March 30, 2009
Astronomy Sites in Second Life: NASA's Explorer Island
Join us for the last of the theme semester related tours in Second Life. We'll start from the planetarium, where you can see what the sky will look like tonight or even see if the International Space Station will be visible. From there, it's a short trip to the exhibits on many of the current and upcoming missions that NASA plays a part in. You can even find out more about missions UM has a part in.
Members of the Wolverine Community can meet on Wolverine Island at noon (9 SLT), and we'll teleport to the Up is Up Planetarium. Others can meet us at 12:10 at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Explorer%20Island/212/101/47.
Posted by pfa at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2009
Want Professional Clothes? Check Out Little Rebel
It is very sad to say, but Little Rebel is closing forever. The announcement of the final sale was posted to the SLED list. Little Rebel has both professional and casual clothes for both genders that are excellently designed, with very realistic textures, yet are low prim and low lag. What more could you want?
Well, this final week, prices are only $25L. Some of the sale items include sets with 3-7 outfits or ensembles, with other will be a single shirt or pair of pants. Highly recommended.
slurl.com/secondlife/Gallinas/151/93/58
Men's clothing is upstairs and to the left.
Women's clothing is on the first floor.
Posted by pfa at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2009
SLUM Brown Bag, Astronomy Series #2: Frontier Spaceport / Spaceport Frontier
This Friday we will be offered insights into the use of Second Life for the applied side of astronomy with a tour of Frontier Spaceport and the Space Studies Institute under the guidance of Rocket Sellers, Rocket is a long time partner and collaborator of various space activities and resources in Second Life. I look forward to hearing more about how they are using SL for real life projects related to space sciences. We will meet at 9am SLT at the location in the SLURL below.
Space Studies Institute: Frontier Spaceport: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Space%20Studies%20Institute/230/192/27
Posted by pfa at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2009
SLUM Brown Bag: Tour of UM Dearborn in SL
The brown bag for Friday February 13th will be a tour / discussion of the University of Michigan, Dearborn in Second Life led by BruceRobert Mizin. The discussion will focus on the Ford-funded food bank project.
Lexi has other obligations at that time, but eagerly anticipates seeing the chatlog of the event!
Everyone with access to Wolverine Island should have access to UM Dearborn for the event. SLURL below.
UM Dearborn SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/UM%20Dearborn/235/25/21
Posted by pfa at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2008
RL/SL Connections: Sacred Spaces
Friday December 19, 2008
9am-10am SLT / 12 noon - 1pm EST
Sacred Spaces in Second Life
We will briefly visit a mosque, synagogue, basilica, cathedral, and a temple, as well as providing directions to other sacred spaces in Second Life. We ask that all attendees respect the beliefs and traditions of the communities visited. For example, upon visiting the mosque, it is asked that you remove your shoes and women should wear a veil that covers their hair. Many of the spaces will provide freebies or gifts to enable visitors to meet these customs.
Posted by pfa at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2008
RL/SL Connections - The MacArthur Foundation in SL
This week, as part of our RL/SL Connections series, we will visit Foundations - the home of the MacArthur Foundation in Second Life. The sim includes information about the Foundation and their funded activities, highlighting a number of visionary virtual world projects either already available or in development. My thanks to Bridget Jennings for the suggestion!
Friday, December 12, 2008
9am SLT (12 noon EST)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Foundations/119/233/36
Posted by pfa at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2008
RL/SL Connections: The Music Academy
This week's SLUM Brown Bag will be a tour of the Music Academy in Second Life given by their director, Benton Wunderlich. The Music Academy has a well developed island with rich music education opportunities, including regular performances and a speaker series that is archived as podcasts. Their educational information runs the gamut from "antiquities" through classical to jazz and modern.
Please join us:
December 5, 2008
9:00 AM SLT / 12 noon EST
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Utwig/93/115/23
Music Academy Online: http://musicacademyonline.com/
Posted by pfa at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2008
RL/SL Connections: The Abyss Museum of Ocean Science
Our brown bag event this week continues our Real Life / Second Life Connections series with a trip to the Abyss Museum of Ocean Science. This week is the one year anniversary of the opening of the Abyss, with celebration and events and the opening of new underwater tunnels for people to view the exhibits. The Abyss was created as a collaboration of Rezago Kokorin & Sunn Thunders. Selected information is made available by the MarineBio Society as a marine conservation education and outreach effort. As part of their educational efforts, you may find such information on such topics as "Ocean Dumping", "What is a Hydrothermal Vent?", "What are Radiolaria?" and many artworks and videos related to marine ecology. More information is available at their blog:
The Abyss: http://abyss-secondlife.blogspot.com/
Friday, November 21
9am SLT / noon EST
Abyss Museum of Ocean Science
Gun (54, 41, 81)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gun/58/41/81
Posted by pfa at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2008
RL/SL Connections: Brown Bag on Using Audio in SL
"Can your Avatar hear me now?": Audio in Second Life
Jaime Magiera (a.k.a. Trallfazz) provides an expanded overview of the options for incorporating audio into the Second Life experience. We will discuss audio that originates in Second Life as well as options for bringing real-world audio into Second Life. Brown Bag visitors will be encouraged to utilize sound during this talk. So, please bring headphones or situate yourself in an environment where you can turn up the sound on your computer.
Presentation information:
Wolverine Island
Friday, November 14
9am SLT (12 noon EST)
Here is a picture of Tralfazz being the disc jockey for the Wolverine Island Kickoff Party.
Posted by pfa at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2008
Party Prep Preemps This Week's Brown Bag
Because of the preparations for the Wolverine Kickoff event next week, there will be no SLUM Brown Bag this week.
Because of the inworld party that evening, we ask that anyone with items in the sandbox please remove them. If you are unable to come get them, we will probably have to return them to you, in which case they will appear in the Lost and Found folder in your inventory.
Here is a brief overview of upcoming events on Wolverine Island.
* October 16, 2:30-4pm EDT/ 11:30a-1p SLT - Welcome & Self Guided Tours of Wolverine (in the form of a Treasure Hunt). Host: Kaiya Qunhua
* October 16, 7-9pm EDT / 4-6pm SLT - PARTY!!!! Games, Games, Games!
* October 17, noon EDT / 9-10AM SLT - Docent Tours of Wolverine Island. Host: Perplexity Peccable, Memetic Projects
* October 24, noon EDT / 9-10AM SLT - Italian Instruction Through Virtual Worlds. Hosts: Giorgio Kuhn, Philomena Flanagan
* October 31, noon EDT / 9-10AM SLT - Halloween Party with Spooky (and Educational) Locations Around SL Host: Perplexity Peccable
In November we continue with our RL/SL Connections series, with events in planning such as:
- Bringing our Favorite Books to Life - A Tour of Anne McCaffrey's Pern in Second Life. Host: Ludo Merit
- Connecting Real World Audio to Inworld Activities - Streaming and Voice in SL. Host: Trallfazz Vilas
- Second Life Groups in Support of Real Life Health and Behavior Change. Host: Perplexity Peccable
Posted by pfa at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2008
SLUM Brown Bag: Inertial Voom and the Great Space Race
SLUM Brown Bag
October 3, 2008
9:00AM-10:AM SLT / noon-1:00PM EDT
Wolverine Island, sandbox area
In real life, Inertial Voom is an engineer by profession, and through his passion for outer space, he has become the longtime leader of the Oklahoma chapter of the National Space Society (NSS).
In Second Life, Inertial has developed a game called the Great Space Race that combines history, rocketry, politics, management and team building in an entertaining and educational exercise. The project is also interesting for the building and scripting challenges it presented. Just imagine, in Second Life, trying to assemble all these pieces into a rocket that will actually take off!
For more information about the context and structure of the game, please see the following slides.
Posted by pfa at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2008
Our Own "Movie" Stars! - Public Health Video
A few weeks ago, shortly before the 4th of July, we had a second tour of Play2Train. This was a more interactive tour than our first visit, in which those who attended actually got medical garments, dressed up, and acted out parts of scenarios. It was a very exciting and engaging experience!
The visit served a second purpose as well, enabling the creation of sections in a video on public health outreach and education in Second Life. The video is now available. Take a look and see if you recognize yourself anywhere in the video. I do.
MBlog: UM HSL: Second Life and Public Health Video: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/hsl/archives/2008/08/second_life_and.html
Click here to view the high quality Quicktime video version in a browser window.
Alternatively, you can watch the low resolution version from YouTube below.
Posted by pfa at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2008
Brown Bag August 1: Buddy Sprocket on SLoodle!
Earlier this year, I attended the first ever SLoodleMoot.
SLoodle is a tool for connecting educational content in Moodle and the web to Second Life, and visa versa. There is a lot of potential and meaning in that one sentence. You can bring Web content into Second Life to use in your educational activities; you can have students blog from Second Life out to a course web page; you can have web-based students participate with Second Life communities and discussions; and much more.
Moodle is an open source educational environment on the web, a course management system. Think CTools gone open source and widely adopted by a broad educational community, with all the development and activity that implies. Yes, Sakai is CTools gone open source, but Sakai does not (yet) integrate with Second Life. Maybe that will happen, but in the meantime, let's look at what folks are doing with SLoodle to see what are some of the possibilities, and hurdles.
SLoodleMoot was a meet up, swapping/sharing ideas, concepts, strategies, approaches, as well as including presentations and tutorials. Here is a schematic from the presentations for the geeks to review.
Buddy Sprocket is one of the lead programmers and teachers related to the SLoodle Project. Buddy will be talking in our Brown Bag series this week, August 1, at 9am SLT / noon EDT. This should be a very exciting and informative talk!
More information here:
Flickr: SLoodleMoot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/sets/72157603756618446/
SLoodle: http://www.sloodle.org/
YouTube: SLoodle Demo:
Posted by pfa at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2008
Special Brown Bag July 25 - Wainbrave Bernal
This Friday Wainbrave Bernal speaks @9am SLT (12 noon EDT) on SaLamander.
SaLamander is an inworld HUD (heads up display) used by educators to create a collaborative wiki database of educational locations in Second Life. It allows persons in Second Life to "bookmark" and tag educational locations in SL as they stand there, update the database, search the database, etcetera. It is a remarkably useful tool, and an elegant piece of coding.
Wainbrave has, in addition to a very clever name, wonderful insights into education in Second Life, programming / scripting in Second Life, and connecting web-based resources and tools with inworld tools. This should be a very exciting and stimulating presentation.
SaLamander Wiki: http://www.eduisland.net/salamanderwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
We will be meeting in the Wolverine Library, Ground Level, where we have a SaLamander HUD dispenser.
Posted by pfa at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2008
Upcoming Events - Tintern Abbey, June 6
Friday June 6
9am SLT / 12 noon EDT
http://slurl.com/Eduisland%203/194/68/22/
Lady Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks will be our guide to Tintern Abbey, one of the most carefully researched & crafted literary immersion experiences in Second Life. The Tintern Abbey build carefully researched not only the original literary work but also writings and letters from Wordsworth about the experiences which lead to the writing of the poem. The build is multimedia (make sure you have audio enabled!), with a variety of embedded student learning & enrichment activities.
Wordsworth, William. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798: http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww138.html
Lady Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks:
Tintern Abbey: Entrance:
Tintern Abbey: View from Overhead:
Posted by pfa at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2008
Upcoming Events - Tab Scott, June 13
Mark your calendar now, and be sure not to miss this Brown Bag!
June 13, Friday
9am SLT / 12 noon EDT
I was at a meeting of the Immersive Education group in Second Life one week after the SLUM Brown Bag Event. I was still wearing my block-M tshirt, so wasn't too surprised when someone else at the meeting IMed me, introducing themselves as a UM alum.
That turned out to be Tab Scott (SL), a.k.a. Terry Beaubois (RL) faculty member of architecture at Montana State, and head of their Creative Research Lab.
Tab and I had several conversations, and I quickly invited him to be a speaker at our Brown Bag series. He agreed, for which I am very grateful. Tab was one of the earliest proponents of education in Second Life and has been teaching in Second Life since 2005. That is a very long time. :)
Tab has had quite an impact, not just in Second Life, but also presenting literally at locations around the world for organizations and meeting focused on a wide variety of topics. Here is just a small sampling of some of the resources available about his activities.
Kieran, Christopher. Second Life and Google Earth are transforming the idea of architectural collaboration. Architectural Record January 2007: http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0701dignews-2.asp
Teaching Architecture Via Second Life - Interview with Terry Beaubois: http://www.podtech.net/classic/4233/teaching-architecture-via-second-life-interview-with-terry-beaubois
Terry Beaubois - Montana State University:
From Tab Scott's students:
More:
http://wordpress.com/tag/terry-beaubois/
Posted by pfa at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2008
No Brown Bag This Week
Remember folks, because of Enriching Scholarship, there will be no Brown Bag session this week.
You can always check the wiki for the calendar of our forthcoming events.
Second Life @ University of Michigan (SLUM): http://slum.wetpaint.com/
Calendar: http://slum.wetpaint.com/page/Calendar+of+Events
Posted by pfa at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Take Our SLUM Survey!!!
It's been a full term that we've had an active Second Life community with regular events. It is the right time of year to do an assessment of where we are, what's good, what needs changing, and all that. Please take our SLUM survey and tell us your ideas for how to improve our community!
Posted by pfa at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
SLUM Wiki & Calendar
For those of you who haven't yet seen it, we have a wiki and a Google Calendar available for more information. The wiki currently contains chatlogs and tutorials from some of our events. It also includes a threaded discussion space for people to talk about issues of interest relating to our University of Michigan Second Life Community. Remember that anything that is time-dependent should be sent to the UM email group or sent by notecard to the Second Life groups inworld.
SLUM Wiki: http://slum.wetpaint.com/
The Google Calendar is posted at the wiki as well as in Google. If you use Google Calendar, you can subscribe to the calendar or to specific events.
SLUM Calendar: http://slum.wetpaint.com/page/Calendar+of+Events
Posted by pfa at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2008
Brown Bag: Nursing ACLS Demo this Friday
Please mark your calendars. We have a very special event for the SLUM Brown Bag series this week. JS Vavoom (SL) a.k.a. John Miller (RL) will be demonstrating NESIM. NESIM is a nursing education simulator designed to allow students to practice the basics of ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support). It is a 3D interactive ACLS tutorial with simulated patients, real time data displays, appropriate systemic responses to the student's treatment decisions and more.
Here is part 1 of 5 Youtube videos showing a demonstration of the highlights.
Virtual Nursing Education in Second Life, pt. 1 of 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjLDe-ca-sw
Go to Youtube for the other four sections of the video.
More information is available at his blog:
JS Vavoom: http://jsvavoom.blogspot.com/
Information about how to get to the session will be forthcoming. It is probably going to be in a secured location. You will need to join the group SLUM Brownbaggers in Second Life to get access. If you are not a member of that group and would like to attend, please send an IM to Perplexity Peccable.
NESEIM Demo
SLUM Brown Bag
April 11, 2008
12-1 EDT / 9am-10am SLT
Location to be announced.
Posted by pfa at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2008
Brown Bag: Desideria Stockton on Design Choices in Building SL Educational Spaces
Friday
April 4, 2008
9-10 SLT (12-1 EDT – local Michigan time)
Dante's Inferno: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dante%27s%20Inferno/221/6/58
Last week our SLUM Brown Bag group toured the newly released sim, Dante's Inferno - a Second Life learning space designed to model the description of Hell given in that master literary work as a tool to engage students and provide a rich learning experience. This week we are honored to meet again at Dante's to discuss with its design mastermind, Desideria Stockton, the decisions that went into the design of Dante's Inferno as a learning space.
Desideria Stockton, known in real life as Beth Ritter-Guth, is well known as one of the foremost leading educators in Second Life. She was one of the founders and organizers of the first major Second Life educational conference - Second Life Best Practices in Education.
You can read more about the Dante Project at: http://bethssecondlife.blogspot.com/
Posted by pfa at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2008
SLUM Brown Bag - Tour of Hell (Plus DIY Lucifer Contest)
Any creative types out there? Or literary folk? This week the SLUM Brown Bag will go on a tour of Hell. More accurately, we will go on a tour of the recently re-established replica of Dante’s Inferno. I saw this the first time around, and it is truly SPLENDID!!! An excellent use of Second Life, a real immersion, engagement, and simulation experience. This is open to the public, so if you can’t make the tour, come on your own. Our tour will be:
Friday
March 28, 2008
9-10 SLT (12-1 EDT – local Michigan time)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dante%27s%20Inferno/221/6/58
More information below.
------ Forwarded Message
We are VERY happy to announce that Dante's Inferno has returned to Second Life!
Thanks to an anonymous donor, we were able to unpack Dante's Inferno, and it is now open to the public at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dante%27s%20Inferno/221/6/58
To celebrate our grand opening, we are hosting a build-a-Lucifer contest. You must use the following URL to build your un-bear: http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/
The winner will receive 10,000 Lindens and eternal fame and glory. Entries are due by April 10th, and should be sent to Desideria Stockton for placement in a "Hell Gallery" for voting!
Please stop by the Inferno and leave feedback; we are always trying to make it better!!!
Many thanks to Eloise Pasteur Education Designs for donating time (again) to bring Hell back to life!
You can read more about the Dante Project at: http://bethssecondlife.blogspot.com/
Posted by pfa at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2008
Brown Bag: March 21, 2008 - Joop Zuhal
Friday, March 21, 2008
9:00 AM SLT (12:00 noon EDT)
THIS WEEK'S LOCATION:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/160/195/56
This week, our brown bag will be with an invited speaker at his location, but is not a tour.
Joop Zuhal and his colleages have been doing research in Second Life about instruction and teaching in Second Life. He has a very interesting presentation highlighting his results set up in the Lodge at Sea Turtle Island. The structure of the display is about the pros and cons of using Second Life for teaching. The display is itself very interesting, and it will also be interesting to talk with the research team about their experiences with research in Second Life.
Posted by pfa at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
Brown Bag March 14 Will Highlight Library
Last Saturday representatives of the Health Sciences Library presented at the first ever library conference in Second Life - Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, & Museums (VWLEM). At this week's brown bag, HSL will recap its presentation from VWLEM.
The location for this presentation will be the roof of the Wolverine Library.
Wolverine Library Roof: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wolverine/24/99/33
To attend, you must be a member of the Wolverine Community group. To join the group, IM Memetic Projects or email Marc Stephens.
Posted by pfa at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2008
Brown Bag March 7: Swapmeet!
The brown bag this week will be a swapmeet to share our favorite educational locations in Second Life. Meet at the Wolverine Island Campfire at 9am SLT (noon est).
Wolverine campfire: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wolverine/39/193/27
To come to Wolverine Island, you must be a member of the Wolverine Community group. To join the group, IM Memetic Projects.
See you soon!
Posted by pfa at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2008
Brown Bag Friday: Tour: InfoIsland International
The Brown Bag this Friday will be a tour of InfoIsland International, hosted by Rolig Loon. This whirlwind global tour will show both beautiful SL builds and how these are used to provide immersive language and culture educational experiences. More information attached.
Friday, February 8, 2008
9:00-9:50 SLT / 12:00-12:50 EST
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20International/128/128/32
===============
Info Island International is designed as a gateway to your international experience in Second Life. Its primary theme, world languages and cultures, is expressed through exhibit and meeting areas as well as periodic events such as special lectures, exhibitions, and performances. We hope that the island appeals particularly to educators, in addition to those interested in personal enrichment and relaxation.
All visitors arriving by teleport land at the main greeting area at the north margin of the island. An array of resource information about International and nearby islands on the Alliance Information Archipelago is available there through posters, monitors and notecard vendors. A volunteer library staffer is often on duty to answer questions. Immediately to the east of the main greeting area is a new social pavilion, where visitors are invited to join in conversation, dancing, or other friendly activity.
The large building at the center of the island, visible at the opposite end of the Exhibition Concourse south of the greeting area, is the SL headquarters of the Alliance Library System. ALS provides monetary and logistical support for much of the work on the archipelago. There are no permanent educational displays in the building.
The Exhibition Concourse is a venue for periodic art displays or celebrations. It is also the launch site for an automated tour car, which offers visitors a brief aerial overview of the island.
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) kiosk sponsored by the University of Texas at Arlington, is approximately 25m east of the greeting area. Staff from the UT program are frequently available to offer information about GIS and to consult on potential projects.
International House, in the extreme northeastern corner of International, is a meeting and events facility, ideal for small groups or faculty consultation. Coffee and donuts are always available in the semi-private seminar area on the second floor.
Just to the south, International Plaza offers space for exotic languages and cultures. Colorful posts at the entrance to the plaza and each of the areas around the island provide landmarks to an array of international sims in SL. The Plaza is currently home to a Tibetan Lessons booth and another on Lakhota Language. The Tibetan Lessons booth showcases an on-going project that enables students without access to a Tibetan language classroom to teach themselves to read and speak Tibetan. One component, for example, is a box for teaching the thirty consonants. Students choose a consonant from the menu and the box displays the consonant on all six faces and plays the sound. The default texture of the box shows all thirty consonants, so that students can test themselves when they have memorized the alphabet. Other objects teach syllables, words, sentences, grammar, and dialogues. The Lakhota booth offers linguistic and cultural information, links to video and audio files, and a chat-driven English-Lakhota glossary.
Information resources about the culture, architecture and music of Portuguese speaking countries - called "lusophone nations" - are at the Portuguese language area, next around the eastern perimeter. Resources include notecards and database links to information about Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and East Timor.
The Spanish language/culture area includes a park with an attractive fountain and a Mexican-style cantina, called Mi Pueblo. The cantina is a relaxed gathering place for conversation and learning, and a focal point for cultural events highlighting the Hispanic world. Several celebrations are held each year to coincide with festival times in Spanish-speaking countries. Embedded notecards in artwork and other artifacts in the area offer information about geography and language.
Continuing clockwise, the French-speaking area is the first of several along the island's southern border. The Pavilion de la Culture Francophone highlights men and women who have contributed to the popular culture of the French-speaking world in the 20th and 21st centuries. It features photos and biographies of writers, performing artists, designers, and others. Objects elsewhere in the area offer vignettes of linguistic and cultural interest.
The Italian area, next to the west, offers an ever-changing array of language and cultural resources, including links to a network of Italian-speaking language mentors in SL. An open-air restaurant/trattoria set among olive trees is surrounded by objects that offer notecards of historic, cultural, or linguistic interest.
Immediately behind the ALS building, and next on a clockwise walk around the island, is a plaza focused on the English-speaking world. Monitors offer links to electronic resources, and script in the large fountain and flagpoles provide information about the English language and its spread in the world.
Situated further across the southern border, the Dutch area resembles a friendly town square somewhere in the Netherlands or Belgium, where you can learn about wooden clogs, colorful tulips and eating herring. From a pier at the waters edge, you can feed ducks in the summer and skate in the winter. Seasonal displays of festival posters and artwork offer a window into the cultural heritage of Dutch-speaking peoples. Permanent displays provide landmarks for visiting wonderful cities such as Amsterdam and Brugges elsewhere in SL.
The Scandinavian area features a house in traditional yellow and lilac colors, set among lindens and fir trees. It is the focal point for information about the cultures of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. A permanent display under development in early 2008 will offer brief biographies of notable Scandinavian scientists, engineers, and inventors.
The German House, at the extreme southwestern corner of the island, celebrates literature, arts, and music from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The reception and seminar room on the ground floor is lined with reproductions of paintings, each offering a biography of the artist. The Musik Salon on the second floor, similarly, displays photos and embedded biographies of German-speaking composers. Visitors may enjoy listening to selected piano and cello music.
The Japanese area is a peaceful walled garden along the island's western border, meticulously designed to include horticultural and architectural features of a private Japanese home.
China Café, a four-story classical building just to the north of the Japanese garden, was created to provide English language instruction to Chinese persons, to share information about Chinese culture with an international audience, and to promote opportunities for conversational English using voice features in Second Life. The main floor of the China Cafe is the Dragon Garden which features three different kinds of authentic Chinese tea and relaxed areas for conversation. The first floor above is Deer Park, a classroom with seating for about twenty students. The second floor is the Crane Hall, a library and exhibition area. On the third floor is the Unicorn Palace, a small meeting and commerce area. On the roof is Phoenix Landing, an area for tai chi exercise and mediation. China Café offers weekly seminars on Chinese culture, and operates a web site at http://chinacafe.cuipblogs.org .
Completing the circumferential tour of the island is a large suspension bridge over a broad lake, serving as a visual metaphor to celebrate the stateless people of the world. Embedded notecards on the bridge offer historical and political perspectives on the meaning of stateless identity, and cultural overviews of selected populations.
In addition to the language-themed areas described above, Info Island International also offers a large performance area (the Fusion Stage) with circumferential seating, suitable for open-air theatre and dance events, as well as a small cloistered amphitheatre that is ideal for seminar presentations. There are also several relaxing park areas around the island, each of which provides a pleasant atmosphere for contemplation.
Posted by pfa at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2008
Mark Your Calendars: Mr. Drinkwater to Present on February 22nd
We are pleased to announce that Master JJ Drinkwater, Director of the Caledon Libraries and an alumnus of our own fine institution, has tentatively agreed to present at the February 22nd Brown Bag on the subject of community building in Second Life. This will be a reprise and refinement of his earlier presentation at the Internet Librarian meeting. Mr. Drinkwater is a graduate of the School of Information at the University of Michigan and a major leader among Second Life librarians.
More information about the earlier version of the presentation is available here.
From the Director's Desk: Virtual Neighborhoods, Real Communities: http://www.thelibrarymilitant.net/from-the-directors-desk/2007/10/virtual-neighborhoods-real-com.html
Posted by pfa at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2008
Swapmeet!! Teaching Stuff ("Last" Brown Bag of the Month)
Because of the Genome Tour and the way it still feels like it is January, we are pushing the monthly swapmeet to next Friday. The theme will be Stuff For Teaching and Teachers. Come share and gather teaching tools and landmarks!
Here is a TIP for sharing landmarks -- make a notecard to collect and organize them. The next blog post will tell you how.
Hope to see you Friday, February 1 at 12pm EST / 9am SLT; Wolverine Island campfire. *
Wolverine Island:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wolverine/39/193/27
IM Memetic Projects to joint the group Wolverine Community for access to Wolverine Island.
Posted by pfa at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2008
Brown Bag, Jan. 25, 2008: Genome Island, Here We Come
This Friday's brown bag will be a tour of Genome Island, one of the foremost science teaching spaces in Second Life.
Genome Island focuses on genetics, its history, seminal research studies, current research technologies, and much more. Max Chatnoir is the owner, and the visionary responsible for incorporating engaging and relevant instruction along with ways to provide assessment and feedback to the students. It is worth exploring Genome even if you are not a scientist, simply for seeing the sheer elegance of instructional integration.
We will meet at, as usual, at the campfire on Wolverine Island, at noon on Friday. Late arrivals should come to Genome and then IM Perplexity Peccable for a TP to wherever we are at that moment.
Genome: Big Cell: (127, 128, 48)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/127/128/48/
Hope to see you there! If you are new to the Second Life at University of Michigan community, please be aware that you must be a member of our group to come to Wolverine Island. To become a member, please IM Memetic Projects when you are inworld.
Posted by pfa at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2008
Brown Bag, Friday, January 18, 2008
The SLUM Brown Bag this Friday (12:10-12:50 EST on Wolverine Island, 9:10-9:50 SLT) will be a discussion of setting priorities and goals for supporting Second Life education here at the University of Michigan. In preparation for this session, please take a minute to answer the following questions in your own mind.
- What are core competencies for teaching in Second Life?
- What are the skills you, as an educator or supporting education, most need to begin using Second Life or make your use of Second Life more productive?*
- What skills in Second Life do you have and would be willing to share with the rest of the SLUM community in a Brown Bag?
- What educational builds are you aware of that you would recommend for our group to tour? What SIMs have you seen that you think would be appropriate for education, but are not explicitly intended for education?
- What broad topics would you like to see discovered or developed in Second Life? (What are you looking for that you haven't found?)
* Please note that we have already covered garment building for professional wear, and have an upcoming session planned on developing notecards and display materials.
For those of you who are new to Second Life or interested in learning more, assistance *is* available! Classes are available, as well as personal assistance (on a limited level, depending on demand). Contact Patricia Anderson for more information.
Posted by pfa at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2008
Next Brown Bag: January 11: Making Basic Clothes
The next Second Life Brown Bag will be this Friday, January 11, from 12:10 to 12:50 at the campfire on Wolverine Island.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wolverine/39/193/27
Because of several requests about how to come up with appropriate professional garb in Second Life without giving them your credit card, our first session this year will be a brief introduction to making basic clothes. Basic clothes are those you can make yourself, without activating a credit card, or camping for money. Come to this session, if you'd like to learn how to make clothes like these:
The presenter will be Perplexity Peccable, and appropriate textures will be supplied. This is easy, folks -- the entire wardrobe shown was made in well under three hours, and this includes renaming, sorting into outfit folders, posing and taking the pics.
Posted by pfa at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)
SLUM has a Flickr Group!
To support creating and sharing images for both the blog and wiki, there is now also a Flickr group. Anyone with pictures of meetings, classes, or events on Wolverine Island, or of UM activities in SL, please feel free to request an invite to the group from Flickr avatar RosefireRising.If there is anyone else who'd like to be an admin for the group, please holler!
Flickr: Groups: SLUM - Second Life at the University of Michigan: http://flickr.com/groups/slum/
Posted by pfa at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)