Indulge Your Inner Geek: The SecondLife Science Center
Submitted by Taran on Wed, 11/15/2006 - 15:40
While checking up on some stuff in SecondLife, Kitten Lulu and I ended up discussing a few things - and I mentioned the tropical storm off of Mexico which was becoming a hurricane (and which is now Hurrican Sergio). This got us discussing representation of weather in SecondLife in 3 dimensions, and ultimately that it is available at the SecondLife Science Center (Info Island II 122,192,25). I'd never quite made it over to the Science Center, I had no excuse now. A quick teleport, and I ended up with Kitten and Aimee Weber, checking out the weather in the United States - in 3 dimensions. Adam Reuters teleported in as well, and we talked about... the weather. Of course, the NOAA simulator isn't opened yet - Aimee told us we should check it out when it did open (and we shall! We shall!), but the United States weather in the Science Center suffices for now.
I particularly liked wandering around the United States as a penguin and standing under the clouds. There was a penguin shower in East Texas. You can see the full set of pictures I took here.
Aimee and Adam had to leave, so Kitten and stood up and chatted about 3 dimensional representations of data - I'm familiar with the math crunching in the background, but Kitten's more involved with such things and ended up teaching me a few things - which is always fun. We discussed a few ideas in front of the Buckyball. She left, and suddenly the penguin was on his own. In a Science Center. Very brave people, these. So I wandered around and took some pictures, playing with things (and I swear I did not break anything, the parcel was filled with prims by the NOAA stuff!)
Stuff like this is always cool for me. Interacting with technology and science, poking it and prodding it, twisting it and... alone, in a private spot, maybe even breaking it1. While there's a lot of talk about SecondLife in relation to business, marketing, public relations and copyright - one of the most engaging parts of SecondLife is this interaction and ability to play, and talk about cool stuff with likeminded people. And when you get bored, you teleport off.
When it comes to Education, this is probably one of the greatest ways for a virtual world to be of use - to allow interaction of technology, science, and to play with the ideas that have and continue to make our real world a better place. It's this sort of immersion and engagement that appeals to minds, both young and old - and it's a shame that it isn't highlighted more when SecondLife is mentioned in the media. Of course, you can't report interaction. You can only point to it.
The SecondLife Science Center is definitely worth the teleport, and you should check back regularly. They may put something new in there that we can play with. :-D
1The most memorable experience being the loss of my eyebrows at age 10 while trying to create a gasoline mixture that wasn't combustible for no...good...reason... Taran the alchemist...
Second Life as an education tool
As you were using 2nd life, did you find any quirks that the average student (computer user) would have difficulty overcoming?
Let me say this about that.....
I tried Second Life. I worked at trying for some time -- but there were some things I couldn't understand enough to really be an active citizen. I suppose I could have dug in my heels and studied all the things I didn't know - I'm probably somewhere around average as far as computers go - but it involved areas of computer use that don't really interest me in any other situation. Those I would ask for help to understand how some things work in SL are far away and not always too patient with the likes of me. It was better for me to leave it alone.
I'd say, Jay, that how one understands how SL works and enjoys the acts of creation and building in SL from the technical side will do just fine. Those like me, who aren't really into the technical side of things computer may not find it satisfying to learn the nuts and bolts side of SL and really get into it. We go back to scripting The Sims and leave it alone...
Unprose, I know what you mean..
I understand what you mean completely. My computer skills are about average also, and it can be very difficult to find someone willing to help in the technical side of Second Life. The friend who occasionally helped me did so when he stopped laughing enough to answer my questions. and once you pick up the basics, it gets easier, you play around with different things, a matter of trial and error.
Quirks
Well, assuming there is some basic computer literacy, the basics can be learned within a matter of hours. The very basic aspects can be learned in under an hour.
People often complain that they have trouble walking by using the arrow keys. It does take some getting used to - but once the basics are done... lookout! :-)
re: Quirks, education use
Yes, I did indeed do some exploring in SL. I consider myself having an above average computer literacy; however, when initially navigating the world. I did run into some technical problems (i.e.: avatar not loading, clothes not downloading, inability to teleport).
Other technical issues I seemed to run into consisted of some occasional freezing and restarting. I am currently running SL on an iBook G4. An associate signed up for SL the same day as myself, and seems to be running his Windows XP installation of SL with minimal errors.
Currently I tutor photography in the real world and online, and I am considering using SL as a unique way of providing my online students with a venue practicing their composition skills for landscape, and candid portrait photography.
I was able to find useful information on SL for education at ASL University, a campus existing only in the world of SL. I wonder what steps it would take for other (traditional) schools to build a Second Life presence.
Actually...
Many schools do... Just have to look for them by name. No hub of information on that yet.
Might be a good weekend research project, actually.
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