ISTE’s 32nd National Educational Computing Conference, formerly “NECC” and now simply called “ISTE 2012” (fill in the year), will be held in San Diego, California this summer. Last year, in Philadelphia, its Special Interest Group for Virtual Environments, SIGVE, held three days of back to back half hour presentations relating to the use of 3D virtual worlds in the service of learning and teaching.
Those sessions have been described in great detail in previous editions of VEJ, so we won’t go into them that way here, but if you failed to read about them they are well worth the read. You can also get a quick summary about last year’s Playground at the Open Letter from Scott that resides on our wiki at http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/Open+Letter+from+Scott ISTE11+Thank+You%21.
Here’s a snapshot from one presentation:
Boy, oh boy, have there been some changes since then.
Changes
It started with an email announcing that ISTE, in its restructuring process undertaken as a proactive response (is that even possible?) to the
economic downturns we all felt in one way or another, was abandoning ISTE Island. The Island presented a not insignificant commitment of funding that had been judged excessive in light of the return on investment.
That sparked the creation of a task force whose members ebbed and flowed in and out of the discussion and after negotiation of a months long tortuous twisting and turning path finally arrived at the decision to spend our greatly reduced funding to lease our own ISTE SIGVE parcel on Eduisland 9. In return for that funding ISTE is represented in Second Life by ISTE SIGVE and is still providing meeting spaces for social gatherings, casual professional conversational opportunities, organized professional development and more. The support is issued annually and will be up for review next March.
Social gatherings happen via a newly formed SIGVE Social Committee led by Maggie Larimore. There is often a theme--bowling, field trips, dances, etc.--but the point is to get folks together who are physically at a distance. Remember “Sense of Place at a Distance” is the underlying motivation for everything we do in virtual worlds. This purely social element is a good one for educators, providing opportunities to unwind and participate in friendships with colleagues they may actually only see face to face annually at ISTE.
Casual conversations continue, inspired by the sort of chats that would spontaneously grow into serious discussions about practice, resources, tools, challenges and solutions that old timers remember from the front porch on ISTE Island. I once coined a term, noticing how avatars tended to step back to welcome a newly arrived participant during these ad hoc sessions: “wircling”--”widening the circle.” These days, at ISTE SIGVE, we often meet in the tasteful pose-loaded adirondack chairs facing the beautiful ocean island vista created by Serena Offcourse and Techplex Engineer, winners of the design contest that resulted in this welcoming and effective layout of our spaces in Second Life. If the meeting gets bigger than the chairs might accomodate, we might adjourn to the expandable conference table upstairs in HQ. Wircling continues.
The cornerstone of Professional Development is the monthly ISTE SIGVE Speaker Session, ongoing regularly now for three years and providing onehour live interviews and presentations by those who are at the forefront of innovation in virtual worlds. Not limited to Second Life, we gather
audiences in sizes ranging from 5 to 50, and regardless of the audience size, these opportunities to learn and to share are always fascinating. We are pleased to have recently confirmed Dr. Chris Dede, from Harvard Graduate School of Education, as our season kick-off for September 18 after our now traditional break in August. You can see the speakers, past, present, and future, for our Speaker Sessions at our very active wiki: http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net.
Current KZero stats
KZero, the world’s premier research go-to for quarterly updated information about the growth and direction of the virtual worlds arena, reported that for the 4th quarter of 2011 user registrations in all virtual worlds totalled 1,772,000 (or so) users. Say what you will, once you get past a billion or so registered users we believe that something significant is happening on a global scale. Can you even comprehend what a billion is? This graphic might help, though it’s a visual based on stacks of 100 bills, not human beings, but a billion is a LOT: http://thecompostfiles.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-part-of-broke-dont-you-understand.html
The quarterly “KZero Universe Chart,” available free upon request at http://kzero.co.uk, is something anyone interested in virtual worlds should order each time a new one is released. Cleverly designed to display each world according to its user base size, age range appeal, and date of release and demise, if that applies, it’s a feast for the eyes and a graphic
justification for the kind of passion for this field we who contribute to it share.
Two graphics from KZero--user base growth over time (beginning Quarter 1 of 2009) and a thumbnail of the universe chart:
See the full Monty at http://kzero.co.uk -- it’s worth the clicks. Perhaps you might feel a little different about the value of taking in our upcoming presentations at the SIGVE Playground, June 25, 8am-4pm Pacific Time, after understanding the phenomenal growth of virtual worlds.
ISTE SIGVE stats and plans
I emailed Colleen for current demographics
Playground schedule
This year our playground will be on Monday, June 25th, from 8am-4pm (Second Life time, hehe). Since it is just one day this year, we decided to try and bring in a nice mix of many of the relevant virtual worlds out there, with some of our dynamic members leading the way. Of course, there is so much left off the table that we hope will leave our audience wanting MORE!
*Note: RL is in San Diego California--all events will be streamed live into SL
and in ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel-popup/istesigve2012. Want to host a viewing party on your own sim? IM Scottmerrick Oh in Second Life for a free displayer!
Time Presenter Topic
8:30-9:15 Minerva Ladores So You Want to Teach in Second Life: First Things First
10:3011:15 Bron Stuckey Massively Minecraft - Building and learning RL
11:3012:15 Scott Merrick Kitely- Social Networks and Virtual Environments
1:00-1:45 Gord Holden Active Worlds in the school RL
2:00-2:45 Bron Stuckey Quest Atlantis Remixed RL
3:00-4:00 Lucas Gilespie Minecraft/Wow in school: World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and console games in the classroom? Yes! Skype
Invitation to participate both in San Diego and in Second Life.
Can’t make it to San Diego? Not to worry! We will be streaming all the sessions for those to be seen on their internet browser or, better yet, come into Second Life and spend time watching it with other SIGVE members at our headquarters.
Tatiana Martin, a.k.a Gridjumper will be hosting these events. So pop on in and chat with us via the Second Life viewer. We can see you from San Diego!
http://tinyurl.com/sigvehome
Don’t forget we will be having a synchronous Birds of a Feather Session with the SIGVE members from San Diego and in-world, so bring your
thoughts, ideas, and talents and join us from 5:30-6:45pm SL-Pacific Time)
Teaching Artificial Intelligence in Virtual Worlds
By Any Gynoid, New Citizens Inc
Scores of years ago, Professor Edward Feigenbaum, Turing Award Winner, told us that one day we would all have avatars. Go Figure! All along, Iʼve been watching for signs that might interest the good Professor. Chatbots. Hmmmm. Joseph Weizenbaumʼs classic Artificial Intelligence (AI) experiments. Pathfinding, oh yes, Edsger Dijkstraʼs algorithm. And so forth.
About Pathfinding in Virtual Worlds: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-785902
Also that article explains why AI characters will not create lag.
The challenge of AI has always been the platform. How much software and data scaffolding must we build, before we get to the fun part, creating the AI? Seems to me, we have arrived. The platform, the scaffolding, everything is being served up to us, mis en place. As Pathfinding rolls out grid-wide in Second Life, and soon to the opensim metaverse… the engineers have done their job; we have everything we need. It is our
turn: artists, entrepreneurs, and teachers.
The question now… What future do we want? Entrepreneurs will invent cash generating AI products. Hidden knowledge is their power. Artists too, O purveyors of beauty with veiled messages, how much we love you, muses of our virtual worlds… who rarely turn their inventions inside out, for all to see. Thatʼs what we teachers do. Take things apart and turn them inside out for students to put back together. In this knowledge ecosystem, as in RL, teachers intervene in society to empower emerging entrepreneurs, artists, and teachers to create a better world. We teachers set the low water mark for common knowledge. By teaching AI in Virtual Worlds… making AI very accessible to everyone interested, we are lifting Archimedes lever. Profoundly!
AI is fun! In my class, I do a brief lecture with AI demonstrations… you learn and experience chatbots and pathfinding and other powers, now available with simple scripts. The rest of this class comprises self-guided exercises. Building AI. Create a prim. Throw in a chatbot script and a personality notecard. Throw in a pathfinding script. Voila! Youʼve built sophisticated AI! Itʼs really that easy.
AI characters are animated without programming.
I give you all the scripts and step by step instructions on how to build AI characters. Pathfinding… (wandering, pursuing, and patrolling…) Pathfinding with Sensors… Chatbots… Greeter bot… Sound making… Animations… Walking Controller… I call these scripts AI Beans. Drop an AI Bean in your characterʼs Content tab and it performs AI! Key parameters that you want to tweak, are right at the top of each script, and well documented. Minimal external requirements are documented too, such as adding a chatbot personality or sound files.
Shot on the Aditi test grid, in the pathfinding region PathTest4. You see some of Linden's test cubes and their various test apparatus, e.g. stairs, platforms, spiral stairs, zoetrope, etc.
The crème de la crème skill for building AI characters is animation. Pathfinding makes your characters mobile; they move around the grid. Animations is what makes characters walk and physically gesture; moving arms, legs, elevation, etc. I give you a folder of high quality characters; these are sculptie or mesh creations, donated to NCI, some with freeware licensing. Through class exercises, I teach you how to animate these characters (or your own), in a few easy steps using a marvelous script from Ferd, an epic SL creator. Donʼt forget the Mono checkbox! No programming needed. Use SLʼs prim editor to move your characterʼs limbs. Record 3 to 5 positions and youʼve got a walking animated character!
Of course, all of this content is totally free. You can reuse it to teach AI too! New Citizens Inc (NCI) is a free school. You are welcome to join us at 3pm SLT every Tuesday at NCI Dream Seeker (SLURL http://tiny.cc/82vyew ). We are seeking qualified instructors to teach this class at additional times. I also offer an asynchronous, distance learning option. The class materials are self-explanatory; I give all the class visuals and
lecture notes (with visual cues). Exercises are self-guided. Contact any1 Gynoid inworld (SL main grid) for more information.
The new SL AI has the potential to transform Virtual Worlds, from vast depopulated regions to highly interactive, immersive experiences teaming with artificial life. This potential will go unrealized without us, the teachers. We teachers make it possible for ordinary people to be successful resolving complex challenges. Having the great good fortune of an education, I do as much as I can to pull together courseware and deliver it to the universe. I invite you to join our Quixotic AI quest. Now itʼs your turn.
Navimesh on NCI Dream Seeker shows the pathfinding mesh in and around my classroom (see the white lines are navigable polygons for AI characters).
Acknowledgements: Thank you to Roxie Neiro, VEJ Editor in Chief, for publishing this timely article. Thank you to my students and friends who encouraged me to boldy go where no avi has sojourned before! In particular, my star student Vectrix and my friend Travis (andewbatz.silverweb) who followed this AI adventure from day 1 (visit Travisʼ AI convenience store clerk at Danger Point SLURL http://tiny.cc/63wyew).
Reflections on Introducing a Group of Educators to World of Warcraft
By Chris Luchs (Abacus Capalini, sl)
For four weeks in March and April, educators from around the world participated in the Virtual Worlds, Games and Education Tour MOOC. This massive online open course introduced the 80 participants to Second Life, JokaydiaGrid, Inworldz, Machinima, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and Eve Online. The group met synchronously four times a week to hear from guest speakers. They also met asynchronously online in P2PU to discuss topics and experiences.
During the third week of this MOOC, the group was introduced to World of Warcraft http://us.battle.net/wow/en/ using either the free trial account or paid subscription. Once in world, these adventurous educators were trained on the basic mechanics of game play, stormed a castle, and were given tours of the major cities for the two dominant player factions in WoW, the Horde and Alliance. Participants were also introduced to in-game banking, auction house, professions, transportation, and discussions on leveling, class and player roles.
As a group leader, I had the benefit of experience in WoW to allow me to focus on observing our participants and answering questions. One of the first things, the educators had to master was the interface itself. WoW offers players a lot of customizing that allows players to adjust the layout to the way they want through in-game interface options as well as addons, software programs that allows a player to download and then modify their WoW interface to provide additional screens, counters, and other useful analytic tools. There are also numerous menus, icons, and communication channels that a player must learn. One of the biggest challenges for our group was selecting the correct chat channel to communicate to the group. To simplify, we choose to use the general chat, which worked great in the isolated start up zones, but was much more challenging once we entered the city and players experienced the deluge of chats from the seven other chat channels that are available.
Another interesting observation concerning the interface, was that in many cases, initiating an avatar action on screen was a better way to communicate than chat. A common occurrence during the week of World of Warcraft was the statement, "Follow the jumping [insert race here]," or "Jump if you are ready." These avatar actions where a quick means of communicating to the group and offered non-chat
related cues to and from the participants that they understood and were ready to participate in the action.
The group also reinforced that the Horde characters and World of Warcraft are an acquired taste. Of the participants that went into WoW, only three continued to play their horde characters once the group created Alliance characters and only four continue to regularly play and participate. This reinforces the importance of context when using / introducing a group to a non-epistemic game. Many of the questions asked about Wow centered on how an educator uses World of Warcraft in their class, which relates to the context of the game within the curriculum. While WoW strongly applies to many disciplines such as Business, Sociology, Math, and English, it does not apply to all subjects equally. Based on the discussions, the take away points are that educators must evaluate each game to determine fit for their class and they must also provide the context and epistemic frame for the student to ensure a clear understanding of assignments and those competencies being assessed.
The last observation is the importance of groups or cohorts when using World of Warcraft. Many of our educators initially started out playing and completing quests by themselves. We had one educator level their character to 85 within six and a half weeks; however this educator has mentioned that he would not advise anyone to follow his example. He stated that leveling alone was OK initially, however, by level 60 he was ready to abandon the game he was gaining minimal new experiences from the game. After consulting with the other group leaders, he decided to queue for random dungeons and play with a random group of players. This offered him great insight into the dynamics of social interaction and felt it made leveling the last 20 levels less tedious. At level 80, he started to group with group leaders and other members of the Cognitive Dissonance educators’ guild and found he really enjoyed collaborating on dungeons with fellow educators and stated that he would only level another character with a group of guildies!
Our participant’s experiences really drove home the need for cohorts. The main reason for this is the social aspect of groups. While players can solo their way up to 85, it is not recommended. The main reason is that WoW quests have been designed to allow players to treadmill or grind their way to the highest level. However, by soloing, the player invariably focuses on optimizing their play still to a self-sustaining model, which requires a more general play style and minimized the player’s ability to specialize in one aspect of their class. This style of play is great, however, upon reaching end game play, the player finds that they are unable to fit with the specialized roles required to master end game content. This issue is
negated if the player is comfortable playing in a group where they focus on optimizing one aspect of their class (tanking, healing, or damage) instead of trying to master all three roles as a soloist. In addition, cohorts allow players to play to their strengths and focus on roles within the group that they enjoy.
Our participant’s experiences really drove home the need for cohorts. The main reason for this is the social aspect of groups. While players can solo their way up to 85, it is not recommended. The main reason is that WoW quests have been designed to allow players to treadmill or grind their way to the highest level. However, by soloing, the player invariably focuses on optimizing their play still to a self-sustaining model, which requires a more general play style and minimized the player’s ability to specialize in one aspect of their class. This style of play is great, however, upon reaching end game play, the player f inds that they are unable to fit with the specialized roles required to master end game content. This issue is negated if the player is comfortable playing in a group where they focus on optimizing one aspect of their class (tanking, healing, or damage) in stead of trying to master all three roles as a soloist. In addition, cohorts allow players to play to their strengths and focus on roles within the group that they enjoy.
Overall, I found that introducing educators to World of Warcraft was very similar to the challenges we face introducing students to a learning management system. The main concerns were comfort with the interface, ability to access content and
complete content, and communicating with the rest of the group. Another key component was the ability to develop a social presence in an online environment. Our educators and students both love to be able to interact and engage with others online. However, unlike most LMS, World of Warcraft allows the player to choose their level of social interaction through solo questing or group dungeoning. So main lesson learned from my reflection is: Educators Don’t Let Educators Play Alone especially not in World of Warcraft or Learning Management Systems!
To which, we will be running another group of educators through World of Warcraft during the Games MOOC - if you are interested please let me know at abacus.capalini@gmail. Remember - educators don’t let educators go to World of Warcraft alone!
My real name is Barbara Z. Johnson) and the email address umdbzj@gmail.com. My professional/research blog is at http://bzjohnson.org.
I have included my picture as well as my favorite avatar from Second Life (Chris_001) --- Christien Suntzu.
The collectable pet image is an example of usercreated art sold in one of many of the shops I am researching, run by teens and young adults in the virtual world Gaia Online.
And the TSI image is from an island the the Tech Savvy Girls program operated in Teen Second Life as an afterschool program.
It shows two of the businesses that teens operated during that time, selling their own creations in that world. (Picture on next page.)
Barbara Z. Johnson, M.Ed.
Doctoral Candidate - Teaching and Learning
University of Minnesota - Duluth bjohnson@d.umn.edu 218.390.0962 http://bzjohnson.org
BJ Gearbox and I just happened to be out exploring second life one afternoon when we st umbled across the work of Jon Brouchoud. We were so excited and amazed by his work that we asked if we could interview him. He said yes, and this is what we learned from him!
Roxie Neiro: How did you get started in second life? What other virtual worlds do you work in, if any?
Jon Brouchoud: Part of my Masterʼs thesis in Architecture dealt with how online environments, including multi-user games like Everquest, had the potential to transform and augment real world architecture. I was amazed at how graphically rich and complex the environments were in Everquest, and how people from all over the world could interact within those environments, in real-time. I wondered if it could someday be possible to replace the dungeons with 3D models of architectural design proposals, and swap the elves for avatars of real-world project stakeholders who wanted to gain a better understanding of what their new building would look like. The biggest challenge at that time, in 2001, was that game worlds were incredibly difficult to create - reserved almost exclusively for use in multi-million dollar game worlds. Architecture 101 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Architecture Island/116/148/1173
Roxie: How did you transition your professional interests/work from the real-world to virtual worlds?
Jon: I never expected to take on virtual world work as a profession. I built a little neighborhood of model ʻgreenʼ homes and was giving a presentation when Kiwini Oe (Steven Nelson irl) of Clear Ink approached me and asked if I would be interested in giving a presentation at their real life office, at Linden Labʼs office *and* at the headquarters of Autodesk! A few weeks later, we were giving a keynote presentation demonstrating Second Life alongside the CEO of Autodesk in front of 8,000 people. I continued working for Clear Ink, where I had the opportunity to work on the virtual U.S. House of Representatives, Linden Labʼs virtual headquarters, and lots of other incredible projects. I gradually realized my career path would probably never be the same, and I loved it. =)
Roxie: What advantages do you see in designing, prototyping and building in virtual worlds?
Jon: The collaborative potential, to create 3D objects in real -time alongside people from all around the world - thatʼs a game changer that continues to be underestimated, and has yet to be fully discovered.
Also, blueprints are notoriously difficult for most people to fully understand. Even if you can grasp the layout, you probably canʼt translate a floor plan into the full 3D experience in your mindʼs eye. By building in a virtual world, you can become immersed in a very holistic representation of the building.
Roxie: What recommendations do you have for people getting started with building/designing in virtual worlds?
Jon: Donʼt think of Second Life as a thing, or a place to make money. Think of it as a place. Engage the community, and network as much as you possibly can. If you wish to pursue virtual world work as a career, your projects will come from the people you meet.
Roxie: That is so true. I am always amazed at the number of creative, innovative, and talented people that reside in virtual worlds like second life! What are your greatest obstacles and how have you overcome some of the challenges?
Jon: Truth is, the perpetual ʻNDAʼ is one of my biggest obstacles, lol. I donʼt blame my clients for keeping projects private - itʼs a necessary part of the way business gets done. But it can be the death of a freelance designer to not be able to show off your best work in order to build momentum toward finding the next project. In fact, quite a few people ask me why I left Second Life, which couldnʼt be further from the truth! If I could talk about even a fraction of the last several projects I worked on, nobody would believe me!
Also, the shifting platform war continues to be my greatest obstacle. I would love nothing more than to work full-time exclusively in Second Life, but Iʼve had to retool to learn Maya and Unity3D in order to stay in business - following the clientʼs lead into these new platforms.
Roxie: How would you characterize your work in second life (e.g., to prototype real world buildings, to design and build exclusively for virtual worlds, or other emphasis/interests)?
Jon: I started off prototyping real world buildings, but now my work is almost exclusively designing and building purely virtual experiences. My main clients have been educators, and companies involved with trainingas well as quite a bit of military-related work.
Roxie: You are truly amazing! Your work is phenomenal – I want to say “out of this world!” ! What work(s) are you most proud of in second life or other virtual worlds? Why?
Jon: The project Iʼm most proud of and excited about is always ʻthe next oneʼ. =)
Roxie: LOL And I canʼt wait to see some of those projects! Where do you see custom designs and buildings in virtual worlds five years from now?
Jon: I think the majority of virtual world interaction will be much more ʻappʼ like. More like iTunes, more mobile, more fluid, more prefab. I think organizations will gradually adopt 3D representations online, in whichever
world or platform or technology that may be. When that starts to happen, I think weʼll see a lot of the same factors come into play that shaped our original real world cityscapes. Organizations will use their 3D presence to say something about their values, their strengths, etc. They will starts to see virtual ʻarchitectureʼ as a means of expressing themselves - not as much a functional element of providing space for employees, but more of a freeform phenomenon that communicates and responds dynamically.
Roxie: What are the differences and similarities about building and designing in real-world and virtual worlds?
Jon: Designing, collaborating and building in a virtual world is 10x more efficient (and fun) than doing the same for real-world projects. After growing accustomed to meeting with people from all around the world, building together in real-time, meeting instantly whenever we wish, having to get into a car and drive 20 minutes to review a set of 2D blueprints on paper with a client feels backward and terribly inefficient.
Roxie: I so agree with being able to meet with people who are anywhere in the world at anytime, without leaving your house. That is a real game -changer for educators as well as for architects! So, what advice do you have for educators bringing stude nts into virtual worlds to study the fundamentals of design, design processes and design strategies?
Jon: Find the students who are ready for it and work with them - even if itʼs only a few at first. Trying to shoehorn students who despise virtual worlds and spending a whole semester trying to convince them is a waste of time. If you can find students who believe in this, and are ready to do serious exploration into virtual worlds, then build on their interest and showcase their work. Also, donʼt be afraid to explore purely virtual design. It helps get back to the very basic fundamentals of form and space, and can be a very useful tool in teaching design from an experiential perspective.
Roxie: I think that is great advice for any educator as well. You have to make sure people are ready for the experience. You have to build that readiness. In you work in virtual worlds, you have created some prefab designs for classrooms and exhibit spaces. What types of designs have you found work best for educators working in second life?
Jon: The more flexible the design, the better. Each educator has his or her own unique needs and functional requirements. Trying to create a rigid design that they need to fit into is less effective than creating a ʻkit of partsʼ they can use to determine their own layout.
Roxie : You have a sign at Virtual Architecture 101 labeled “Defining Spatial Boundary.”
The sign says, “There are numerous ways to define a spatial boundary. Space can be defined with walls and vertical planes, but something as simple as a transition in floor material can also define a boundary.” What are the advantages of defining spatial boundaries in virtual worlds like second life? Can you give us some examples of designs you have created in second life that work well here – but not be “doable” in real-life?
Jon: Even though virtual architecture has no real limitations, we still visually organize and ʻreadʼ space in a virtual world based on the same familiar visual cues we use in the real world - that weʼve known since childhood. Itʼs important to use that same visual language to define space, and make a space navigable and delightful.
Defining spatial boundaries is a very basic fundamental of architectural design. It helps a visitor understand where the functional elements are. Iʼve experienced plenty of places where the designer made a point of ʻpushing the envelopeʼ of virtual architecture, and created these dreamy floating clouds of prims - but nobody could find their way around, and people just stumble around getting frustrated. Iʼm not suggesting we simply build everything exactly as it is in the real world, but I feel pretty strongly that we still need to build on those same cues in order to make virtual spaces truly useful to everyone.
Roxie: Yes, I am sure our readers know exactly what you mean. We have all gotten lost in some of those places! LOL Can you explain
what is meant by “Hybrid Architecture” especially as it relates to the work you did with the Kelley School of Business?
Jon: Their real world building is an icon on their campus, and something students, faculty and visitors recognize and identify with the school. If we had started with a blank slate on their virtual counterpart, it would have missed the opportunity to retain that strong architectural identity. On the other hand, if we build an exact replica of the real world building, doors, walls, bathrooms, etc. it would have missed the point and tremendous potential of virtual architecture. I proposed a ʻhybrid architectureʼ approach to their project, where we built just enough of the physical building to retain that iconic architectural identity, but we then took liberties to gut the interior - making one vast avatar-friendly space, along with an outdoor amphitheater, and other elements that broke from the exact replication of the real world campus building, but enabled us to take advantage of the inherent characteristics of the virtual world.
Roxie: When BJ and I stumbled upon Architecture Island, I was intrigued by the Winston Churchill statement on one of your displays that reads, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” You write that this is where virtual worlds have a significant advantage. Can you explain to readers what you mean by this?
Jon: Yes. Itʼs much easier to change pixels than it is to change real world bricks. =) If we simply create virtual buildings, then treat them the way we treat real world buildings - just letting them sit there, idle, unchangingweʼre missing a huge opportunity. I like to turn Mr. Churchillʼs statement around in relation to virtual worlds, and suggest that in virtual reality - “We shape our buildings; thereafter we keep shaping them.”
Roxie: Thank you, Jon, for taking the time to
talk with us about your exciting work in virtual spaces. Be sure to visit:
Join the VSTE Ning at http://vsteonline.ning.com/ There are two groups for you: The SL group and the book group. We'd love to have you be part of the conversation!
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @VEJournal or #VEJournal. Be sure to explore Edovation Island. Please join the Edovation Island and VEJ –Virtual Education Journal Groups in Second Life. VEJ welcomes articles and pictures from our readers. VEJ is only as good as our readers help us become. For submission information please visit www.virtualeducationj ournal.com .
An Epic Overview of the VWBPE 2012 Conference
By Kavon Zenovka (sl) aka Kae Novak, Program Chair
The Theme for VWBPE 2012 was “Be Epic!” so programs had no choice other than to open with KnowClue Kidd and then close with fourworlds ra (Botgirl’s human alt).
Keynote and Invited Speakers included:
Joe Essid, Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable - "Resistance is futile: making a case for virtual worlds" http://www.vwer.org/
Peggy Sheehy and Lucas Gillispie WoW in School with http://wowinschool.pbworks.com
Dr. Lisa Dawley and Dr. Chris Hasekell, 3D Games Lab http://3dgamelab.org.shivtr.com/
Maria Korolov, The Hypergrid is Ready for You Now, Hypergrid Business http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/
Dr. Chris Dede, How Immersion in Virtual and Augmented Worlds Helps Students in the Real World, EcoMuve http://ecomuve.gse.harvard.edu/
Jackie Gerstein, Using Mobile Devices for Community and Team-Building in the Classroom, http://jackiegerstein.weebly.com/
Gord Holden, Gutenberg to Spielberg, Immersive Technology 4 Learning http://immersivetechnology4learning.ning.com/
Sharon Bowers, Active Worlds: Tour of NIAUniverse, daVinci Worlds http://prezi.com/cczpq1tvrb66/davinci-worlds/
Melissa Carrillo, Representing Latino Cultural Heritage in the Age of the Social Web, Smithsonian Latino Center http://latino.si.edu/education/LVM_Main.htm
Dr. David Gibson, A Brainstorm on Games and Simulations in Teacher Education, simSchool http://www.simschool.org/about
We additionally had a dynamic duo at the Conference - M& M – Machinima and MMMORPGs!
Machinima ….ah the portmanteau created by Machine and Cinema
Yes – there was another EduMachinima Fest! The group (Knowclue Kidd, Grid Jumper, Abacus Capalini, LeeDale Shepherd, and Kavon Zenovka) who gave you EduMachinima Fest 2011 and are facilitating Machinima Open Online Course at P2PU were back.
And the winners were…
Be Epic!: Andy Wheelock, Understanding the Holocaust Project
Virtual World Outreach: Rawlslyn Francis, Student Life Student Projects for English Composition and Literature Courses at Florida State College at Jacksonville
Educational: Valerie Hill, Maya Island: A Library Exhibit and Tour
How-To: JoKay Wollongong, Massively Minecraft HOW To: Minecraft Skin by Ninabanina
Teen: Jokay Wollongong, Massively Minecraft: Check Out What We Made!
Digital Storyteller: Pooky Amsterdam, Time Travelers-Episode 4: The Pattern
People’s Choice: PookyAmersterdam, A Year In the Life
Brave Beginner: Doug Threebeard, Testis Ovary Tour
MMORPGs
World of Warcraft – VWBPE had a “WoW in School” Keynote, best practices sessions and a tour of World of Warcraft!
Tour – WoW in School with Legacy Guild
This was a field trip with the WoWinSchool Project. It was a 90 minute session/tour starting at for educators who are new to WoW. Participants received a tour with experienced WoW players – and did we mention students!
One School’s Approach to Vocational Transition: Gaming
Kimberly Flack/ Fairekimmer and Dave Flack/Tigovar
Theorycraft: Quantitative Analysis in World of Warcraft
Kavon Zenovka and Abacus Capalini
For more info on World of Warcraft at VWBPE please go to http://bit.ly/wsqsHL
EVEOnline – Kaseido Quandry explained to us why “Space Makes You Bitter” http://bit.ly/xaBKHs and then during the Virtual Worlds MOOC, Kaseido actually took us into EVEOnline.
Club Penguin (okay MMORPG – may be stretching it a bit.) Edith Halderman took WBPE through our third romp in Club Penguin. http://www.clubpenguin.com/
Minecraft – Massively Minecraft to be exact JoKay and the crew presented on Saturday and then gave us an epically massive tour to end our MMORPG fest.
These tours and all other tours were coordinated by Aevalle Galacia, Virtual Worlds Tour Stream Lead and Steampunk Extraordinaire.
And last but certainly not least – POSTERS!
As Knowclue Kidd stated, “These are not your Grandmother’s Posters.” They are so much more than the flat representations you see at F2F conferences. These posters are truly epic!
And the winners were….
Best Example of Educational Practices in a Virtual World Explore the 2012 Maya Island while you have time! Stylianos Mystakidis
Best Interactive Display Musical Odessey Kate Miranda
Best Use of Conference Theme Virtual Pioneers Andrew Wheelock
People's Choice Senior Project® Center at P4DL, Inc. (K-12) Kathleen Norris
A shout out has to go to the Poster Area Builders who perfectly framed posters and the overall theme of VWBPE 2012. Thank you Izzylander Karu, LuciPearl Sorbet, Brock Jumanya and Roc Furse!
And an epic THANK YOU!!! to Izzylander Karu for his excellent all around building and design contributions and for really giving us the 3D and visual symbol of “Be Epic”.
There is nothing more EPIC than a Tribute Concert To The Beatles! That is, until the large crowd, the great music, and the sparkling fireworks CRASHED THE SIM!
So, what do VWBPE Diehards do? Why, they make their own kind of music. . .
For more pictures of VWBPE 2012 visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/vwbpe/ Special THANKS to everyone who shared their pictures! They"do"the"Thriller"Dance!""LOL
Alice Academy is a whimsical place to learn the basics in Second life. According to Arthur Conan Doyle, “We focus on training students and educators and strive to offer more than read a sign, walk to the next sign, read a sign, walk to the next sign, etc.” Contact Arthur Conan Doyle for more information.
For a limited time Alice Academy is exhibiting 49 of the most popular paintings from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The NGA Images are digital images of works for art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. You can pick up FREE copies of these amazing paintings at the Art in the Park Exhibit at Alice Academy (154,102,31).
It is fun to see pictures such as “The Emperor Napoleon In His Study” from “The Collection: National Gallery of Art” http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?acc=1961.9.15 next to Paul Gauguin’s “Self Portrait” prompted in part by Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 portrait series (including La Mousmé) which Gauguin knew from his correspondence with Van Gogh and his brother Theo. This Self–Portrait, painted on a cupboard door from the dining room of an inn in the Breton hamlet Le Pouldu, is one of Gauguin's most important and radical paintings. Check it out –there is a lot to learn and see at Alice Academy!
The"tour"began"with"a"card"that"read,"“This"is"an"invitation"to"a"one of a kind" immersive"experience"in"Second"Life.""The"Fires"of"Genocide"is"a"storyworld" created"by"Seminole"County"Public"Schools"in"Florida.”
In May, a group of educators that just finished up with the Virtual Worlds, Games and Education MOOC decided to take educational DYI a bit further and design an ARG (Alternate Reality Game). So for three weeks, they studied, discussed and constructed components of an ARG. They even presented their thoughts at the University of Michigan’s 4T (Teachers Teaching Teachers about Technology) Virtual Conference http://4tvirtualcon.soe.umich.edu/?page_id=12
The result is ARG Prime! Not your traditional entertainment ARG - but an ARG to teach teachers about ARGs. So from July 9 - July 23, you can be involved in an interactive narrative that crosses multiple media platforms and mixes realities.
Are you curious? - good you’ll need to be!
Curious enough to go to learn a little more about ARGs?
Look for the Rabbithole (like Alice in Wonderland) at SIGVE in San Diego or at SIGVE HQ in Second Life during the ISTE conference. But if you are ready and willing to just swallow the red pill right now - go here http://bit.ly/gamesmooc to sign up for what will hopefully be two weeks of challenge, hard fun, flow and fiero!
Prometheus Bound Machinima
By Stephen A. Schrum (Phorkyad Acropolis in Second Life®)
This machinima project (found at http://youtu.be/T_RK7Ifutgg) began as a Blended Reality Event in December 2011. I had selected four student actors to accompany me in presenting the ancient Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound.1
These actors sat on stage, with me off to the side, all logged into Second Life (SL). I had another student logged into SL who acted as our “ideal spectator”; her laptop was connected to an LCD projector, and her perspective served as the theatre audience’s view of the world. Her laptop was also connected to speakers, and so the in-world audio was audible for those in the theatre. There were also virtual audience members present in the SL performance space.
While there were some problems with the performance (notably the audio, which between the speakers and the live actors, created a kind of echo for the
audience), the performances did serve as a good set of rehearsals for the machinima to follow. I had decided to create a video record of the performance, not only to archive the work we had done, but also for use in a theatre conference presentation on the creation of the production later in 2012. As our dramaturge2 had not been able to attend the online performances, it would be her way of seeing what had been done, to comment on it as part of our conference panel.
In order to create the machinima, I decided to follow a typical cinematic shooting schedule. In preparation for this, I went through the play script and first divided it into scenes. This was easily determined by who is on stage: Prometheus alone is Scene 1, and when the Daughter of Oceanus joins him, we move into Scene 2, and so on. I then broke each scene into various shots, designating each with a scene number and letter, and assigned codes for the shots: for example, CU fo r close-up, 3SHOT for a shot with three characters in it. The result appeared something like this.
5J CU DAUGHTER OF OCEANUS
Alas, O Fate, I shudder to behold the plight that has befallen Io.
5K CU PROMETHEUS
You lament and are full of fear all too soon. Wait until you have learned the rest as well.
5L 3SHOT DAUGHTER OF OCEANUS
Proceed; tell all. It is comforting for the sick to know clearly beforehand what pain still awaits them.
5M MED PROMETHEUS
You gained your former request easily from me; for you first desired the story of her ordeal from her own lips. Hear now the sequel, the sufferings this maid is fated to endure at Hera's hand.
I then made appointments with each of my actors to meet me in SL. I did not need the entire cast at the same time, since the scenes mostly consisted of dialogues of one character with Prometheus and I was always present, as I played Prometheus. (The one exception to this is the scene with Prometheus, Io and the Daughter of Oceanus.) Using Snapz Pro X to capture the audio and video of each shot, I quickly reviewed each piece of video to make sure there were no problems with it, and then resaved it with the scene number/letter designation.
This organization allowed me, once I had completed all of the shots, to easily import them into iMovie and to add them to the timeline in numerical order. However, one problem I had earlier noticed during screen capture became more evident, and was, in fact, something I had noted even during our live performances. Due to the variability of the students’ laptops in age, processors, and microphones the audio was wildly inconsistent. One actor would be almost inaudible, while another sounded distorted from being too loud.
To fix this problem, I once again borrowed a typical Hollywoo d convention: that of automated dialogue replacement (ADR). Again, I summoned each of the actors, this time to my RL office, rather than in SL. I set up a microphone, and ran the audio into Garageband. Each of the actors recorded their lines in order, pausing between lines so I could later cut and paste. Once I had all of the lines recorded, I assembled the audio track for the film, each voice on a separate track. This separation allowed me to add different effects to the voices, and so Prometheus and
Oceanus, both Titans, sounded larger than life, after I added Reverb and the Vocal Transformer to lower the pitch of the voices. To Hermes and the Daughter of Oceanus, as the offspring of Titans, I added the same effects, but with less Reverb. I left Io’s voice unaltered, since the character is a human, and the actor did excellent vocal work without any technical assistance.
A more tedious process ensued, as I dropped the resulting audio file (after exporting to iTunes) into iMovie, and then trimmed the video to fit the audio. At times, I had a bit too much video, and easily deleted a few frames at the beginning or ending of a shot so the video matched the audio. More difficulty arose when long speeches began and the video ended too soon. Here I inserted copied closeups of other characters as cut-away reaction shots.
For more interest, I also recorded some musical moments in Garageband, using the built-in keyboard and synth textures. While I would have liked an electronic music bed throughout the entire piece, it seemed impractical and too time-consuming, and so I settled for some short stings to emphasize entrances.
In the final video, I did omit something I had done with the live performance. At the end, to frame the piece (having something the same, or similar, happen at the beginning and ending), I played the scream of the eagle, suggesting it was
returning to again devour Prometheus’ liver. For the performances, the texture of the seating area would suddenly change from rock to a photo of a huge gaping mouth, making it appear that the audience was about to be swallowed whole. While this fit in with the idea behind the live performance, it would have seemed out of place at the end of the machinima.
I also discovered, on viewing the finished project, that I have an Ed Wood moment. When Hermes first arrives, his avatar nametag (“Tucch”) is visible. Hermes’ scene was the first I shot, and I neglected to hide the titles until after that shot. I also missed it when reviewing the shot immediately after doing it.
Ideally, I would have had more control over the environmental settings for the shooting (I own the land, but am not able to change those settings) for a more consistent look among the shots in the different scenes. The most successful elements were the settings and costumes. I turned the stage design over to an expert builder, Tash Porthos (owner of “[dirty.little.secret]”), and selected skins, shapes, hairstyles and costumes for the characters from various in-world vendors with the actors’ input. Overall, the look of the production works, the audio after extensive re-recording sounds very good, and the video as a whole is a solid representation of the work we did presenting theatre in Second Life.
1 This is the second Greek tragedy I have staged in Second Life; the first was Euripides’ The Bacchae in 2008
2 A dramaturge rese arches a play’s history and the culture of the society of the time in which it was written, and generally supplies notes for the playbill of program.
