Cross-Cultural Collaboration in Second Life--Draxtor Despres

Draxtor Despres has put together another stunning little video, this one about how architects are beginning to use Virtual Environments to collaborate with real-world projects as the end in sight. A significant player in this new cross-cultural collaboration? How about the U.S. Department of State!

I'm embedding here just for fun and elucidation. Really worth a watch!!!

slartclectic--Please Visit!

Hey, all,

Been knee-deep, virtually and really, in rw living and learning this past week. My apologies! Note from December, 2009--If you are visiting this page from a virtual world, please open the webpage in your external browser (click "Open in My Web Browser") to see the video!

Here's what I've been doing in SL:


Find more videos like this on Virtual Environment Education Videos!

More later, and lots of it!

Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds

Please visit Second Life TOMORROW evening (Sunday, unless you're in Australia :) for an important talk at Spiff Whitfield's Virtual Pioneer's meeting, tonight, at 5pm SL time (US Pacific). Here's the announcement from the Spiffman, followed by a quote from the website he's sending you for "pre-requisite" work:

We are honored to have Rita J. King (Eureka Dejavu) and Joshua Fouts (Schmilson Nilson), Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, present their powerful work that involves using Second Life as a platform for educating people about the Islamic faith.

This will be a sit down presentation at our WNYRIC building on Lighthouse Learning Island.

As a pre-requisite Rita and Josh ask that attendees watch their documentary "Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds" that may be found here: http://dancinginkproductions.com/projects/understanding-islam-through-virtual-worlds/

Please join us for this presentation and come prepared to ask questions and express your thoughts for an active dialogue, with these influential educators.

To save you a couple clicks (though I do encourage you to visit the website and learn more, here's an embed of the wonderful video. Note the appearance of my MUVErs partner, padlurowncanoe Dibou, about mid-way through. What a great surprise that was to me! From the website:

On January 29, 2009, Dancing Ink Productions Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts released the findings from the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The project was funded by a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. The findings included a trilogy of actionable items available in digital format here. By releasing three types of reports — policy recommendations, documentary video and graphic book — we hope to make what is still a very new medium as accessible as possible.

Read more: http://dancinginkproductions.com/projects/understanding-islam-through-virtual-worlds/#ixzz0TYheTcFV

King Tut Virtual--Heritage Key Project is a Must See!

I recently took a little visit to a newly released OpenSim virtual world, Heritage-Key's "King Tut Virtual".

I was a little apprehensive at first, since I haven't really had much prior success with OpenSim offerings, but this exploration makes me want to break out the search tools and see what others are doing!

First, I downloaded the viewer, readily and freely available here. It's a quick download, and registration, here, is just as quick and easy.

Then I wound my way through the opening orientation, very extensive, and likely a case of TMI ("Too Much Information"), especially to any experienced Second Lifer. Still, it was interesting to me to see another group's approach to orientation. I've still not found a better, more concise, and yet more detailed one that our MUVErs Orientation in Second Life.

Then I made my way into the build. I'm not going to spoil it for you with too much detail, but I will urge you to persevere. There's a lot to see so take your time and enjoy. Here's a pic of the Coffins area:

I did a little Frapsing while I was there, just to demo a snippet of the build. You can see that at Virtual Environments Education Videos, my ning. You don't need to register to view, only to upload your own videos if that's your cup of tea.

Oh heck, let's just embed it here!

Find more videos like this on Virtual Environment Education Videos!

I'll definitely be back to King Tut Virtual! I have a classroom of 2nd graders who study ancient Egypt every year. This, without the adult content issues Second Life has (admittedly) recently addressed, will be a lasting resource for the future!