Virtual Worlds, Real People and Learning

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Virtual Worlds, Real People and Learning

• John Lester (Pathfinder Linden)
• Linden Lab

New Media ConsortiumRegional Conference - Nov
8-10, 2006Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
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what is Second Life?

• Second Life is a unique online world
• international community, multiuser, persistent
  world
• not a game
• completely created and owned by the residents
• best fictional analogs are Stephensons Metaverse
  from Snow Crash or Vinges Otherverse from
  True Names

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A new approach to world building

• Stream all content via broadband
• Extremely dynamic content
• Apply distributed/grid computing

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1.3 Million Accounts4000 CPUs100 square
milesgt2 Million Hours/Month of UseEscape,
Entertainment, Education, Work, AdvocacyFree to
Access, Fees for Land Ownership
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Demographics

• SL community older and more gender balance than
  typical MMO games
• Gender neutral by hours of use
• Median age of 35
• Real world skills translate into digital world

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Building in 3D using geometric primitives
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Breathing Life into Objects with Scripting
Any object can be given physical behavior,
interactivity, and can communicate with the
world (e.g., email, HTTPRequest, XML-RPC)
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Property Rights

• In Second Life, residents own their creations
• What does this mean?
• Residents retain their Intellectual Property
  rights to their creations
• Residents may buy and sell L for US
• Residents may license their creations back into
  the real world

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Live Video shared in a Community Space
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Live Music shared in a Community Space
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What happens when you give people the tools to
create their own world?

• Waking Dreams made Realand Shared with Real
  People

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Emotional Bandwidth
( ) P
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Emotional Bandwidth
Use real-world social cues and proxemics,
animations and sounds, and create your visual
identity
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Real Educators

• Teach using simulation and experiential learning
• Over 100 different universities, 1600 acres of
  land

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Living Archeology by Aura Lily
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Harvards Austin Hall Berkman Center
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Welcome toMixed Reality
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SIGGRAPH 2006 Poster Live Webcast of Solar
Eclipse
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first responder and caregiver training

• process
• experience
• empathy

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communities of support

• Aspergers Syndrome
• stroke survivors
• depression support
• cerebral palsy
• children with cancer

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freedom from physical disability
my virtual self has the voice i've always wanted
to have and in many ways it allows me to be the
person i feel i was born to be. -- john
s/Wilde Cunningham
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Where is this all going?
Bells attempt to sell patent for telephone to
Western UnionWhy would telegraph operators want
to talk to each other?First online
marriage,via telegraph, late 1800sIt took 65
years after the invention of the printing press
for someone to decide that putting page numbers
in books was a good idea.
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We get Mired in Past Frameworks
Phonograph and the Spoken WordWhat does a
classroom look like in a virtual world?The
telephone is not the telegraphMovies are not
plays
Give students tools to create their own future,
give them guidance, and get the heck out of
their way.
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Digital Natives and the New Third Space
Bridging social capitalCreators and Remixers,
not just ConsumersEngage students in mediums
they naturally swim in every dayDispute
Resolution training story
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Virtual or Real? Is there a difference anymore?
I see people in Virtual Reality every day on the
busElectrons already turn into Atoms all the
time.The playing field is getting flatter
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3D Printing
Fabjectory.com
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An Artifact from the Near Future
OKis it still Virtual if I can Touch it?
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4 Powerful Themes for Real Learning(not just in
Second Life!)

• Worlds where anyone can create anything.
• Worlds full of real people.
• Worlds of high emotional bandwidth.
• Worlds shared.

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We are Bound by our Biology
Virtual Worlds combine mediums from the past,
with a magic twist.Leveraging the fact that our
brains evolved to do 5 things really well1)
Navigate a 3d environment2) Communicate with
other people, creating communities3) Learn
through shared experiences4) Use tools (our
minds were made for mergers)5) Take partial data
and create something whole (tiger in the grass)
Its all about the Wetware
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Everything Old is New Again
From This
To This
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Dream New Media Dreams, and Set them Free
Its not hard to own something. Or everything.
You just have to know that its yours and then
be willing to let it go.To build the
future, we simply need to give creative people
the tools and freedom to create it on their
own.
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Thank you for listening

• John Lester (SL Pathfinder Linden)
• pathfinder_at_lindenlab.com
• secondife.com/education
• www.pathfinderlinden.com