King’s Corner
It’s not just academic.

This new build on Info Island II by the engineering department at McMasters University showcases some of the ways in which SL provides a unique communication and education medium. These folks know what they are doing–it’s not just a billboard site by any means. An article on the Info Island blog gives details.

Check them out at InfoIsland II (235,220,35)

I couldn’t think of a better title, but I don’t want to leave the impression these are somehow rules. Rather, as we’ve been doing demos some folks have had some good questions about “what should I do in this situation?” Just to relieve some concern, I’m putting a few ideas out as starting points–if you have suggestions one way or the other, please register with the blog (if you haven’t already done so) by clicking the “Register” entry under the “Meta” heading in the right-hand navigation bar, and add a comment to this post.

We’re requiring registration, by the way, simply to keep the spam out for the millions of amazing offers on the Internet.

The first guideline comes from a question from Gay Bryant (thanks, Gay!), who came inworld during a demo I was doing in Nashville. She introduced herself to the new residents who had gathered around a table on our Island, and didn’t get much response. It occurred to her that perhaps they were listening to a RL speaker instead, and so she shouldn’t distract them. What follows is part of my response to her:

I don’t know that “it’s best” to sit around quietly during a demo, simply because some people in the room will be more tuned into the virtual environment, and some will be more tuned into the speaker in the RL room. I’ve actually found it quite useful to have people with some experience inworld during a demo, for that reason. Not so much, then, as a protocol or a manners thing, but just a matter of practicality, if you are kind enough to show up inworld during a demo [and thank you for that, by the way], you might just announce something like, “Hi, folks. I’m a faculty member at PSTCC. If you would like to converse with me inworld during the demonstration, I will be happy to do so, but don’t feel pressured. I’m here as a resource, not a requirement.” That puts the invitation out there, and then people can respond inworld or in RL as they feel the need.

Thank you for thinking of this!

Multiple communication channels tend to be the norm these days, so I don’t think it’s distracting (although, no doubt, it can be confusing to some) to the new people. I just hope the folks who are only inworld understand that someone may not reply when you’ve “spoken” to them simply because their attention may be in a RL room. If you’re willing to deal with that, your presence and conversation can be very useful to someone just getting into SL, even if there is a demonstration going on in a real room somewhere.

You don’t hang around Second Life long without hearing about and developing appreciation for Tateru Nino in several different ways, including writer. Yesterday (the day after Valentine’s Day, for whatever it’s worth), she ably addressed the number one concern some people have about SL. Her take on it can be seen in the title: “Second Life is not … all about sex.” Really, take a look at the article to see the clear reasoning behind the take.

A post in the Second Life Insider not only announces the opening of yet another college holding classes in SL, but also makes an observation strikingly similar to what we’ve been saying about SL and Web classes, and then goes on to say that education may be SL’s “killer app.” The post is called “Art Institute Online offers in world education.”

I saw a post on another blog that got me thinking. Eloise Pasteur’s post entitled “Just askin’ or simplement demander?” deals with the use of Second Life for learning another language. She makes some excellent points, but what I want to add is that SL has a high degree of international flavor. I don’t have a citation for it, but somebody told me that 40% of new accounts come from outside the U.S. Where else do you have the opportunity to so easily and quickly find people who speak the language you’re learning every day? What a great opportunity to practice!

Aside from the question of how well SL can work for teaching the language, it is an unparalleled opportunity for using the language.

This article (“The king of alter egos is surprisingly humble guy”) is mainly a profile of SL founder and CEO Philip Rosedale. In the process of giving a good feel for where SL came from, it includes a quotation that shows succinctly why SL matters:

IBM’s Wladawsky-Berger suggests that the magic of the original Internet and Web has distracted users from an important question: “We never said: Where are the people?” he says.

Now, Wladawsky-Berger and other powerful Internet players are starting to see Second Life as a better, people-centric way to navigate the Net. It might be a leap like when the Mosaic browser first brought graphics to the Internet. Eventually, Internet users might go to Amazon through Second Life instead of through a browser, walking into the Amazon store and interacting with shoppers and clerks.

The article is not all artificially rosy, putting the challenges into perspective. The upshot is about the same as what we’ve been saying locally: it may or may not be Second Life, the company, that comes out on top (they may turn out like Google, or they may turn out like Netscape), but the 3D Web is likely to be the Next Big Thing.