Transcript of Second Life Education Roundtable: Sept. 22, 2009
Topic: Educational Builds in Second Life, with special guest GeoFrank Taurog (NASA eEducation Island)
Special thanks to:
After the Dr Ireton (Geofrank Taurog)'s fabulous slide tour of his Sim on Lunar Education Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lunar%20Exploration%20Island/232/86/42 and Earth Space Exploration http://slurl.com/secondlife/Earth%20Space%20Explorations/204/176/39 which relates to NASA's dual lunar mission, questions mainly revolved around the topic of today's Roundtable "Educational Builds". What makes a good build for education and No conclusion was drawn from the pool of ideas that came out but a lot of interesting considerations came out through the following questions:
- How many builders did it take to build ISS? (95% of the ISS build is GeoFrank's and some landscaping from friends) By extension and further in the discussion foster collaboration and don't duplicate what others are doing (Zotarah Sheperd)
- Whether students had task to produce out of their visit (on SL or RL), GeoFrank mentioned earlier that 40 students had chosen to do a poster display from RL to SL in the Welcome Centre.
- How much and what type of info to display on one's build? Geofrank chose not to reproduce a lunar environment (Cyber and Csteph asked) since the island's purpose is to explore the robotic exploration of the moon which is being done from Earth. The moon data for example could be translated to SL raw files but GeoFrank doesn't want to do it because he wants his site to remain a virtual search engine for RESOURCE DISCOVERY.
- What were the most important factors in creating a great educational build?
(Olivia Hotshot) GeoFrank replied that it has to go beyond a "pretty" build : ALL his exhibits link to further information because "the nice model of a rocket is just a model of a rocket", it doesnot provide information to the viewer and then the build is an empty shell. Zotarah Sheperd liked the idea of a LM giver and weblinks on builds and Katie Fenstalker likes both immersive economies of sensation and interactive elements in a build.
- Ignatius Onomatopoeia asked whether students and social residents "should be encouraged to stop by to see our content with non-academic events". IN 2010 IO is considering a haunted house tour in the House of Usher build. Will this encourage more "SERIOUS" use? Hypatia Pickens agreed. Dante and MacBeth islands were mentioned as superb educational builds. Hypatia mentioned a build for a Chaucer's tale because VISUAL INFORMATION can be economic and beautiful, Cyber and Zotarah suggested holodecks and rezzers for keeping prims counts lower on sims to make students forget they are in "class" (Ignatius) and Csteph Submariner got carried away with building in his mind a lunar environment with textures and bounce scripts in invisiprims :-)
- What do the majority of educational sims not do well? How can we improve our builds? Hypatia mentioned that the replication of classrooms down to the seats. IO added the high number of prims at Usher and that it is hard to de-prim, Katie Fenstalker mentioned that too much lag is no fun at all. (Arabella declared that one way to cut down on lag is to have everyone wear low prim clothing and provide that clothing for everyone once they enter the sim and Olivia added Avatar Rendering Cost (ARC) shows a point score above each avatar's head which indicates how "laggy" they are on the viewer-side. ARC is found in Advanced Menu > Rendering > Info Displays > Avatar Rendering Cost. The score is a factor of the size and number of textures used, and the number and type of primitives used. Avatars with large textures, lots of flexi-prim parts and high prim count objects, and/or invisible parts will score higher than one that uses fewer/smaller textures, using a few sculpties instead of many basic primitives, etc.)
Cyber sugested that getting too carried away with the look of the build can sometimes lead to losing the initial learning outcome and its raison d'tre for students or CoPs. Kali Pizzaro said that an empty pretty building may not keep everyone's attention, Bill Friis added that "too fantastic" can be disorienting to the point of preventing communication"
Unanswered questions:
- whether ISS residents have enough bandwidth for SL to stream NASA TV Exosius Woolley and Csteph Submariner?
- Does an environment need to be "serious" for academic learning, what is the borderline?
- Has Mackman retrieved her parts (?) and Iggy his dreads? [Iggy's note: High rendering costs or no, The Dreads never left my head :)]
Our Chat:
Olivia Hotshot: Hi everyone, and welcome to this week's SL Education Roundtable.
Olivia Hotshot: These meetings are made possible by the Office of Information Technology at Montclair State University.
Olivia Hotshot: We meet here each week at 2:30pm SLT for an hour.
Olivia Hotshot: The SL Education Roundtable is a forum to educate and inform the community about issues that are important and relevant to education.
Olivia Hotshot: The views and opinions of any of our special guests or visitors do not necessarily represent those who volunteer or organize these meetings, or of Montclair State University or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences or Office of Information Technology at Montclair State.
Kali Pizzaro: very diplomatic Katie
Olivia Hotshot: Our meetings are roundtable style, so those in the theater seats please come down and join us at the table.
Olivia Hotshot: Our magic expanding table will always have an empty seat, located closest to the ramp.
Olivia Hotshot: Our topic/theme today is Educational Builds in Second Life.
Olivia Hotshot: This is a public meeting, so we do keep a transcript of what is said in local chat.
Olivia Hotshot: For a copy of transcripts, please visit http://www.virtualworldsedu.info/slroundtable/
Olivia Hotshot: Special thanks to our resident scribe, Iggy Onomatopoeia, for taking care of this. If you've not seen the transcripts, you should check them out - they are a great information asset.
Olivia Hotshot: Information on FUTURE MEETINGS is available from the notecard giver on the West wall of the Amphitheater.
Olivia Hotshot: We have an amazing lineup of meeting for you, with topics set (subject to change) between now and the end of December.
Olivia Hotshot: The SL Education Roundtable meeting happens each week and we are looking to develop a community of educators from around the world with a variety of thoughts, needs, and ideas.
Olivia Hotshot: Please join the SL EDUCATION ROUNDTABLE group. If you have problems finding it in search, here inside the amphitheater, on the Eastern wall, you will see a display
Olivia Hotshot: Clicking the and follow the instruction in local chat on how to join the group.
Olivia Hotshot: As the group grows, there will be announcements, surveys, and decisions made that will be exclusive to the group.
Olivia Hotshot: Aside from the island we are currently on, Montclair State University also has two other educational islands adjoining to the north.
Olivia Hotshot: There are also numerous learning areas on these adjoining islands, Montclair State CHSS, which is home to our Quidditch pitch and the SL MSU Library,
Olivia Hotshot: and Montclair State CEHSADP, which is home to The Theorist Project and Wilber Middle School Library. Wander around and enjoy.
Olivia Hotshot: If you are on Facebook, please join our group there - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44078263753&ref=share
Olivia Hotshot: Thanks to Olivia Hotshot for putting together a Flickr group for the SLER. I encourage everyone to join the group and to take pictures from our meeting and add them to the group. Its a great way to show, and grow, our community.
Olivia Hotshot: Finally, if you have Mystitool on, or other similar tool, please put it to sleep or detach it for now. :-) It tends to lag things.
Olivia Hotshot: As a hint, it is better to have "local chat" open for these meetings, it will help you follow the conversation better.
Olivia Hotshot: You can find local chat by clicking COMMUNICATE in the bottom navigation bar and you'll find LOCAL CHAT as one of the tabs at the bottom of the Communicate window.
Olivia Hotshot: I'd also like to remind folks to come on down and join us around the table, there's always an open seat closest to the ramp.
Olivia Hotshot: Why don't we get started they way we usually do, by introducing ourselves. No need to wait, go ahead and type who you are, where you are, and your ties to education into local chat.
Olivia Hotshot: I am Ann Steckel, an educational technology consultant and educator from California State University, Chico.
Hypatia Pickens: mysti tool gone...
Kali Pizzaro: Evelyn McElhinney Nurse educator using Sl for teaching
Ahlan Oh: Alan Epstein, Robotics Team Leader, Watertown HS, Massachusetts
Lolly Dovgal: I'm Laura Sederberg, an instructional designer and manager of the Technology and Learning Program at Chico State.
Margaret Michalski: Margaret Czart, Research Information Specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Hypatia Pickens: I'm Hypatia Pickens, professor of English at the University of Rochester.
Zotarah Shepherd: I am a MA in Education (technology and psychology) student at Sonoma State University in northern California working an a curriculum project: Teaching and Learning Life-Skills in Second Life. I am working on an Immersive Interactive Educational build about Life-skills on an educational sim called Ralanora.
Geoff Lumley is Geoff Barker-Read from the University of Leeds, UK. I'm Head of the Academic Quality and Standards Team
Grinn Pidgeon: Dr. Barbara Pittman, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio. Faculty Development/Instructional technology/English teacher
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Outreach/221/206/28
Bill Friis: Bill Freese, Montana State University Instructional Media Lab
Vic Michalak: Phil Youngblood, Head of Compuer Information Systems Dept at University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
Dusty Artaud: Randi Kopp, Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum, NJ
Teri Boxen: teri lind, California State University East Bay, Simulation and San Jose Sate University SL in nursing
Katie Fenstalker: Katie King, Women's Studies, University of Maryland
Mimi Muircastle: mimi/charlotte independent educator :)
Mackmarn Parx: Mike Moran, MS student Biomedical Visualization, University of Illinois at Chicago
Ignatius Onomatopoeia is Joe Essid, Dept. of Rhetoric and Communication Studies. I'm the University of Richmond's Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum Director. I've taught 3 classes in writing or lit with SL. I'm part of a design team building an immersive simulation of Poe's House of Usher, to launch in Spring 2010.
Csteph Submariner: Chris Stephens - University of Oxford, working on a project to do with WWI poetry
Firery Broome: University of Delaware
Aselin Arrowmint: Rachel Desmarais, Forsyth Technical Community College, NC
Bev Landar: Gay McCarter of HMS _ consultant in complexity in DC
Dusty Artaud: sorry off now
Exosius Woolley: Edward Howell, Instructional technology, Valencia Community College
Chimera Cosmos: Liz Dorland, Washington U in St. Louis
ericcgcc Yootz: eric greene columbia gorge cc
Profdan Netizen: Dan Holt, Lansing Community College, Lansing Michigan, teaching writing, online and f2f.
Kali Pizzaro: cheers
Hypatia Pickens: I teach Old and Middle English, film and cultural studies, and creative writing
Eliasdehart Sixpence: Casey Ashe, Tulsa Community College in the LRC (library)
Olivia Hotshot: [for the record: 43 in sim now]
Jarrad Voom: jarrad voom
npellas Passariello: Nick Pellas from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece
Olivia Hotshot: Last call for introductions.
Chimera Cosmos: about the same number as last week, eh Olivia?
any1 Gynoid: Any Gynoid, NCI Faculty, SL Enquirer, Superstar CNN iReporter, and Afghan Education Initiative http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-330829 @any1gynoid (twitter)
Olivia Hotshot: It seems so.
Herb Glenwalker: Herb Schilling, NASA educator
Olivia Hotshot: OK, lets start. This is how we will proceed:
Olivia Hotshot: First i will introduce our guest.
Olivia Hotshot: Second he will tell us a bit about his builds.
Olivia Hotshot: Next we will ask questions of him and of the group.
Olivia Hotshot: And on with the show. =)
Olivia Hotshot: It is with great pleasure that I get to introduce a good friend, GeoFrank Taurog.
Olivia Hotshot: First of all, let me welcome our special guest, GeoFrank Taurog, who works in the Second Life metaverse as a developer and builder for NASA related projects.
Bev Landar: Will we be using voice?
Olivia Hotshot: Text
Olivia Hotshot: Dr. Ireton recently retired after forty years as an educator and public outreach professional. During his career he taught middle/high school Earth science mathematics and computer science, university geosciences.
Olivia Hotshot: He also extended day science courses for non-science majors.
Olivia Hotshot: In 1987 he left the classroom, spending five years on curriculum development for the National Science Teachers Association, was employed for eleven years as Education Programs Manager for the American Geophysical Union.
Olivia Hotshot: Dr. Ireton ended his active career as an Integrated Process Team Lead for a NASA contract at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Olivia Hotshot: Dr. Ireton served as Executive Advisor for the National Earth Science Teachers Association and as Treasurer for the Coalition for Earth Science Education.
Olivia Hotshot: Since retirement Dr. Ireton has become active in social media and does contract work in the Second Life metaverse as a developer and builder for NASA related projects.
Mimi Muircastle: yay for middle school educators ;)
Olivia Hotshot: He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Maryland College Park.
Olivia Hotshot: He is a Presidential Award winner for excellence in science teaching, life member and fellow of the National Speleological Society and the National Earth Science Teachers Association, and is a life member of the Idaho Science Teachers Association.
Zotarah Shepherd smiles and nods to Mimi
Geofrank Taurog: Thanks Olivia, I have two sims supported by NASA subcontracts
Olivia Hotshot: Behind the table, where the Montclair sign normal is, we have a slide board. Frank will be explaining the images as we go. Ready Frank?
Geofrank Taurog: Yep
Olivia Hotshot: Awesome.
Geofrank Taurog: The main supporting contract is with the return to the moon program
Geofrank Taurog: NASA recently launched a dual mission to the moon
Geofrank Taurog: One satellite is an orbiter and the second will impact the lunar surface
Geofrank Taurog: My sim, Lunar Education Island highlight the lunar missions.
Geofrank Taurog: The second sim is an offshoot thatI use for other Earth and Space science projects.
Geofrank Taurog: We recently hosted the in world presence of the NASA Astrobiology Graduate Conferernce
Geofrank Taurog: Mainly the poster session though we did stream the talk portion of the meeting in as well
Kali Pizzaro: fab
Geofrank Taurog: A two way link allowed students at the U of Wash communicate with students online viewing their posters
Geofrank Taurog: So a quick tour of LEI-Lunar Exploration Island
Geofrank Taurog: By the way we came up with the name LEI over a couple of beers at the Kona Brew Pub on the Big Island
Olivia Hotshot: [47 people in sim]
Jarrad Voom: Go Huskies
Olivia Hotshot: hehe
Geofrank Taurog: Cool. Nice turnout for this
Ignatius Onomatopoeia grins--in the spirit of those Right Stuff Mercury 7
Geofrank Taurog: On the screen is the welcome center for LEI
Geofrank Taurog: the entry point is controlled so visitors land here
Geofrank Taurog: there are orientation materials and links with information about the mission and the island
Geofrank Taurog: next slide
Olivia Hotshot: done
Olivia Hotshot: Hall of Flight
Geofrank Taurog: The Hal of Flight is the central exhibit space
Hypatia Pickens: Hal? Hall?
Olivia Hotshot: Hall
Hypatia Pickens: (I'm thinking of the computer!) ha
Hypatia Pickens: film-head
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: me too...ready with a Hal 9000 quip. Be sure to see Moon if you loved 2001.
Geofrank Taurog: LOL. Lindenese for hall. An almost full scale model of the Atlas rocket gives and idea of the size
Bill Friis: Dave?
Hypatia Pickens: I did
Geofrank Taurog: This image is kind of squeezed up a bit
Geofrank Taurog: next
Zotarah Shepherd: What is the Hall of Flight about?
Olivia Hotshot: done - hall Interior
Chimera Cosmos: nice big display screen Olivia :-)
Geofrank Taurog: The LRO/LCROSS mission to the moon
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: if anyone can photograph the slides for our transcript, please do so
Olivia Hotshot: =) when you get old you need things a bit larger, Chimera
Chimera Cosmos: heheh liking that
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and upload them to the Flickr group...slow load for me on the slides
Kali Pizzaro: haha
Geofrank Taurog: I can provide you with the slides or Olivia has copies
Olivia Hotshot: I wil upload all slides - if Frank agrees.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: thanks, Geofrank. I'd love them for th transcript
Lolly Dovgal: I'm taking some photos...
Herb Glenwalker: is the hall of flight interactive?
Geofrank Taurog: Inside hall is a model of the Centaur upper stage and the satellite stack
Geofrank Taurog: You will see bill boards around the room with mission and instrument information.
Geofrank Taurog: next the sign is a computer monitor with a link to an external website
Geofrank Taurog: next slide
Olivia Hotshot: Done - LRO Instruments
Geofrank Taurog: This is a view of the instrument suite on LRO-the obiter
Geofrank Taurog: Each instrument is supported by a website
Dagmar Kojishi: Is this in voice also? I'm not hearing anything, and need to troubleshoot if so.
Csteph Submariner: not in voice
Olivia Hotshot: No voice - text only
Dagmar Kojishi: Thx!
Geofrank Taurog: the monitors link to the website
Geofrank Taurog: when the website is closed the viewer is returned to SL
cyber Placebo: what do you find on the website?
cyber Placebo: for each instrument?
Geofrank Taurog: Information about the instrument.
Geofrank Taurog: From how it was designed to what it is doing
Olivia Hotshot: Nice way to link SL to the actual world.
cyber Placebo: ok
Geofrank Taurog: LRO is just now entering the data collection phase of the mission and there will be results on the sites
Ahlan Oh: in real time?
Geofrank Taurog: Yes
Jarrad Voom: "excuse me Bella, slipped"
Profdan Netizen: that's cool
Arabella Robonaught: np
Geofrank Taurog: If you go to the LRO website there are images from LROC
Geofrank Taurog: High resolution camera
Geofrank Taurog: of the Apollo landing sites
Geofrank Taurog: you can see the trails left by the astronauts during their visits
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: excellent. A public education tool to help debunk a few myths, too.
Geofrank Taurog: that is just one of six instruments on board
Geofrank Taurog: Next slide
any1 Gynoid: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html LRO = Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Olivia Hotshot: done - Hall of Flight History
Ahlan Oh: True believers of conspiracies are undaunted by facts.
Geofrank Taurog: That is the NASA website
Olivia Hotshot: hah! Alan. Good one.
Hypatia Pickens: Ha Ahlan!
Geofrank Taurog: The two missions have supporting websites with other information
Geofrank Taurog: I think Olivia has a note card with URL
Katie Fenstalker: wonderful website too.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: that would be good for the transcript if we can post it here in chat
Geofrank Taurog: The second floor is history of robotic exploration of the moon
Olivia Hotshot: I will post it once i find it Frank.
Geofrank Taurog: LOL
Marc Rexen: Best evidence, and unlike the Boy Scouts, they didn't pack their trash when they left...:)
Olivia Hotshot: (Afraid to leave the slide folder at the moment and lose track.)
Bill Friis: Costs a lot to pack stuff out there.
Olivia Hotshot: Only allowed a carry on and one personal bag.
Geofrank Taurog: One reason for the LRO mission, which is developing a detailed atlas of the moon, is if you put all the Apollo missions together
any1 Gynoid: LOL
Geofrank Taurog: the area explored would fit inside the National Mal in Washington DC
Kali Pizzaro: for the transcript 50 people
Katie Fenstalker: that small an area?
Geofrank Taurog: Apollo 11 area was about the size of a baseball diamond
Geofrank Taurog: diamond
Olivia Hotshot: wow
Katie Fenstalker: reasons?
Geofrank Taurog: Limited resources
Arabella Robonaught: The National Mall really isn't that small
Geofrank Taurog: time and supplies
Lolly Dovgal: Hard to believe.
Katie Fenstalker: would returning be there or elsewhere?
Geofrank Taurog: Would you base your assumption of Earth if that was all you explored?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Wish we'd had Apollos 18-20...one would have landed on the dark side
Souloist Solo: me too
Geofrank Taurog: Because of the orbits all Apollo missions where equatorial
Geofrank Taurog: yes
Bev Landar: Russians did that... did they share info?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia is an utter space geek (can recall the Gemini missions)
Ahlan Oh: (We spent 8 years in the US exploring the dark side!)
Bill Friis: hehe
Olivia Hotshot: Next Slide - Redwood Stage
Bev Landar: :)
any1 Gynoid: LOL
Hypatia Pickens bows to Ignatius
Geofrank Taurog: This is the redwood stage area
Katie Fenstalker: (can recall John Glenn's orbit.)
Kali Pizzaro: go Iggy
Souloist Solo: me too
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL Ahlan..I was thinking of my stoner recollections of Pink Floyd
Dagmar Kojishi: Me too. :/
Hypatia Pickens: I can recall sputnik
Zotarah Shepherd recalls first moon landing.
Geofrank Taurog: A video screen displays video feeds. We have NASA TV running there most of the time
Hypatia Pickens: Have you beat Zotarah. :)
Olivia Hotshot: [NASA tv is now running on our Burning Life sim]
Bev Landar: excellent!
Geofrank Taurog: People come in and watch launches, shuttle missions
Zotarah Shepherd: Yes I recall Sputnik too. hehe
Exosius Woolley: Question: Do the ISS residents have enough bandwidth for SL?
Geofrank Taurog: had quite a crowd during the Hubble servicing missions
Katie Fenstalker: how did you get into SL Geofrank? what drew you and NASA here?
Arabella Robonaught: good question
Csteph Submariner: interesting Exosius
Dagmar Kojishi: brb. Have to relog, try to get the slide textures to show.
Olivia Hotshot: Next Slide - Moon
Bill Friis: Won't help.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: cool...getting slides
Geofrank Taurog: lets finish this and then field a few questions
Marc Rexen: Now that would be an interesting guest Iggy...Outer Space meets Inner Space. :)
Geofrank Taurog: This the MyMoon offices
Hypatia Pickens: Excellent!
Katie Fenstalker: nice.
Geofrank Taurog: links to MyMoon and Connect to the Moon are located here
Olivia Hotshot: [If you have trouble with rezzing try this" Advanced Menu/ Clear Group Cache]
Geofrank Taurog: MyMoon is a recent addition. and well worth a visit
Geofrank Taurog: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/mymoon/
cyber Placebo: have you tried to reproduce a lunar environment as well?
Olivia Hotshot: Next Slide - Mission Control
Csteph Submariner: I wondered that cyber
Geofrank Taurog: This is a representation of Mission Control Building . Video feed of NASA TV for the launch
Hypatia Pickens: that would be wonderful. I had wondered as well.
Zotarah Shepherd: It helps mitigate the lag for everyone if we have green render numbers and most of us do.
Bill Friis: Everybody wants to go to the Moon.
Csteph Submariner: any way to translate the geo data from the moon to SL RAW files?
cyber Placebo: I am not fussed :-)
Hypatia Pickens: (green render numbers?)
Olivia Hotshot: Last Slide - Glen Meeting
Geofrank Taurog: This is one of the informal meeting sites on the sim
Jarrad Voom: green render numbers?
Profdan Netizen: Very nice, Geo.
Geofrank Taurog: A quick look at the astrobiology site
Bev Landar: Wonderful! :)
Olivia Hotshot: We can explain rendering cost at the end if you'd like.
Hypatia Pickens: "google for AVATAR RENDERING COST" is what someone IMed me.
Zotarah Shepherd: Advanced rendering> Info Displays > Avatar Rendering Cost
Olivia Hotshot: Next slide - NABI
Olivia Hotshot: Please hold all the render convo?
Geofrank Taurog: In the foreground is the welcome center with the poster area behind it
Zotarah Shepherd: Advanced > Rendering*
Dagmar Kojishi: I'm just getting gray textures. Will the slides be available somewhere? I could match up with the transcript later.
Geofrank Taurog: 40 of the student at the conference submitted posters to the SL session
Olivia Hotshot: Next Slide - Poster
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: we'll have them in the transcript
Dagmar Kojishi: Thx!
Geofrank Taurog: This the poster session area with some of the visitors
cyber Placebo: WOW that was part of their assessment?
Geofrank Taurog: Voluntary
cyber Placebo: group work?
Katie Fenstalker: love doing posters in SL.
cyber Placebo: that is encouraging!
Geofrank Taurog: these were the same posters they had on site at UW
Bev Landar: excellent! :)
Geofrank Taurog: In-world students could question them about the work
cyber Placebo: so they are RL connected too? not isolated distance students?
Geofrank Taurog: and the posters were all set to vend
Olivia Hotshot: Last Slide?
Katie Fenstalker: vend?
Geofrank Taurog: so when clicked they gave a copy
Katie Fenstalker: nice.
Olivia Hotshot: Final slide - Stage
Geofrank Taurog: the last slide is the conference stage area
Arabella Robonaught: very nice
Geofrank Taurog: On the left is the video feed from the meeting and on the right it the PowerPoint presentation
cyber Placebo: Do the students do presentations there? or is for external speakers?
Geofrank Taurog: Our inworld presentation included international students
Kali Pizzaro: great
Geofrank Taurog: The presenters where at the U of W
Geofrank Taurog: in Seattle
Profdan Netizen: So inworlders can see both the speaker and the PPT that they see in RL?
Geofrank Taurog: the video feed let the in world people watch them
Geofrank Taurog: Yes
Profdan Netizen: How civilized!
Olivia Hotshot: Thanks Frank. Great info. And as Iggy said, all slides will be in the transcript. Now it is time for questions. Feel free to type into the chat area, but lets give Frank a moment to answer.
Csteph Submariner: interested in Exosius's question about enough bandwidth for SL
Olivia Hotshot: Anyone want to ask something?
Csteph Submariner: for the ISS residents
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I've a Q
Bev Landar: Excellent! Thank you GeoFrank! :)
Geofrank Taurog: the ISS astronauts are tweeting
Katie Fenstalker: how did and NASA get into SL?
Geofrank Taurog: as the shuttle astronauts
Katie Fenstalker: did you.
any1 Gynoid: what there the most important success factors in creating a great educational exhibit in SL?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: good Q, any1
Olivia Hotshot: Frank feel free to pick and answer.
Katie Fenstalker: how many builders needed for this build?
Geofrank Taurog: NASA has been in SL for a while
Csteph Submariner: Also interested in why, if your sim is about moon exploration, it is set on earth?
Geofrank Taurog: 95% of the build is mine
Csteph Submariner: Aye, know that feeling :)
Zotarah Shepherd: I was wondering that too Csteph
Katie Fenstalker: wow!
Geofrank Taurog: I have some friends that did some of the landscaping
Hypatia Pickens: Are a visitor to the new Blue Mars VR, GeoFrank?
Geofrank Taurog: The sim is about robotic exploration ofthe moon
Geofrank Taurog: which is being done from Earth
Zotarah Shepherd: Although there are some builds of Mars and the Moon on other sims
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Should we encourage students and social residents to stop by to see our content with non-academic events? For 2010, I'm considering a haunted house tour, for instance, in the House of Usher build. Do you think this will encourage more "serious" use?
cyber Placebo: So is this Sims an incentive for students to explore further?
cyber Placebo: work on their own?
Csteph Submariner: could you translate the moon data you are getting to SL RAW files to shape the sim?
Opensource Obscure: thanks Geofrank , bye everybody !
cyber Placebo: Is there any task they have to produce out fo their visit?
Bill Friis: Adios, Opensource.
Geofrank Taurog: The data could be translated yes
Geofrank Taurog: Not sure I would do it
Csteph Submariner: how come?
Geofrank Taurog: the sim is more a virtual search engine the way I look at it
Olivia Hotshot: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Earth%20Space%20Explorations/204/176/39
Csteph Submariner: fair enough
Geofrank Taurog: Both sims show in search
Geofrank Taurog: Lunar Exploration Island
Geofrank Taurog: and Earth Space Exploration
Zotarah Shepherd: Occasionally Desideria Stockton and Eloise Pasteur give lessons in creating interactive immersive educational builds in SL.
Csteph Submariner: They did the Dante thing didn't they?
Geofrank Taurog: any other questions I missed in the flurry?
Zotarah Shepherd: Yes!
Csteph Submariner: superb build!
Olivia Hotshot: Frank, i have a question for you - was asked above: what there the most important success factors in creating a great educational exhibit in SL?
Hypatia Pickens: Have you seen the Macbeth sim as well?
Bev Landar: Great talk, GeoFrank. Thank you. :)
Hypatia Pickens: Yes wonderful
Geofrank Taurog: I think the sim has to go beyond a pretty build
Csteph Submariner: yes, love the Macbeth sim
zazen Manbi: doh I missed it
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Still curious about my Q, Geofrank
Profdan Netizen: Did we get a slurl for the site?
cyber Placebo: Do you recycle stuff, have you had to mondify things from your original build
Tuxedo Ninetails: Thanks Frank :)
cyber Placebo: because they did not work?
Hypatia Pickens: What do you mean by "pretty"?
Geofrank Taurog: All of my exhibts are linked to further information
Kali Pizzaro: good point Geo Frank
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: how much we can encourage serious usage with non-academic events
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: or should...
Hypatia Pickens: Exactly!
Geofrank Taurog: Pretty, fantastic, mind boggling SL builds
Hypatia Pickens: Why not?
Geofrank Taurog: A nice model of a rocket is just a model of a rocket
Hypatia Pickens: Actually, being a film/literature prof....
Kali Pizzaro: exactly we have a lovely replica of our clinical skills lab but not much use if no one used it
Zotarah Shepherd: I like the idea of having a LM giver and weblinks on our educational topics clickable on our builds.
Geofrank Taurog: It does not provide any information to the viewer
Hypatia Pickens: I want to entice anyone to a build, say, of a Chaucer tale
Hypatia Pickens: I disagree.
Olivia Hotshot: A question now for the group. What do the majority of educational sims do well?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: exactly, Hypatia
Hypatia Pickens: I think visual information can be economic and beautiful.
cyber Placebo: Hypatia in a holodeck maybe
Zotarah Shepherd: Why duplicate what others are doing if their builds will be up for a while.
hobbs Constantine: foster collaboration
Hypatia Pickens: holodecks are useful.
Olivia Hotshot: Type away folks - lets brainstorm.
cyber Placebo: which could also have other literary landscapes?
Kali Pizzaro: Depends Hypatia what your reason for building i suppose
Csteph Submariner: chuck a dome over the sim with a moving star texture
Geofrank Taurog: I didn't say it couldnt be pretty
Hypatia Pickens: Yes... collaboration
Geofrank Taurog: or fantastic
Geofrank Taurog: or wild
Kali Pizzaro: is it for show or for use
Olivia Hotshot: A question now for the group. What do the majority of educational sims do well?
Bill Friis: Stimulate curiosity.
cyber Placebo: aah I like that Csteph
Csteph Submariner: put bounce scripts in invisiprims on the ground, to make people walk like astronauts...
Hypatia Pickens: For use.
Zotarah Shepherd: Holodecks and rezzers are also good for keeping the prim counts lower on sims.
cyber Placebo: chuck a texture and there you go you are in the universe
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Make students forget they are in "class"
Csteph Submariner: grey ground textures
Geofrank Taurog: What I said was it is an empty shell without further information
Hypatia Pickens: Well exactly Iggy
Hypatia Pickens: And what I said is that information comes at us all the time in the visual.
Katie Fenstalker: I like both immersive economies of sensation and also interactive elements.
Hypatia Pickens: But then What i'm after is not scientific per se...
Csteph Submariner: agreed Frank,
Hypatia Pickens: Yes Katie.
Olivia Hotshot: And finally What do the majority of educational sims not do well? How can we improve our builds?
Csteph Submariner: but a little theatre in how you present that information, goes a long way
Hypatia Pickens: What they don't do well is replicating the classroom down to the seats
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: You have to be careful. We have too many prims at Usher. Hard to de-prim it but so much now.
cyber Placebo: yes but in creating environment
cyber Placebo: you should keep in mind what the outcome is
cyber Placebo: it takes a lot of effort in creating builds
cyber Placebo: and time
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: If I were to redo it, we'd meet as a team earlier, and I'd give the whole team lessons on lag.
Bill Friis: We live in the age of prim poverty.
Hypatia Pickens: an artform
Kali Pizzaro: no offence meant Hypatia but if it is a empty pretty building it may not keep everyones attention. That is all i meant.
Katie Fenstalker: prims issues are important. How did that work with this build Geofrank?
cyber Placebo: and we might tend to lose track why we want the students there
cyber Placebo: fantasy is good
Hypatia Pickens: I'm not saying it can't have links!
cyber Placebo: but it might not match what students expect either
Hypatia Pickens: Literature... please.
Hypatia Pickens: A lot of which is "fantasy."
Geofrank Taurog: I own the full sim so prim count isnt a real issue
Kali Pizzaro: but it needs to still look good
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @cyber...true. But you can use textures in a clever way to avoid over-primming a build
cyber Placebo: indeed hypatia
Olivia Hotshot: Lunar Exploration Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lunar%20Exploration%20Island/232/86/42
Geofrank Taurog: plus I practice prim economy in my builds
Hypatia Pickens: Exactly Iggy
Bill Friis: Too fantastic can be disorienting to the point of preventing communication.
Katie Fenstalker: lag is also a big thing -- no fun with too much lag.
Katie Fenstalker: people get seasick even.
Olivia Hotshot: Astrobiology Sim: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Earth%20Space%20Explorations/171/147/37
Zotarah Shepherd: High rez and transparencies add to the lag too in building
Kali Pizzaro: indeed atie
Hypatia Pickens: hahah!
Kali Pizzaro: Katie
Katie Fenstalker: lol
cyber Placebo: wow nice brainstorm
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: SL is poor at handling transparency. But it's such a great effect.
cyber Placebo: would be nice to have a little summary of that
Olivia Hotshot: Iggy will do that Cyber.
Hypatia Pickens: yes Iggy
cyber Placebo: Just wondered anybody here
cyber Placebo: from rockliffe
cyber Placebo: I am interested in the language lab
Zotarah Shepherd: There should be a margin of about 3200 on a full sim so people can move more easily
Bill Friis: Transparency often saves prims.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @cyber...you sum it up and send it to me for the transcript! I'm jessid-at-richmond-dot-edu
cyber Placebo: I found on this island
Olivia Hotshot: Folks, lets wrap this up, please?
Zotarah Shepherd: True Bill
Olivia Hotshot: First of all I would like to thank GeoFrank for coming today and speaking with us.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia applauds Geofrank! Great talk!
Olivia Hotshot claps
cyber Placebo: okay maybe just the last part
Hypatia Pickens: APPLAUSE!!!!
Hypatia Pickens claps wildly ***JUST AWESOME***
Kali Pizzaro: great meeting thanks GeoFrank
Bev Landar: Thank you all for the wonderful info and talk. :) 'Bye.
Katie Fenstalker: yes! Claps!
cyber Placebo: how do I save the chat
Mackmarn Parx: thanks!
Tuxedo Ninetails: APPLAUSE!!!!
Joy Rembrandt: terrific!
Geofrank Taurog: Thanks Olivia for inviting me over
Arabella Robonaught: one way to cut down on lag is to have everyone wear low prim clothng and provide that clothing for everyone once they enter the sim
Olivia Hotshot: Second, thank all of you for coming and sharing with us.cyber Placebo: fantabulous
Tuxedo Ninetails: Thanks everyone!
Csteph Submariner claps
Zotarah Shepherd: Thank you Geofrank
Hypatia Pickens: I'll tell you cyber...
Zotarah Shepherd claps
Csteph Submariner: thank you Geofrank
Geofrank Taurog: I am on line most days if anyone wants to track me down
Katie Fenstalker: thx.
Jarrad Voom: Thank you Geofrank
Olivia Hotshot: Last, anyone who would like to learn a bit about avatar rendering cost, please stay and i will post a few links. Plus I am sure Zotarah can help as well.
Arabella Robonaught: thank you very much, quite interesting
Hypatia Pickens: thanks, and I enjoyed our debate! :)
Hypatia Pickens: I'm still learning
Olivia Hotshot: Avatar Rendering Cost (ARC) shows a point score above each avatar's head which indicates how "laggy" they are on the viewer-side. ARC is found in Advanced Menu > Rendering > Info Displays > Avatar Rendering Cost. The score is a factor of the size and number of textures used, and the number and type of primitives used. Avatars with large textures, lots of flexi-prim parts and high prim count objects, and/or invisible parts will score higher than one that uses fewer/smaller textures, using a few sculpties instead of many basic primitives, etc.
Kali Pizzaro: Cheers Hypatia
Olivia Hotshot: Take care Frank and thanks everyone for coming!
Zotarah Shepherd: Yes thanks Olivia I am glad to help anyone with that
Arabella Robonaught: ty Olivia
Geofrank Taurog: Oops, sorry for stepping o
Geofrank Taurog: See yas