First, I must confess that I am watching shadows. I’m studying them and thinking about them — and wondering about their workings and their importance. I have an awareness of the outside, but the opening from my version of the CAVE to the real world (rl) is still obscured. Yet, still, I’m here.
The CAVE I speak of is only metaphorically the one, about which Plato storied centuries ago. Virtually, it is the Center for Advanced Virtual Education, the brainchild of Walden University researcher, Kevin Jarrett, and the Second Life residence of myself, Will Richardson, Andy Carvin, and Annette Lamb, to mention only a few.
So I thought I would talk for just a bit about what I’ve been working on — here — in the CAVE.
First of all, building is fun. It’s my Legos days back again, haunting me with the illusion of building great things. I built a typewriter first, and, according to some, not very efficiently. But efficiency will come. Then I became aware of and intrigued by scripting, writing programs that apply functionality to the objects you build. So now, if you click my typewriter, it loads 2¢ Worth, my blog, into your web browser. A glimpse of that CAVE opening, but only pretending.
I’ve also built a radio, much more efficiently, that when clicked, it will load and immediately play my latest Connect Learning Podcast. The pattern is clear — access to my RL services, from Second Life.
To further this theme, I’ve built a file cabinet, with drawers for eight of my most often performed presentations. When you click one of the drawers from inside of my office, your browser launches and the online wiki handouts for that presentation are loaded.
Now! The ridiculousness of this does not escape me. I’m in my presentation, pointing my audience to the online wiki handouts, via a presentation slide. It points to a web URL that will link SL users to teleport to my office. There you can click the drawer for the current presentation, which links you back out to your browser.
If I had access to my avatar right now, he would be shaking his head in confusion and irritation.
It would appear that I am featuring technology for technologies sake, and there would be some truth to this. I am in the process of being seduced, yet again, by something new, exciting, and fun. But it is also something that has very little literal connection to what we are doing as teachers and learners — yet. And that’s the big YET. If Gartner Inc. is even close to right, that 80% of Internet users will be partly living, so to speak, a virtual character, then this is something to be paid attention to. It’s something for me, at least for the time being, to push and pull, and to try to find some traction that we might use as teachers and learners.
I want you to teach me SOOOO Much!!
I can see your home from my window — so please fly up anytime….. 🙂
Some things I need help with —
when you click on your typewriter, your blog opens — SOOO COOL. Can you help me do that too??
I have a table in my house that I want to have books on – (yours, mine, COA, etc) that people can click on to purchase (are you ready for some linden dollars!) and I would love to know how to do that??
and your filing cabinet is making me clap with glee.
In SL, I am MacsMom Alcott. And I would love to chat.
Jennifer Wagner
I visited your place via a tour from Kevin. I live a few floors up from Jen and I’m Ceili Bailey in SL. I was very impressed with what you have done in SL already. I haven’t gotten into building or scripting as of yet, but I feel it’s coming soon. The one thing that I’m enjoying is the connections that I’ve made so far. Keep up the good work
Jennifer,
I’ll probably be popping in and out this afternoon, and would love to share what little I’ve learned. Meg Ormiston is doing some of the same sort of things.
— dave —
Ever since the original people put paint on their faces (for war, for beauty, for status, etc.) we have been trying to make ourselves into something that we were not born to be. I have been reading sci-fi for a long time and we are getting so close to what has been written about it is actually starting to scare me. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is one I recently read and a few years back another by a forgotten author about total immersion into a full sensory tank (sound, smell, motion, nervous system, etc) that surrounded you in a real-time VR environment. We are taking our first steps at the main stream level toward this type of environment. Major universities and the government have been playing with this for a while now but SL is a commercial step toward regular people being able to create the life they always wanted. Is this a bad thing?
How does this relate to education? I try to get my teachers to understand the value of simulations and virtual field trips. Imagine if we could actually walk along the rim of a volcano or be in a virtual OR during an open heart surgery? The possibilities are endless, but much like chat rooms and blogging and my space, etc. we need to approach this with caution and understanding of what might go wrong. Plans for PROPER use must be developed before we use it at all.
Dave,
I also have a place on Eduisland II. I am just getting into building and scripting – it is fun and I am learning. Tough the object you made lead back to your blogs and wikis it is just one more way to reach a broader audience. I have met people who have visited the island who are not educators. They are wondering why we would have an interest in SL. They may never have come across the value of technology, information literacy and its role in education had it not been for our presence in SL. What I most value from my time in SL is the collaboration and connections I have made. I could not have made them anywhere else. Hope to see you in world.
My SL name is Beth Kohnke.
The CAVE is widely known and understood to be a projection based 3D video environment that was developed at the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/CAVE/
Unless I am very much mistaken, the people involved in this initiative, a Second Life area, have nothing to do with the original CAVE.
I would recommend a name change, so that people are not led to improperly associate the two separate initiatives, and so that people searching for the original CAVE environment are not directed to this poject instead.
That said, Walden University is genuinely one of the pioneers of online virtual worlds. I remember when they were among the first (along with Diversity University) to explore the use of MOOs to create online learning environments. Second Life is a direct descendant of MUDs and MOOs and so this should be very familiar territory for Walden.
David, thank you for this thoughtful, reflective entry that captures so much of the wonderment that is SL for so many of us. I want to respond to your post as well as the comments here.
First let me say how exciting it is to see teachers voraciously learning and learners enthusiastically teaching. It embodies the very best about these rich, participative internet technologies and gives me hope for the human race. (Well that’s a little strong but you get my drift.) “Pay it forward” is our mantra, and you are walking the talk.
Second, let me say that while the name of our little collection of buildings is my creation, the concept of the gathering place is not, and we would not be here if it were not for Ryan Bretag (Existential Paine) and Ferdi Serim (Hodjazz Edman). Exis was the first of our troika to get property on EduIsland II, followed soon by Hodjazz. Their efforts led me (ok, a little envy was at work here) to also get a house and create the “dormitory” that is Carl F. Spackler Hall. Then, primarily on the strength of Kathy Schrock’s rolodex, we filled the place – with this wonderful collection of thinkers and doers. Kathy has her own building now (several, in fact!) and we’re off and running. So I want to thank Ryan and Ferdi for bringing me into this so I could contribute.
Third, as to the name, I want to thank Stephen for pointing out the name has been used in reference to work done at the Electronic Visualization Lab by Carolina Cruz-Neira, Dan Sandin, and Tom DeFanti, et. al. The name literally was an accident, it just came to me, and I shared it first with Ryan as a joke, and it just seemed to stick. I guess we could change the name but it’s just so catchy. Perhaps we could put some sort of disclaimer on our facilities and in our property notecards to avoid any confusion? I will contact the people at EVL and ask them their thoughts.
Finally, although I am a Walden Faculty Excellence Grant recipient, this is not a Walden facility and is not controlled or managed by Walden. Coincidentally, Ryan is getting his PhD at Walden. We did not know each other prior to SL. Walden does deserve credit for generously funding my research. I am honored to be counted as faculty there and hope in the coming weeks and months to be working with them on a proper SL build to support our community of scholar-practitioners, students and alumni.
Keep the thoughts, ideas, experimentations and musings coming. What a ride this is turning into!
Best,
Kevin Jarrett
Walden University
Re: “I guess we could change the name but it’s just so catchy. Perhaps we could put some sort of disclaimer on our facilities and in our property notecards to avoid any confusion? I will contact the people at EVL and ask them their thoughts.”
Kevin,
CAVE is a type of technology and they are now located at many research centers throughout the world. By your project having the same name, it may be confusing for some. Furthermore, when scholars are doing literature searches it will mesh the two in the results. Thereby, making it a hassle for researchers.
Mechelle
Hey Dave,
Here’s something I found that I think you and other educators in SL will love- its called Babbler / DeBabbler – its a free object that instantly translates what you write into one of six other languages – german, french, italian, spanish, japanese, or chinese. Imagine- you can now easily talk to people in SL that you couldn’t in real life!
You can find it by going to Green 193, 164, 22. Or search for “Outpost Iota†in Second Life, or just open Second Life and then click this link.