Coming from Australia and working for Linden Lab in our San Francisco office, I am always keeping an eye out for the activities that are happening in my home country. My focus at Linden Lab is in the enterprise space, so I generally see the great work that has come out of several Australian corporations. This week, however, my attention has been focused on the amazing Second Life community that has rallied in support of the devastating bush fires that have hit Australia.
As many of you are aware, these fires are one of the worst natural disasters to hit Australia in over 100 years. In response, Residents have created several inworld campaigns to raise funds to donate to relief efforts, from donation boxes to concerts to vendors selling clothing to support the cause. There’s already been some great coverage of these efforts from outlets including Massively, the MetaverseJournal, and New World Notes.
Seeing Residents come together like this is another powerful reminder of the breadth and strength of our global community and another great example of how Second Life is being used in ways that can really make a difference in the real world.
I’d like to thank those who have initiated fundraising efforts or given their support to this cause. Please describe/link to your inworld relief efforts in the forums.
The world of Second Life is full of creative, innovative people from around the world, and the educators who teach and work inworld are no exception. Every semester hundreds of students participate in unique learning projects in Second Life. We’d like to highlight a few of 2008’s projects that we can all learn from and enjoy.
Second Life Education blog
Visit the Second Life Education blog (SLed blog) to read about many more great education projects from 2008.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University used Second Life for orientation for 400 freshman students.Over the course of three weeks, the inworld orientation program consisted of 7 individual learning activities: learning styles, multiple intelligences, active learning, academic honesty, classroom etiquette, citing references and hotel room design. They also held 3 competitions – parachuting, through the hoops and a fashion show, as well as 8 live sessions on learning challenges, plagiarism, library and open Q&A, finishing with a dance night and fashion show.
Virtual State Fair (Morrill) and Virtual County Extension (Morrill2)
The Virtual State Fair is home to the Cooperative Extension System, a collaboration of over 70 colleges and universities in the USA, providing educational outreach to communities and individuals via a network of county-based educators. Originally agricultural, the programs have expanded to include a broader range of topics such as personal finance, parenting, disaster preparedness, natural resources, and more. The Virtual State Fair offers a combination of entertaining activities and useful information for the general public.
College faculty, researchers, and educators are meeting regularly to collaborate on projects both in Second Life and real life. Second Life projects under development include family caregiving, turf grass, and integrated pest management. Classes on consumer education topics will be taught by extension educators’ inworld during 2009.
A short video of the Morrill islands can be seen on YouTube.
Creator: LuAnn Phillips aka Thynka Little
School: Cooperative Extension System
SLurl: Morrill/128/128/24
Republica Dominicana Virtual
The Republica Dominicana Virtual project brings virtual worlds to the Dominican Republic. Several universities participate in the project including: students and faculty from the Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA); the philosophy department from the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (USAD), oldest University in the new world; and the virtual headquarters for Funglode (Foundacion Global Democracia y Desarollo) hosting art gallerys, various historical landmarks, and a library.
Creator: Jan Herder aka Pausanius Raymake
School: Funglode (Foundacion Global Democracia y Desarollo) of the Dominican Republic
SLURL: Ontos /82/114/23/
Counselor Education in a 3D Virtual Environment
Victoria L. Walker – PhD. Candidate at Regent University – built a counseling training facility in Second Life providing student counselors a location to practice and develop their counseling, interviewing, and diagnosis skills with avatars that display many of the physical and emotional features students may encounter once practicing in their communities. The inworld counselor training simulates the features of a community counseling facility or a school counselor’s office while providing instructors with access to observe without distracting the student counselor or the “client” avatar during sessions.
Creator: Victoria Walker aka Zeana Tammas
School: Regent University
Really Engaging Accounting
At the University of Central Florida, Steven Hornik aka Robins Hermano uses Second Life to teach a financial accounting course, and hopes to publish data he feels is among the first statistically significant empirical data showing a relationship between student engagement using SL and student performance. The course uses Second Life to help students learn the basic concepts of accounting through nontraditional methods.
The reason behind the project is simple, to engage the students in what is normally a very non-engaging course. Taught since the fall of 2007 when class size averaged 250, this fall class size was close to 900 students in one section, with 75-80% of them completing assignments inside of SL.
Creator: Steven Hornik aka Robins Hermano
School: University of Central Florida
SLURL: Teaching 4/68/158/22
The Hopkins Tibetan Treasures Multimedia Archive Project – The WylieWriter
Write Tibetan in Second Life. Tibetan presents a challenge for Second Life educators because of the complex way Tibetan words are written. This project allows Second Life educators to overcome the challenges of translating Tibetan words and write in Tibetan with the help of a proprietary system called the “Wall of WylieWriters”. This innovative teaching tool enables students and teachers to interact in Tibetan language classrooms in Second Life. Developed by Wamlabs of Shipley and the Eepaw Shop of Smoky. The project name refers to Wylie, the standard Tibetan transliteration method.
Creator: Bill Magee aka Wam7c Macchi
School: Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Taiwan, Funded by the Taiwan National Science Council.
SL Education Roundtable (SLER)
Hosted by Montclair State University, SLER’s mission is to provide a roundtable setting for interested parties to discuss various topics relevant to furthering the use of Second Life for education. Roundtables occur weekly and often have up to 50 participants. All are welcome to attend, whether presenting or just sitting in to learn about new possibilities Transcripts of past meetings are available in the Library Building just outside the CHSSSouth Amphitheater inworld.
Clare Linden here, with an interesting challenge, to write a few words about Second Life in 2008 from the point of view of International, at Linden Lab. Not wishing to disappoint, I begin at Wikipedia, and note this intriguing definition of International: ”In American English, “international” is commonly used to signify “outside of the country”. For the rest of us (non-American English!), the word “international” would describe interactions between two or more Nations as in “an International football match”.
And there it starts; on our interconnected, mutually dependent, symbiotic, globally incorporated planet, the definition of “International” is different in two Nations that share the same language!
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. — Charles M. Schulz US cartoonist (1922 – 2000)
Second Life in 2008
So, perhaps the answer is to take us to a world where such trivialities are removed and it is much more likely that you will find yourself in an Irish Pub singing along with at least 4 other nationalities or maybe visiting an art installation by talented people who come from countries you haven’t heard of before, or learning a language with native speakers, all thanks to technology visionaries who wanted to make the whole world a better place.
There’s been much to do and quite a bit of change around Linden Lab during 2008, not least a realization of how truly global the appeal of Second Life is. Almost every country on the planet now has Second Life devotees who enjoy unleashing their creativity, taking part in community activity, or communicating with colleagues and friends in their own Second Life world.
During 2008, 60% of the residents in Second Life were from countries other than the US. For much of the year M Linden has spoken passionately about the improvement Linden Lab wants to bring to the Second Life experience, and that includes the International experience. (more…)
As we roam the grid enjoying Winterfaire in Second Life, we wanted to take a moment to update you on some of what we did and learned at a different Resident-created event this year, Burning Life. The 6th annual Burning Life festival of fire, art and community took place from Sept 27 through Oct 5, 2008.
First, we would like to extend our appreciation to all the Residents who did such amazing work creating an environment that felt unique, held true to it’s real-life inspiration, and still used Second Life’s wonderful properties to full advantage.
Burning Life 2008
Much of what we report here builds on the Resident, Builder, Volunteer and Ranger surveys, conducted in part so we would be able to learn how we might improve Burning Life next year. We’ve learned a lot this year as the event grew in scale and ambition, and so we share those revelations to continue to build upon the legacy of Resident Burners before us.
Let’s start with some new things we tried this year:
Co-Community hosting with the Burning Man organization, which enabled the following:
Join us for the Winterfaire Grand Tour, through January 5, 2009 in Second Life
Festive holidays are upon us, Second Life is experiencing widespread snowfall, and Residents are decorating and celebrating. While our individual cultural traditions are diverse, Residents have created their own, homegrown fun, throughout our shared virtual world. It’s a cheerful sight to see so much gleaming snow, with delicate snowflakes falling….
Winterfaire runs until Jan. 5, 2009, and along with the many Resident-built and hosted locations and events to keep you busy and having fun all around Second Life, we’ve also got some delightful Linden-hosted events for you to join in as well. Click here for details on our:
Showcase Hot Spots! Daily updates through January 2nd
Snowman Building Contest, Dec 23rd, 11 AM-1 PM at Rainieron the Teen Grid!
Don’t Miss It! Residents vs. Lindens Snowball Fight, Dec 23rd and 24th
Look for your favorite Linden targets at the annual Residents vs. Lindens Snowball Fight in the following regions: Egan, Hatton, Moritz, and Prancer. December 23rd Noon til 10pm and December 24th, Noon til 7pm.
Shiver me timbers me hearties! If you’re a fan of all things nautical then we have exciting news! A new Mainland sailing area will soon appear off the coast of Nautilus in a joint community project between Linden Lab and the estate owners of the United Sailing Sims (USS) group.
For those that don’t know, the USS is made up of 9 private estates with 130+ regions between them, themed around sailing, yacht racing and similar sports.
Blake Sea, named after the legendary sailor Sir Peter Blake, will be to the east of the Nautilus City landmass and will cover over 40 regions in size, and almost all of them will be Homesteads. Around the eastern edge of Blake Sea will be the estates of the USS.
Blake Sea Map
This is the first time that we’ve allowed estates to connect to the Mainland in this way, and it is testimony to both the great community the USS has built up, and our desire to work with Resident groups to improve the Mainland experience in different and innovative ways.
Whilst the Sea will be Linden Land, we will be working closely with the USS to provide Sailing and other water activities, games and fun things to discover.
For all Residents, as well as the USS, this offers unprecedented open water to sail through, hang out in or just explore. There will be islands for viewing the regular USS race events and scripted boats or planes to ferry our intrepid residents safely across the Sea from Nautilus. If you haven’t tried sailing inworld, it might soon be time to give it a whirl!
As this project moves along, expect to see updates either here on the Blog or on the DPW wiki page.
Greetings. Pathfinder Linden here to discuss the growth and development of educational, scientific, and healthcare applications of Second Life, which I work to cultivate.
On December 1st, I had the honor of speaking at and attending World AIDS Day in Second Life.
The project goal is to provide HIV/AIDS information and outreach in Second Life, involving support group leaders and educators from around the world.
As Second Life grows and matures, I think we are seeing the emergence of a particularly beautiful pattern of organizations and individuals creating larger projects that change people’s lives for the better.
I like to call it an “Ecosystem of Support.” In a healthy developing ecosystem, life complements and depends on other life. Complex relationships between species translate into a robustness that helps all species thrive. More and more, I see this pattern in Second Life between people, groups and organizations.
In my presentation at World AIDS Day, I spoke about this pattern and encouraged people to help it grow even more.
Collaborative efforts to centralize and organize information like this include, for example, an amazing wiki on healthcare resources in Second Life.
With World AIDS Day and Karuna, we have a collection of real world organizations coming together to both fund and manage an ongoing project that addresses a serious public health issue. A vibrant new community of support has been created, kicked off by a very successful event that was attended by thousands of individuals.
In the future I look forward to writing more posts about about similar great projects in education, science and healthcare. And if you’d like to tell me about a particular one, please contact me in Second Life.
I’ll share my ideas on strategies for success, and update folks on how Linden Lab is working to better support these communities.
Hi, Katt Linden here to introduce the next installment of Linden Lab’s new podcast series, “Stories from Second Life.” These are stories about individuals working in Second Life and their projects.
Today’s podcast is a conversation between Glenn Linden, Director of Business Programs and long-time Resident Joni West.
Joni West is the Founder of This Second Marketing, a marketing agency that specializes in leveraging the Second Life platform to empower brands to engage audiences in a compelling and engaging way. Some of Joni’s past and current clients include: Colgate, Nestle, 1-800-Flowers, Overstock.com and Sun Microsystems.
Joni West of This Second Marketing
In October of this year, Fast Company said of West and her company, “In just two years, West has rewritten the rules of corporate marketing on Second Life.” Enjoy the podcast!
If you have story ideas for the “Stories from Second Life” series, please email them to presscontact@secondlife.com with “Stories from Second Life” in the subject line. Special thanks to Torley Linden.
About a year ago, we began to experiment with alternatives to the usual Second Life registration pathway, which we call the Community Gateway program. The program is designed to provide a customized initial entry experience for new Residents based on their choice of preferred language or particular interests.
An important objective of the Community Gateway program is to give Residents a choice of registration options and initial locations, with the goal of enabling program members to attract new Residents and grow their communities. Members are committed to supporting and engaging new Residents, and their efforts are evaluated based on their success in attracting new registrations and the length of time those registrants engage in Second Life.
Today, we have 22 members of the Community Gateway program–14 non-English language specific Community Gateways including Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. The remaining members simply offer a unique experience, some created by businesses as a portal for a web community and others created by passionate individuals or groups bringing in like-minded people who share their interests.
Overall, we are pleased with how well this program is working. On average, Residents arriving inworld through a Community Gateway become actively engaged in Second Life. So, as we redesign the Second Life registration and initial user experience, we’re planning to add additional program members to expand the range of initial community experiences for new users. If starting a Community Gateway is of interest to you, watch for an upcoming blog post with more information on how to get involved.
If you’re a Second Life Resident, you may have already discovered some of these locations for the chance to practice a language, visit a foreign city, or just engage with a friendly community and participate in interesting events.
Here is the current list of Community Gateway members and where to find them (sorted by language then alphabetically):
As the Northern Hemisphere slowly tilts toward short days and cold, snowy landscapes, our minds inevitably turn to thoughts of togetherness. Once again, it is time for Second Life’s annual celebration of all that is Winter.
Winterfaire is our chance to gather for long nights, blinky lights, hot drinks and gifts in mysterious boxes. We will revel in our usual traditions like the Snowman Building Contest, the wildly popular Lindens v.s. Residents Snowball Fight, and maybe most important, tour your fabulous Winter-themed builds, all around the grid.
Winterfaire will be centered around the ancient Linden mainland regions of Wengen, Voss, Zermatt and Moritz.
This year we will also be using the Showcase in the Second Life viewer and web site to direct people to privately owned lands hosting must-see winter wonderlands.
The Quiet, by AM Radio, one winter experience in Second Life
What are the wintertime traditions in your part of the world? If you are planning a winter extravaganza in your region that demonstrates your traditions, we’d like to connect you to the Winterfaire network of locations.
Just keep these guidelines in mind when you plan and execute your winter builds: We will be looking for builds that are beautiful, well made, available throughout the event, and that present your regional sights, sounds and traditions of winter. We will bypass builds that are commercial in nature, so if you’re basically decorating your store for the season, that’s great, but it’s unlikely to be in the Winterfaire tour. Think of your build as a gift, freely given, to your fellow Residents, not as an opportunity to sell something.
As submissions come in, we will send out Lindens with snowshoes to check them out and bring back their recommendations for the Showcase.
While space in Showcase is limited, we will try to fit in as many submissions as we can, rotating them in and out during the event, giving many builds a chance to be seen.
An application for getting your build into the celebration will be forthcoming next week– til then, I’d encourage you to talk it over in the forum thread, what would be most fun? What are you planning? Are you thinking about creating a special build? hosting a holiday concert, a skating party, or something else? — Go Make It Snow!
The Quiet, by AM Radio
Winterfaire plans? Talk it over in the forum thread. Dusty Linden will be there with more info and to answer questions next week.
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