No Life in Second Life?

Now that the (first annual?) 2007 NMC Symposium on Creativity in Second Life has come to a close, it has left me with two questions:

1. Who are the individuals and organizations in Second Life at this time?
2. What are the instructional issues/problems being addressed in this vehicle?

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education: Colleges Are Building in Second Life, but Is Anyone Visiting? makes just this point. As well as How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life.

In fact, with the exception of planned coordinated events that are housed within an already existing social network, like the NMC Conference, there were times where I wondered if I was doing something wrong because no one was around. Yet, several higher education institutions, over 100, have set up spaces in Second Life. See this Case Western Reserve Video Tour for an example.

This new technology, SL, reminds me of Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Since I believe we are very early in this particular cycle, we are simply seeing a technology that is true to the curve. By my estimation, we are seeing only innovators or even pre-innovators in SL at this time.

Those who are
(1) venturesome, desire for the rash, the daring, and the risky,
(2) control of substantial financial resources to absorb possible loss from an unprofitable innovation.
(3) the ability to understand and apply complex technical knowledge, and
(4) the ability to cope with a high degree of uncertainty about an innovation.

Having said all this, I do think that SL has great potential as the world becomes more digitized and use becomes more intuitive.

NMC Conference in SL: Day Two

How does the idea of a conference session conducted entirely in chat sound? Kinda like watching a foreign film with subtitles? Close....

I'm not sure if it had to do with technical difficulties, but there were several sessions today that were held entirely in chat, which was not the case yesterday.

This got me thinking about the things that I truly enjoy in FL conferences: seeing old friends, meeting new people, hearing and watching sessions, collecting materials, etc. Maybe this is a little old school, but not much of that is available in a virtual space. I do understand that SL is still in its infancy and that many things are clunky at the beginning.

Other sessions, like Larry Johnson's Why Creativity Matters were very engaging (and incidentally, very FL).

Also, what's up with the name bubbles that float over our heads--sometimes there are so many of us around that the bubbles block the presenter's screen!

NMC Second Life Conference: Day 1

NMC's Symposium on Creativity in Second Life started yesterday, August 12th. This is my first virtual conference, so I'll be documenting my experience over this week.

This morning, as I would normally do in FL (first life, not Florida), I took a little virtual walk through the exhibit hall, where I found absolutely no one. I found it interesting that the hall looked pretty much the way the FL ones do, but with no one to chat with. Oh, I did spot someone in the center of the hall, but he flew away as I approached. Perhaps it's too early for the conferencees--it is after all the first week before classes.

I'm off to sessions....

I attended a few sessions today, one that showed us how to create, put on, and acquire clothing and another on how to move, dance, and pick up objects. Hmmmmm. I guess this is all very useful if you're getting started with SL and need a chance to practice and learn how to do some basic things.

Tomorrow I'll be attending some sessions that have more to do with teaching and learning in virtual spaces. Stay tuned...