Transcript of Jan. 13, 2009 Second Life Roundtable Discussion.
Location: Montclair State Virtual Campus
Topics: What keeps us in SL? What Hindrances Exist?
Iggy's Note: I've combined remarks for clarity and eliminated many yes/no replies unless they clarify a remark. I've also added links to URLs in the transcript (all will open in new tabs or windows).
Links Mentioned:
AJ Brooks: hi everyone
Charles2 McCaw: anyone have any doggie treats?
AJ Brooks: i'm going to wait a second until everyone rezzes - I don't want to sit in anyone lap
Ignatius Onomatopoeia gets out a beggin' strip
AJ Brooks: :-)
Roland Kellner: In my coat pocket.
Profdan Netizen: Greetings, all.
Bonbon Braveheart: anybody here from Muvenation?
AJ Brooks: we'll give folks another minute or two before getting started
AutumnH Snoodle: I'm not an educator, mind if I just watch?
Oronoque Westland: sorry Charles2, I only have a hotdog and I think that would be inappropriate
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: sure...all are welcome
AutumnH Snoodle: Great, I figured I may be able to take something back to my bosses at University of New Orleans.
Icabad Vallejo: how well did UNO recover from katrina?
AJ Brooks: I've promise to get started closer to on time, so here we go.
Emanna Romano: It's a good thing I took my allergy medicine. :)
AJ Brooks: Hi everyone, and welcome to this weeks SL Education Roundtable.
Icabad Vallejo: It occurred to me at the time that SL would be a nice help for what they went thru.
AJ Brooks: These meetings are made possible by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Montclair State University. We meet here each week at 2:30pm SLT for anhour. Sometimes we have a topic, sometimes its an open forum.
AJ Brooks: A few announcements, before we get started.
AJ Brooks: Our topic for this week will also be "What Makes SL Appealing as a Teaching/Learning Environment and What Hinderances Exist"
AJ Brooks: We are fortunate to have a GREAT schedule over the next few weeks as well.. A copy of this schedule can be found in the notecard giver to my left along the wall.
AJ Brooks: not the orange one, the other one
AJ Brooks: I'd also like to crow a bit here
Ignatius Onomatopoeia grins...just don't eat any crow
AJ Brooks: The SLER meetings were one of only 7 Highlight In 2008 posted to the LL blog
AJ Brooks: Yeah for all of us!
Pathfinder Linden: :)
Pathfinder Linden: a very well deserved highlight
AJ Brooks: Special thanks to our resident scribe, Ignatius Onomatopoeia, who has been providing the chat transcripts from the most recent meeting meetings.
Philled Graves: hey John... good to see you here again
AJ Brooks: TY Pathfinder
AJ Brooks: The SL Education Roundtable meeting happens each week, but we are looking to develop a community of educators from around the world with a variety of thoughts, needs, and ideas.
AJ Brooks: Please join the SL EDUCATION ROUNDTABLE group. If you have problems finding it in search, IM me and I will send you an invite sometime after this meeing but before I log for the night.
AJ Brooks: As the group grows, there will be announcements and such that will be exclusive to the group. I'm also open for ideas of what can bring value to the group.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: ty AJ
AutumnH Snoodle: Icabad, UNO recovered very well, thank you. And the surrounding neighborhoods are getting there. :)
AJ Brooks: Since many have asked, there is a program running here on the CHSSSouth island called the CHSSSouth Free Land Initiative. Details can be found in the orange notegiver here to my right.
AJ Brooks: Please wander around the island - after the meeting or come back any time. We're currently up to 25 different educational community members and have room for more.
AJ Brooks: Aside from this island, and the land initiative, we also have two other educational islands adjoining to the north. There are also numerous learning areas on these adjoining islands, Montclair State CHSS and Montclair State CEHSADP. Wander around and enjoy.
AJ Brooks: Something new - we are now on FACEBOOK. If you are, too, please join out Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44078263753&ref=share
AJ Brooks: Lastly, If you have Mystitool on, or other similiar tool, please put it to sleep or detach it for now. :-) It tends to lag things.
AJ Brooks: We'll start our meeting as we usually do. Please introduce yourself. Tell us who you are, where you are from, and what you do.
AJ Brooks: No need to wait for others to type - go ahead and enter your information right away, we can all catch up in chat history.
AJ Brooks: I am AJ Kelton, I'm the Director of Emerging Instructional Technology for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Montclair State University and the Coordinator of the Second Life Project for the College of Education and Human Services, also at MSU.. We're located in northern New Jersey, just fourteen miles from midtown Manhattan.
Philled Graves: Rick Shaw, Director College Techincal Services Ventura Community College
Bluewave Ogee: Leslie Jarmon, University of Texas at Austin
Profdan Netizen: I'm Dan Holt, Professor at Lansing Community College, Lansing MI, teach fy comp and creative writing, all online, though not yet in SL.
JeanClaude Vollmar: I'm JC (Jeff Le Blanc in RL). I'm with the Unversity of Northwestern Ohio and am their VP for IT.
Emanna Romano: I am Lisa Thumann, Sr. Specialist for Technology Education at the CMSCE at Rutgers University in NJ.
Pathfinder Linden focuses on market development in education and helathcare in Second Life. for more details on what I do, see http://pathfinderlinden.com
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Joe Essid, Writing Center Director, U of Richmond
Charles2 McCaw: I am editor of CrossCurrents magazine in Manhattan
AJ Brooks: Manhattan - my backyard
AJ Brooks: :-)
Oronoque Westland: I am Roberta Kilkenny. I teach Caribbean history and politics at Hunter College in New York.
Roland Kellner: Jon Margerum-Leys, professor of educational media and technology, Eastern Michigan University.
Geoff Lumley: Hi all. Geoff here, Head of Academic Quality and Standards at the University of Leeds, UK.
AutumnH Snoodle: I am *☆*'``'*Autumn!!!!*'``'*☆* Hobson. I'm a student at University of New Orleans and am the SL Technician for the UNO Second Life Campus. I'm a part in helping set up and maintain SL courses during the semesters.
LaBelle Rossini: Business Consultant and Management Coach
Birdie Newcomb: Birdie Newborn, Beach College Academy
Margaret Michalski: I am Margaret, public health doctoral student and research information specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Uskala Hidayat: Larry Taylor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Information Technology Services. Just heard lecture by Harvard's Chris Dede.
Fred Brecher: Fred Hagemeister, Coordinator Academic Technologies, U of Richmond
Icabad Vallejo: D.I. von Briesen, Central Piedmont Community College, Regional pimp for moodle, second life and now the environment...
Teachergirl Razor: professor at The University of Western Ontario, London Canada teach in SL
Tuxedo Ninetails: Mex Butler, education flousie, Grasmere, Australia
Jarrad Voom: Willie Jackson Pierce College history teacher from the Pacific Northeast
Blu Heron: Masters student in Tech ed at CSUS, Sacramento, CA
Bonbon Braveheart: I am Jennifer Stanigar, Entrepreneur, Graduate Student M.Ed. Training & Development at NCSU, Participating in MUVEnation project here in SL www.muvenation.org about using MUVE's in education
AJ Brooks: Ok - thanks everyone. Oh, one final note - it is really hard for me to keep up with IMs while I run the meeting, but I promise to get back to anyone who IMs me as soon after the meeting as I can.
AJ Brooks: To kick us off - I hope you don't mind if I ask you to start us off Iggy
Silverstar Jewell: Most of my information is on my profile along with a LM to the Dementia Interests Building- please come along and take a look- I am anRL educator in dementia, and I'm convinced that this is the way of the future to put people whi need more information and support, in touch with each other- my website masy also be found on my profile :)
AJ Brooks: this meeting is a result of a previous meeting
Ignatius Onomatopoeia fidgets...sure... My idea was what about SL is so special that it keeps us here?
Icabad Vallejo: or doesnt...
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I began looking at other virtual worlds, but I've yet to find any that compete
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: for me, it's User-generated content.
Oronoque Westland: yes...yes
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Is that a fair assessment of the topic, AJ?
AJ Brooks: i think so, yes
Icabad Vallejo casts aspersions at anyone who thinks anything can compte
Maximo Eames: hi
AJ Brooks: so the question is - what keeps you here?
AJ Brooks: for me its the community
LaBelle Rossini: Exploration of what else might be possbile
AJ Brooks: as well as the UGC
Philled Graves: community... and potential
Birdie Newcomb: Good question, I ask myself that
Uskala Hidayat: User content
AJ Brooks: potential?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm looking into OpenLIfe, but I cannot even get my Avi to rez...he's still a gas cloud. Hard to find a community of clouds...seriously.
Emanna Romano: What keeps me here is the support system
Roland Kellner: Potential, mostly.
Icabad Vallejo: I still think it's amazing that I can just login here, and end up in a meeting with people from all over the world in a matter of minutes.
Margaret Michalski: community and the opportunity to see what others are doing
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: so for all our complaints at times, SL is more stable than that alternative.
Teachergirl Razor: networks, user-generated content, large participant from the library science community
Birdie Newcomb: yes
LaBelle Rossini: Potential and Learning
Birdie Newcomb: it refreshes me
AJ Brooks: can someone put their finger on what is meant by potential
Charles2 McCaw: the population of talented and interesting people including educators and others
LaBelle Rossini: And: www virtual
AJ Brooks: a couple of people have said it
Profdan Netizen: The social presence, much stronger than other ways of communicating online.
Roland Kellner: Infrastructure seems poised on becoming useful.
Silverstar Jewell: its quite amazing to a woman of my age- I grew up before the time of having a telephone in the home- to be able to communicate with ppl all over the world in this way
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: you will get different defs, AJ...for the lit/writing faculty, it offers the sort of interactive work I see at the virtual Globe Theater or at the House of 7 Gables simulation
AutumnH Snoodle: For me, it's a mixture of many things, primarily the wonder at new technology and things that I find in Second life that make my eyes and imagination pop. It drives me to want to find more. Education, art, sheer possibilities.
AJ Brooks: if Microsoft or Google came out with something tomorrow, what would it have to have for you to migrate there
Philled Graves: the sense that this framework, and the plastic nature of it, seems to provide limitless horizon of possiblities for classroom and community instruction
Oronoque Westland: community is important for me also....global community....community with a multiplicity of interests (yes, meeting other educators is important, but meeting AVs with a variety of interests is also important)
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL--not Micro$oft
AJ Brooks: lol - well, they COULD
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Apple, maybe--Jobsworld :)
Philled Graves: lol
Philled Graves: Steve's world
AutumnH Snoodle: Java is trying
Roland Kellner: More hooks to other kinds of files.
Icabad Vallejo: It would have to at least match what SL gives now... and that's not at all trivial.
LaBelle Rossini: STable infrastructure
Blu Heron: multiple viseo stream formats would be helpful
AutumnH Snoodle: an open source version of this type of environment
Roland Kellner: Lower hardware requirements.
LaBelle Rossini: And: less costs
Icabad Vallejo: Key elements: microcommerces, IP, 3d building tools, endless customization, feature rich communications
AJ Brooks: there have even been some rumors (cough cough Cory O) about a LL IPO, with M$ as a potential suitor. Although, I caution everyone - those are ideas posted to a blog by one person who does not work for LL.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but Google did try...and my impression is that Lively failed b/c of poor marketing...their video was just "lame," as my students would say
Charles2 McCaw: i want to be able to move from one world to another
AJ Brooks: standards
Philled Graves: ability to enable and disable the richer feature sets to accommidate the wide array of boxes using this software
Roland Kellner: Yes, Philled.
Silverstar Jewell: One of the drawbacks I am finding, in trying to promote this in RL is that the graphics requirements are hard to keep up with- I have recently updated my computer- but that is beyond the reasch of many ppl I would like to serve here
Icabad Vallejo: not unlike what it would take to leave facebook, or youtube, or stop searching with google...
Uskala Hidayat: Someone would have to truly break the frame rate bottleneck of the architecture.
Margaret Michalski: I would have to be able to move my inventory.
Profdan Netizen: Seamless integration with 2D web.
AJ Brooks: the client is highly customizable - but you really need to know which buttons to uncheck
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: off-site inventory backup would be a BIG draw for me
LaBelle Rossini: true
Charles2 McCaw: good point profdan
Teachergirl Razor: interworld operability easy and able to take contacts with you -- kind of like Kevin Kelly's dreams
Philled Graves: even if you know the settings AJ it means a deeper learning curve for our students
Icabad Vallejo: There should be a "lowest everything" setting.
LaBelle Rossini: lol
Charles2 McCaw: yuo
Silverstar Jewell: *agrees with Icabad
Margaret Michalski: it would be great if Sl could work with blackboard,webboard etc
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I've been slapped about on the SLED list for noting that LL might want to consider that most of my students use laptops and that needs to be considered
Roland Kellner: I'm on SL on a laptop right now.
AJ Brooks slaps Iggy
LaBelle Rossini: me too
Philled Graves: i'm on a macbook right now
Ignatius Onomatopoeia yelps
Pathfinder Linden: we take laptops into consideration
AJ Brooks: me three
Tuxedo Ninetails: One thing that keeps me in SL specifically is that my ISP provides unlimited access. Otherwise I would be in dire straits - wireless broadband is my only option and it is still quite expensive
Profdan Netizen: So am I--laptop.
Birdie Newcomb: What about netbooks?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm on a laptop..but 3 of 15 got orphaned mid-term by an upgrade
Birdie Newcomb: iPhones?
Silverstar Jewell: laptop here too
AJ Brooks: yes - mobile!
Pathfinder Linden: the challenge is, many older laptops have integrated and nonstandard video cards, and the manufacturers are no longer updating the drivers
AJ Brooks: you want the kids, you need mobile
Oronoque Westland: for me to move the community would need to be at least as diverse, I would need to be able to move my inventory, and they would need to offer an educational discount to individual educators (not just to institutions)
Roland Kellner: Big bottleneck for me is wireless bandwidth. 802.11B doesn't work.
Philled Graves: ohhhh for my iphone YES!!!!
AutumnH Snoodle: I agree with that Margaret. UNO is having problems adopting moodle. Yet, we're considering it mostly because of Sloodle.
Icabad Vallejo slaps iggy too.... wondering why, but thinking it's fun.
Profdan Netizen: G works fine, Rodland.
AJ Brooks: lol
Blu Heron: but many laptops don't have the good graphics card..I'm on a laptop, but really and upgraded to 'gmaer's' version
AutumnH Snoodle: or Reconsidering it...
Ignatius Onomatopoeia is not into that, folks...ouch!
AJ Brooks laughs at Icabad
Roland Kellner: Not in the mood to buy a new wireless router just for this.
Teachergirl Razor: many of my students use net books I am on a netbook now
Tuxedo Ninetails: Could someone repeat what the laptop issue is?
AJ Brooks: integrated graphics card on many models
LaBelle Rossini: lol
AJ Brooks: especailly Macs
Uskala Hidayat: Intel's terrible graphics chipsets!
Tuxedo Ninetails: Ah ok thanks
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: we worked around the issue, but Tux, as Pathfinder said, it's the cards on older PCs and Macs
Icabad Vallejo: I think the hardware issue is overrated... i've seen it run on some old machines without issues
LaBelle Rossini: true
AJ Brooks: funny - my older mac runs fine - its my newer mac thats a problem
Icabad Vallejo: it was a big deal 4 years ago... but at some point, you gotta pony up the $300 for a new dell.
LaBelle Rossini: happening as we speak
Silverstar Jewell: I have updated my laptop twice in two years to keep up with graphics card requirements
LaBelle Rossini: I haven't - I ignore the warnings. . . it works
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: point of clarification here: this is not merely a SL issue
LaBelle Rossini: (still)
Oronoque Westland: I set up SL to run on an OLD PC in the adjuncts office --- just ignored the message from SL that it would not work
Icabad Vallejo: i bought a dell with a video card (xps) 2 years ago... using it now (laptop).
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Blue Mars will have very steep graphics reqs
AutumnH Snoodle: a lot of the new students this semester are having issues with the cheap graphics accelerators.
Roland Kellner: It is merely an SL issue in my setup. Everything else works fine.
Philled Graves: Blue Mars?
Tuxedo Ninetails: So perhaps there is a role for us in clarifying for others the RANGE of good configurations, rather than just a minimum spec set?
Icabad Vallejo: i've found that firstlight or firstlook or whatever tends to be more tolerant of weird graphics cards.
Tuxedo Ninetails: Is anyone in a position to do some comparison testing?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Blue Mars is a much-anticipated virtual world that should launch this year--but NO user-generated content
AJ Brooks: comparison between what?
Tuxedo Ninetails: Different configs AJ
Charles2 McCaw: testing what?
Philled Graves: tx Iggy
Icabad Vallejo: our CIO used the list of unsupported cards to try to shut down second life. unsupported doesn not mean "won't work"
AJ Brooks: well UGC is a deal-breaker. . .so is cross platform
Icabad Vallejo: If no user generated content, it's DOA
AJ Brooks: I never got a Lively account because I coulnd't use it on my mac
Icabad Vallejo: or DBB
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Icabad, why try to shut it down? Some other agenda?
Philled Graves: was it something you ate?
AJ Brooks: I have a PC in my office, but I refused on principle
Icabad Vallejo: DBB= dead before birth.
AutumnH Snoodle: lol
Tuxedo Ninetails: Actually, what might work would be to set up a benchmarking build here, and ask people to come through it, putting in the details of their machine, OS, experience etc.
Roland Kellner: Good idea.
AJ Brooks: interesting idea Tux
Icabad Vallejo: you know how (no offense to this group) support people are...
LaBelle Rossini: No
Teachergirl Razor: that is a great idea Tux
LaBelle Rossini: I wouldn't do that
Tuxedo Ninetails: Then we couldget data from a very wide range of users
Tuxedo Ninetails: and configs
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Hey, I did find an XP box to run Openlife before their Mac client, but it still bombed
AJ Brooks: I'd donate a parcel to that if you wanted to run the project
Tuxedo Ninetails: OK
Tuxedo Ninetails: I do
Silverstar Jewell: A real issue for me is that most ppl I would love to recruit from RL just can't run SL on their computers- the Lindens need to consider this before racing ahead with new and more demanding technology I think- if they want this to be a truely representative community
Icabad Vallejo: that's a pretty tall order- there are literally BILLIONS of permutations of machines, vendors, cards, etc...
AJ Brooks: lets talk after the meeting or another time
Teachergirl Razor: great AJ and Tux
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Icabad, our support folks are great about SL (and I say that not just b/c Fred from Info. Services is here)
AJ Brooks: well - Icabad - that what databases are for
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: They are ahead of the faculty on this
Teachergirl Razor: lucky you
AJ Brooks: Agreed - our OIT peopel have been fantastic - and I'm remiss to say that about much else they do
Icabad Vallejo: Iggy- that's awesome, but i doubt the norm.
Fred Brecher: Iggy, tx.
Icabad Vallejo: was a real fight on our end... pretty sure we won, LOL
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: yw Fred...you can put my check into campus mail :)
AJ Brooks: lol
Icabad Vallejo: and i got standing room only crowds at education conferences.
AJ Brooks: I'd like to recap, if I may
LaBelle Rossini: Please
AJ Brooks: briefly
AJ Brooks: Things that keep us here: Community, User Generate Content, Potential, and cost
AJ Brooks: Things that would attact us elsehere
Blu Heron: perhaps education use is a small part of the overall SL use...Lindens consider the majority of user needs, so education is left out
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I no longer believe that, Blu
Blu Heron: or not priority
Uskala Hidayat: OpenSim getting better, faster.
AJ Brooks: Cross grid navigation, grater customization, asset management and migration, framerate bottleneck fix, and mobile phone application
JeanClaude Vollmar: Sorry to have to skip out already, gotta leave for another appointment. See you all next week!
Shy Silverstar: Oh darn! I thought today was cme as your alt day.
Shy Silverstar: rofl
Tuxedo Ninetails waves to Fred from Iggy's Info Services depts - good on you guys!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and I used to believe it
Philled Graves: isn't that the role of Pathfinder and his crew to see that edcation isn't overlooked
Profdan Netizen: I figured out for my sabbatical report, that if I had attended conferences/seminars/meetings f2f that I did in SL, over a 45 day period, it would have cost $22,600.
AJ Brooks: I think LL has a real commitment to EDU. . .HOWEVER
Shy Silverstar slinks off to find her Fleep av.
Pathfinder Linden: correct
AJ Brooks: we nly represent about 15% of their customer base
AJ Brooks: a very stable base mind you
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL you've been outed, Fleep :)
Fred Brecher: Tx Tux
Shy Silverstar: me giggles.
Tuxedo Ninetails: Wow Dan - were you able to get that across to anyone at your uni?
Shy Silverstar: Well what can you do.
Profdan Netizen: I will be soon., Tux.
Blu Heron: I just saying from a business perspective, education may not be priority
AJ Brooks: It seems to be of SOME priority
AJ Brooks: M keeps mentioning it
AJ Brooks: Philip did too
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Blu, I realized that for higher ed, SL is a low-cost investment
Pathfinder Linden: trust it. it is a priority
Shy Silverstar: How many students do educators bring into SL every single semester?
Uskala Hidayat: If the accounting department could run a spreadsheet seamlessly, they would be more excited about SL.
Shy Silverstar: Every one is a potential premium customers.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and a steady source of income for Linden Lab
Profdan Netizen: Should be a priority, with the number of potential customers (students) we can bring to SL.
Blu Heron: I agree, don't take me wrong..just trying to see a broader perspective here
Teachergirl Razor: great to read Pathfinder
Blu Heron: I think Linden focus on education is getting better
AJ Brooks: everyone know about the Faire in two weeks?
Uskala Hidayat: Yes
Teachergirl Razor: yes
Oronoque Westland: yes
AutumnH Snoodle: no
Emanna Romano: Yes
Blu Heron: no
Pathfinder Linden: Ye Olde Faire!
Birdie Newcomb: what faire is that?
Pathfinder Linden: http://blog.secondlife.com/2009/01/10/second-life-education-support-faire-january-25th-30th-2009/
AJ Brooks: As a side not, our SLER meeting that Tuesday will be taking place at that Faire
Stargazer Blazer is Online
AJ Brooks: the first time the SLER has not been held on an MSU island
AJ Brooks: :-)
AJ Brooks: ROAD TRIP!
Pathfinder Linden: lol
Teachergirl Razor: hooray for teleporting
Oronoque Westland: we're off to the faire
Shy Silverstar: laugh
AJ Brooks: We're going to rock the house over there
Pathfinder Linden: Rocke ye Faire
Teachergirl Razor: show 'em how it is done
AJ Brooks: My goal is to have a meeting that is 3 times the size of the one we had last week
Oronoque Westland: omg
Shy Silverstar: Pathfinder, we just email you if we want to participate right? I'm still waiting on permission from higher ups. (And sorry this is Fleep, I thought today was the "come as your alt" meeting. how embarassing.)
AJ Brooks: and we had 90 people last week
Pathfinder Linden: all joking aside, I am very excited that SLER will be having their meeting there.
Oronoque Westland: 3x but not crash
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: WOW a SLapalooza
Pathfinder Linden: Shy/Fleep, just email me
Shy Silverstar: kk
Profdan Netizen: That would be great, Oronoque. I kept crashing with 90!
AJ Brooks: Me, Too - Pathfinder - its going to be excellent
AJ Brooks: SLapalooza!!!!!!!! ROFL
Bonbon Braveheart: how do we get nofication of the Faire? which group to join?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I felt really good about that meeting, folks--again, shows the community I've not seen in other vws for educators
Pathfinder Linden: the meeting area that SLER will be in is a 4 region 4 corner intersection. so room for even more than 90 :)
Icabad Vallejo: remember when 30 was a lot?
Shy Silverstar: hehe yes!
Pathfinder Linden: Bonbon, join and look for email from LL in the SLED list
AJ Brooks: think we can get 300 people - folks?
Bonbon Braveheart: ok ty
AJ Brooks: if eaceh of us brings one other person :-)
Teachergirl Razor: why not!?!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: In the mid-90s, we'd feel good having 10 regulars participate on a Webchat forum
Shy Silverstar: I'm using this as an excuse do to outreach on campus
Charles2 McCaw: that was one thing i would add to my wish list ...... possibilities for larger meetings
Pathfinder Linden: I'll also probably blog something. but I'll be posting the most updates to the SLED list.
Emanna Romano: We were very happy to gather about 40 yesterday for the Google Certified Teacher group
AJ Brooks: that was great, Emanna
Bonbon Braveheart: yes that was a great spontaneous meeting Emanna
Icabad Vallejo: Yeah- bummed to miss that.
AJ Brooks: glad I could be there for it
Emanna Romano: Thanks AJ
AJ Brooks: Flash Mobbing in SL
Shy Silverstar: hehe
LaBelle Rossini: lol
Pathfinder Linden: it's funny..someone just walked by my desk here at the Boston Lab.....and they said "holy cow, how many people are in that meeting on your screen? what the heck is that?"
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: AJ and I have spoken about this before, and I've been looking at the ISTE islands lately for evidence of pedagogical support for projects
AJ Brooks: Path, tell them - we take no prisoners!
Icabad Vallejo: must... step..... away.... afk
Shy Silverstar: We just had a meeting about that today for all the Ohio peeps in SL
Pathfinder Linden: lol
Icabad Vallejo: afk
Shy Silverstar: Still trying to work out good models of distributed support for folks all over the grid
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Pathfinder, tell them it's the coolest bunch of profs and administrators on the planet
Icabad Vallejo: brb
Silverstar Jewell: I have just sent off a few ppostcards of this meeting to ppl in RL:)
Shy Silverstar: it's easy to community building/support when you're clustered together, harder when everyone is fanned out to the four corners of the grid.
AJ Brooks: I'm very proud of the pedagogy that is going on here on the MSU islands
Pathfinder Linden: Ignatius, trust me, I am already the biggest fan of everyone here :)
Shy Silverstar: People get so busy working on their own island they forget to get out of the house and check out what everyone else is doing!
AJ Brooks blushes
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: yes...pedagogical support is key to getting more faculty to come in-world and to make our cases for SL
Shy Silverstar nods.
Pathfinder Linden: Shy, that's a really good point. advancement and innovation will happen through collaboration, not isolation. I tried to make that clear in that T.H.E. Journal article I was recently quoted in.
AJ Brooks: so - how do we do that?
Shy Silverstar: nod me too!
Emanna Romano: Modeling
AJ Brooks: how do we do our own thing but post places where other people can find things
Teachergirl Razor: Friday there is a Faculty demonstration day sponsored by ITS and the Teaching Support Center here
Shy Silverstar: Though I swear that reporter took a quote destined to make my bosses raise their eyebrows. heh.
AJ Brooks: is it possible to split out academic eduation in the search function?
Teachergirl Razor: I am writing an article for our ITS Bulletin
Shy Silverstar: That's a great idea AJ
AJ Brooks: the saerch produces too many "learn how to build" or "make clothing" searches
Shy Silverstar: some way to find educational content other than events, cause the edu listings there are often NOT edu related
Margaret Michalski: Great idea!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: with any new tech, you need the synergy of a group--I get that here every week. At Richmond, other than Fred and a few other colleagues, there's no SL "group." So I'm not pandering when I say that meetings like this one keep me in SL.
AJ Brooks: and only those who have a verified .edu address can post to it perhaps
Charles2 McCaw: great idea AJ
Emanna Romano: Isn't there a section on the SL wiki?
Margaret Michalski: I have noticed that some educational places are listed as PG others as Mature
Shy Silverstar: Is there an Education part on the Spotlight?
Shy Silverstar checks.
Teachergirl Razor: those of us in Canada do not have .edu
Shy Silverstar: er showcase
Shy Silverstar: yeah there is
Shy Silverstar: Edu and Non Profit
Shy Silverstar: but pretty exclusive list there. :)
AJ Brooks: see - i don't see non-profit as having the same mission as edu
Kennesaw Landar: whoops haha
Teachergirl Razor: educators here are .ca
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: AJ--that is a superb idea..if we could tag items "education" in showcase
Uskala Hidayat: Support for Booleans in the search engine would help.
Zotarah Shepherd: A lot of mature stuff slips into PG also in Search.
AJ Brooks: OMG yes!
Fred Brecher: We do a monthly newsletter with faculty profiles including their tech usage and should have the 2nd/3rd of this semester be an SL profile with avatar pic.
Shy Silverstar: nod Uskala
Emanna Romano: BRB
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: D'oh--I just saw Edu & nonprofit is a category
Pathfinder Linden: Zotarah, we're working on a number of ideas to prevent Mature stuff from ever showing up in PG.
Shy Silverstar: it is a category, but a pretty short list
AJ Brooks: and what is considered educational is questionable
Zotarah Shepherd: Good Pathfinder
Shy Silverstar: (and, perhaps predictably, the big names)
Pathfinder Linden: I can't tell you more details, but trust me. We're *really* working on it.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Yes--you get all sorts of hits now even with Mature is not checked
Shy Silverstar: hehe thanks Pathfinder, that's good to know
AJ Brooks gives an OOOOO look around the room
Uskala Hidayat: And the abolition of the metadata tax.
AJ Brooks: the what?
AJ Brooks: metadata tax?
Shy Silverstar: search tax?
Uskala Hidayat: You should not have to pay for tags on your sim.
LaBelle Rossini: ?
AJ Brooks: huh?
LaBelle Rossini: oh
Dirk Talamasca is Online
Teachergirl Razor: I agree Uskala
AJ Brooks: you men to have a parcel listed in search?
AJ Brooks: i'm confused
Uskala Hidayat: Not much, but it is a barrier to information.
Shy Silverstar: It REALLY adds up if you have a lot of parcels.
AJ Brooks: can someone explain to me what metadata tax means?
Shy Silverstar: We're up to $800L a week for one community
AJ Brooks: the $30L search fee?
Shy Silverstar: I assume so
Philled Graves: yes i think so
AJ Brooks: Uskala?
AJ Brooks: can you explain what metatdata tax is?
LaBelle Rossini: Who brought this up? Metadatatax
Pathfinder Linden: "List me in Search" fee would be a more accurate term?
Shy Silverstar: that sounds like a bad WoW name Metadatatax
Shy Silverstar: hehe
LaBelle Rossini: So is it the fee for searchability?
AJ Brooks: Path, I figured so - but was waiting for Uskala to make her thought clear
AJ Brooks: if you want your specific parcel to appear in the search, you have to pay $30L per week
Oronoque Westland: I am unclear on the PG vs Mature discussion...if i want to create an historical build with simulations of some actual horror (e.g. lynching) can I do that if an educational SIM is pg only?
Teachergirl Razor: that was what I understood from Uskala's term
AJ Brooks: but islands are listed at no cost, in both search and map
Shy Silverstar: That's a good question Oronoque
AJ Brooks: GREAT question
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: 30L is not bad. I think classifieds begin at 50L per week.
Philled Graves: could we have edu discounted spaces exempt from teh search costs?
Shy Silverstar: We ended up labeling all of our land mature "just in case" some of the college level classes cover things that might not be considered PG, even though we'd rather not be classes as mature as if there's some XXX stuff going on on our campus.
Margaret Michalski: In the health area I noticed that all hospitals are listed as Mature
LaBelle Rossini: Well, try and figure the LL budget
Teachergirl Razor: and parcels used for teaching in general
LaBelle Rossini: How much would be lost?
LaBelle Rossini: And where is the payoff?
Shy Silverstar: Personally I think parcel listing should be included in your premium account.
AJ Brooks: it usually boils down"follow the money", right?
LaBelle Rossini: Personally I tink so too
AJ Brooks: what if you don't have a premium account?
Shy Silverstar: Or heck just tack it onto tier for all I care, it's the weekly worying about lindens in the account that drive me nuts.
LaBelle Rossini: But moneywise ...
LaBelle Rossini: It's part of the appeal
AJ Brooks: once does not neet to have a premium account to own a parcel
AJ Brooks: on a private sim
Shy Silverstar: to own?
AJ Brooks: yup
Shy Silverstar: shrug then charge those people for search
Shy Silverstar: premiums should have SOME benefits. hehe.
LaBelle Rossini: So: Ask not what LL can do for you - give them an offer they can't refuse
AJ Brooks: my residents here on CHSSouth own their parcels
LaBelle Rossini: No money for EDU listings
AJ Brooks: I can reclaim them anytime I want - but they are the owner
LaBelle Rossini: But they will get ... what?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: We badgered Jimmy Linden with a bunch of ideas as to what premium memberships might include
Shy Silverstar: right I forgot about that, I hardly ever deed land on our private islands
Oronoque Westland: i better be nice to aj (smile)
AJ Brooks: lol
Shy Silverstar laughs.
AJ Brooks: one push of a button, oronoque!
AJ Brooks: LOL
AJ Brooks: (just kidding)
Teachergirl Razor: That is what my university does on its land AJ biut I also have a parcel that I got before they finally caught up
Pathfinder Linden: yes, Jimmy took careful notes. I saw a number of your ideas appear in a report he put together. So your voices were definitely heard.
AJ Brooks: I love our community here
Teachergirl Razor: group hug?
LaBelle Rossini: lol
Shy Silverstar: hehe
AJ Brooks: yes - Jimmy was very good about listen to our thoughts at our recent meeting
Oronoque Westland: hugs and more hugs
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: yep...big ol' Hillbilly hug tu yu folks :)
AJ Brooks: how nice - such a huggy group
AJ Brooks: i'm so proud of everyone
Charles2 McCaw: big doggy hug to everyone
Pathfinder Linden: I love you too, man! (sob)
Philled Graves: diapers?
AJ Brooks: now what were we talking about
Oronoque Westland: Ignatius can pass the moonshine too
Shy Silverstar dies laughing.
LaBelle Rossini: Money
Shy Silverstar: Money!
Silverstar Jewell: thats what Sl has over RL- more hugs!
AJ Brooks: ok
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: O, Pappy Enoch will do that on "come as your alt day"
Chat Range: Pathfinder Linden [7m]
Philled Graves: but i am my alt
Teachergirl Razor: Femcity Lumnia would too on an alt day
Shy Silverstar: (I have to ask, what WAS the topic today. I thought today was alt day and feel like a dork.)
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: you know--the wild creativity keeps me here
LaBelle Rossini: Just for clarifiaction: Has there been a motion to make edu listings exempt of the netadatatax?
AJ Brooks: so - if a competitor had user generate content, and a stable grid, and great frame rates, and beter customization, but you couldn't bring your SL stuff, would you go?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'd take a look, sure
Shy Silverstar: I'd look.
Uskala Hidayat: I second that motion.
Shy Silverstar: But 4 years of inventory is hard to walk away from.
Teachergirl Razor: from whichever country as long as they can demonstrate educational activity
Profdan Netizen: Esp. if the integration with 2d web was stronger,
Margaret Michalski: If I can't move stuff I probably would not go.
AJ Brooks: Crhis - What Makes SL Appealing as a Teaching/Learning Environment and What Hinderances Exist"
Profdan Netizen: such as something as simple as looking at a live web page in world.
Shy Silverstar: Also, "stable" would have to be really defined for me. I'm watching the OpenSim grids closely and already there are lots of catfights breaking out
Silverstar Jewell: AJ- definitely!
Margaret Michalski: However, I may check it out for curiosity
AJ Brooks: also - there is a notecard giver along the wall - not the orange one - the other one - that has all the upcoming meetings
Margaret Michalski: Plus, it kind of depends on what you are doing
Oronoque Westland: have folks been heolding conferences in other VW's?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: One thing--have we mentioned this?--would be a client that is very simple to use
Oronoque Westland: holding*
Shy Silverstar: I still believe it is the community in Second Life, the absolutely insane amoutn of diversity here, that makes it so appealing for teaching. Isolation isn't good for innovation.
Teachergirl Razor: I am running all my reading courses in SL because MLIS (Library Science students) are on co-op placements one here in SL
Charles2 McCaw: its ironic that making inventory transferable might not be in the interest of LL
Philled Graves: back to the costs question on search... throwing out a wild assed estimation
AJ Brooks: Woof to that Charles
Margaret Michalski: user friendly is the key
LaBelle Rossini: Dears - anyone here to answer my question about the motion on metadatatax exemption of edu content and listings?
AJ Brooks: we don't make motions here
LaBelle Rossini: oh
AJ Brooks: this is not a committee, per se
AJ Brooks: :-)
Philled Graves: we get motion sick
Shy Silverstar: I've heard of three different projects that made the investment in either the teen grid or an early opensim grid and came to the conclusion that a grid with no one in it isn't much use.
Charles2 McCaw: why make it possible for anyone to pick up their pieces and leave?
AJ Brooks: ok - since you asked for it
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Yeah--I get the impression from Au's blog that many ppl consider OpenSims to be these little communities that are a bit hostile to outsiders
LaBelle Rossini: aha
Oronoque Westland: not Robert's Rules here
Tuxedo Ninetails: Oronoque, I read about a conference in WoW
Ignatius Onomatopoeia may be way wrong
AJ Brooks: hang on everyone
Tuxedo Ninetails: I have a paper somewhere if you are interested
Tuxedo Ninetails: The conference was about gaming studies
Shy Silverstar: Yes, the WoW conference was great!
Shy Silverstar: I don't come to many conferences in SL wielding an axe.
Shy Silverstar: :)
Profdan Netizen: I think you should, Shy.
Shy Silverstar laughs.
Tuxedo Ninetails: Wow Shy, I'd love to hear about that!
AJ Brooks: except not on this island
Teachergirl Razor: I was at one from Georia Tech on Gaming and Virtual Worlds that was great!!
AJ Brooks: this is a weapon free zone
Tuxedo Ninetails: I believe that everyone died at the end of the conference?
AJ Brooks: lol
Philled Graves: if we assume 800L per week times 300 edu projects time 52 wks a year divided by 250 (exchange rate to us dollars)
Teachergirl Razor: I heard that rumor
Shy Silverstar: Here's the SLED post about the WoW conference with links to more info http://www.sl-educationblog.org/?p=116
Pathfinder Linden: "weapons free" ? oh cool. *pulls out his new recoiless rifle"
Shy Silverstar: It was in May 2008
AJ Brooks: 46K at 266
Teachergirl Razor: the grand total is?
AJ Brooks: I thnk the exchange is 266
Philled Graves: you get 12,480,000L
Philled Graves: okay
AJ Brooks: 46,917
Philled Graves: 266
Charles2 McCaw: does the weapons free policy mean i cant bite?
AJ Brooks: have you had your shots?
Oronoque Westland: curious if conferences are one of the things keeping us here --- for me personally the conferences have been fantastic
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Is Moonshine a weapon?
Pathfinder Linden: remember, when folks pay Linden Lab L$, that is essentially just taking L$ out of circulation. it is a currency sink.
Uskala Hidayat: Only if you've had your shots.
Philled Graves: so approx$45,000/yr
Profdan Netizen: Agreed, Oronoque.
Teachergirl Razor: Thanks AJ for another wonderful meeting
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Philed, thanks for that quick math
Shy Silverstar: For me Ornoque, yes, not just conferences per se, but theh community. This meeting, etc.
Pathfinder Linden: we need sinks to keep the economy stable. same way we need to balance sinks with sources.
Oronoque Westland: Moonshine is a weapon only if it stops flowing
Philled Graves nods
Charles2 McCaw: i have had all my shots, no need to worry about that
AJ Brooks: the big deal for me - to end where we started - is the community
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL O it never stops flowing :)
AJ Brooks: for those of us who have been in more than a year, it was pretty bad at some points
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: And keep in mind, educators buy stuff in-world too
AJ Brooks: Anyone remember Black Wednesdays
Uskala Hidayat: Resource discovery should be a priority for LL. It certainly is important for educators.
Shy Silverstar: The abitlity to send out a group IM and get a bunch of answers to a question, that's pretty hard to beat and hard to duplicate on a new grid.
Fred Brecher: NMC's October SL conf. had zombies and flame throwers (doing away with zombie creating tools like Blackbaord)
AJ Brooks: but we stayed for the community
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: those indirectly help the SL economy
Philled Graves gasps
Shy Silverstar: laugh yes, thank goodness no more Black Wednesdays. Send kisses to Philip for me Path. hehe
AJ Brooks: well - folks - we are approaching the end of another wonderful hour
Oronoque Westland: the time passes too quickly!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I will look forward to parsing this transcript!
AJ Brooks: if you want the transcript sof today - make sure to join the SL EDUCATION ROUNDTABLE group
AJ Brooks: or the SLED list
AJ Brooks: or our new FACEBOOK GROUP
Philled Graves: done
Shy Silverstar: (Wednesdays used to be the day they updated SL and the whole grid would be down, for those who might not know. It was a really bummer if you had a Wednesday class.)
Tuxedo Ninetails: What were Black Wednesdays?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: And I want to thank Margaret in front of the group--she got me the Dec. 23 one I, um, misplaced :)
Margaret Michalski: The facebook was a great idea
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll have both ready in a few days and will notify this group and the SLED list
Shy Silverstar: Thanks Iggy and Margaret!
Philled Graves: Pathfinder... thank you for coming and listening to us kevetch
Tuxedo Ninetails: THanks Shy
AJ Brooks: and I'll post the URL into the Facebook group
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Tux, you missed the fun...SL used to go down a LOT on Wednesdays
Philled Graves: or howe ver you spell it
Pathfinder Linden: Philled, this is my favorite recurring inworld meeting, so it is my pleasure.
Tuxedo Ninetails: Oh my! Those weren't the days!
Shy Silverstar: aww, that's awesome. AJ deserves lots of applause for keeping us all coming every week. :) Great outreach!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: hey, I got RL work done on Wednesdays..no more :)
Uskala Hidayat: ★(`'·.¸:•.•:*¨*☆•☆*¨¨*:•.•:¸.·'´)★
Uskala Hidayat: ♬♬♬,.-:* APPLAUSE *:-.,♬♬♬
Uskala Hidayat: ★(¸.·'´(¸.·'´:•.•:*¨*☆•☆*¨¨*:•.•:`'·.¸)`'·.¸)★
Zotarah Shepherd: Yes
Tuxedo Ninetails: There are some good things about being a bit newb
LaBelle Rossini APPLAUDS!!!
Pathfinder Linden: yes, props to AJ
AJ Brooks: thanks everyone - you guys keep ME motivated
Zotarah Shepherd: ✿(`'•.¸(`'•.¸ ❁ ¸.•'´)¸.•'´)✿
Zotarah Shepherd: ♫ ´•.¸¸.♫ *A*P*P*L*A*U*S*E* ♫.¸¸.•`♫
Zotarah Shepherd: ✿(¸.•'´(¸.•'´ ❁ `'•.¸)`'•.¸)✿
Ignatius Onomatopoeia claps
Tuxedo Ninetails: APPLAUSE!!!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: see ya'll next week. Take care