Surveillance

During out day our presence is recorded several times a day. Our phones have GPS, security cameras, our IP! Second Life is far from anonymous, especially if you have a premium account. When I visit regions and other avatars are present I can signal a wand I've scripted to grab the names of all those around me. This I used mostly for meetings with too many people to look up while trying to keep up with the multiple chat conversations going on. I applied this same type of device to our IML Islands to monitor the traffic going on and if something goes wrong (harassment, builds destroyed, etc) I have something to reference. When the students of the CTIN 482 class were told that their presence was recorded a few skeptical glances were shot in my direction. How does this affect assessment for projects when you have a record of how many times someone logged in World? Professors are probably very skilled at spotting the papers started hours before they were due. Can time spent on a project be separated from the final product? This is when documentation of the process comes into play. Sometimes final products don't work for a variety of reasons (technical limitations, technology failures, results aren't what you expected, etc), but that doesn't negate the knowledge gained. bzzzzzzzrp

CTIN 482 -Designing Online Multiplayer Game Environments

Yes that's right... but that won't be discussed in this blog post. HOWEVER, students in the Cinematic Arts Interactive Media 482 Class (CTIN 482) will be doing this over the course of the semester on IML 2, the new Second Life Island, that was just recently added. Steve Anderson has been handed the teaching torch and I'm helping with the technical side.

The first two classes were dedicated to explaining the task the students will face over the semester and to have them create avatars, join the CTIN 482 group...now....

Week 3.. The Students have now entered the IML 2 Island...and immediately something happened that you just can't predict... a giant mass of land sprung up in front of me... a cube rezzed next to me... spheres in the distance... the land rippled as multiple students began playing with the terraforming tools. I build on the IML Island alone and unless you are in public sandbox most of SL's architecture is already in place when you visit. So seeing 16 avatars all working on a space is something rare. Suddenly a scream cut through the room, in the physical space not the IML 2 Island, as someones newly created monolith was obliterated by another terraformer cutting across the virtual landscape. It was a lesson quickly learned and everyone realized the potential hazards and benefits of a collaborative space. Everyone eventually settled into separate areas to build, terrafom, or explored off IML 2 Island for research.

Avatar Rendering Costs- 3D Optimization

One of the challenges of creating the IML Island has not only been designing a space that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, but keeping the range of hardware resources people have in mind. Not everyone has high bandwidth and powerful graphics cards that can make the common lag problems a little less frequent. On many educators lists a large topic is how to bring Second Life Education to K-12 Programs, many of them not as well funded and sometimes relying on donated equipment. This makes accessing some of Second Life's areas IMPOSSIBLE as heavy amounts of scripts, animations, particles, flexiobjects, etc. choke already strained resources. Students at the IML are taught how to optimize their project assets to make 2D projects smoother, but 3D projects are new to almost everyone and the same principals need to be applied. This optimization needs to not only be applied to objects and environments, but to YOURSELF... something not applicable in 2D spaces. Avatars have costs unfortunately and sometimes your special outfits, bling, and gadgets can cause others around you to get bogged down. Torey Linden and Linden Labs has posted some blogs and videos explaining AVATAR RENDERING COSTS. Check it out and lets do our part in making this transition from 2D to 3D spaces a smooth and pleasant one. bzzzzzrp!!!



Avatar sets from the Library Linden Labs Provides

all of these Avatars are <1000. ARC(avatar rendering cost) >1000 is considered expensive.....so what does mine cost.... EEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!

Mine fluctuated between 4900 - 5900!! Prim hair is a common expense as most people find the built in hair options less than satisfying. Flexi clothes (Gosurori fashion doesn't come cheap in SL or RL apparently) and my grappling hook add a lot of expenses too. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't ever deck out your avatar. I spend a lot of my time in SL alone building, scripting, and exploring so without other avatars around the expensive costs of mine doesn't hinder performance.

THE CONCH

I had my first meeting with the 'Real Life Educators in SL' group and it was a great experience.  The meeting filled up quickly and there was no real agenda.  Various threads in conversation opened up and one topic that caught most of the avatars attention was 'what is appropriate dress?' for both RLstudents and for their avatars.  Most agreed that naked is inappropriate, but everything else is creative and up for discussion. 



During this meeting I revealed the project titled THE CONCH.  One of the things I find hinders most people from using SL, aside from the name, is the interface.  Even most people I know who navigate Web 2.0 tools with ease are still confused once you add depth and flying into their World.  My original idea was sparked by recent obsession with the Harry Potter books and how I had been programming a wand to react to voice commands.   I wondered if some things that educators do (blog, teleporting, email, etc) could benefit from a device that also works on voice commands.  The object could be anything you want it's just the code attached to it that matters.  A prototype is being developed that hopefully will have several functions and will be available on IML Island.  This is an object that will be like any other open source project out there and will be FREE and a system in place for version updates and distribution. 

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