The group work went somewhat well. I think it was a good idea to divide the groups up so people didn’t just work with their friends, but at the same time I think it would have been beneficial to divide people into groups based on who had laptops. No one in our group had a laptop, yet in one group every member had a laptop. This made it difficult, because although we were able to go to the lab it was awhile before all 3 of us got a computer (since there was a line-up) and needless to say, the computers were not beside each other. Although we communicated in SL, it would have been beneficial to be beside each other as well. As well, we all had conflicting schedules and we weren’t able to get it done in the class time provided since we lost a lot of time trying to find computers.
It was definitely interesting looking around at the different causes on Second Life. I really enjoyed looking around Health Info Island and Common Wealth Island. Neither focused solely on one cause but had many different areas that could be explored. I enjoyed Health Info Island more, although that could be partially a result of the fact that my computer kept crashing every time I went to Common Wealth. I was impressed with how much information was available and the creative ways that information was distributed. As an example, I really liked that they had this person-like thing at Health Info Island and you could touch on a different body part to find out where to access the information. There was also a spacious library and many exhibits. I especially liked the use of RL picture in their exhibits. On the other hand, the setting of Commonwealth Island was very camp-like and rural. The set up was very well done with each exhibit having a little hut of it’s own that included information about the cause and ways to access those involved as well as additional information.
I learned a lot about the causes involved at each of these places and about the different ways you can involve avatars in a cause. As well, I got lots of practice using the search engine in Second Life and seeing how many causes were listed. I also got to teleport around and communicate with my partners in Second Life which was helpful so that I wasn’t always exploring on my own.
I think our brainstorming went well on SL but in terms of writing up the actual assignment I think it would have been easier to be in close proximity to one another. We all ended up doing about an equal amount of work but I think it could have been a lot smoother. One benefit of the project was obviously that we got to experience new settings in SL and learn about the causes we selected. It was also helpful to think about how we would go about raising awareness for a cause on SL and what would be the best ways to get people interested and involved. It helped to look at strategies other people had used to promote their cause and think about what we would use and what we wouldn’t. As previously stated, however, the drawback was not always being able to coordinate schedules and times when we could all be online. Overall I think the benefits outweighed the cons. The experience was enjoyable but I think it could have been enhanced by having more time to work together as a group. It would have indisputably been completed faster, I feel, as a individual project but it was nice to have discussions and experiences together as a group.
Agape
A Picture Taken Of Me During My Presentation
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Education's New Facelift!
Sarah Smith Robbins discusses the need to think about students and not so much the University and to meet students where they are at, especially in terms of technology. Robbins is specifically addresses 18-24 year old students and looks at their technological habits, stating statistics such as 89% use email. Robbins states that today’s students are hyper mediated and contrasts the environment they are used to from the TV and Internet and compares it to the traditional classroom environment. Robbins says the new face of education includes social networking (such as facebook), contributed content (such as Wikipedia) and Multi-user virtual environments or MUVE’s such as facebook.
I definitely agree that there are many benefits to changing the current face of education. Though some traditional methods may still be of use, it is important to stay relevant in order to stay interesting. Even in my SL presentation last week, we talked about distance education and the benefits of going to class in Second Life vs. Logging on to WebCT. Ofcourse, students should still be expected to know how to write papers and to order their thoughts logically to form convincing arguments. But, as technology advances, online articles and blogs etc, are becoming increasingly popular and so students must learn to adapt to demand and changing environments. However, a downfall to this form of education is that students are increasingly relying on sources like Wikipedia. Although collaborative content has its benefits and allows students to participate in sharing and editing information, it is ultimately not a “scholarly” source and students are becoming more reliant on their peers than on the experts.
I believe there were a lot of strengths to Robbins argument. She was able to acknowledge that a changing an increasingly technological savvy environment calls for new forms of teaching. As well, she was able to give many personal examples from her own experiences with students in SL. Some weaknesses may include the fact that her statistics may have been out of date. As well, I agree with the comment at the end that students probably do have medial haunting, they are simply different. Overall, however, I believe she highlighted a lot of interesting points about the facelift that is much needed in the education system.
I definitely agree that there are many benefits to changing the current face of education. Though some traditional methods may still be of use, it is important to stay relevant in order to stay interesting. Even in my SL presentation last week, we talked about distance education and the benefits of going to class in Second Life vs. Logging on to WebCT. Ofcourse, students should still be expected to know how to write papers and to order their thoughts logically to form convincing arguments. But, as technology advances, online articles and blogs etc, are becoming increasingly popular and so students must learn to adapt to demand and changing environments. However, a downfall to this form of education is that students are increasingly relying on sources like Wikipedia. Although collaborative content has its benefits and allows students to participate in sharing and editing information, it is ultimately not a “scholarly” source and students are becoming more reliant on their peers than on the experts.
I believe there were a lot of strengths to Robbins argument. She was able to acknowledge that a changing an increasingly technological savvy environment calls for new forms of teaching. As well, she was able to give many personal examples from her own experiences with students in SL. Some weaknesses may include the fact that her statistics may have been out of date. As well, I agree with the comment at the end that students probably do have medial haunting, they are simply different. Overall, however, I believe she highlighted a lot of interesting points about the facelift that is much needed in the education system.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Field Assignment!
Field Assignment
The two examples we selected were Health Info Island and The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Commonwealth Island.
The purpose of Health Info Island (located at 80,122, 21) is to provide health information to SL residents and to answer any questions that avatars may have. This island employs many different techniques and tools to raise awareness and distribute information. There are many informative billboards and posters on information such about health concerns such as Alzheimers, strokes and diabetes. These billboards include how Health Info is funded and information about the organization. The center is funded by the National Library of Medicine with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences, working with the Alliance Library System. Also, the billboards on sicknesses include statistics, symptoms/warning signs, treatments and commonly asked questions. Many powerful RL images are used to create an emotional impact and increase awareness about certain illnesses. There are also sound tutorials, such as a statue of a person where you can touch different sections of their body to find out more information about different health concerns. For instance, when you touch the figure’s eyes it tells you where to go to find information about blindness and low vision. There are also brochures for more information and a Health library on site.
There are also opportunities for interaction since residents can take surveys and make donations. There are also websites provided, such as iViNNie.com which is a virtual news network that has helped fund the program. Links to websites are provided on the posters and billboards.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (located at 163, 158, 22) seeks to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with non-violence, peace and justice. Different from most of organizations in CommonWealth Island, the organization employs simple techniques; such as slide shows and donations in SL. The organization also provides its mission and vision statements in SL and encourages people to visit its website for further information. Since the organization provides only little information, its message is simple and effective to catches individuals’ attentions. Individuals participate in the organization’s activities by donating Lindens and taking part in meetings in SL. The organization tries to provide the strong connection between first life and second life since if people want to obtain information of the organization; they have to visit the link (http://forusa.org/) the organization offers. The website has abundant information of their activities and beliefs. For instance, the web site has the information about events, programs and different religious beliefs. Also, the website provides interactive communications, such as e-mail and commentary to viewers.
Overall, The Fellowship of Reconciliation in SL effectively uses simple messages and pictures with fundamental information to obtain attentions of visitors of Common Wealth Island, and employ the strong relationship between SL and FL activities.
Evaluation
In our opinion the health info island was more effective is displaying its information. The style of the billboards within the island are graphically professional and look substantially more elaborate than the simple pictures that have been posted on the commonwealth island. Also, the ideas of these islands are to make you feel comfortable and take in the information. The commonwealth was giant walls that keep you from seeing the edges. It has large trees that obstruct your view and ultimately offer minimal reason to stay once you have taken a fly around.
Health Island provides an open atmosphere with many more moving parts. It is visually more appealing and offers a glimpse into interactive bodily functions that is educational and flashy through its flash style of presentation. Overall the health island conveys its message better but that could be a result of funding as there is more money in health than non violence campaigns it seems.
Reflecting: Our Cause
The cause our group would like to campaign for on Second Life is fairness in reporting. We would start an island that focused on building areas dedicated to stories that are occurring in first life. As the stories grow and become more in-depth the area in which the story started will be able to grow based on the additions from sources contributing to the story. For example someone might contribute photos relevant to the story. As a result the island would expand into a virtual encyclopedia following important stories in politics, news, sports etc. Visitors can view the stories through video, audio, PowerPoint, picture display and/or creative user generated material that could would explain a given story. The premise behind the island will allow those interested in certain subject to expand and record history as well as keep the subject open to many conflicting views. However, these stories develop the island can offer advice as to how to collect information, source academics and provide external links to other information and websites. Really simple syndication (RSS) or highlights can start up and expand into channels for those who want to follow the stories from a website rather than enter second life. Essentially, the internet and Second Life offer a new medium for news and storytelling by the people living the history.
Overall, we liked the use of billboards for conveying information, and thought it was especially effective to use real life images, so we would be using these in our campaign as well. We would also offer links to websites such as: http://www.aim.org/ (Accuracy in the Media) and http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=119 (Fairness and Accuracy in the Media) so that residents can access further information about this cause. Additonally, we would have a club people could join to get monthly information surrounding issues that concern fairness in the media. A Second Life campaign would be beneficial to easily disseminate information and allow people to find out information about this cause at their own leisure. A downfall, however, would be that there may not always be an avatar there to answer you questions, but we would hope that giving information through billboards and pictures, and giving SL residents contact information for additional questions would help overcome any obstacles. This way if the residents’ questions could not be answered immediately they can contact someone who does have the information.
The two examples we selected were Health Info Island and The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Commonwealth Island.
The purpose of Health Info Island (located at 80,122, 21) is to provide health information to SL residents and to answer any questions that avatars may have. This island employs many different techniques and tools to raise awareness and distribute information. There are many informative billboards and posters on information such about health concerns such as Alzheimers, strokes and diabetes. These billboards include how Health Info is funded and information about the organization. The center is funded by the National Library of Medicine with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences, working with the Alliance Library System. Also, the billboards on sicknesses include statistics, symptoms/warning signs, treatments and commonly asked questions. Many powerful RL images are used to create an emotional impact and increase awareness about certain illnesses. There are also sound tutorials, such as a statue of a person where you can touch different sections of their body to find out more information about different health concerns. For instance, when you touch the figure’s eyes it tells you where to go to find information about blindness and low vision. There are also brochures for more information and a Health library on site.
There are also opportunities for interaction since residents can take surveys and make donations. There are also websites provided, such as iViNNie.com which is a virtual news network that has helped fund the program. Links to websites are provided on the posters and billboards.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (located at 163, 158, 22) seeks to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with non-violence, peace and justice. Different from most of organizations in CommonWealth Island, the organization employs simple techniques; such as slide shows and donations in SL. The organization also provides its mission and vision statements in SL and encourages people to visit its website for further information. Since the organization provides only little information, its message is simple and effective to catches individuals’ attentions. Individuals participate in the organization’s activities by donating Lindens and taking part in meetings in SL. The organization tries to provide the strong connection between first life and second life since if people want to obtain information of the organization; they have to visit the link (http://forusa.org/) the organization offers. The website has abundant information of their activities and beliefs. For instance, the web site has the information about events, programs and different religious beliefs. Also, the website provides interactive communications, such as e-mail and commentary to viewers.
Overall, The Fellowship of Reconciliation in SL effectively uses simple messages and pictures with fundamental information to obtain attentions of visitors of Common Wealth Island, and employ the strong relationship between SL and FL activities.
Evaluation
In our opinion the health info island was more effective is displaying its information. The style of the billboards within the island are graphically professional and look substantially more elaborate than the simple pictures that have been posted on the commonwealth island. Also, the ideas of these islands are to make you feel comfortable and take in the information. The commonwealth was giant walls that keep you from seeing the edges. It has large trees that obstruct your view and ultimately offer minimal reason to stay once you have taken a fly around.
Health Island provides an open atmosphere with many more moving parts. It is visually more appealing and offers a glimpse into interactive bodily functions that is educational and flashy through its flash style of presentation. Overall the health island conveys its message better but that could be a result of funding as there is more money in health than non violence campaigns it seems.
Reflecting: Our Cause
The cause our group would like to campaign for on Second Life is fairness in reporting. We would start an island that focused on building areas dedicated to stories that are occurring in first life. As the stories grow and become more in-depth the area in which the story started will be able to grow based on the additions from sources contributing to the story. For example someone might contribute photos relevant to the story. As a result the island would expand into a virtual encyclopedia following important stories in politics, news, sports etc. Visitors can view the stories through video, audio, PowerPoint, picture display and/or creative user generated material that could would explain a given story. The premise behind the island will allow those interested in certain subject to expand and record history as well as keep the subject open to many conflicting views. However, these stories develop the island can offer advice as to how to collect information, source academics and provide external links to other information and websites. Really simple syndication (RSS) or highlights can start up and expand into channels for those who want to follow the stories from a website rather than enter second life. Essentially, the internet and Second Life offer a new medium for news and storytelling by the people living the history.
Overall, we liked the use of billboards for conveying information, and thought it was especially effective to use real life images, so we would be using these in our campaign as well. We would also offer links to websites such as: http://www.aim.org/ (Accuracy in the Media) and http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=119 (Fairness and Accuracy in the Media) so that residents can access further information about this cause. Additonally, we would have a club people could join to get monthly information surrounding issues that concern fairness in the media. A Second Life campaign would be beneficial to easily disseminate information and allow people to find out information about this cause at their own leisure. A downfall, however, would be that there may not always be an avatar there to answer you questions, but we would hope that giving information through billboards and pictures, and giving SL residents contact information for additional questions would help overcome any obstacles. This way if the residents’ questions could not be answered immediately they can contact someone who does have the information.
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