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Audience Project

Page history last edited by ian 14 years, 5 months ago
Differences in Audience:
 
My three write-ups on Second Life were all quite different.  On my note to my father I had to write to him based on the condition that he does not know much about computers.  I therefore did not assume that he had any idea what it was and gave him a quick synopsis of the overall program, and then went into describing different possibilities.  Also, he has an interest in travel so I tried to appeal to that.  When writing to Professor Yellin, and educator, I focused on educational possibilities, especially in regards to history and geography being that he is a professor in the history department.  To Antoine, my classmate, I wrote to him based on me knowing that he has knowledge of the program and focused in on his interests in politics.
 
To A Parent:

 

Father

 

In my English class there is a heavy focus on using technologies, particular “Web 2.0” technologies and something called Second Life, as both a medium to write with as well as a topic to write about.  Second Life happens to be categorized in the latter.  Second Life is unlike any other program I have used before, mainly because I have never heard of something quite like it.  It is in essence a “Virtual World”.  Authors of non-fiction can create a world for a character that they think up by describing it through words.  Second Life goes one step farther.  Anyone can create a virtual character and visually see him or her on a computer screen and then manipulate the character to do various things.  For example, the character can do basic things like walk, run, sit down, and stand up.  In addition to these normal actions, the character can fly, teleport, and hover in the air.  So at this point you may be saying to yourself that it is a game.  Wrong.  It is not at all a game, and this is a particularly important point to understand.  Unlike video games or computer games, the character, or avatar, creates the world around it.  This leads to endless possibilities.  Want to visit the Sistine Chapel?  If you answered yes, you can teleport there and look at how accurately someone can virtually build it.  How about the Plaka district of downtown Athens, Greece?  Yep, you can go there too, as well as almost anywhere.  Among these infinite possibilities come educational ones.  It would be quite pricy to take the entire class to see Stonehenge, so instead we can all go there on our computer screens, walk around, and examine it in three dimensions while reading and watching informative embedded videos.  No passports needed!

 

Response:

 

It seems this virtual world must be replacing pictures. for the last 150 years, give or take a few, people viewed the world through pictures when going there was not a possibility at that particular moment. Pictures were and still are our window to the world so a "virtual world" must be a new type of window to the world.  I have never heard of this technology and find it interesting, though I personally still prefer books with pictures.  

 

To A Professor: 

 

Professor Yellin, Professor of History  

 

Second Life is a virtual world in which the user creates and manipulates the character on the computer screen.  It is unlike any game because all of the content is user created rather than pre-written script by a computer programmer.  This greatly expands both the educational and non-educational opportunities and potential of this program.  For example, it would be quite difficult both logistically and financially to take an entire class to visit Stonehenge.  At the same time it is quite boring and monotonous to just stare at two dimensional pages that may or may not include pictures of Stonehenge.  Second Life provides a compromise.  The students can virtually travel to Stonehenge to learn more about it.  While there he or she can virtually walk around and change content while adjusting the camera angle to see it on a 360 degree scale.  Also, at many educational virtual sites, there are embedded readings and videos that the students can watch to learn more about where ever their avatar happens to be visiting.  Second Life virtually makes textbooks come alive.  Students often have trouble being able to relate to events and places that either took place in the past or are out of their reach.  Second Life takes the entire world, and much more, and fits it into the dimensions of your computer screen.  I am sure you can imagine how far these possibilities can be extrapolated.  A fashion designer can design clothes virtually and wear them around to see how others react, rather than wasting the time and money making it in real life.  Landscapers can adjust terrain and add buildings and other features to see how it looks on the computer, rather than going by eye in real life.  As you can see the possibilities are endless, especially with regards to education.

 

Response:

 

It certainly sounds like Second Life offers some interesting virtual opportunities for professors.  I have to admit that I'm not sure why "virtual" images, as opposed to actual, 2-dimensional images, are such a dramatic advance, but I'll take your word that students would certainly enjoy virtual tours.  As you know, my goals for my teaching are generally deeper than introducing students to an object or place, such as Stonehenge.  In other words, a virtual tour bears little relationship to the important work of struggling with substantive questions about a place or time period.  Yes, you can "see" the rocks in your virtual world, but the real learning happens when the professor and the student begin to explore their cultural and historical meanings.  This is true for an actual tour or visit somewhere.  We will tour the Virginia State Capital next month.  The tour will certainly be interesting and perhaps inspiring.  But I expect the more profound work will occur in our class time when we begin to analyze the building's significance.
So, in the end, I think Second Life sounds like a lot of fun and a nice way to virtually visit someplace.  But college is about what happens in your mind, not what happens in virtual worlds.  
 
To A Classmate:
 
Antoine
 

By now you are at least as familiar with Second Life as I am.  From what I can gather, the feature that most differentiates this from any traditional video game or computer game is that all content is created by the residents of Second Life, rather than some script created by a computer programmer.  This of course means that not only is there an entire virtual world out there for us to discover, but we also have the chance to make other places for others to discover as well.  This feature provides us with the opportunity to learn in a new, fun, interactive, and quite unique way.  Rather than cracking the textbook to chapter eight and reading about a particular place, you and I can log onto the computer, teleport to where ever we want to visit, and learn through embedded videos and readings more about the place while also being virtually there.  This, however, is not the only thing that is great about it.  It is also a place where people can just gather and discuss whatever they feel like.  For example, since I know you are interested in political science, you can teleport over to the GOP Cafe and discuss, or perhaps debate, political situations with them. Second Life therefore provides all users with the opportunity to engage in all types of academic practice, from first person learning to academic discussions to meetings.  And it all fits within the dimensions of your computer screen.

 

Response:

 
I think you hit the nail right on the head when you talked about how people can just gather and talk about whatever they wanted. Thanks for the suggestion about the GOP Cafe. Even though I'm a Democrat I may have to go there and try to discuss the issues with the members of the GOP. Also I really like how there are so many resources that are right there for each of us to consume.
 

Comments (2)

antoine.waul@richmond.edu said

at 4:16 pm on Sep 22, 2009

In the first letter, farther should be further. Maybe you can compare a game that is all company generated as opposed to user generated. Where it says "Then teleport there." Maybe you could use something else besides then because it implies a sequence when there is no sequence there. In the last line there should be a space between "dimensionswhile"

In the second letter, the second sentence is a little bit awkward. I think the "including educationally" part makes it awkward. The sentence that begins with "while there he..." is a little bit unclear.

I think the project looks and sounds pretty good.

Joe Essid said

at 8:18 pm on Sep 23, 2009

Ian,

Good ideas in the reflection piece. I have tried to explain SL, without much luck, to friends in their 60s who might only use eBay and e-mail. It's a tough job! I then say "like playing GI Joes or Barbies but to tour a building someone else made" and that really helps them. I like Antoine's suggestion, too. SL is precisely NOT a game for those reasons, though it can have games in it that residents make.

I loved how you described SL to your dad. I wish I could get a good coffee in SL's Plaka district or some Souvlaki. No chance of that. By the way, here's a "RL" restaurant tip: Filostron in Plaka, on the pedestrian street that runs beside the Acropolis. Superb high-end Greek cuisine and not the tourist stuff. I rate it five (of five) Kalamata olives on my restaurant rating system.

Professor Yellin's note shows a nice switch to a more formal tone and you "cut to the chase" right away. One of my colleagues from SL is working outside it in OpenSim to build a Stonehenge visitor center. It will be a fully realized museum complex like the King Tut exhibit you'll tour later, outside SL. I think the Stonehenge "build" will show students things that cannot be done for a real-life visit, such as changing the sun so you can see the fall of light on the stones at Summer Solstice or re-standing missing or fallen stones to have a sense of what the complex would have looked like when it was an active religious site (including changing it to fit different theories of its construction). That adds an educational level to the experience that goes beyond a mere "tour" of a 3D simulation. And I want to qualify his final claim. Virtual worlds can spur connections in your mind as surely as a trip to the Capitol. He's correct, of course, that the hard work begins LATER, as you will do for the Ansel Adams show. You may share my note with him if you wish.





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