoisland.org/directory/all.php

60. Second Life: An Engaging Learning Platform
http://www.slideshare.net/shornik/second-life-a-learning-platform?from=email&type=share_slideshow&subtype=slideshow

61. Engagement in SL learning
http://www.slideshare.net/intellagirl/engagement-in-second-life-learning?from=email&type=share_slideshow&subtype=slideshow

62. Information seeking in SL
http://www.slideshare.net/librariandreamer/talking-looking-flying-searching-a-research-report-on-information-seeking-in-second-life
and note the related slideshows

63. Second Life Cable Network TV – Best Practices in Education:
http://www.slcn.tv/best-practices-in-education

64. Terra Nova, a collaborative blog that deals with virtual world issues, including Edward Castranova
http://terranova.blogs.com/

65. Virtual Worlds Facet Study - Sarah Robbins
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pgKqGR6eOiPOKjMG9f856Sw

66. Virtual Worlds Theory Roundup
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/vwtheory/

67. eLearning Virtual World articles
http://www.elearninglearning.com/virtual-world/

68. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research
http://jvwresearch.org/

69. Journal of Virtual Worlds & Education
http://jvweducation.org/

70. VWN Resource Database: Avatars and Personification:
www.virtualworldlets.net/Resources/Menu.php?NewsMenu=Yes&Category=45

71. National Library of Medicine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=disabilities[All+Fields]+AND+((virtual[All+Fields]+AND+reality[All+Fields])+OR+%22second+life%22[All+Fields])

72. National Library of Medicine
Virtual reality as a leisure activity for young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.

73. National Library of Medicine
A virtual reality scenario for all seasons: the virtual classroom.

74. National Library of Medicine
Doing play: competency, control, and expression.

75. National Library of Medicine
Design and testing of a virtual environment to train stroke patients with unilateral spatial neglect to cross a street safely.

76. National Library of Medicine
Virtual reality and the person-environment experience

77. National Library of Medicine
Virtual reality: consumer perspectives.

78. National Library of Medicine
Human factors consideration in clinical applications of virtual reality.

79. National Library of Medicine
Blind persons navigate in virtual reality (VR); hearing and feeling communicates "reality".

80. National Library of Medicine
Medical applications of virtual reality.

81. National Library of Medicine
Ethical issues in the application of virtual reality to medicine.

82. Rez Libris The Magazine for Librarians, and Bring to class for presentation and discussion.
http://www.rezlibris.com./social

83. Interesting statistics from a survey of 1000 Second Life Residents:
http://socialresearchfoundation.org/report/index_files/annual-survey.pdf

84. Prof. Bellivau’s Courses and Articles on Teaching in SL. Bring to class for presentation and discussion.
http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/slstuff.html

85. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human (2008)
by Tom Boellstorff.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Age-Second-Life-Anthropologist/dp/0691135282/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228195349&sr=1-1

86. Introducing students to SL:
http://www.cxknowledge.com/Intro_SL.html
http://www.cxknowledge.com/Intro_SL.html

87. Book List for Second Life and Virtual Worlds
http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~chandler/HEA-ICS/booklist.html

88. Steve Wheeler (Ed., 2009) Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures: Cybercultures in Online Learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers.

_{^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^}

Exercises

Before you login to Second Life you must become aware of the terms of use.

Terms of Service

“In compliance with Linden Labs Terms of Service - we uphold the age restrictions placed on the main grid. Any avatar claiming to be or known to be underage will be reported to Linden Labs immediately and banned from all of the ALS estates.

It is a primary concern of ours to keep Second Life a safe and legal environment. Second Life Residents are held to a clearly defined Terms of Service and Community Standards to prevent illegal and/or broadly offensive activities, and it goes without saying that anyone engaged in these activities will be permanently banned from Second Life. Additionally, it is important to clarify that when we discover minors in Second Life, or when their presence is reported to us, we terminate their access. Underage users are automatically directed to Teen Second Life, an area specifically designed for non-adults, and offering them a rich, creative experience collaborating with other teens.”

Must read: http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php and http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php

Hardware problems? Lag? See here: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/11/15/typical-frame-rate-performance-by-graphics-cardgpu/

First Exercise (Required if you decide to login)

After downloading the free Second Life Viewer at secondlife.com, start it, but before Clicking on Login (do not click on Login right away!) do this first:

Note the option under your name: “Start Location”: type in this address: Virtual Ability. Now click on login.

Your avatar will first appear at that location, which is a quiet protected area suitable for your first lesson in how to get around in SL virtual world with your avatar. You’ll see a tutorial window. Click on Begin. Watch and practice the instructions. Replay and practice again a second time. Now you are ready to begin exploring.

If you get an Offer of Friendship from another avatar, click on Decline. Do not accept Friendship Offers until you have acquired more experience and know what the consequences are. This takes several hours of safe protected exploration. Follow these Exercise instructions sequentially. Take your time and be thorough. You’ll be glad later.

Spend between one and two hours exploring and viewing tutorials at Virtual Ability. Read all the posters and do all the exercises. Walk and follow the green arrow on the wooden path. At the end of this you’ll know a few basics about your inventory, about how to change your appearance and clothes, how to communicate and chat, how to move around, etc.

Before you quit, see note below: Important: When you are ready to leave Virtual Ability

If you have to cut your session at this point, be sure to return here next time you login in order to complete the entire tour at Virtual Ability. When you’re done with the main tour, walk into the “Advanced Tutorials” area, and read about Social Practices in SL. These are on large posters, and you click on it to see the next page. Read about Groups and how to join and create groups. Read about Clothing. Read about Money. Read about Photography and how to take pictures in SL or upload pictures from RL (real life). Read about Profile which publicly shows your SL name and other information that you want to type in, including a picture of your avatar or of your real self.

Get into the habit of right clicking on avatars that you can see on the screen. Every avatar walks around with a big name tag above the head. By right clicking any avatar you get a window where you can read their Profile statement, see what Groups they belong to, and what is in their Picks (favorite SL places and hangouts).

Important: When you are ready to leave Virtual Ability

Copy and paste this link in your Web browser. It is the protected UH LIS Students Home. Click on Teleport.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infotainment%20Island/92/33/31

Your avatar will be teleported to the University of Hawaii Student Union Home. It is a teaching facility and protected area directed by Dr. Diane Nahl at the UH. Once your avatar is there inside the house, pull down the World menu (on top of your screen), and select Make this my Home. You’ll get a momentary blue confirm window at the bottom right. Now whenever you want to get away from somewhere quickly do SHIFT-CONTROL-H and your avatar will be teleported to this house, safe and sound. From here you can plot your next move (e.g., using the Search engine or Map to get to places).

Explore this area which is your academic home in SL. You can bring friends here, or put up notices and chat with other students. Explore the House by walking around. Then go outside. Explore the entire Infotainment Island by walking and flying around.

(end of Second Exercise) Now write your self-report on Exercise 1.

Self-Report 1

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 1.

_{^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^}

Second Exercise

First Destination:

http://nikadreamscape.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/destination-station/

Remember These Rules of Operation for Safety and Comfort

You don’t have to answer someone’s chat offer or IM requests for Friendship. Just ignore it, unless you decide you know enough about what you are doing. When you accept an offer of Friendship, that person will know when you are logged in, and can find you and join you using the Map (pull down “Online Friends”). After accepting a Friendship offer, you can at any time delete it. Click on Communicate (bottom left of screen) and select Contacts. Select the Friend and click on Remove. If you accepted a Friendship, you can immediately Remove it by this process, should you want to.

You can use the Mute button when you want to stop someone’s comments from showing up in your own chat window or IM window. To do this, right click on the avatar, then select Mute in the pie commands.

If your avatar is griefed, bumped, trapped, or immobilized all you need to do is to give the Teleport Home command (Shift-Control-h, or see under the World menu for “Teleport Home”). You can also do Control-q at any time to quit (or see under the File menu and select Quit, or click the X at the top right hand corner of your viewer). Wait a few seconds, then login again if you want to, making sure you select the option (below your first name) Set Start Location to: My Home (or if you prefer: Virtual Ability).

Required Reading for your protection and knowledge:

Go to this Web Wiki Information site and study it carefully. Come to class prepared to discuss the issues explained on this site.

http://npsl.wikispaces.com/Griefers-+what+to+do

This Web page gives you information and instructions on what to avoid when you are in SL, and how to protect yourself from unwanted exchanges with strangers. This is important since when you are a new Resident of SL you do not yet know all the functions and capabilities of the system, nor the style of interactions that are practiced by some people there, just as in real life (RL).

Summary:

Defense in short-
1) Sit in a chair (Objects with sit target scripts are easiest to sit on, even from a distance).
2) Disable particles (ctrl+shift+alt+=).
3) Contact the proper authorities.
4) Go into busy mode (world tab, then ‘set busy’).
5) Pull up history (control-H) and you can still see chat around you, but you cannot be spammed with notes or textures.
6) If necessary, teleport away (landmark or ctrl+shift+h)
7) If the situation is intolerable, log out.

After you explored as suggested in the First Exercise, you can now explore these Unprotected Public Places where there is high avatar traffic. Before you go these places, make sure you finish reading and processing the information above dealing with this Exercise.

Copy and paste each of these links one by one into your Web browser. Click on “Teleport Now” each time and switch to your SL viewer. Click on Teleport in the open window. Your avatar will then arrive at the place. These are mostly Welcome areas for newbies. Click on Decline when offered Friendship. When you get stuck or want to get out quickly use SHIFT-CONTROL-H to get to your Home (which is the UH Student Union – see First Exercise above).

1. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ahern/28/28/41 (Ahern Welcome Center)

2. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Orientation%20Island%20Public/128/128/32 (SL Orientation Island)

3. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Theta/166/140/25 (Sandbox and Park)

4. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Clementina/173/147/62 (Governor Linden’s House)

5. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bonifacio/233/234/41 (Welcome Area)

6. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Help%20Island%20Public/123/123/27 (Welcome Area)

7. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Help%20Island%20Public2/124/124/27 (Welcome Area)

8. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wengen/25/212/86 (Welcome Area)

9. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hangeul/36/35/108 (Welcome Area)

Practice right clicking the avatars you can see and read their Profile and Groups. Open the Local Chat window (click on Communicate bottom left). It shows what other avatars are typing to each other in Local Chat. You can also type in your comments. If someone IMs you or sends you an IM message, a second tab will open on the open Communicate window showing the name of the avatar who is IMing you. You can answer if you want. Only you and the other avatar can see the IM window (not like the Local Chat window which everyone can see). Your computer saves the local chats cumulatively in a file called chat.txt which you can open and delete if you wish. You can also set Preferences (Edit menu) not to save the local chat.

(end of Second Exercise) Now write your self-report on Exercise 2.

Self-Report 2

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 2.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Third Exercise

Take notes for this Exercise. A convenient way to do this is to have your word processor file open and type into it as you are doing things in SL.

Come to class prepared to describe what you saw and what you did while on this land. Summarize what you have learned. Did you acquire any of the free objects given out there? Go to a Public Place Sandbox (see Exercise Two) and try to rez the objects you acquired. What problems did you encounter while doing this? Before leaving the sandbox area you are supposed to right click the objects that you rezzed and select Take from the pie shape menu. This will put the objects back into your Inventory file and insure that the sandbox remains uncluttered for the use of others.

Go to the Info Island Region and explore the links to teleport that are given there:

http://world.secondlife.com/region/833c243e-b8e6-4f4a-91e6-be889e44f2b0

Visit the International Info Island Reference Desk:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20International/111/237/34

Here you can ask questions. Watch the Local Chat window. Be sure to type Hi when you are greeted by a librarian in presence. Ask a question if you want. It can be anything about how to do things in SL, or something to do with the research paper you’re working on for another course. Walk around and explore.

Visit the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Portal on Info Island

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/198/105/34

Or visit http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/59/211/34

Get together with a partner and the two of you go to Heavenly Rose Garden to do things together:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rose%20Gardens/92/158/27

Go here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Manpower%20HQ/104/97/27

and explore what they have for newbies and visitors.

(end of Third Exercise) Now write your self-report on Exercise 3.

Self-Report 3

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 3.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Fourth Exercise

Watch these YouTube videos. Take notes in your word processor. Come to class prepared to discuss the details.

Now that you have a little experience in-world and have completed the Virtual Ability tutorials (see First Exercise above), you’ll be able to benefit and enjoy the following videos that describe some of what you have already done, and some new skills that you’ll appreciate. Take notes. You’ll need these notes when you write your written Report due after midterm.

Virtual Ability Orientation ONE in Second Life - part 1 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAjG4Tv6LvU&fmt=22

(arrow keys for navigation, camera controls activities with built-in assessment, mac specialist for assistive technologies, mouselook and how to exit, pose balls and picnic thieves, learning more about the inspiration behind the Virtual Ability Inc./Alliance Library System)

Virtual Ability: Orientation TWO in Second Life: part 2 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntRpndqwO6E&fmt=22

(learning to fly in the butterfly aviary, zooming in with your camera controls to get an even better look, flight rewards in Second Life, introducing communication features, talking monkey bot, IM window, buying and getting things in your inventory.. then wearing it

Virtual Ability Orientation THREE in Second Life: Part 3 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFE5G8gP5_g&fmt=22

(covering inventory search, finding and wearing t-shits, how not to wear a box! and cleaning up after yourself.... teleporting and climbing trees!)

Fifth Exercise

Take notes. You’ll need these notes when you write your written self-report.

As you explore the following places practice camera movements. Practice exploring a place with the camera without moving your avatar. When you land, move away from the landing by a few meters using the arrow keys. Then zoom out (click on the minus sign in the camera control window at the bottom). Inspect the entire area, then zoom back in (click on the minus sign in the camera control window). Now use the camera movements to explore in and out, around corners, inside buildings, all without moving your avatar. You do this by holding the Alt key down, and simultaneously hold the left click of your mouse down, as you move the mouse ball around with your other fingers. It takes a little practice to use both hands in this way. This camera action gives you full zoom in and out and movement in all directions. If in addition you hold the Ctrl key down you can rotate an object in any direction for closer inspection.

Now check the setting under the Advanced menu (top of screen near middle), and select Disable Camera Constraints until it shows an X that it is activated. Now your camera control will be extended to its full potential. Try the Alt-left click mouse ball technique again and see the amazing difference.

You can have your camera move through walls and buildings if you position it sideways rather than front on. You can also use the arrows on the right side of the camera control window (which opens under the View menu, when you select Camera Controls). Using these various camera techniques takes practicing a few hours, which you can do by exploring inside buildings, underwater, the sky, etc. without moving your avatar from whatever place you left it last time you used the arrow keys, or else teleported. To get back to wherever your avatar is press Esc twice. Also press the Esc key twice, when your camera gets stuck inside things and it won’t respond.

Try this as well:

Click on “Fly” (bottom of screen, left) and move your avatar around with the arrow keys. If you want to go higher, press Page Up (press it several times for still higher flight). Use the arrow keys to fly around the entire landscape. To stop, click on the “Stop Flying” command at the bottom of the screen.

Note: when your camera seems stuck, press Esc twice and it should stabilize.

First: Go to:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Over%20The%20Rainbow/254/122/28

Ride the Jet Ski and explore. Have fun. Go there with a friend or two. Both can ride a jet ski and interact. Have a race around the island. It’s fun. Careful: Do not run into other avatars who might be around! Also try windsurfing and other boats that you can find around if you look for them.

Second: Ride the boat in this beautiful place:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Omurice/112/174/43

Dine with friends in a beautiful bistro beside a marble columned pavilion where you can dance the waltz or ballroom. Take a romantic Gondola canal ride. Visit the buddhist temple. Camp out in a eucalyptus forest. One prim meals for sale. Try the dance place.

Third: Go skating and sleigh riding:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Midsomer%20Meadows/180/135/23

Fourth: Go Canadian seal racing at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Southhaven/166/94/22
You can do this with a partner (double riders). Try it yourself. Observe other racers. Keep the camera zoomed in and locked on the racer (Alt+left mouse click+mouse ball rotations for zoom action and direction). See if you can ride around the island underwater, then fly up and around. If you get stuck, press Stand Up (bottom of screen). If nothing works Go Home (Shift-Control-H) or just Quit (control-Q) and start again.

Fifth: Find something to do that you consider fun. Click on Search, then select the Showcase Tab. Explore and teleport. Here are some additional suggestions:

1. Help People Institute on Help People Island (get help, explore, dance, walk around): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Help%20People%20Island/72/120/301

2. Mandaly Bay Ice skating rink, skate through tunnel, single or paired:

3. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mandalay%20Bay/243/201/24

4. Caledon Wellsian Skating set up:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Wellsian/107/65/21

5. Ski in Japan. Free skis. Take the ski lift. Rez your skis after you get off the lift chair.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Niseko%20Hirafu/251/207/24
Try your skill skiing on streets, water, etc., as well as snow.
Also Niseko Hirafu Ski Shop and snow board:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Niseko%20Hirafu/155/145/24

6. VAI Sanctuary. Go skating with the free skates provided there:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/VAI%20Sanctuary/186/82/23
Also: use the water slide into the pool.
Also: meet someone there and play tag chasing each other while skating.

7. The Avatrait art gallery in the round is here:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Evoluon/80/114/140

8. Try this skating arena:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mandalay%20Bay/243/201/24

9. Ride the train and sled here:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Holidays%20at%20dAlliez/63/192/26

10. Try fishing for pets you can keep:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Livingtree/63/61/23

11. Enjoy the music video show and try dancing at the Love Hemisphere jazz club (requires formal attire): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Navaria/116/20/902

12. Ride the train at Wish Isle:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wish/101/108/39

13. Go to Rachelville on Virtual Island and explore what is to be done there:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/99/196/25
(take the magic carpet tour, explore the gardens, sit on the wolf,

14. Sloog.org Get the HUD here and start using it.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%203/180/213/753

Self-Report 5

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 5.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sixth Exercise

Take notes. You’ll need these notes when you write your written self-report.

Download Jing at http://www.jingproject.com/ (for free), and practice using it in SL. Take pictures, save each under a suitable name that is descriptive of the content (e.g., dancing, flying above buildings, skating with so and so, etc.). Email your two best pictures to me. Continue practicing with Jing throughout the semester. Eventually you can make a slide-show or movie of your picture album in SL depicting your adventures. Anyone succeeding this difficult task will get appropriate bonus points on their grade.

Note: If you prefer another application to Jing you are allowed to use that one instead.

Self-Report 6

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 6.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Seventh Exercise

Take notes. You’ll need these notes when you write your written self-report.

Click on Search (bottom of window). Click on the Showcase tab. First see the explanation given for all the places by clicking on each line. This gives you an overview of what to select from. Now select one and click on Teleport (at the top). Have your word processor open and take notes about what happens, what you observed there, and what your conclusions are.

Repeat this with other Showcase locations listed there. Bring a friend from in-world or have a friend sit next to you at the computer so you can see and discuss together what’s going on. Keep taking notes as you do this. Summarize your observations and conclusions. What does this tell you about the relationship between the real world and the virtual world, and what of the relationship between the virtual world and the mental world.

Self-Report 7

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 7.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Eight Exercise: Acquiring and Wearing Formal Attire

Women, please find, acquire, and wear to class a formal gown, hair, and heels.

Men, please find, acquire, and wear to class a tuxedo, hair, and formal shoes.

If you already have the required apparel in your inventory, get something new (free or fee). Complete and save this Structured Self Report notecard on your task process. Steps 1-9 ask for descriptions of process in addition to the ratings and rating explanations. Please use the form below to include the descriptions as well as ratings and explanations:

1. Select and go to a place to find the required apparel.

2. Copy SLURL into report and describe how you decided to go there. Describe what if anything you obtain there.

3. Copy SLURLs for any additional places you go to acquire the clothing. Under each SLURL describe briefly your decisions to go there and describe what if anything you obtain there.

4. After obtaining the required elements, put the entire ensemble on your avatar. You may use the dressing area in the Student Union, and somewhere near the Ref Desk there are new changing rooms, some stores have dressing rooms.

5. Describe the process of dressing the avatar and how you managed all of the pieces, what SL affordances you used in the process, and your perceived level of success.

6. After you have dressed the avatar completely with all of the required elements, right-click the avatar, select Appearance, select Make Outfit in the dialog box, check all highlighted boxes including shape, hair, etc., then name the outfit, Save, then select Close on the Appearance dialog box.

7. Open your Inventory and type WORN in the search box. Review all of the items your avatar is wearing. Is anything missing (e.g., shoe, bald cap, shoe base, eyes, socks, etc.)? Try to wear it and discuss your success. Is there anything extra that should not or need not be there (e.g., piece of a prior outfit, double hair, etc.)? Try to remove it and discuss your success.

8. Delete WORN in search box and locate the outfit folder you created. If you want, move it to a desired location in your inventory. Describe your current Inventory organization strategy including letting the pieces stay wherever they land. Describe your usual approach to finding things in your Inventory.

9. Look at the elements of the outfit you created and note whether any are designated no copy. Those no copy pieces will exit the folder if you wear them in another ensemble. It is safest to copy the rest so they will remain in the outfit folder. If everything is in the folder you can just drag the folder onto your avatar to change outfits. Try it. You can even change while moving around.

Comment descriptively on your User Experience in terms of Affect (feelings, emotions, values, preferences, expectations), Cognition (confusion, understanding, problem solving, strategy, knowledge acquisition), and Sensorimotor (noticings, performance, actions, procedures, routines, accomplishments).

Fill out this Form at the following five points during the tasks:

A. Before you begin the tasks

B. After working through tasks 1-3

C. While working through tasks 4-5

D. While working through tasks 6-7

E. After completing tasks 8-9

A. Before you begin the tasks

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

B. After working through tasks 1-3

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

Copy SLURLs here and describe what you obtain:

C. While working through tasks 4-5

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

Describe dressing process, SL affordances used, perceived level of success:

D. While working through tasks 6-7

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

Describe missing or unnecessary elements and efforts to add or eliminate them from avatar, and perceived success:

E. After completing tasks 8-9

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

Ninth Exercise: Reference Desk at InfoIsland International

Background - The LIS Student Union on Infotainment Island is near the epicenter of library community activity in Second Life. The "InfoIsland Reference Desk" is a nearby spot where professional librarians serve thousands of "patrons" with a tight band of volunteers. But they are not always on duty when people arrive. So the desk features a wide array of interactive, self-serve information tools.

Your task - Enter Second Life and seek out this location. Interact with the volunteers if anyone is nearby and find the automated calendar tool. It connects with the Internet to help the community keep track of the large number of programs. Attending an event may enhance your career (not required for this assignment).

Complete and save this Structured Self Report notecard on your task process:

1. Go to Reference Desk at InfoIsland international http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infotainment%20Island/97/31/31

2. Find the "InfoIsland Archipelago Calendar" and Touch it.

3. Choose "This week" for the set of events.

4. Click "Local chat" tab and click on the URL at the end of the list of events.

5. Tip: You may have to copy the URL to access the website from the browser.

6. Paste that URL into the Interface Assessment Journal notecard.

7. Find the VOTE kiosk and register your vote for this site; it helps in SL search rankings.

8. Explore the "computer terminals" area and the information available through these information affordances.

9. Find the Caledon Libraries events and exhibits displays and read through the offerings. Take a notecard for any events of interest.

10. What is the Den? What happens there? What do you like about it?

11. Find the Alliance Virtual Library sign and get its notecard. TP to one of the locations on the notecard. Save the LM. Return to the Reference Desk after exploring 5-10 minutes.

12. Find the TP board to the language areas and other interesting spots and visit one of the locations. Return to the Reference Desk after exploring 5-10 minutes.

13. Go to the nearby SL Resource Center, explore and pick-up free and interesting affordances.

Interface Assessment Journal Structured Self Report Form

Fill out this Form at four points during the task session today:

A. Before you begin the tasks

B. After working through tasks 1-6

C. While working through tasks 7-8

D. While working through tasks 9-12

E. After completing task 13

A. Before you begin the tasks

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

B. After working through tasks 1-6

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

C. While working through tasks 7-8

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

D. While working through tasks 9-12

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

E. After completing task 13

How likely is it that you will become good at this particular task?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

How likely is it that the skills you are learning in this task will be useful in your career?

Doubtful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Almost Certain

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling frustrated doing this particular task?

Not Frustrated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Frustrated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

To what extent are you feeling irritated doing this particular task?

Not Irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely Irritated

Type your number here:

Briefly explain your rating:

Tenth Exercise: Inventory of Avatar Social Settings

Observe the behavior of avatars under a variety of setting. Only some of these might be available when you consider privacy issues. This is an initial inventory of social situations that avatars can find themselves, and establish social presence and virtual consciousness. “Alone” means that your avatar is not with a partner or companion at the time or in a place. There may be other avatars present but you are not together. “With a partner” means that your avatar is being together with another avatar, either chatting, or walking, or whatever the interaction is. When teleporting somewhere, partners send each other teleport invites so they can be together in the new place.

You can use different techniques for mutual teleporting. The most direct is to Right Click on the other avatar and select Offer Friendship. The other avatar receives the Notice Window to accept or decline. You do this to each other. Click on communicate at the bottom left and select the Friends tab. You see that the other avatar is listed on your Friends List. Now you can click on Offer Teleport at any time no matter where your friend is, as long as it is online and logged into SL. Once you are Friends you can at any time click on Map (at the bottom) and click Online Friends (top right of the Map window). This will show your Friend’s location if online (little red circle). Double click on the little red circle and you’ll be teleported there. You can also IM any of your friends giving them your location by the name of the place (which they can Search to get a teleport). The name is indicated on the top line of the browser window. Or, you can click on Map then click on Copy URL to Clipboard (bottom right). Now you can paste the address into your IM note. You can also drag a Notecard from your Inventory into the Profile of an avatar that you can right click (pie shape window appears, select Profile, drag Inventory Item or Notecard into their Profile). They will then get a note saying they received an object from you, and they can accept or decline.

Inventory:

1. alone in a restricted or secured area
(sentry lines, ejection procedures, access lists)

2. with a partner in a restricted or secured area
(see above)

3. alone in a private place or house
(unsecured)

4. with a partner in a private place or house
(unsecured)

5. alone in a public place that allows certain activities
(Building, Flying, radar and combat HUDs, etc.)

6. with a partner in a public place that allows certain activities
(see above)

7. aalone in a public place that does not allow certain activities
(see above)

8. with a partner in a public place that does not allow certain activities
(see above)

9. alone in a public place that provides local facilities or scheduled activities
(dance balls, music, rides, sports, park, beach, shopping mall, advertised events, library and information services, hiring offices, classroom, labs, exhibits, sandbox, demonstration projects or showcase, etc.)

10. with a partner in a public place that provides local facilities or scheduled activities
(see above)

11. (add any others you have discovered or thought of)

Self-Report 10

Date and time details.

Describe your experience of doing Exercise 10.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Eleventh Exercise

Identifying the Information Needs You Have

Other Exercises

Join the Group called Virtual Psychology. Describe their announcements, activities, and the people you met through attending some of their scheduled meetings.

+++++++++++

Getting a sample of Profiles and making observations about it.

+++++++++++++++++

Getting a sample of Chats and making observations about it.

++++++++++++++++

Search for Psychology in the SL Search window. Summarize what you find.

++++++++++++++

Go shopping to improve the appearance of your avatar. Take a “Before” close up Snapshot of your avatar when you start. Buy only or mostly freebies. Dress your avatar in the new appearance. Take an “After” close up Snapshot. Describe the details of your experience in doing this task.

++++++++

Go to a public place such as a shopping mall, dancing hall, or organized event. Unobtrusively follow the movements of selected avatars in your sight (use Alt-click-zoom). Or, just use normal camera view as your avatar walks about. Describe your observations of what other avatars are doing. What is your reaction and conclusion?

++++++++++++++++++++

Follow the exercise instructions in this Student Orientation Tutorial:

http://www.cxknowledge.com/Stations.html

+++++++++++++++++

FLASHBACKS CLUB, Free money,camp, Krytel (209, 26, 241) appears to have high traffic. ((Explore to see suitability for exercise)).

++++++++++++++++

Look at this You tube video: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=lHXXsEtE3b4

Philip Rosedale: Second Life, where anything is possible

++++++++++++++

Watch these four parts of a video:

http://chantalharvey.blip.tv/#1461712

http://chantalharvey.blip.tv/#1461791

http://chantalharvey.blip.tv/#1462762

http://chantalharvey.blip.tv/#1462857

++++

Where can I find people in SL?

Ahern Welcome Area http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ahern/4/4/40

Sweethears Jazz Dance Club http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sweethearts/197/148/23

Phat Cat's Jazz Club http://slurl.com/secondlife/PhatLand/170/104/22

++++++++++++++++

Places for getting a record of Local Chat in public places:

Waterhead Welcome Area, Waterhead (37, 83, 25) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Waterhead/36/76/25

Bonifacio Welcome Area; http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bonifacio/242/231/41

++++++++++++

Other ideas for finding people include:”Welcome Areas” (see First Exercise above)

See also scheduled events (historical, dances, lectures) listed in Search (try out all the Tabs in the upper part).

+++++++++++++++++

Second Life Library Virtual Reference Wiki

http://sites.google.com/site/sllvrwiki/

Look up, take notes and come prepared to discuss:

virtual worlds, avatar, Second Life, World of Warcraft

Linden dollars, buy, Inventory, edit appearance, wear, copy, transfer, modify

griefing, weapons, being banned

role playing

the grid, regions, teleport

building, sandbox, infohub, events, places, people

Profile, Partner, Picks, Groups

Camera zoom, Mouselook,

Local Chat, slurl, IM send, group chat, voice chat, chat.txt

fly, run, stand up, jump, Page Up, Page Down, arrow keys, camera controls

Map, Online Friends, Mini-Map, Search, SLURL,

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Finding Jobs in SL

Manpower - How to find Work in Second Life

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Manpower%20HQ/104/97/27

Q: What kinds of jobs can I find in Second Life?

A: The types of jobs are as diverse as the multi-million residents of the virtual world. Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, lists the following on their website, which you can find by searching for these categories via the in-world Find menu:

- party and wedding planner

- pet manufacturer

- casino operator

- tattooist

- nightclub owner

- automotive manufacturer

- fashion designer

- aerospace engineer

- custom avatar designer

- jewelry maker

- architect

- XML coder

- freelance scripter

- game developer

- fine artist

- machinima set designer

- tour guide

- dancer

- musician

- custom animation creator

- lottery operator

- theme park developer

- real estate speculator

- vacation resort owner

- advertiser

- bodyguard

- magazine

- publisher

- private detective

- writer

- gamer

- landscaper

- publicist

- special effects designer

- gunsmith

- hug maker

(Source: http://secondlife.com/whatis/businesses.php)

Also, be sure to join the Manpower News group to receive announcements regarding news and events about the company. To do so, go to “Search” and in the “Groups” tab, type in “Manpower News”. It’s free to join.

Q: Where can I find employment opportunities?

A: You will quickly find that are a number of ways to find work in Second Life. The first is through your network. Second Life is a social platform, so be sure to add people to keep track of your friends by exchanging calling cards or adding them to your friends list. When you’re looking for a job, these are people that can help you to get one.

In addition, you can use the search tab at the bottom of the screen to find groups that are relevant to the type of work you are searching for.

In the “All” tab, try keywords like “job,” “jobs,” “employment,” “recruiting,” or “hiring” to generate a list of options.

And of course, make sure that you join the “Manpower News” group for updates and announcements related to virtual work discussions as well.

Q: How long does it take to get a job?

A: Some jobs require that you are a member of Second Life for up to 90 days before they will hire you, while other employers are happy to work with anyone eager to help them out. Have patience. Second Life is a community built on relationships. If you spend time in places that you would like to work and befriend people, you will ultimately be successful in your job hunt.

Q: How much money can I make working in Second Life?

A: That depends on a lot of factors, including whether you are a business owner or an employee, how many hours you spend in-world, your skill set and your marketing/business savvy.

Of the 2 million or so Second Life residents, more than 25,000 are aspiring entrepreneurs. Most are buying and selling land, designing homes and clothes, or creating products, from jewelry to virtual pets.

As an employee, you will typically be paid between L$20-L$300 per event, depending on the employer and scope of work. Other businesses will offer you incentive based commissions or profit-sharing.

If you don’t have any SL skills, you are rather limited in the opportunities available to you. Some casino owners and mall managers will pay avatars to greet others on their sim (their island) to boost their traffic. You can also find a similar job in a dance club, where club owners will pay avatars to dance in order to help set the scene. But to make any real money in SL, you have to be more creative.

WORK RESOURCES IN SECOND LIFE

Manpower has compiled a list of resources where you can learn more and participate in the world of virtual work. Some of the Islands listed below are job placement services, and others sometimes host job fairs for both Real Life (RL) and Second Life (SL) employment opportunities. Simply click on the link and choose “teleport” to visit these job related locations:

NOTE: Manpower is not responsible for the content of these islands. This list is intended to provide avatars interested in Second Life job placement with additional employment resources.

Great Second Life Links

From: http://www.newlibrarian.com/orientation.html

The next few resources include a variety of freebie items. But please note: Be careful when purchasing Freebies, sometimes owners will mix in items with a fee inbetween freebie items. If you aren't careful, you may purchase an item without meaning to!

Freebie Beach http://slurl.com/secondlife/Freebies/177/37/22

Freebie Dungeon http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Argabuthon/220/164/56

Freebie Store http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Orellian/215/15/24

Freebie Warehouse http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/Burns/107/126/80

Vienna Freebies http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wien/150/215/27

Free Dove http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gallii/111/57/33

Freebie Invasion http://slurl.com/secondlife/Emit%20Time/164/57/29>

You may also shop for items and freebies outworld, using two different services. Both require you to register inworld, but after that you can browse thousands of entries by price, category, popularity etc, using the World Wide Web. They are:

Onrez http://www.onrez.com

Xstreet http://www.xstreetsl.com

In addition to fashion, furniture and other freebies another important resource you can find at many of these locations are textures. To learn how to search for textures inworld click here!http://www.newlibrarian.com/textures.html

From Pathfinder Linden: http://zero.hastypastry.net/pathfinder/

((See also his Slides))

Real Life Education in Second Life
summary of opportunities for educators and academics
Second Life Education Wiki
collaboratively edited page with tons of resources and information
Top 20 Educational Locations in Second Life
great list updated by edcuators themselves
Second Life Websites
frequently updated del.icio.us page, including a list of education specific sites
Real Life map of Second Life Residents
Second Life Residents sharing their locations around the globe
Second Life Machinima
collection of movies created in Second Life
New World Notes
Wagner James Au reports first-hand from within Second Life
How to learn about Second Life before learning Second Life
fantastic summary by Eric Rice!
Real Virtuality in your Second Life and beyond
superb introduction to Second Life and how it can be used for education, serious purposes, and the blending of virtual/real spaces
"Games in Education" Video
a great overview of the educational impact of using video games in classrooms, produced by Orange County Dept of Education (Educational Technoogy Group),
"Listen to the Natives" by Marc Prensky
an outstanding article summarizing how teachers can learn from modern-day students
Interview with Paul Bennun, Liquid Living project with BBC Radio 3
great discussion on culture, biology, and semiotics
This is a fantastic piece about people with physical disabilities using Second Life - New Life in Cyberspace - CBS News, The Early Show, 11/28/07

Additional Readings

Resource Database for Second Life Educators

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib

Excellent source of many articles and links to further resources covering educators in SL and related issues, including articles, blogs, wikis, campuses, communities.

Read this issue of Metaverse Magazine:

http://www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2009/01/MM20090127.pdf

See archived issues at: http://www.metaversemessenger.com/

See this database of ongoing research in Second Life:

http://vwresearchersgroup.pbwiki.com/Virtual-Worlds-Research-Projects

Some Recent Presentations and Talks

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference, Chicago, Aug 6 2008 - My Slides

Massachusetts General Hospital - Physicians Organization - Information Services Retreat, May 30 2008 - My Slides

Partners Healthcare Information Technology Summit, May 8, 2008 - My Slides

Italian Fashion Industry Talk Show (Moda e Tecnologia and MIT Media Lab), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Dec 4 2007 - My Slides

League of Worlds 2007 Annual Conference, Oct 9-13, Keynote Presentation, - My Slides

Second Earth: Virtual Worlds, Amazing Maps, and the Future of the Metaverse, Sept 26, Emerging Technologies Conference @ MIT, Cambridge, MA - My Slides

Collapsing Geography: Distance, Learning, and Innovation, July 12, Games+Learning+Society 3.0, Madison, WI - My Slides

Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation, June 23, 2007 American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC- My Slides

The Economics and Business of Second Life and Virtual Worlds , June 15, Columbia Business School, NY, NY - My Slides

Innovations in e-Learning Symposium, June 5-7, George Mason University and the Defense Acquisition University, Fairfax VA - My Slides

Summit on Behavioral Telehealth, June 1, Harvard Medical School - "Online Support Groups" - My Slides

Boston Cyberarts Festival Event - Panel: "The Art of Living a Second Life"- April 25, Boston, MA - My Slides

Interagency Resource Management Conference (IRMCO) - Keynote Panel: "Achieving Cutting Edge Innovation in Industry"- May 1, Williamsburg, Virginia

Council on Competitiveness - The Forum on Technology & Innovation - 2007 Annual Staff Retreat - March 16, Washington, DC - My Slides

SaskInteractive Summit 2007 - "Way Beyond Websites" - March 8, Saskatoon, Canada - My Slides

Webchamp 2007 - Feb 20, Copenhagen, Denmark - My Slides

"Hacking Second Life" - MIT Media Lab - IAP 2007

"Emerging Issues in Education Technology" - Nov 22, Athabasca University, Athabasca, Canada
online presentation to Graduate class studying immersive environments and distance education - My Slides - Online Presentation (audio and slides)

Futures of Entertainment Conference, MIT Comparative Media Studies and Convergence Culture Consortium - Nov 17-18, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Panel Session - "Not the Real World Anymore"

The 2006 New Media Consortium (NMC) Regional Conference - Nov 8-10, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Keynote Session - "Virtual Worlds, Real People and Learning" - My Slides

Alliance Second Life Library/Info Island Grand Opening - Oct 12-14
Happening simultaneously in Second Life and in Real Life (Illinois), I'll be giving a keynote session on Oct 13. My Slides

Second Life Community Convention 2006 - August 18-20, San Francisco California
"Education in Second Life" session on Aug 20

Science Foo Camp - August 11-13, San Jose, CA
Organized by Nature and O'Reilly, and hosted by Google. My Slides. My Pictures.

SIGGRAPH 2006 - July 30 - August 3, Boston, MA
TechTalk presentation "The Future of Creative Expression and Collaboration in Virtual Worlds" My Slides.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - July 25, Princeton, NJ
"Virtual Worlds, Real People and Learning" My Slides.

Ethos Roundtable - July 18, Cambridge, MA
"Second Life and Non-Profits" My slides.

Games For Change - June 27-28, NYC
"Virtual World, Real Change" session on June 28. My slides.

"Virtual Worlds, Emotional Bandwidth and Real Patient Support" - June 19 2006, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
presented at a meeting on "Identifying and Disseminating Best Practices for Health eCommunities." My slides.

Games+Learning+Society 2006 - June 15-16 2006, Madison Wisconsin
presented a symposium on "Collaborative and Experiential Learning in the User-Created World of Second Life" with Bryan Carter, Jen Caruso, and Aline Click. Here are my slides from the Symposium and the Chat-n-Frag session.

"Democratizing Patient Support" - Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation
presented with Dr. Dan Hoch at Massachusetts General Hospital, May 24 2006 (my slides, Dan's slides)

High Order Bit: Second Life
summary of presentation at Beyond Broadcast 2006 - Reinventing Public Media in a Participatory Culture, hosted by the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School (my slides)

Podcast interview on ThoughtCast
speaking with Jenny Attiyeh at the Beyond Broadcast conference

Online Communities and Virtual Worlds for Patient and Caregiver Self-Help Groups
archived online presentation for the Institute of Rural Health Think Tank Lecture series - Google Video

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Review article on Virtual World Research

By Pam Baker, Linux Insider, Part of the ECT News Network

(selected paragraphs)

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Virtual-World-Research-Part-2-Reality-in-a-Can-65673.html?wlc=1231035386

However, the majority of experiments conducted in virtual game worlds happen in Second Life. "While we do work with educators and researchers to help them get the most out of their Second Life presence, they don't need our permission to conduct research as long as they do so in a way that is respectful of our community standards," John Lester, Operations Director at Linden Lab (the creators of Second Life) told LinuxInsider. "Second Life provides an open platform for creativity and experimentation. That makes it very popular with academics, who use it to research everything from urban planning to computer science to psychology."

There are still other virtual world experiments that ignore the gaming world entirely.

"I conduct research for treatment of phobias, particularly the fear of flying, in a virtual world," Jayme Renee Albin, Ph.D, assistant director at Behavioral Associates told LinuxInsider. Albin's virtual world research has been published and presented at peer review conferences and journals. "It's an amazing technology that allows people to be exposed to environments that normally would be too overwhelming for them to face. It allows for the ability of control and accessibility for repeated exposures," she says. "As long as the subjects are viscerally aroused in the virtual world the treatment can be effective."

Along those same psychological lines, Wesleyan Professor Matt Kurtz led a National Institute of Mental Health-funded study called "A Virtual Reality Apartment as a Measure of Medication Management Skills in Patients With Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study." It was published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

The study simulated a four-room apartment in a virtual reality environment. The virtual reality (VR) tool was created by the researchers to help them learn more about the neurocognitive skills of people with schizophrenia and specifically about their ability to take medications on schedule. Previously, patients were tested using a paper and pencil test, which was limited at best.

The VR tool can be used by clinicians so that they can get an idea of how easy it will be for a client, based on his or her cognitive skills, to remember to take a variety of medications at specific times, Kurtz believes. "It's an interesting melding of technology, research and practical applications," Kurtz told LinuxInsider. Kurtz is also planning a study which will use computer avatars to test emotion recognition in schizophrenia patients.

In his independent research outside NSF, Bainbridge takes a much more radical viewpoint, that "virtual worlds are prototyping future modes of existence for humanity that may in some cases have nothing to do with traditional modes of being, politics or social structures." For many years he, like Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, has been exploring the possibility of porting human personalities into information systems and using artificial intelligence Latest News about artificial intelligence to grant them a kind of immortality, and indeed "transcendence" of many aspects of current human life.

And therein lies the win: the birth of a new reality, one that blends the imaginable with the touchable, the impossible with the doable; a new reign where mind matters as much -- or more -- than the corporeal. Perhaps, one day, even immortality will be within our reach. A Second Life, indeed.

"Key advantages to virtual world experimentation include the ability to conduct research on sensitive issues including ethical and even racial dilemmas," Aimee M. Roberts, analyst of digital media at Frost & Sullivan, told LinuxInsider. "Additionally, due to the nature of virtual worlds, experiments can be conducted with greater flexibility than those conducted in the real world."

Scenarios presented in virtual worlds mimic real life scenarios that provide researchers the opportunity to gain insight into real-world responses as well as human behavior, Roberts said.

Experiments, including modern adaptations of the ethically controversial 1960s psychological experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram, provided confirmation of previous results. The test asks subjects to administer shocks of increasing voltage to an individual who incorrectly recalls a series of word pairs. With each incorrect recollection, voltage would be increased. In Milgram's tests, the person being "shocked" was in no pain and only acted out the suffering. But the person administering the shocks didn't know that.

"Results in the virtual world were just as startling as in the real world," says Roberts. The study's conclusion: Test subjects made no distinction between real and virtual tortured victims.

Second Life is a popular virtual world for creating a wide variety of scenarios for an incalculable number of uses. Children's Memorial hospital in Chicago, for example, has built a three-dimensional hospital, complete with the exact streets and scenery of Lincoln Park, to practice mock emergency drills for real-life responses. This would be nearly impossible for the hospital safety and emergency staff to simulate in real life and the virtual model allows for unlimited possible scenarios at a very low cost to help with future emergency planning.

WaterPartners International, a nonprofit that provides safe drinking water and sanitation to developing countries, used Second Life to host a virtual World Water Day concert to help raise awareness about this world issue.

Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine uses Second Life to give its students more practice time to communicate with mock patients with its virtual dental patient, Masha.

The creators of Second Life have enabled residents to do virtually anything which has ultimately led to a low-cost way to experiment in a virtual setting. "While we do work with educators and researchers to help them get the most out of their Second Life presence, they don't need our permission to conduct research as long as they do so in a way that is respectful of our community standards," John Lester, operations director at Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life. Lester is known as "Pathfinder Linden" in-world.

The experiments are easy to set up in Second Life, speaking in terms of code, of course. "Second Life provides an open platform for creativity and experimentation. That makes it very popular with academics, who use it to research everything from urban planning to computer science to psychology," explains Lester.

Review article on Healthcare for Avatars? Medicine in the Metaverse

By Laura Bruck, Hospitals & Health Networks, 11/22/08 4:00 AM PT

Some industries have been more receptive than others to the idea of conducting business in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Probably the last industry you would think -- healthcare -- actually has been one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of the technology.

In December 2007, Palomar Pomerado Health broke ground on a 600-bed hospital in Escondido, Calif. Just two months later, officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, allowing patients, staff and others to tour Palomar Medical Center West and play with new technology deployed throughout the facility.

No, this wasn't the most rapid hospital construction in history. The ribbon cutting took place in Second Life, a 3-D, virtual world that exists entirely on the Web.

Slated to open in 2011, the bricks-and-mortar version of the medical center represents an "aggressive expansion" for Palomar Pomerado Health, says Chief Innovation Officer Orlando Portale. PPH already serves the state's largest health district but, upon completion, the new inpatient and outpatient facilities will serve roughly 1,400 square miles.

Why preview a multimillion-dollar health care complex on the Internet? "Our primary motivation was to allow our constituents to experience, rather than just see the entire project" Portale says.

And experience the project they do.

Cisco Partnership

In partnership with communications technology company Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) , PPH showcases every high-tech bell and whistle in the facility, highlighting advances in architecture and design.

Visitors to the Second Life site are known as "avatars" and appear on the screen as human images. When avatars enter the medical center lobby, they are handed a radio-frequency identification bracelet, which guides them through the entire structure and allows them to experience everything from bedside environmental control terminals to acuity-adaptable patient rooms.

Since launching in 2003, Second Life has grown dramatically, and today is "inhabited" by an estimated 13 millions users from around the world. Most users still log on to socialize and take part in a seemingly endless array of entertainment and cultural opportunities, but access to and dissemination of health care information is fast becoming a tremendous draw.

From academicians to businesses to not-for-profit organizations to patient self-help groups, users have come to realize the potential reach of their participation in this virtual universe and to explore the ways in which they might leverage that influence.

Stress Test

Massachusetts General Hospital neurologist Daniel Hoch, M.D., jumped into Second Life to determine if virtually led meditation and other relaxation techniques can reduce real-life stress. His initial eight-week pilot study, which began in July, educated and then led a group of eight participants through a virtual version of a well-established, once-weekly relaxation and meditation program, facilitated by animations and virtual objects.

The first group was intentionally small, recruited through word of mouth, kiosks posted in Second Life and real-world paper notices.

Roughly 20 individuals have been recruited for a second pilot study, which began the second week of September. So far, the sessions have gone well, Hoch says, noting that the program's facilitator is seeing essentially the same attendance and dynamics she observes in her real-world groups. Outcomes will be assessed by comparing a pre- and post-study questionnaire completed by the subjects during two face-to-face encounters.

"Similar to informed consent, which is obtained during the first real-world visit, the validity of giving research questionnaires virtually is unclear," Hoch says.

Data collection is ongoing and to date, he is reluctant to speculate what the real-world impact of this virtual experiment might be.

An Island for the CDC

Visitors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Second Life location -- CDC Island -- will find podcasts on a range of health topics or examine an actual image from the CDCs public health library by looking through a virtual microscope in a virtual lab.

Also available is a private space for in-world (inside Second Life) interviews with CDC researchers on sensitive topics such as HIV/AIDS.

The CDC also maintains a Second Life outpost where visitors attend virtual health fairs, and participates in Whyville, a Web site intended to engage 8- to 15-year-old children on a broad range of topics.

The recent introduction of CDC Island coincides with an evolution in how the agency and the public use Second Life.

Today, the focus is less on the CDC as an agency and much more on specific health-related issues and on engaging visitors in virtual behaviors that might influence real-world health decisions," says Erin Edgerton, CDCs content lead for interactive media at the National Center for Health Marketing.

For example, by partnering with Whyville, the CDC and the Web site's creators can promote a mutual goal: increasing awareness about the importance of seasonal influenza vaccines. In 2005, the CDC and Whyville released a potent virtual flu virus that covered unprotected avatars with spots. The number of avatars that then lined up for virtual flu vaccines in 2007 was double the number from the previous year.

The hope is that if people go through the motions online they are more likely to actually go out and get actual vaccinations.

Real-World Change or Fantasy Island?

Is a virtual world of anonymous, island-hopping avatars an effective, appropriate venue for promoting health issues, conducting research and even "test-driving" bricks-and-mortar facilities? Do lessons learned in the virtual world translate into real-world behaviors?

Dan Weberg, R.N., is optimistic but skeptical. "A virtual world can be useful in detecting flaws in a prototype health care model or in patient simulation for nursing education," says Weberg, a self- proclaimed "simulation tech guru," who earned a master's degree from Arizona State University's first-of-its-kind healthcare innovation program. But he isn't yet convinced that this particular innovation will translate into real-world actions or that the avatar experience provides anything beyond that found via a conventional Internet search. "It remains to be seen whether and how the lessons learned will be applied"

Variety of Uses

At Palomar Pomerado Health, the virtual tours help build support for its new building complex. That's important because the estimated US$773 million financing plan includes a combination of general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, operating revenues and a capital campaign conducted by the PPH Foundation.

However, something initially viewed primarily as a marketing tool and a means of recruiting clinical staff is evolving. "The virtual experience wasn't, and still isn't, set up to elicit feedback," says Portale, "but our staff members are now viewing the ability to virtually test-drive design and operational elements and equipment as a simulation and modeling tool. We can, for example, enter a patient room and experiment with where to place equipment or how to re-engineer work processes, and we can now do this without a physical mock-up."

PPH's Second Life space does not formally keep track of the numbers and types of visitors coming from outside the health care system, but it has noted some creative uses of the space. An example: virtual field trips led by college professors who want to give their students the opportunity to "experience" cutting-edge health care innovation, architecture and design.

On the Horizon

Hoch says "the possibilities are endless" with regard to clinician training, noting the already established areas for cardiac auscultation simulation, disaster preparedness and even programs that allow mental health clinicians to experience virtual hallucinations.

He hopes to use data from his pilot research to design more detailed studies and to work with self-organizing Second Lifers to promote often-overlooked components of health and wellness.

"Stroke survivors are already using games to enhance recovery and improve cognitive skills," Hoch says. "Individuals with social anxiety and autism are using the virtual world to socialize and reduce fear. I'm hoping this work will help to bring awareness into the professional realm."

The CDC is in the rearming stages for its own formal studies to measure real-world impact In the meantime, the agency is looking at research -- as well as anecdotal evidence -- on the way in which people use Web 2.0 to determine how to tap in and direct its resources.

The CDCs Edgertan cites the example of Daily Strength, a social-networking Web site organized around support groups, in which members routinely print out lists and rankings of treatments posted by fellow group members to take to their doctors' offices for discussion

"This is just one example of the way in which people are turning away from authoritative sources and toward who have lived what they're experiencing," she says.

+++++++++++++

Getting Real Work Done In Virtual Worlds

January 7, 2008

by Erica Driver, Paul Jackson

with Connie Moore, Claire Schooley, Jamie Barnett

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Virtual worlds like Second Life, There.com, and more business-focused offerings are on the brink of becoming valuable work tools. Major companies and public-sector organizations — such as BP, IBM, Intel, and the US Army — are investing heavily in virtual world technologies. But it's still early, pioneering days. You've practically got to be a gamer to use most of these tools — setup can be arduous, navigating in a 3-D environment takes practice, and processing and bandwidth requirements remain high. But within five years, the 3-D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today. Information and knowledge management professionals should begin to investigate and experiment with virtual worlds. Use them to try to replicate the experience of working physically alongside others; allow people to work with and share digital 3-D models of physical or theoretical objects; and make remote training and counseling more realistic by incorporating nonverbal communication into same-time, different-place interactions.

Buy Risk-Free

Download and print PDF immediately. Price: US $279

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,43450,00.html

++++++++++++++++++

Wiki entry on avatar Psychology

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~smatei/435/techwiki/index.php?title=Avatar_Psychology

Definition of avatar

Graphical personification

Cyber worlds

Psychological Representations: Positive & Negative

Avatar mediated psychotherapy

Link to choose an avatar

http://www.avatarity.com/

Links to popular cyber worlds

http://www.cybernetworlds.com/

http://www.activeworlds.com

http://www.thepalace.com

Link to more information about cyber doctors

http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/ppc/viewpoint/avatar8.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Second Life Transcripts

http://homepage.mac.com/jessid/slroundtable/090310.html

http://sler-transcripts.wikispaces.com/

See also: folder chat (/diane/SL/chat) for more transcripts.

++++++++++++++++++++++

SL Education Research

http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/

Diary of first few weeks in SL.

++++++++++++++

Center for Social Presence in Second Life

http://socialpresence3d.wikispaces.com/

Archived Sessions - By Date

Chat 101408

Chat 102108 Mari Asturias described experiences in Second Life instruction, as well as the design of instructional spaces and activities. Mari's presentation was in Voice, so the chat log became a backchat among the participants. Some of the weblinks shared during the session include:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Voice_recording (how to record voice chat for archiving)
http://socialpresence3d.wikispaces.com/ (front page of this wiki)
http://roots.greenbush.us/ (weblog of Rich White, an innovative pioneer in the educational use of virtual world technology)
http://www.3greeneggs.com/autoscript/ ("This site will help you create scripts for your Second Life objects.")

Chat 102808 Willow Shenlin moderated the BumpLog HUD activity, and briefly discussed her proposal.

Chat 110408 Zotarah Shepherd will demo her multiple intelligence built

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Protection of Human Subjects Procedures

From: http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/333/mm333.html

HSP Procedures:

Uphold LL/SL "community standards" in all contact with residents.

Uphold LL/SL "terms of service" with regard to "conduct of users," IP rights, the DMCA, and other matters in the agreement.

Create a HSP handout carried by every student as a notecard offered to any avatar who inquires as to the research work/researcher’s presence (model attached at link). Although we are not conducting formal research in MM 333, we will treat human subjects protection as though we are.

Maintain subject confidentiality in data management (coded names, etc) from informal conversations.

Forbid students from copying and saving transcripts of talk from avatars with whom they have not gotten permission (and who haven’t been given an HSP handout).

Forbid students from using camera controls to see through objects and into spaces where they are not co-present with the subjects.

Publish the URL for the student course blogs for the purpose of returning knowledge to the communities of practice in question.

Review the student blogs regularly to catch any “beginners’” mistakes that might compromise subject protections.

Block out avatar names and faces in cases of publishing photos of subjects without their permission.

Copy of final papers posted to the student blogs.

Association of Internet Researchers ethical research document
www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

Sample class FAQ (Aaron Delwiche at Trinity) http://www.trinity.edu/adelwich/mmo/faq.html

Bradley CUHSR materials
http://cuhsr.bradley.edu/

Class Research Ethics FAQ

The Belmont Report

Sample Assignment Exercises in SL:

1. Identify 5 communities of practice in SL. Describe them and their activities in some detail.

2. Observe and describe, in detail and natural language, an event in SL that is typical of the kind in which you might be interested. Do not collect or record subject names or take pictures that might identify subjects. keep a written record of your observations.

3. Identify the community of practice in which you are interested.

4. Revise Human Subjects Protection handout to meet the needs of the community of practice you might come to better understand.

5. Complete the HSP handout with the <land-owner/group owner/proprietor> of the <land/group/place> you are going to observe.

6. Read "Visualizing the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of User Interaction Data Collected in Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds", by Katy Börner, William R. Hazlewood and Sy-Miaw Lin. Adapt one of their protocols for mapping interaction in virtual spaces to your site/community of practice and render a preliminary version of the map. Render a final version with your completed paper/report.

7. Adapt one of Börner et al's. protocols for mapping interaction in virtual spaces to your site/community of practice and render a preliminary version of the map. Render a final version with your completed paper/report.

8. Engage and get permissions from an informant for a conversation in which you will practice interviewing. For assignment 7, identify with details and justify via explanations who this person is in the community of practice and why they can serve as useful informant. DO NOT INTERVIEW THE PERSON.

9. Prepare a draft question schedule for your conversation with the informant.

10 . Complete a conversation with your informant in which you practice the skills of the interview. Write report of the conversation, complete with illustrative Q&A with regard to the points you pursued.

11 .Determine two days and times before 11/27 that are most likely to result in viewable behaviors by participants in your chosen community of practice. Notify me of the days, times, and SL coordinates for the events. Briefly summarize what sorts of event you (roughly) expect to take place at that time. Let me know if I need special permission to enter the area; if so, let me know from whom I get that permission. You will observe the event and take descriptive notes to be turned in to me for the assignment; I will also observe parts of the event. You may or may not know that I am present (depending on the circumstances, I may use an "ALT" that is unknown to you and all present). Within 24 hours after each event, turn in to me data files (a) with the rough observations that you take at the event and (b) transform some of those observations into sample note files (ON/TN/MN/Packages/analytic memos).

12. Final research prospectus detailing the research project that you complete if you take MM 444.
© Ed Lamoureux

Student Blogs and Projects:

http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/333/bloglinks333_07.html

See especially this one: http://zerodividedbyinfinity.blogspot.com/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Virtual Psychology Articles

www.rezed.org/group/virtualpsychology

RezEd

"Psychology is the physics of virtual reality" (Bricken, 1990) 3 Replies

I hope that I am not stepping over any boundaries here. But I could not figure out where to share this great quote without being out of place in the "Ethics" thread. I am certainly touching on Psyc...

Started by Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin. Last reply by Milton Broome Oct 9.

Child-like intelligence created in Second Life

A new artificial intelligence program has been created in Second life that is claimed to have a rudimentary theory of mind and the intelligence of a four-year-old child. The ‘child’ is a product of...

Tagged: news, ai, second life, theory of mind, artificial intelligence

Started by Milton Broome Sep 1.

Ethical Considerations in Teaching and Research in Virtual Worlds 5 Replies

As educationalists we have a ‘Duty of Care’ over those we teach. How does this differ in 3D multi-user virtual worlds and what considerations must we take in account when educating and conducting r...

Tagged: milton broome, guidelines, second life, teaching, sl-labs

Started by Milton Broome. Last reply by Daniel Livingstone Aug 13.

The human body is obsolete

I've been interested in the futurist performance art of Stelarc (born. Stelios Arcadiou) for a while now. He worked at Nottingham Trent University, which is just down the road from Derby University...

Tagged: art, technology, posthumanism, "second, psychology

Virtual World Metrics

Of the gathering and analyzing of statistics there is no end. We librarians have the gathering of statistics about bricks and mortar libraries down to a fine artful science, although there remains a troubling broadness and indeterminateness of the meaning of usage of information objects and services. When can we say with confidence and clarity that a user actually used an information object? Usage is a broad concept and very difficult to measure and confirm, especially in the context of legitimate user concerns about protecting their privacy and confidentiality. Often what gets counted as a use is only a strong indicator of use. For example, the user checked out the book, so we can assume that some sort of use probably occurred, even if the book was used during the circulation period only as a paperweight or a door jamb.

Metrics is the science of gathering and analyzing data. Although the validity and usefulness of a set of metrics developed for one discipline and environment are notoriously difficult to port over to another discipline and environment, the metrics of bricks and mortar libraries, of web-based library resources, and of the nascent virtual world libraries have some similarities. Take the basic concept of a “visit” to a library. In the real world, the gate count gives a sense of how many people passed through the entryways and thus visited the real library. On the web, through the use of web server log analysis software, it is possible to get a reliable sense of how many people visited your library’s website in a given period of time.

For libraries and other organizations creating presences in virtual worlds, a nifty tool called a proximity sensor has been developed. A proximity sensor basically senses when an avatar is within a specified range of the sensor, usually expressed as the distance of the radius of a circle or sphere around the sensor. For example, if the sensor is set to detect activity within 20 meters radius of itself, and if an avatar comes within 5 meters of the sensor and stays “within range” for 5 minutes, the proximity sensor will log that activity as a visit.

Proximity sensors can be hidden from view, so that unobtrusive observation of activity can be detected. This is similar to the transition logging feature of many online catalog systems, which record patron searches and system responses unobtrusively.

The unobtrusiveness of proximity sensor functionality is the tip of the iceberg of a host of interesting issues about privacy and confidentiality in virtual worlds. Some proximity sensors record and report only aggregate visit statistics. For example, they may report that in June 2008 a total of 75 unique avatars came within range of the sensor and spent a total of 300 minutes within range, for an average visit length of 4 minutes. Other proximity sensor products will record the actual name of the avatar who came within range of the sensor. The level of openness (transparency) or privacy between an avatar and the person behind the avatar varies from situation to situation and from person to person. Some people strongly identify their real selves with their virtual world avatars, while others don’t want people to be able to make that connection. If a proximity sensor product records the avatar’s name, does that represent a clear and present danger for an invasion of the privacy of the person behind the avatar?

Some proximity sensors can be deployed and harvested only by either the owner or officer of the parcel of virtual land upon which the proximity sensor is deployed. Other proximity sensor products can be deployed by anyone just about anywhere. If you are the director of a library in a virtual world, would you want any Tom, Dick, or Jane avatar to have the power to unobtrusively deploy proximity sensors in your library and gather information about the number (and names) of avatars who visit your virtual world library?

One great thing about proximity sensors is that they are priced to sell. Some sensor kits, such as the ones from Maya Realities, are free, while others, such as the Remote Virtual Sensor from Thomas Conover Products, which work in the virtual world called Second Life, cost as little at $2. The cost of staff time to investigate sensors, learn how to deploy and harvest the sensors for maximum usability and usefulness for your library, and actually collect the data on a regular basis probably will be the major expense of a proximity sensor project.

Virtual world metrics seems to be about at the stage of development and refinement that web-based metrics were approximately ten years ago, when organizations were just beginning to mine web server logs in earnest, and when lots of software companies were making web server log analysis software. Much of the development and use of proximity sensors is being done outside and beyond librarianship. When it comes to virtual world metrics, the values and needs of other organizations, professional groups, and commercial interests may not jibe with the values and needs of librarianship. We need to be actively engaged in the testing and use of virtual world metrics tools so that the norms and best practices that eventually will emerge reflect our professional input.

More Info. @:Maya Realities Website: http://www.mayarealities.com/

Tom Peters, TAP Information Services

web: www.tapinformation.com
Maxito Ricardo in Second Life

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research on the theme of "Consumer Behavior in
Virtual Worlds".

Website: http://jvwresearch.org

All JVWR articles are available online to the public without registration.

On the Relationship between My Avatar and Myself

https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/352/263

We examine these issues using data collected from Second Life residents using an in-world intercept method that involved recruiting respondents’ avatars from a representative sample of locations. Our quantitative data indicate that, on average, people report making their avatars similar to themselves, but somewhat more attractive. And, compared to real-world behavior, respondents indicate that their virtual-world behavior is more outgoing and risk-taking and less thoughtful/more superficial. Finally, people with avatars more attractive than their real selves state that they are more outgoing, extraverted, risk-taking, and loud than their real selves (particularly if they reported being relatively low on these traits in the real world). Qualitative data from open-ended questions corroborate our hypotheses.

Keywords: Avatar appearance; avatar behavior; virtual worlds; self-concept; self-enhancement;

self-verification; deindividuation.

Questions such as these are important because virtual worlds have implications that go beyond how we play, to include how we buy, work, learn, and engage in group activities (Bartle, 2006; Balkin & Noveck, 2006). In the prominent virtual world Second Life, at least 126 real-life brands have some form of presence (be it in promotions, advertisements, market research, or service delivery; Barnes, 2007); more than 25,365 business are operated (mostly as stores, clubs, and property management companies; DMD, 2007); over 150 universities maintain campuses, buildings, classes, offices, or message-boards (with hyperlinks to Internet websites; Graves, 2008); and various public organizations and cultural groups utilize the environment for conferencing, public meetings, delivery of information, and performances or exhibits. Similar activities are evidenced in other worlds that focus on entertainment (e.g., World of Warcraft), creativity (e.g., Kaneva), children (e.g., Webkinz, Neopets, Club Penguin, and RuneScape), languages (e.g., Cyworld and HiPiHi), media (e.g., vSide), and education (e.g., ActiveWorlds and there.com). According to one estimate, 20 to 30 million people regularly participated in virtual worlds in 2006, spending an average of almost twenty-two hours per week within these spaces (Balkin & Noveck, 2006). Some even suggest that the 3D Internet will become as important to companies in five years as the Web is now (Driver et al., 2008), especially as efforts to build standard protocols to integrate virtual worlds mature (Shute, 2008). As activity grows in such avatar-mediated playgrounds and workspaces, it is increasingly important to understand how people represent themselves with their avatars and how virtual environments influence user behavior.

Exercise for class: How many people talk to you when you go with an attractive vs. less attractive avatar, male and female?

Taller individuals are perceived to be more competent than their shorter counterparts (Young & French, 1996). In a 3D virtual environment, Yee and Bailenson (2007) demonstrated that participants assigned a more attractive avatar of their same gender (regardless of their true appearance) maintain a shorter inter-personal distance with another avatar in a social interaction occasion; they also disclose more information about themselves than participants assigned a less attractive avatar. In addition, participants assigned a taller avatar negotiate more aggressively than those assigned a shorter avatar. This effect of avatar’s appearance on behavior is referred to as “the Proteus effect” (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). We diverge in one respect from the analysis of Yee and Bailenson (2007). Whereas participants in their study were assigned either a more attractive or less attractive avatar, we consider the attractiveness of participants’ avatars relative to their real appearance. We then consider whether the use of an avatar more attractive than a person’s actual self will induce a behavioral effect. Like Yee and Bailenson (2007), we are interested in whether there is a main effect of avatar attractiveness on a person’s confidence and extraversion in a virtual world. We also consider an interaction effect whereby, if a person is unconfident or introverted in the real world, then having an attractive avatar may lead to a greater increase in their confidence and extraversion in a virtual world than for people who are confident and extraverted in the real world.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/07/16/db.secondlifetherapy/index.html

They have a sense of having "been somewhere," notes David E. Stone, a licensed psychologist

at the center and its chief technology officer.

And they feel "more comfortable meeting in a replica of the therapy room that they used in real life." Many also tend to reveal more, or be more direct, in the virtual world -- a phenomenon called "online disinhibition." (You can see it in chat rooms too.) And different aspects of identity tend to emerge with different mediums, whether text, voice, video or avatar (or in-person), just as a group setting reveals different things than one-on-one....

Developing an "observing ego" -- the ability to look at oneself objectively and rationally --is critical to many kinds of psychotherapy. "It's possible that interacting through an avatar might stimulate that observing ego," he says....Stone and his team plan to share their findings on the use of Second Life at an American Academy of Psychotherapists event in November.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Serious Virtual Worlds Report

focuses on virtual worlds for educational uses, and explores the ‘serious’ – as opposed to leisure-based – uses of virtual worlds.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/seriousvirtualworldsreport.aspx

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Library Technology Working Group

Visit http://ImmersiveEducation.org/events/ on the day of this event for meeting materials (such as images and videos) and additional details ............................................................................

WHAT: Library Technology Working Group (LIB.TWG) [LAUNCH EVENT]

WHEN: Friday December 05, 2008 from 12-1pm ET (9-10am Pacific / SL time)

WHERE: Second Life http://slurl.com/secondlife/Smithers%20Bluff/35/205/89

OVERVIEW:

The Library Technology Working Group (LIB.TWG) is responsible for defining, implementing, evolving and maintaining applications and open standards related to the provision of library services associated with Immersive Education.

In the age of Immersive Education libraries are challenged to provide resources and personalized research and learning services that transcend physical space.

Scholarly communication that once depended on printed books and journals is now network disseminated and enriched with the spectrum of multimedia—moving and still photo/video images, sound, animation, immersive 3D and virtual reality, simulation, executable code, large data sets—as well as interactive communication among reviewers and readers. Pedagogy that was predominantly an independent and competitive process for students outside class now makes greater use of collaboration, cooperation, and group study.

In addition to a changed learning and research environment, librarians face continually changing sources for the digital literature and other assets they acquire and make available, and continually changing tools for scholars to locate and use these resources. Management of the library enterprise is characterized by more complex and intense communication among librarians, and the delivery of library services is distinguished by the need for direct, personalized advice on what is available and instruction on how to use it.

Although library practice has been deeply technological for thirty years or more, and a cornerstone of research and course delivery, it is now constrained by the traditions of physical services in real buildings. Similarly, working relations among library staff and with consortial partners depend on traditional modes of email, telephone and process control systems. Certainly, ample opportunity exists to enable vastly greater efficiencies in communication through the use of virtual reality meetings and consultations.

The Library Technology Working Group is chartered to project library services beyond the limits of the brick and mortar physical plant through the application of interactive 3D graphics and animation, open video game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice over IP, web cams and other rich digital media. These technologies can be leveraged today toward the creation of virtual collaborative study spaces, virtual information literacy programs, virtual research and course consultations, virtual interlibrary document management, and virtual service delivery to name just a few possibilities.

To Avatar Psychology Book || To Student Reports on Second Life