I am leading an online, synchronous discussion in Second Life tomorrow evening. The topic of the discussion is electronic text books, which really don't have anything directly to do with Second Life.
I've never used Second Life before, though I have seen it demoed at workshops. I know I am late to the party, but I am pretty impressed with it. I have spent a few hours figuring out how to navigate, chat, fly, and even speak with my own voice.
I can see why Second Life seems to have peeked in its popularity a few years back—it really takes a lot of time to get yourself acquainted. This is definitely not for the casual user. It really takes practice to get good at figuring your way around. I do have to say that the Caledon Oxbridge University Community Gateway provides an excellent tutorial on how to get started in Second Life.
After a few hours of use, I do find that the experience is really unparalleled to any other service I've used before. Only time will tell if the extensive learning curve will be worth it for my needs.
Hopefully my discussion goes well tomorrow. Either way, I'll blog about my experience facilitating a discussion in Second Life. Wish me luck!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed that you are from Oberlin. In seperate times we used to be neighbors. I spent most of my very junior years living with my grandparents in Kipton, OH. My great-uncle used to be a professor of music at the Oberlin College.