Second Life

Had a very interesting tour of the Monash University site in Second Life. I haven’t had any exposure to Second Life before (other than a vague reference in “The Office“), and it looks a very intriguing ***** mechanism. (The ***** is so you can insert your favourite term in – whether that be training, information delivery, socialising etc).

There are some difficulties to overcome, and primarily it is the willingness, and ability of participants to learn how to navigate the ‘world’, as well as their acceptance of the concept.

However, it is being considered quite seriously, and there are courses being developed using Second Life. The Faculty of IT are building a very complex area with multiple levels, a 200 seat auditorium (and not much else yet!)

Overall, it is worth taking some time to have a bit of an explore, and take enough time to see where it has potential. It is a bit confronting, and having someone knowledgeable who can give a bit of an introduction and tour is definitely worthwhile.

And yes, I chose to be a dragon (for some strange reason not necessarily apparent to me).

You can talk with other people (and they can be anywhere else on the (real) planet, or type replies etc. It is like a game of Doom without the guns (and monsters trying to kill you), or World of Warcraft (without the magic, swords, storyline etc).

Like Google Earth, it is a combination of software that you download, and the interactivity provided by a high speed internet connection.