My first presentation today at the eLearning Guild conference was “I’m Busy Enough.. What do I Need a Second Life For?” a tact I took as I expected SL was rather outside the realm of focus for this conference.
Well, that was not fully correct, as there was a fair amount of awareness here of virtual worlds and Second Life, but when I asked the audience of 50 or so how many had Sl accounts, there were maybe 5, 7 hands raised. A number of others let me know they were there because “it sounded nothing like the other sessions my employer told me to attend” or “we’ll never use it at work but I want to know what I am missing”.
Actually it was am enthusiastic crowd and laughed at my silly pictures and anecdotes. I gave them a taste of Levine’s Law (“start with the damn demo’) so I was in Second Life after the 4th slide, showing them a desolate empty place (one that is a standard looking classroom).
I tried to present some viewpoints of skeptics; like gamers who hate the lousy graphics or lack of tasks, the fearful who are not excited after an encounter with a giant Phallus on Orientation Island, etc.
I returned to SL to do some quick site visits- went to the Virtual Hallucinations exhibit from UCDavis, the map collection from David Rumsey, the interactive maps at Daden.
Well I had fun. Here is the slideshare myPlick version of the show, but it lacks the snarky commentary.
You can find links in the presentation and the tour stops at
http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Busy_Second_Life
Hi Alan,
I didn’t get the opportunity to go to your SL presentation, but I did go to the 911 session you did the last day. I’m looking on your blog for the cool tools you presented, especially the talking animal one. I’m not having much luck. Can you post them or send me a link?
Eva
Hi Eva, that would be http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+ways
It is easily googled
nice slide show