Digital Hybridity

Today I'm presenting at the 'Digital Hybridity' conference talking about "Three Faces of the Virtual World: Simulation, ‘Stripped-back’ Teaching & Problem-based Learning". This event is hosted by the Digital and Material Arts Research Cente (D-MARC) at the University of Derby in collaboration with EMUA colleagues, and in association with CTRG Creative Technologies Research Group. Their guest speaker is the fantastic STELARC.

As successive software and hardware innovation facilitates crossovers between traditional arts disciplines, Hybridity is becoming a defining feature of the emerging creative digital environment. In this regional university event we wish to interrogate and explore this notion and its implications for the field of arts, design and communications. As boundaries dissolve between traditional practices and aesthetic, theoretical, ethical and technical questions are raised regarding their future alignment, meaning and development. The latest developments in digital technology require that we elaborate new categories of practice and criticism, which also involve rethinking our relationship to the history of traditional practices.

The event will facilitate a range of presentations by arts practitioners and theoreticians to help frame the debate. This full day event is open to acedemics and PhD students from East Midlands Higher Education Institutions. Text taken from  http://www.derby.ac.uk/digitalhybridity

Here is my abstract.

The sense of immersion within multi-user virtual environments can provide educators and students with the ability to connect and communicate in ways that greatly enhance the learning experience. These innovative methods of teaching place the student at the centre of the learning by involving them in the experience itself. However, immersive virtual worlds can also offer a non-experiential ‘stripped-back’ platform for teaching that removes distractions from the learner’s environment and focuses on individual sequential learning. Existing pedagogies may not be sufficient to inform good practice in these settings. This presentation will outlined a framework for understanding the relations between the tools, techniques and technology used in learning, support and research in these evolving virtual spaces.

Comments welcome.

Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds (FCVW) Conference

It is time for the annual Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds (FCVW) Conference taking place on May 11 -13, 2011 in Washington, DC and virtually in Second Life.

 http://www.ndu.edu/icollege/fcvw/

The Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds annual conference, which is now in its fourth year, was attended by over 350 in-person participants and over 3,200 virtual participants in 2010.

View the trailer for this year’s conference here: http://vimeo.com/20448330?ab

Inquiry Based Learning and Second Life

Here's a great talk from experienced SL researcher Shiela Webber (Senior Lecturer in the Information School at the University of Sheffield, UK) given in Second Life 'Inquiry Based Learning and Second Life'.

View Video Here


Her presentation slides are available from Slideshare here:

Inquiry Based Learning and Second Life

View more presentations from Sheila Webber.

Microsoft may bail out Linden Lab if rumors are true.

Thursday brought reports that Microsoft may have silently offered to purchase Second Life developer Linden Lab.
The news follows an additional report that Linden Lab is closing its UK office on Thursday, an unsurprising move given that the studio cut 30-percent of its staff back in June. To make matters worse, CEO Mark Kingdon walked away from his position two weeks later.
But according to a current Linden Lab employee, various companies have already offered to purchase the studio, Microsoft being the latest. Purchasing Linden Lab would be an interesting move for Microsoft, as the company could integrate Second Life into Xbox Live--possibly even Games for Windows Live--to offer a service similar to Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual environment on the Playstation 3. Games for Windows Live support would mean that current residents could still enter the virtual world, but only through the stand-alone client.
Linden Lab launched Second Life for the PC back in June 2003. Unlike current MMORPGs, the virtual world offered no quests to fulfill, no characters to level, and didn’t even offer a compelling story. Instead, it was more of a 3D social environment allowing users to create virtual goods and sell their items for real-world cash. Today Second Life is used as both a virtual advertising platform and a way of life for many entrepreneurs.
But if Microsoft were to purchase Linden Lab and take the reigns of Second Life, all that revenue could be gone, possibly converted to Microsoft Points. For now, Microsoft is refusing to comment on rumor.

Text taken from the very excellent Tomshardware.com  http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Second-Life-Linden-Lab-Mark-Kingdon-virtual-World-Xbox,11402.html 

Opening Up Access In Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds

Here's a fantastic presentation by Dan Livingstone from University of West of Scotland looking at Open Educational Resources in virtual worlds.

Opening Up Access In Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds

View more presentations from Daniel Livingstone.

PREVIEW-Sustain Project

In an expansion to my PREVIEW-Psych project, in collaboration with Rosemary Horry (University of Derby) and with generous funding from the Higher Education Academy, I'm using the virtual reality platform Second Life to gauge people’s unconscious attitudes towards ‘green’ issues such as recycling.

This video outlines the project. There’s a link here to more information about the project at the University web magazine here. There's also information over at the PREVIEW-Psych sister site here.



If you're interested in Green or 'Education of Sustainable Development (ESD)' issues within Second Life or have a Psychological interest in the area drop me a line, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

Second Life As Science: Studying The Bystander Effect

Guest Article by Alexis Bonari

Genovese Syndrome, otherwise known as the Bystander Effect, has long been a source of curiosity among both psychologists and laymen alike.  In short, the Bystander Effect can be characterized as follows: an individual being assaulted or otherwise attacked is less likely to receive help when numerous observers are present.  Cases of murder and physical abuse have occurred with no intervention on densely populated streets in broad daylight.  When more people were present, the victim was less likely to receive direct assistance.

Courtesy Xbox 360 Videos

A New Game In Town

Animation experts from Bournemouth University- UK have been given a grant to create a believable virtual world and avatars.  These will be used by The University College London to answer the following questions: why does the Bystander Effect happen and under what circumstances is it most likely to occur?

Where Virtual Meets Reality

Previous studies tracking the behaviors of Second Life players have shown a strong correlation between choices made in the game environment, and real-world decisions. It isn’t such a stretch, therefore, to assume that the choices made by online game players could be studied and applied to real-world scenarios.

The Test

Highly detailed avatars, much like those commonly seen in the popular online environment Second Life, will be created and staged in a realistic, virtual world. Participants in the study will be encouraged to interact with other players, building relationships as they would in any social simulation. Then, researchers will use their avatars to commit violent acts against other players in the virtual environment. Levels of protective response, verbal feedback, and other indicators will be tracked and studied to find patterns.

Setting A Precedent

Although the Bournemouth study has yet to produce any results, the use of a digital environment for studying human behavior is groundbreaking.  If the results of the experiment prove reliable in the real world, there’s little doubt that future experimental models will include virtual reality elements.


Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She spends much of her days blogging about Education and CollegeScholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

The Open, Social, Participatory Future of Online Learning

Educators from around the country are gathering this week to trade ideas at the 26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. George Veletsianos is Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Texas. His new book Emerging Technologies in Distance Education looks very interesting. The Chronicle of Higher Education interviewed him on the future of online learning and the Wired Campus. The comments on the blog in response to the interview are revealing of some of the attitudes and challenges faced by educators in today's ever changing online teaching environment.

I think virtual worlds and the 3D web have a huge part to play in contributing to this new thinking and practice in online learning. It's clear to see though that there is a long road ahead. Reflected in the discussion are the repeated concerns about the 'reinventing the wheel' attitude of some innovations and the need to have practical solutions to distance and online learning. Check out the article here.



Some text taken from here.

Discussion about Trends in Virtual Worlds by Simon Bignell and Panote Siriaraya

Panote Siriaraya , Simon Bignell - Trends in Virtual Worlds
Uploaded by NORDICWORLDS. - Technology reviews and science news videos.

Panote Siriaraya and Simon Bignell talk about Trends in Virtual Worlds for the Nordic Virtual Worlds Network Project whilst at a research workshop in Denmark entitled ‘Making Sense of Virtual Worlds and User Driven Innovation', June2010. Comments and discussion are most welcome.

John Underkoffler demos breathtaking computer interface

The next big leap in human-computer interface was demonstrated recently by John Underkoffler at his TED talk in February. He was one of the science advisers for the Steven Spielberg science-fiction film "Minority Report". Underkoffler suggests that in five years this technology will be built in to new computers as standard. I hope so. The demonstration is breathtaking.

How long after that can we expect this to be integrated with a virtual word or proprietary virtual reality cave? The implications for immersion into the virtual world are profound.

You can view the Spatial operating environment here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/john-underkoffler-ted-tal_n_612842.html

Get a second life

Last year Christian Jarrett interviewed me (and Milton) for an article in The Psychologist (The monthly magazine of the British Psychological Society) on the benefits (and dangers) of using virtual worlds in your psychological research, therapy and teaching. 

The article is available here.

Making Sense of Virtual Worlds

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited by Roskilde University to a 3-day cross disciplinary research workshop in Denmark entitled ‘Making Sense of Virtual Worlds and User Driven Innovation”. You can access the slides for my talk on problem-based learning and innovation in virtual worlds here. 

 On the final day I was thrilled to be in the real life audience for a Metanomics Mixed Reality Broadcast special where host Robert Bloomfield led a Second Life panel including Robin Teigland and Edward Castronova at the event and Tom Boellstorff in Second LIfe as they discussed the purchase of virtual islands, leasing of towns, recruiting avatar employees and more.

 Edward Castronova (Professor of Telecommunications, Indianna University)

 Robin Teigland (Associate Professor at Stockholm School of Economics)

 Tom Boellstorff (Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine)