I don’t think I have mentioned yet how much I enjoy this book. I love the format…lots of images, topics that are short and to the point, the down and dirty I might say and the interviews with SL avatars about their experiences. In addition the notes are incredibly informative.

This chapter I put off reading until last night. I was not sure whether the information I was going to read was more than I cared to know. But again, Mr. White was to the point, provided the basics and allows the reader further investigation if they are interested. Partnering was an interesting aspect of SL. Someone to share your SL with, I know I have discovered I like the interaction in SL so having a partner doesn’t seem unreasonable. I can totally understand how avatars can get involved in relationships trying to escape unpleasant ones in RL. I know a friend of mine got involved with someone in a chat room trying to get away from unpleasant homelife. Like it appears to happen in SL, this did not work out in RL for her either. I believe Verbena even mentioned SL as an escape from RL when she had an ill relative. Some people go for a run, a drink, a meal to escape RL when it has them down. I can see SL having that appeal.

People are constantly seeking out others on the web for contact. Whether it be for relationships, interest in the same sport or hobby, advice, business or education. Our students are using facebook and myspace as away to attract viewers and contacts. Hits to a facebook or myspace account is what makes you popular.

The speed of relationships in SL, I can totally understand as well. I think anonymity plays a huge part. No one knows who I really am so I can be somebody I am not. The warning about there being real people behind the avatars was compelling to me. Everyone has feelings in and out of SL.

Sex, marriage and children in SL, nah, I have all I need in RL.

The community standards of SL, I wish, could be maintained in RL. I loved this about SL residents, “Most are creative, adventurous, tolerant, helpful, friendly, sharing, and above all else resilient to change–and for the most part patient withe architects of this worlds.”

So, who am I right now: a socializer, creator, organizer, or explorer? I am deinitely an explorer, doing a little research on the way. I hang out with those I feel safe with. I have two people from the trivia challenge who found my blog and connected. I intend to connect back to them. They are my kinda folks, other educators.

Who I will be in another fortnight, I don’t know. I know I plan to become an organizer and learn to build, a world explorer with the recommended sites from Beth and finally a risk-taker by venturing into some of the darker places in SL. The next two weeks should be very, very interesting. I am looking forward to it.

I have experienced whispers in shopping sites and at DEN. I wish someone could shed some light on this aspect of SL.

Last night I attended another DEN event. It was a trivia challenge. Were these folks FAST! I tried to answer questions but did not have a chance.  I thought it a relatively well attended event, again hosted by Riptide Furse. Beth Kohnke was there too.  She gave me a folder with her favorite places to go in SL and all of their SLURLS. I have asked if I can share them with the class, but haven’t heard back from her.

Once again I found myself multi-tasking. I was trying to answer questions, iming with Beth and trying to get some photos. What was the craziest was all the bubbles floating over everyone’s heads. I wanted to read who all the different groups they were in. Did I read profiles? No, I could barely keep up with what I was able to be doing.  I actually had fun and the hour flew by.

We met at ISTE Island and our guides were Esme and Janita. As requested by Esme, I got there early to get what I would need for the tour. We also were going to use voice again so I took my own advice and got there in plenty of time to make sure that was up and running. The tools needed for the tour were a notecard with the Slurls of the three stores we would be going to and Esme generously was passing out L$ to avatars without any financial means to do any buying. Our first stop on the tour was The Gnubie Store. I had been here before but I took a better look around this time and picked up some jewelry and shirts if I decide to ever change my clothes. I am not much of a shopper in RL so I am not sure that this did not spillover into my puchasing behavior in SL. It was nice getting things for free to add to my inventory. Next we went to Angrybeth Shortbread’s Education Tools store. Esme had told me about this place before and I had been unable to find it doing a search. It is not acturally called Angrybeth Shortbreads…but has another name which right now I cannot remember. But it show me that the search in SL may not be very sophisticated because it did not cross reference on her name. I hit the jackpot here because I got a free presenter here to show Powerpoint presentations. This I had been looking for and had priced them elsewhere for L$399.00. Now I have to figure out how to mount the presenter and actually make it function. This will be another new challenge. Our final stop was a store was Yadni’s Junkyard. I picked up some furniture and other odds and ends. The hour long shopping trip went by incredibly fast! Here are some impressions. It takes a lot to get folks organized. The recommendation for early arrival was great because we would have lost at least 15 -20 minutes getting us all set to go. The verdict remains out on voice…still think it is useful for support but find it can be distracting. I have yet to speak. Something I find curious since in RL I am quite a talker. I find myself being a careful observer. I am beginning to understand how this could be a very difficult environment for younger students. They would, I believe, easily become disengaged while you as the teacher were trying to get everyone up and running. Your average student is not patient as we are as adults. We are far more respectful of others and willing to provide assistance and support. I often find teachers unwilling to use technology with their students because they may lose control of the situation. With technology there is never any guarantee that it is always going to work. Will the network hiccup today? Will everyone be able to get access? Will the software be loaded on all the machines? There are countless ways that using technology can go wrong. We experienced lag time somewhat on Sunday ourselves. I understand why Cheowey (spelling) the professor at Biome Island said her teacher learners embraced SL more than the undergrads. They want immediacy from technology like SL. I also believe the lack of a gaming environment is also another reasons some fifteen-year-olds might find SL boring as someone posted.

I ran across this video. I bet this will be a hit, internationally.

It appears from this article and other researching I have been doing the norm for Second Life is for members to want their avatar to be attractive so I am not alone. I could not stand the way I looked and until my makeover I was actually feeling quite shy and reclusive. I have ventured out much more since I changed my appearance. Actually as I look at Pamet except for the blond streak in my hair I had in college, I have made myself to look pretty much like I did in those days.

I found the study about height interesting since the minute Esme pointed out how short I was I ran off and changed my height so I did not feel like such a shrimp! I not sure why the height was an issue… was it because I did not want to appear like a child or more likely a teen or that it would give others the sense that I lacked confidence in myself and would not be perceived as a person of merit?

I have also wondered about spending too much time working on my avatar’s look and Text commented that it was never too much time.

After reading the article I actually considered doing a search for health clubs to see about going for a workout. I went for my usual walk instead in RL. I just wondered at the time whether that kind of experience in SL would have energized me.

Did anyone else read the related Times article linked at the bottom, My So Called Second Life. He too was concerned about his looks. The evening with Cristal was fascinating to me. He spent 4 1/2 hours with her touring SL and when he found her a few days later he had to remind her who he was. How much time does Cristal spend in SL? How much time is the avid avatar online?

The fact that a male avatar does not have a penis was unknown to me. For a male avatar to have to acquire one and potentially even have to pay for it, I found a little strange. How come females have breasts and can enhance and shape them all they want?

Last evening I attended a Discovery Education Network (DEN) event. This event was held for prospective DEN Star Educators. I am in the process of applying for Star Educator status and SL Beth Konkhe is my sponsor.

I arrived at the event promptly at 4 PM SLT. Riptide Furse, lead administrator for DEN, was conducting the meeting. He was using audio. It was 7:20 before everryone got voice except me. That took until 7:50. It was chair to keyboard interface on my part why the voice did not work, so I cannot complain. I missed the obvious, my sound control button. Duh.

However, I did have a very interesting experience. Talk about multi-tasking. Between trying to IM Beth for help, reading the comments by others and trying to get the voice to work; I was all over the place. I did manage to follow what Riptide was saying because he had an interactive whiteboard outlining the application process.

I felt like I had my first experience with understanding the online life of today’s teens. They are instant messaging with friends, playing an online game and doing their homework at the same time. You have to be pretty quick to keep up. Talk about multi-sensory perceptions! I was getting audio, video and text communications all at once. I actually had two text conversations going on at one time.

I do have a suggestion for our class and anyone who is going to use audio in their meetings. Much time is wasted getting audio up and running. If in the future audio is to be used, come to class early and make sure your equipment is up and running so the event can start on time. What a waste of prime time.

I am not going to make my decision regarding the use of audio for a few more days. I want to jump in with Esme and say, “audio sucks,” but actually in class the other day I found it reassuring to listen to the voice for instruction. I am sure this is a throw back to the traditional classroom. So for me the jury is still out.

I want to relay what Beth said to me last night about her participation in DEN in SL. She has made many friends, has a new network of people to ask for opinions and assistance and collaborates all the time.

At this time, I am eager to attend more events and will take my own advice and have my equipment up and running before the event starts.

I will tell you about the island that I own in conjunction with Nauset, Plymouth and Barnstable School Districts. Plymouth is the only one not on Cape Cod but it is very close and the Tech Director there used to be in Barnstable so we have stayed in contact. We used Enhancing Education Through Technology grant funds to purchase the island. So far it has mostly been built by Kathy Dryburgh of Nauset. My building is pretty empty and I hope to learn the skills in this class to furnish it and begin to use it with teachers for professional development.

Kathy is also trying to get us into the Teen Grid but is meeting with some resistance from Linden. We meet next Tuesday so I will know much more by then.

Below are a few picture I took yesterday so you get a sense of what the island looks like. Kathy has sold off some of our unused space…I will be learning about that next week as well. I think Adobe may be setting up shop on the island tool.

I will be keeping you posted on the changes I make to LLI

Pamet

Thank you Chapter 4! I have a whole new look. I love my hair. I guess the tie dye takes me back to the 60s. Got the glasses for free at a shop giving them away as leftovers from St. Patricks day. I did buy the earrings and hair but worth the money. Found out last night at a meeting at ISTE that I was way too short so I just went and got taller. I have learned so much. I hope I am not spending too much time with the avatar but a friend told me that when she took a workshop in her school district on using SL many of the participants never got beyond their avatar at that was after 6 weeks!

I have gone to ISTE Island, a boat yard to look for a sailboat, shopped, visited Starry Night and many more that I have found by doing searches.

I did have a strange encounter with Esme a few days ago. She was talking to a Furry named Bel when his master arrived. I had no idea that Furries had masters but Bel described himself as a loser. What is funny is that the day before I had secretly tried on the same avatar for myself to see how it felt. Being a Furry was not my feel and now that I know the can be dominated and consider themselves losers I know that is not for me. In RL many would say I am a pretty strong person and definitely have a mind of my own. Although I am not much of a risk taker. I am sure this is why I am taking SL pretty slow.

I am venturing out. I went looking for computer equipment and ended up in a media store. Some of the media being sold was rather mature BUT did not hit ctl quit so I guess I am getting acclimated. I found an interactive whiteboard for sale there for L399.00 I need to check with Kathy Dryburgh of Lighthouse Learning Island (LLI) if that is good deal, it even comes with a remote.

I am planning on attending a DEN event tonight.

I look forward to Chapter 5. Learning about SL relationships I think must be important…especially after finding out about Furries. Pamet

Well it took us 45 minutes to get the sound up and running. It wasn’t until someone mentioned the need to have the headphones and mic connected first that I got mine up and running. I logged out and back in voila…sound. The voice changed the environment a lot. It was a little comforting to have it.

We visited Biome Island. I want to go back there. A lot of great things seem to be going on.

I need to learn how the SLURLs work. I could teleport with the notecard that Esme gave me but I want to learn how to enter one. I also have to figure out the giving notecards.

I am really sorry we did not have more time to work on our appearance. As I have mentioned, I need a makeover. Pamet