Posts Tagged life
Second Life’s Decline? – Whatever Happened to Second Life?
Posted by enzofsilva in learning on January 5, 2010
This post by Barry Collins for PCPro highlights the author’s adventures in Second Life and the decline of his interest in the virtual world. As many of us when we first get into something new and cool, he a peak of interest which then started to turn into boredom as he experienced and saw more of the same every time he walked into the world of Second Life.
The last points he raises such as goals and rewards would probably make users stay in Second Life longer. Besides the social interaction and some interactive attractions in Second Life, there is not much to it if designers/developers don’t put much effort in creating new experiences rather then only replicating what we already see in real life.
Article by Avatar Languages – 3D Virtual Worlds for Language Learning
Posted by enzofsilva in learning on January 2, 2010
Uses of Second Life in Education
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on April 11, 2009
Excellent list on the SLEducation wiki on the use of Second Life for immersive learning. Some very interesting islands are highlighted like the ISTE island.
Explore the list here.
Stigmergy in Virtual Worlds
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on February 25, 2009
Many researchers have been talking about stigmergy in Web-based environments. Sarah Intellagirl Robbins has been doing research in facets of Virtual Worlds and their potential for education. Stigmergy is one of the affordances she identified (or put the name to the face) in working with Virtual Worlds.
[slideshare id=663248&doc=aoir-robbins-1224186863634626-8]
From Wikipedia we have:
Stigmergy is a mechanism of spontaneous, indirect coordination between agents or actions, where the trace left in the environment by an action stimulates the performance of a subsequent action, by the same or a different agent. Stigmergy is a form of self-organization.
For stigmergy in other contexts visit:
Alternate Second Life Viewers
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on September 12, 2008
Many people complain about Second Life’s drain on processor performance.
Linden Labs created this wiki page with alternative Second Life viewers that might be of interest to those trying to experiment with Second Life. Some of them claim offer a cleaner, easier to navigate user interface.
I am experimenting with some right now and will let you know (Mac users) my opinion about them. Other Mac users and also Windows users are more than welcome to post their favorites and opinions here as well.
Google Lively – 3D Chat/Virtual World
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on July 9, 2008
As if Google wasn’t already trying to be the know-it-all and the have-it-all of the Web, now they also try to compete with 3D chat rooms and virtual worlds in this new release in beta phase:
Lively – “Chat and interact with your friends in rooms you design.”
“Customize your avatar and stream personal photos and video.”
“Invite your friends to chat and help decorate.”
The look an feel resembles virtual worlds such as CyWorld, for instance. Many others are compared on this chart by TechCrunch. The Blue Book published by the Association of Virtual Worlds contains and enormous list of Virtual Worlds…
It might be worth giving it a try. I am just not sure whether we need yet another virtual world combined with a chat room capability… mmmm… All in all, It might be just another move for Google to place their ads all over the Web , this time on the 3D Web…
By the way, no Mac version as of now…
Also, take a look at Karl Kapp’s list of Alternative to Second Life.
How NOT to teach in Second Life
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on May 20, 2008
Second Life Hands-free Immersive Experience
Posted by enzofsilva in eLearning 2.0 on May 13, 2008
NOW we can have immersive experiences that involve our body movements in MUVEs.
This was something experienced mostly by Nintendo Wii users when playing boxing and dodging a punch. Well, Linden Labs has been doing some research on the use of 3D cameras that allow you to control your avatar throught body movements, no keyboards, no mouse.
Imagine what this can bring to educational experiences:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t52gkAwJq8&hl=en]