The internet phenomenon Second Life is being used by some organisations as an educational tool.
Mark Mullis of Middlesbrough City Learning Centre is harnessing the virtual social networking site for a local school.
Rory Cellan-Jones spoke to him at the BETT show in London, the world's largest educational technology exhibition.
The virtual world still needs a lot of work if it is to replace the real world says regular columnist Bill Thompson.
 Sometimes there is no substitute for meeting in the real world |
On Monday I went to see author and thinker Clay Shirky talk at a lunchtime seminar hosted by the Demos think tank. I travelled in to London earlier than I needed to on a crowded train, sitting on a slow bus across town and then squeezing into a bright but too warm room to sit on a hard seat in order to listen to something which was being recorded and will later be available as a podcast.
Clay was charming and intelligent and funny, and I got to hear him thinking out loud about the impact of social tools on international politics, which was fun, but I could have done all that by listening in online, or even by watching the stream of brief reports appearing on Twitter, the communications service that is currently taking the net by storm.
Instead I sat there offering my own online commentary on what he was saying while looking up references on the web as he talked.
Net benefits
What drove me there was the same inner need that got me to the OpenTech conference last weekend, despite the fact it meant a trip to London on a Saturday.
Two weeks ago it took me to York for Shift Happens, an event for those working in the arts to explore new technology, and before that it had dragged me to 2gether08, the strangely-named but fabulously productive convention that arch-networker Steve Moore created by inviting a lot of interesting people to come up with some cool things to talk about.
I am sure that it will take me around the country and indeed the world in years to come, because there is something special about being in the same space as someone else.
 |   We should not assume that any of today's models will persist or the big sites will be around in a few years time  Bill Thompson |
This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve the various online alternatives to being there, just that we should not expect them to be an adequate substitute in all circumstances.
Online may not be the same as being there, but it does of course have its own special advantages.
Online I can participate in distributed events, meet with people who could never all be present in the same space at the same time, and use the tools to mix synchronous and asynchronous communications to allow a distributed form of participation.
I can even be in two places at the same time. A video feed of every session at 2gether08 was streamed live on the internet, so I managed to sit in a room paying a bit of attention to the discussion about freeing up public data with a headphone in one ear so that I could keep up with the discussion happening downstairs.
And I get to keep a record of my participation. The chat I had with Clay after his talk has vanished, but every word I said to the team from Chinadialogue in our Skype chat last week is carefully preserved, including the moment when the clock chimed and I thought it was interference on the line.
'Virtual presence'
Although they won't replace physical meetings, more and more of us are using online tools and services to keep up to date with our friends, share information about what we're up to or interested in and even to take part in events which we're not physically present at.
But travel takes time, costs money and can have an environmental impact that outweighs the benefits of actually "being there", so we want to make sure that the alternatives are as good as they can be.
And we can't assume that there is a single model for success, or that something that works in one context will be effective or even acceptable everywhere.
Clay Shirky was in London to talk about the ideas from his recently published book Here Comes Everybody, and in it he outlines what he sees as the social and technological factors that determine the success of a social tool, whether a service like email, a site like Facebook or a video-conferencing tool offering "virtual presence" at meetings.
For Shirky every successful social tool brings together a promise, a tool and a bargain - or rather, a plausible promise, an effective tool and an acceptable bargain with users.
The promise is the premise for a group's formation, the reason why people might sign up, join in or take part; the tool makes the necessary interaction possible; and the bargain is the deal between the provider and the user about what will ensue.
If you want to launch a new service then you need to find a way to bring the group of interested people into existence by promising them something, you need to find a tool that will do the job, and you need to keep your side of the bargain once the community is in existence - however ephemeral it may be.
Tools work in different ways, and they also build different levels of engagement between their users, from contribution (which Shirky calls "sharing") through cooperation to collaborative production, and ending with collective action. Wikipedia is a good example of cooperative creation; Linux of collective action.
We are still at a very early stage in our use of online tools for interaction and community-building, so we should not assume that any of today's models will persist or the big sites will be around in a few years time.
What is clear, however, is that the boundaries between the online and offline worlds are blurring as we put our hands through the looking-glass of the screen to shake hands with those on the other side, occasionally pulling them back through into what we still like to call "real life".
The final event of the Faces of Faith in Second Life Showcase and Conversation was a panel discussion held on Sunday, July 29 from 12-1:30 PM PST held in-world and broadcast live through SLCN, the Second Life Cable Network, http://slcn.tv. Religion writer and News21 Senior Editor Don Lattin moderated. Panelists included Second Life worshipers, spiritual leaders, anthropologists and theologians.
Event Transcript
Don Lattin's Opening Remarks
Hello, and welcome to our little experiment here in Second Life. In Real Life, my name is Don Lattin, and I am a writer. Unlike most people in Second Life. I have the same name and same job in the Real World and in Second Life - DonLattin Writer. Maybe I suffer from a virtual lack of imagination. I do have fantasies, but I don't care to share them with you all at the moment. Before we get rolling, let me apologize in advance for any Second Life faux-pas I make during my presentation. I'm a stranger in this strange land, having only heard about the place a couple months ago, and having only logged in a a few hours of flying time so far.
We've been hanging out on the island for nearly a week now showcasing the work of a team of journalists from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley exploring "God, Sex and Family." We chose that title for two reasons. We wanted to get your attention, and we think that's where choices about marriage, dating, the building of community, family and faith play out in private life. To see our work as it unfolds over the next few weeks, go to www.newsinitiative.org/ucb .
"God, Sex, Family" projects are being streamed (video, audio, content) into different tents created to look and feel like a church revival. The tents, such as "My Brother, The Christian," the "Moral Compass" and our "Data Road Trip" will highlight stories and interactive info-graphics reported on and created by the fellows in our News21 project.
News 21 is a national initiative led by five leading universities (UC Berkeley, USC, Columbia, Northwestern and Harvard) and funded by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. My colleague at the Berkeley School of Journalism, Bob Calo, and myself have been leading the Berkeley effort. "Leading" may not be the right word. Bob and I have been hanging out of a group of 12 (tk) recent graduates - all of them very smart and tech-savvy -- learning how to operate in this strange new world of viritual journalism.
We're gathered here on Nowhere Island for a panel discussion on religion on the Internet, and more specifically, religion in Second Life. We'll be looking at how people experience spirituality in Second Life - things like prayer, evangelism/proselytizing and congregational life is different in Second Life and Real Life. Or is it? Does the anonymity of Second Life foster or impede the spiritual connection between people of faith and between people and God? Do some religions work better than others in Second Life and the Internet? Does the "anything goes" philosophy of Second Life get in the way of authoritative religious teachings? Can groups with a history on animosity - like Muslims and Jews - find common ground in Second Life?
Our plan today is to give each of them two-three minutes to talk about their ministries (different word?) here in Second Life, then I'll ask some questions to get the discussion going. There will be a question and answer period at the end of the event. Please make sure to hold your questions until then and please send those questions to KaraAndrade Writer, the UC Berkeley fellow who's masterminded this whole thing.
And then it's party time -- which may be the real religion of Second Life.
If everything is working right today, and don't blame me if it isn't, this event is being broadcast live from SL (Second Life) to RL (Real Life) via the Second Life Cable Network http://slcn.tv/ so people don't have to login to Second Life to listen in and participate.
We have a distinguished panel of speakers with us here today.
Muhammedyussif Wikinger
Lives in Sweden, 63 years old, embraced Islam 20 years ago and is now board member of the Chebi mosque support group in SL. He works as psychiatrist in real life.
Franko Corleone/Frank Scott
Frank, 48, is a respected technology futurist in Australia. He has been a Hare Krishna devotee for many years and follows Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja as his spiritual master. In January 2007 he created a virtual temple, now the "Hare Krishna community welcome area".
Otenth Paderborn/ Kenneth Sutton
Managing editor of UU World and uuworld.org. Also founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) group in SL in January 2007, and the resulting First Friends Church of
Second Life, which has been meeting weekly for worship since February.
Beth Odets/Beth Brown
Founded the Second Life Synagogue (SLS) or the Temple Beth Israel in September 2006.
She is part of the Live Music scene in SL, and tends to spontaneously have live Violin shows, mixing requests with traditional Jewish folk music, a little classical here and there, and tons of Broadway show tunes.
Tom Bukowski / Tom Boellstorff.
Tom Boellstorff is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also currently Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association.
Catching Terrorists in Second Life? | |
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This is the main thing that attracted me to the virtual world a few months ago. I became a new person much fitter than my real-life self! And that is what every one else is doing. They are living their dreams, doing the things that they cannot do in real life. Following the SL logo of "Your World, Your Imagination," people have come up with all kind of strange things in-world. You have griffins and dragons for transportation as well as UFOs. But you also have weapons turning up that can do serious damage to avatars and buildings in the virtual 3D world. Weapons are not new in SL, nor are they new in virtual worlds in general, such as World of Warcraft. There are dozens of duals taking place on SL and, as one duelist there once told me, "you have to come prepared." Her text blinked up on my screen as she packed her semi-automatic rifle and AK-47 and pulled out a huge RPG! Lately, however, police and intelligence services have been eyeing SL, claiming it has been "infiltrated" by terrorists. They did not explain how they arrived to this sinister conclusion, given that nearly every one in SL is adopting a different identity than in real life. This poses a very serious question: Are they watching and collecting data on people who visit SL? And if that is the case, then are they monitoring all 8.5 million residents (the name given to users inside SL) or are they screening for people who could be "terrorists"? On May 22, 2007, there was an attack on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) offices inside SL. It was the first virtual terrorism attack in-world. A group of people dropped a virtual nuclear bomb on ABC's island (virtual place inside SL), leveling it all except for a single communication tower. A group calling themselves the Second Life Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Until recently, those people were only regarded as "geeky teenagers" with too much time on their hands. No one has explained how that deduction came about. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of residents in-world who carry weapons on them. My dueling friend was telling me she spends around US$3000 on weapons every couple of months. She is not alone either; according to her, that is the average that duelers pay. They travel to special islands where they fight. They sometimes even used to gamble on who is going to win; that is, of course, before gambling was banned in SL. In real life, my dueling friend is a 19-year-old girl who probably has never even seen a real gun. Inside SL, she is a killer who boasts on how many residents she has blasted! And herein lies the problem. How can you label someone a terrorist inside a virtual world? And how can you extend that label to real life when people are creating completely different alter identities in SL compared to their real world? This raises the issue of monitoring and screening. Most Muslims are already subjected to ethnical screening in almost all airports around the world, even if they do not have the stereotyped long beard. Has this screening extended to SL? Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) in Singapore, said thathe had been monitoring "12 jihadists" inside SL for the past three months. The question that begs to be asked is: How did Gunaratna figure that these avatars belong to the terrorists in the first place? Terrorism Training In-World Terrorism experts are worried that "radical figures" may be pursuing terrorism training within the confines of SL. Experts expect that after the dismantling of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have gone online to train in virtual worlds. Some experts even think that the attack on ABC was a training or simulation for something the terrorists are preparing in real life. But there is a serious flaw to this point. Training on terrorism in SL does not substitute real-life training. Blowing things up inside SL consists mainly of choosing the "bomb" from a resident's infinite backpack, right-clicking on the target, then choosing an option from a circular menu that pops up. That is all there is to it. It makes sense when experts say many terrorists travel to Iraq to get practice on the field, but how does blowing things up in SL give them any training? In this context, it makes more sense that these virtual terrorism attacks are executed by "geeky teenagers" vying to prove who has created better virtual weaponry. After all, virtual worlds are full of such competitions. Besides, if SL was being as closely monitored as evident from what many experts said, then it would make sense that this is not where terrorists would be. With the amount of funding and technological know-how they are claimed to have,it would make sense they'd have their own networks. Setting up a virtual world is not that complicated anymore, there are already dozens online. For many Muslims who are irritated by the constant screening wherever they go, it will be very annoying to know they are even being monitored in the virtual worlds they escape to. In this case, this would spell the end of the anonymity that people in SL enjoy right now. The question will remain how do you label a terrorist in-world? If they start screening people, will they capture and charge my duelist friend who has killed dozens of "people" while playing in SL? Or will they charge the bombers of the ABC island in-world? Chances are that these are just little children who are playing too much videogames. Where should the red line be drawn between the real world and a virtual one? |
Opens Ramadan Tent in Second Life | ||||
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Designed with a distinctive Arabian theme, the tent will serve as an informative center on all aspects of Ramadan and will cater to both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. It will offer daily special events to the residents of Second Life which includes hosting prominent scholars, lecturers, artists and singers. "The aim is to make the tent fun. Visitors will always find something different to do whenever they visit," says Breathe Swindlehurst, IOL's correspondent in Second Life. Bands and singers from around the world will be hosted to give a cultural taste. The tent, the first inside the virtual world, will be officially opened to visitors at 12:00 GMT on Thursday, September 13. But it has already started its first activity on Tuesday, September 11, keeping SL residents updated with moon sighting across the "real" world. A huge, regularly updated screen was installed outside the tent showing the start of Ramadan in different countries. The location of the tent was chosen to be next to Chebi Mosque, the most popular mosque inside SL. The idea became a joint project between IOL and the Islamic Group, a group of people managing the mosque. Second Life is a virtual world that was created in 2003 by Linden Labs. It has grown exponentially in 2007 and has over nine million subscribed users today. To reach the island, a visitor needs to create an account at www.secondlife.com and download a 70MB program. The Chebi Mosque can be reached by visiting http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chebi/158/198/87/?title=Chebi%20Mosque.< /SPAN> Presenting Islam
The Ramadan tent was designed by a Bahraini 23-year-old girl called Toti Lowey. "I'm very happy to have helped build the Ramadan tent in this world," she says. "It will help to introduce people to Islam in general and to Ramadan in particular inside the world of Second Life." Drown Pharaoh from the UK, Khawla Masala from Bahrain and Laracroft Bade from Qatar joined in preparing the structure. "I joined this project because I believe it is my job to present Islam to others, in any possible way, as long as I do have the ability," says Khawla. Laracroft volunteers her time in the tent because it will be a good chance to "make Muslims in Second Life meet." Tenet visitors will find a big screen showing video clips and information about Ramadan. They can also visit the tent to watch the Tarawih prayers live from the holy city of Makkah. IOL will also hold daily events where Second Life residents can come to meet muftis and scholars and ask questions. The Ramadan tent is IOL's first step into Second Life. In the coming months IOL plans to buy its own island in the virtual world, where it will extend the services of its bilingual portal to Second Life residents. |
IOL Virtual Hajj in Second Life | |||||
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"I think this would be an unparalleled experience for anyone who is going to go to hajj and is unsure of what should and should not be done," says Breathe Swindlehurst, IOL's coordinator in Second Life. As part of its mission statement to better educate Muslims worldwide about their faith, IOL will launch the hajj educational program on December 9, on its own island inside Second Life. The program is a powerful educational tool for people embarking on the soul-searching journey, in the real world, or anyone else who wants to learn about it.
"We have setup points throughout the island that can direct any visitors through the whole experience," said Swindlehurst. "In addition to that, we plan to have special, preannounced sessions where visitors can go through the hajj under guidance of counselors from the IOL Shari`ah department who will teach the group everything they need to know about hajj." One of the five pillars of Islam, hajj consists of several ceremonies, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family. Every able-bodied adult Muslim — who can financially afford the trip — must perform hajj, which starts later this month, at least once in their lifetime. Second Life, created in 2003, is entirely built and owned by its booming population of over 11 million registered users. In the animated world, real people use their avatars to "live" alternate identities in a virtual community, complete with homes, cars, shopping malls and a virtual currency, known as Linden Dollars. Interactive
The project designers say the degree of interactivity in the 3D virtual world would allow participants the ultimate step by step guide to hajj. "The Second Life hajj project is exceptional as it breaks all the traditional limits of training," says Khawla Masala, one of the designers. "It allows the trainees to actually interact and be part of the program besides giving them all the textual material they may need." The program is designed to be as accurate to real life as possible. At the start of the virtual course, trainees will be able to take a free bag containing all the virtual tools they need in their pilgrimage. It features ihram garb (special clothes worn by people during hajj), a tent and a sleeping bag. This is all designed to give the visitor a feeling of the real hajj experience. Virtual pilgrims will go all the way through Al-Masjid Al-Haram in the holy city of Makkah to Mena and Mount `Arafah. Through their avatars, trainees will also be able to gather pebbles for the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamrat Bridge. Walid Weston, who worked on parts of the program, is fascinated by the idea. "Walking through the Al-Masjid Al-Haram for the first time was a fantastic experience! "It is very awe-inspiring and I believe it is the closest you can get to the real thing." More to Come The virtual hajj program is only the latest of IOL's projects in the computer-generated world. The first was the Ramadan tent during the holy fasting month. The tent was a great hit and gained instant popularity with nearly 100 visitors daily. It received wide media coverage, in Second Life as well as in the real world, in many different languages. IOL was the first Islamic media organization to host a full island inside Second Life. The organization is currently planning a center for lectures and fatwa sessions in the virtual world. Using text and audio, the center will be the first stop for all new visitors to the island. It will offer many of the website's services to SL residents. IOL will also unveil new projects in Second Life that make use of the 3D tools of the world on a regular basis. |
