Presentation: Second Life and Beyond

In the past few weeks I've been curiously exploring Jaiku, Twitter, and even Facebook (more about those in future posts); and that is mostly why I haven't been posting to my blog as much as I would like to. Another thing I've been doing is trying out different virtual worlds (There, Kaneva, Multiverse, ...). I was curious to see if Second Life is really the best in social virtual worlds we currently got. And I must say I now appreciate my Second Life more :)

The reason behind my "virtual worlds exploration" is that I will probably have to do some introductory presentations about virtual worlds (and in particular Second Life) in the next few months, and that is also why I spent the past week making a "master presentation" on the subject. My goal was to create a presentation with a brief explanation of what virtual worlds are, of what is Second Life, and of different things we can do with Second Life. And here is the result:

I think this presentation can be used for different audiences by taking out some slides, so I hope you will also find it useful for some of your presentations. As it is meant as an introductory presentation, I didn't focus on details, but rather on presenting the key facts and some of the most attractive aspects of virtual worlds and Second Life. I posted the presentation on SlideShare along with comments for each slides with links to sources I used, so I suggest you take a look at those comments as well. And of course: your comments/suggestions regarding this presentation are welcome either on SlideShare or on this post :)

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Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.

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Taking the week off

Just a short notice: I'm taking this week off for a short vacation at the sea. I'll have internet access, but I'll try to avoid it if possible (my wrists really need some rest), thought I'll probably post little updates on Jaiku. I already have some great books packed, and I really can't wait to relax on the beach and enjoy the sea air. I'll be back in the digital world next week, so stay tuned! :)

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Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.

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Join us at Bloggers Cafe!

In case you haven't heard yet: edubloggers now have a new place to get together in Second Life at the brand new Bloggers Cafe.The Bloggers Cafe is an attempt to keep the conversation that started at this year's NECC going (and it is of course a great opportunity for all of us that missed NECC to join in the conversation). You can visit the Bloggers Cafe on Eduisland II, on land that was kindly offered by Ryan Bretag (aka Existential Pain). Also, don't forget to join both the SL and the RL group (set up by Jennifer Wagner) and have your blog added to the virtual blogroll at the Cafe.

The virtual blogroll wall at the Cafe

For more info about how the Bloggers Cafe started and where it is going see Ryan's blog. See you all the Bloggers Cafe! :)

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Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.

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What a wonderful Second Life!

Yesterday I had one of the most magical days in my Second Life thanks to some really great people and a bit of magic coincidence. I haven't had much of Second Life lately due to different first life obligations, so yesterday I had a great chance to do some catching up, and I was really reminded of why I still believe in the potentials of Second Life. Mostly, I was once again reminded of the unique way in which Second Life is able to bring people from all over together.

First, I meet up again with Eyebeams Electricteeth (of Learn 4 Life), who has great ambitions and plans to make SL more popular among UK educators (and also abroad) and is working on some interesting projects in SL (you'll probably hear more about that in the next months).

Unfortunately, he had some other things to do, so I moved on and asked to meet Desi somewhere, as we haven't seen each other in ages (my fault). After mentioning that I still don't have any place in SL, Desi kindly offered to let me use some space in their new Literature Alive! HQ on Eduisland II. So, we went to check out the place (2nd floor), Desi brought in a couch (with one really funny sitting pose ;) ), and we started talking. She also invited KJ Hax over, who invited Any Ixchel, and what happened was real serendipity. Later on we were also joined by Corwin Carillon, Eloise Pasteur, and Butch Dee, and we had a really inspiring discussion. We talked about Second Life in general, avatars, identity, and we also shared some useful SL tools (thanks for the tip about the MystiTool HUD! It's just amazing!). It was a real pleasure meeting you all!

Me, Desi, KJ, and Anya

After the discussion Anya, Desi, and I went to do a bit of gadget shopping. Soon Anya's friend Aiji Ducatillon joined us, and we went to Anya's place to do some hang gliding, and playing with toys (Aiji thanks for the ride and the massage; Anya thanks for the giraffes and the cats! :) ). It was a lot of fun, and I surely hope we can do this again sometime (I'm glad I now have some friends from down under I can hang out with in EU friendly times :) ).

I spent rest of the day in my new "office" space Desi has kindly offered to me. I brought in a big and comfy couch, a cookie and coffee giving table (just touch it :) ), and an info point that can tell you whether I'm online or offline and will open my blog when touched. I hope you'll all come to visit me sometime (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/196/219/47), and that we'll be able to have more serendipitous moments in that space. Feel free to use the couch any time, and don't forget to invite your friends over! :)

Come over any time

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Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.

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