Virtual Worlds and Social Networks at HandHeld Learning2008

An interesting panel discussion involving danah boyd, Ian Hughes, Dave Taylor, Kurt Squire, Kathy Trinder, Ron Edwards and a representative of Disney online (Club Penguin)-followed presentations by 5 of the group which ranged from the 'soft sell' of Disney's virtual worlds ( not really doing a whole lot to break down gender issues with Disney Fairies which is highly unlikely to attract many boys....!)through to Dave Taylor using the Virtual World training doctors in safe simulated environments and Ian Hughes from IBM and Ron Edwards ( Ambient Learning) with their recreations of ' realworld' spaces for work based training and work with hard to reach disaffected kids.
The discussion developed from the initial issues around access to some of this technology in a school setting and moved more interestingly into the field of how we can use these spaces in new and novel ways.....getting away from as Ron Edwards would say 'the sage on the stage'. I have attended 'in world' presentations of this kind, and while for me this feels comfortable ( back to lectures with good visuals) and the chance to interact with colleagues many miles away, this style of experience will need to change for the 21st Century.
I was pleased when Ron, Ian and Dave Taylor showcased how we can use the 3d nature of the environment to model 'realworld' situations.
Ron showed how in his examples from Ambient showcased their in world peer mentoring within a safe and secure area and also the fusion of mobile phone and virtual world with the Virtual Worlds London project. Ian took us into the work that IBM took us into the world of 'inworld' staff training and also IBM's virtual Forbidden City. Dave showed us a little of the work that he has done with SciLands in Second Life......
All excellent stuff, tomorrow my main focus will be looking at affordable implementation and sustainable development of mobile technology with the Sottish LTS group including Ian Stuart from Islay.

SmallWorlds Beta goes live

Well it's finally here- SmallWorlds in beta form has been released. Smallworlds operates in your browser without any need for a hefty download ( as with some other virtual worlds I could name!)

Welcome to my as yet unfurnished abode ( I did buy a candle, but sadly don't have a table yet to put it on!). There is a teleoport function which allows you to jump to other spaces - I did visit Barak Obama's space and leave him a message of congratulations. Moving seems easier than SL - no flying here :-).Communication seems to be by text bubble which is cool as at least you can see who is actually talking. The space seems to resolve fairly quickly even here on the Eeeepc, I certainly couldn't do this with SL.
I would encourage fellow educators to give it a go - let's see that if this is a space that can be used for education and educators from around the world!!!

Hey SecondLife watch out SmallWorlds is coming - 2nd June 2008

A group of techies from Auckland New Zealand may have come up with the virtual world that the web has been calling for - doing away with all of those downloads that are needed by 'other' virtual spaces and offering a world which you build within your browser - with a distinct url which you can share with your friends .The world which you can customise ( design your own avatar) and build will have the ability to play videos from Youtube and other sites which you will be able to invite friends in to view (possibility of online presentations ). There will be a chat facility, and the possibility of taking part in competitions/online games with other users.
SmallWorlds has been on beta test,but is scheduled to go 'live' on Monday 2nd June. Above is the latest entry from their blog. The SmallWorld gang have given their brainchild a good 12months of testing which hopefully will mean that what we get on launch should be a very slick product. As someone who tried several times to come to grips with SecondLife and largely failed, I am certainly looking forward to the launch of SmallWorlds ( the fact that it comes from New Zealand is an added bonus).
Just for now you will have to take the SmallWorlds tour to whet your appetite!
Thanks to Lee Davis (sivadeel) for the heads up on SmallWorlds.

Invasion of the Weblin's!!!!

Down at the bottom of the Firefox browser window you can see a collection of weblin avatars, in fact my avatar is strangley still there with a 'friend' called master as I type this message. They appear to be a little like the screen 'Petz' that kids were encouraged to download onto their PC's about 10 years ago ( they had to feed tham and look after them a little like the Tamagotchi's of around the same vintage).
These avatars can communicate via speech bubble and actions, and there are a number of different rooms that you can visit.... if you feel brave enough. It is a bit like having the avatars from Second Life walk out of the programme onto the bottom of your browser and have a converstaion. The site appears to have originated in Germany but is now translated into 8 languages from its main home page.
It appears to be the kind of application which could become a very weird place late in the evening!!! It is like Second Life in that when you first arrive you have to find someone to talk to, it appears that some web addresses are more populated than others - as I type there are just 2 of us still here whereas over at the weblin site there appears to be some kind of party going on - now this would make more popular sites an interesting place to meet..... I guess that once you have an idea on who your friends are, you could invite them to meet say at a particular website for a discussion on the latest posts in real time - which could be cool for those of us whose machines are too old to allow us into Second Life itself.

Not sure how distracting it will be to have this going on..... all I can say is download your avatar and have a go..... it might be something useful or just a passing fad, I am off to see where the party is going on see you later.... now where did my avatar get to - come on pj23harry we're off to a party, it's Saturday night :-)

A Meeting in Second Life

It was getting on for 2am on Wednesday morning as a group of Web 2.0 educators gathered on the roof of The Bloggers Cafe in Second Life. As you may know I am testing my scepticism of the SL environment out by trying to make full use of it over the next few weeks. I got to hear about the meeting over the Twitter (tweets)thanks to Durff . As Women of Web 2.0 is on a 2 week break, the WOW2.0 group set up an informal chat in SL.
I have found SL frustrating yet strangely addictive over the past few weeks. The new ability to use voice communication is taking time to filter in, so the majority of conversation is still IM, which I find tedious, also when there is a large group as there was last night, the IM moves so quickly it is difficult to type and keep up with the chat on screen (WOW2.0 will be posting the chat online though, which will be helpful for re-visiting the links mentioned).
It was interesting to actually be involved in a 'real' discussion rather than the usual stilted and awkward conversations with apparent strangers.
The meeting was, as you can see from the snapshot above, well attended and the conversation flowed freely.
I dropped in there following a visit to the Edtechtalk Making Connections 14 Webcast. The Edtechtalk discussion ranged over Moodle ( thanks to Jason Hando from Sydney), Drupal and Podcasting ( using Audacity and Podomatic ). The chatroom at Edtechtalk was pretty full as well and again the notes which will be online soon gives excellent links to useful software.
I must say thank you to all of those in SL and at Edtechtalk Worldbridges for making all contributors welcome.
It would be interesting to see if we could introduce WorldBridges into the UK perhaps with an EdTechTalk UK

Second Life gains its voice!

Many people may be aware of my scepticism over Second Life, I feel though I have to try it out in order to be able to make a comment on it. I still have issues over using avatars and alternative names ( I am aware that your First Life details are available in your Profile).
I have recently been pleasantly surprised to find meeting in Second Life useful ( a meeting on the roof of the Bloggers Cafe with Jane Nicholls and Allanah King amongst others)

I have met some extremely helpful people within Second Life, one in particular who took time to show me how to build in a sandbox ( a surprisingly therapeutic experience, a bit like taking you back to playing with Lego!).
Another problem that I have/had with SL is the whole typing IM thing, it strikes me as backward technology to be typing in a virtual 3d world ( a bit 20th Century !!!). However on a visit to a building near the DEN space on Eduisland last night I came upon a meditation group who invited me in.


Listening to the group discussion I quickly picked up that they were trying out voice communication from with SL ( not using Skype in addition to SL).

They were very helpful as a group and sent me off to the Second Life website, in particular to the download area ( bottom left on the main page) and from there to the First Look download.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Once you have downloaded the software ( it took about 15 minutes using broadband ) you open SL using the new SL First Look Application (Mac), not your original SL one. Once in SL you go to Preferences ( File menu) and there select the audio set up you want to use. Once you have done this you will soon be able to tell whether you are in a currently voice activated area as a white dot appears above your avatar. You press down a mouse button to talk ( rather like using YAK - walky talky style) - you can also check out at SL which areas have been voice activated.

Uploaded with Skitch!

This development is one which certainly goes a long way to ending my 'problems' with Second Life, as I can now see the possibility of holding meetings in real time from within Second Life, where contributors can hear the presentation and also ask questions directly ( without the need to type and read a screen at the same time. I understand from discussions yesterday that the SL developers plan to roll out voice activated areas over the next few weeks and months. Now perhaps we will see the true potential of Second Life for the Education Community (almost convinced).

The Blogosphere is continuing to develop new 'watering holes' where bloggers can feel 'at home', the latest is Twitter. It has become 'the place' to keep in contact with friends and colleagues around the globe. You communicate via Tweets ( short 140 character messages) which you either use to instigate a conversation or to further a current discussion. As with all other Web 2.0 tools there is a way to 'know' what is going on at Twitter (ask someone), when I at first arrived at my Twitter page I thought 'Great!!!!! a bit like Second Life - I have no contacts here!!!!' , and as usual I couldn't see the point as I wasn't in any discussion at all!!!!! ( is it me???).
However Edublogger friend to the rescue, with the solution - easy add all of her friends to your page (plus add some of their friends) and 'Hey Presto' you suddenly have an interesting group of new friends (Yay) - so to anyone out there looking for a way into Twitter ( use pj23harry's friends list to create your own friendship group.
Twitter has the extra dimension of being able to use mobile phones ( hey we might just have hit upon a use for mobiles in the classroom to promote language skills ( well 140 characters does necessitate brevity!!). You can Tweet and recieve Tweets to your mobile once you set it up - freedom from the computer.
While I personally find keeping up with my Ning Social Netowork can be tedious on occasions - I have to go and find stuff!!!! Twitter as in all good aggregators brings all of my conversations to me - wherever I am (on a mobile phone or computer)..... if you haven't tried it yet - go on give it a whirl - it does become addictive though so beware ;-)
Happy Tweeting

p.s. You can also use Twitter from within Second Life - which I think makes for better communication.

Pippy Ballinger's Adventures in Second Life

On the roof of The Bloggers Cafe (EduislandII)

Having been swift to make legitimate complaints about Second Life, I have spent the past week, trying to come to terms with the alternative world which exists there. I have found that my random entries into the cyber world have been interesting ( I learned how to build in SL for example), they have been ultimately frustrating as I never seem to be able to meet up with anyone in a planned way.

All of that changed last night when on another new place for me - Twitter ( as recommended by friends Jane Nicholls and Sheryl N-B ) - a great place for short pithy comments from a global friendship group ( mainly borrowed from Sheryl! thx). While Tweeting ( I think the correct term), I found out that Jojash Mcmillan (Jane) was around in Second life and that Scrumples Schneider was looking to come in - we tweeted about meeting at the Bloggers Cafe in SL (On Eduisland II just around the corner from the ISTE Building!!! sadly I know these things now!)
Inside the Bloggers Cafe

As you can see above we settled onto the roof area for a face to face chat ( even though we were 11,000 miles away from each other), also there IsabellaG Despres from Chicago. Now the chance to chat possibly even of using skype while in SL to have almost fully interactive discussions is a use that I see Second Life doing for me - could be great for say Next Gen Teachers meetings ( Naace are using it in the Naace Lounge in Huining) also for future K12 online 'Fireside Chats' around a SL fireside perhaps!!! the possibilities are endless.
Pippy Ballinger reporting for Ddraig-goch from Second Life!