Comments on: (re)exploring secondlife http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/ apparently much happier in person Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:35:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: dnorman http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194847 dnorman Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:00:35 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194847 It's compatible with SL client? awesome. Checking that out right now. Thanks! It’s compatible with SL client? awesome. Checking that out right now. Thanks!

]]> By: Tony Hursh http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194846 Tony Hursh Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:40:47 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194846 Definitely have a look at <a href="http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">OpenSim</a>. I've been using it for the bulk of the Virtual Worlds in Education course I've been teaching this semester, and I've been pretty happy with it. It's still alpha, so we do see a glitch now and then, but overall it's been reasonably stable and usable. Also it seems to like to be restarted once a day or so -- there may be some resource leaks going on in there. It's compatible with the normal SL client (if you pass the proper parameters to make it connect to a different host), or the third-party SL-compatible viewers. It's written in C# (ugh), but runs fine under Mono on both Linux and OS X. Our server is running on a Mac. Definitely have a look at OpenSim. I’ve been using it for the bulk of the Virtual Worlds in Education course I’ve been teaching this semester, and I’ve been pretty happy with it.

It’s still alpha, so we do see a glitch now and then, but overall it’s been reasonably stable and usable. Also it seems to like to be restarted once a day or so — there may be some resource leaks going on in there.

It’s compatible with the normal SL client (if you pass the proper parameters to make it connect to a different host), or the third-party SL-compatible viewers.

It’s written in C# (ugh), but runs fine under Mono on both Linux and OS X. Our server is running on a Mac.

]]> By: Jim http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194838 Jim Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:40:15 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194838 What's 2nd life again? What’s 2nd life again?

]]> By: Nick Noakes http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194828 Nick Noakes Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:30:44 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194828 You might want to take a look at the EU project RealXtend http://www.realxtend.org/ and also this blog post http://tinyurl.com/d9v4pf from Linden might be of interest (Alan of course knows more about this) - but basically this looks like it will be the same fir an institution as buying any other software / web service, as far as I can see. You might want to take a look at the EU project RealXtend http://www.realxtend.org/ and also this blog post http://tinyurl.com/d9v4pf from Linden might be of interest (Alan of course knows more about this) – but basically this looks like it will be the same fir an institution as buying any other software / web service, as far as I can see.

]]> By: dnorman http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194826 dnorman Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:31:21 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194826 @Cole thanks! That site will definitely come in handy! @Nick thanks for the tips. I don't know if we'll need a space of our own - I'm not sure how I'll handle the whole "you have to pay the reaper to rent server space on Linden's farm" angle. Hopefully, we can do it without anyone having to drop a credit card to use it in their course. I'm also going to be exploring the open source alternatives - the whole commerce layer makes me break into hives, especially if we're going to be sending students to it as part of a course. @Cole thanks! That site will definitely come in handy!

@Nick thanks for the tips. I don’t know if we’ll need a space of our own – I’m not sure how I’ll handle the whole “you have to pay the reaper to rent server space on Linden’s farm” angle. Hopefully, we can do it without anyone having to drop a credit card to use it in their course.

I’m also going to be exploring the open source alternatives – the whole commerce layer makes me break into hives, especially if we’re going to be sending students to it as part of a course.

]]> By: Nick Noakes http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194822 Nick Noakes Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:34:41 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194822 D'Arcy I have a SL spaces tour setup already for visiting education and education related spaces in SL which you are welcome to use .... let me know if you'd like some help with things like this for your setup. I'd strongly recommend having a couple of teacher and/or students in world for them to talk with in voice. This had the biggest impact on them when I did this 18 months ago, where I had two of my students inworld for them to ask questions to, which I relayed via a headset mic and they heard the replies over the speakers in the room. Like your situation, our faculty were curious and I was not championing ... more to let them know this is out there and some of the developments going on with virtual worlds in general for education. I recently co-facillitated a 6-week workshop for language teachers from around the world taking them from account creation to team teaching in that time frame (120 in week 1, 240 by week 6 and the community is still growing ad going strong) ... but that's another story for Monterey. D’Arcy

I have a SL spaces tour setup already for visiting education and education related spaces in SL which you are welcome to use …. let me know if you’d like some help with things like this for your setup.

I’d strongly recommend having a couple of teacher and/or students in world for them to talk with in voice. This had the biggest impact on them when I did this 18 months ago, where I had two of my students inworld for them to ask questions to, which I relayed via a headset mic and they heard the replies over the speakers in the room. Like your situation, our faculty were curious and I was not championing … more to let them know this is out there and some of the developments going on with virtual worlds in general for education.

I recently co-facillitated a 6-week workshop for language teachers from around the world taking them from account creation to team teaching in that time frame (120 in week 1, 240 by week 6 and the community is still growing ad going strong) … but that’s another story for Monterey.

]]> By: Cole http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194821 Cole Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:32:25 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194821 A decent place to check out is our PSU Education Gaming Commons http://gaming.psu.edu ... if you have trouble finding stuff let me know and I'll put you in touch with Dr. Brett Bixler. Brett is on my staff and is heading up our EGC efforts. He is a wealth of SL knowledge! BTW, the tight short looks almost as good as in first life! A decent place to check out is our PSU Education Gaming Commons http://gaming.psu.edu … if you have trouble finding stuff let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Dr. Brett Bixler. Brett is on my staff and is heading up our EGC efforts. He is a wealth of SL knowledge! BTW, the tight short looks almost as good as in first life!

]]> By: dnorman http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194820 dnorman Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:57:13 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194820 @Boone thanks. I'll check out her links. @Alan I'm going to mine all of the NMC articles/projects for this, of course :-) @Boone thanks. I’ll check out her links.

@Alan I’m going to mine all of the NMC articles/projects for this, of course :-)

]]> By: Alan Levine http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194816 Alan Levine Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:50:53 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194816 Check out Macheth (disclaimer it is an NMC project. Great educator resources at jokaydia. Daren has cool web SL demos. There is a great map collection esacping my still on vacation memory. Come find my junkyard ;-) Check out Macheth (disclaimer it is an NMC project. Great educator resources at jokaydia. Daren has cool web SL demos. There is a great map collection esacping my still on vacation memory. Come find my junkyard ;-)

]]> By: Boone http://www.darcynorman.net/2009/04/08/reexploring-secondlife/#comment-194815 Boone Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:42:53 +0000 http://www.darcynorman.net/?p=3050#comment-194815 Gina Trapani posted just this morning about discovering worthwhile places in SL: http://smarterware.org/1228/my-first-time-in-second-life Gina Trapani posted just this morning about discovering worthwhile places in SL: http://smarterware.org/1228/my-first-time-in-second-life

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