Meeting, meeting, winter warmer

No of meetings attended: 2 (good); No. of trees felled: 8 (good); No of trees planted: 7 (good); No. of times have tagged a blog entry with the word "chocolate": 0 until today (surprising: in RL would probably have to tag every day "chocolate")
Invigorated by RL train journey through Peak District (from Manchester to Sheffield; trees and snow look amazing) attended UK SL educators "Second Tuesday" meeting. There were what might be called Usual Suspects in attendance and chat was pleasing mix of banter (new year resolutions; cats; feather costumes; that kind of thing) and useful convo re education. UK educator meetings seems to have higher banter-to-Serious-Stuff ratio which is OK by me. Had not visited Bangor sim (the venue) before so that also interesting.

Couple of hours later was the SL educators roundtable, now renamed in 21st century fashion "Virtual Worlds Educators Roundtable", since meetings also take place in other virtual worlds. Was load of people there and lots of discussion (loosely) around points that one of the Linden's had made in a sort of "state of the grid" blog post. Did not make much contribution and at one point inadvertantly turned Voice Chat on (when checking to see whether someone else had an open microphone, ironic really) and AJ IMed me about it, which is shaming. However, did not have any microphone device plugged in so do not think will have been making much noise, unless laptop was providing own conversational contributions without my knowledge.

Following this checked up on some of my homes; renewing rent on Babylon 5 room, returning a suspicious looking item to its owner from my main home, and also having a look at the African sim where Graham is renting some land. All the African heat reminded me that was intending to make Infolit even more wintery, so tp-ed back, adjusted the ground textures a bit to get full snow in NE corner of Infolit iSchool, and changed trees around greenhouse to wintery ones. Also added an extra winter deer and suddenly remembered had Hot Chocolate Hut in inventory, and put that in too. If you click the cups or dispensor you get mug of warming chocolate with usual drinking animation that throws beverage in rough direction of face. Can then go and bother the deer. No dogs though, please.

Sensible activities

Educational meetings attended: 3 (mostly good); Problems with Voice: 1 (bad); Strange transporations and crashes: several (bad); No. of eminent researchers sitting on lap: 1 (amusing)
As well as seeking out virtual bonsai, bubble chairs and valentine freebies, have manged to fit in some work-related activities. First picture shows AJ's weekly educational discussion, where Pathfinder Linden held forth. This was a week ago, and must confess that remembrance of what he said seems to have leached away.

Passing swiftly to an event that is fresher in the memory, on Monday attended the SL Researchers meeting. Brainwave Bernal was talking about the CLIVE (Center for Learning in Virtual Environments) project, and Salamander, i.e. efforts to tag and record learning objects in SL. In UK most efforts to get academics to upload and share stuff have been pretty unsuccessful, since a) academics are not sharing creatures; b) universities aren't sharing organisations and c) who wants to use other people's stuff anyway? By the time you've hacked it around enough that your students recognise it as relevant to them, you might as well start from scratch.
However, having said that, certainly HAVE used other people's stuff in SL, rather more than in RL. Is this because it is more fun to hack around? Hmmm.

Was attending this and next meeting from home using mobile 3G stick. Stick appeared to be particularly challenged. To start with could scarecly move, then when attempted to sit down was apparently whisked to corner of sim (0,0,0) and Aussie researcher Seeker was sitting on my knee (see picture). Even wierder, SHE evidently saw herself back in the meeting place and was carrying out text chat with people there. Having struggled back, waited for Brainwave to start his presentation. By time he had worked through 3 slides in perfect silence had deduced that he was using Voice and I wasn't hearing it despite having Voice active. Fixed it by logging out and in, but really must stir self to get a proper broadband connection.

After this meeting, whizzed straight over to the Educator's Coop where Metaphor Voom talked about the v. interesting things he was doing. Students select RL adverts which show human bodies, put them on billboards in SL and embed notecards with critique about the ad. Metaphor had prepared a template board with notecard so they only had to master a few SLskills. He felt that they were interacting more with each other's work and we agreed that having them on large boards had an impact. The layout was also newbie-friendly.
At this meeting I spent whole time on a box, since (a tip) in my belagged situation it was easier to sit on a box and move that round by editing it, than to try and walk about. BTW you may have noticed wings, cute eh, but possibly also a bit twee, so will not be wearing them in front of students or indeed the Vice Chancellor.

Meetings not happening

Meetings scheduled in SL: 2 (good); Meetings taking place in SL: approx 0.6 (bad)

Should currently be doing tidying up activities (updating notecard, preparing chat for upload, sweeping up toast etc) after successful discussion led by Ishbel "Impressions of the London Online exhibition/conference". However as any devoted SL resident will know, SL grid only notable by absence this afternoon and evening (UK time).

Was usual sorry tale of "will be up in an hour" "grid is now online!" "oops gosh it fell over" "we'll be up in an hour" "um, make that 3 hours". Meanwhile screen as pictured here told sad tale of zero avatars inworld.

For some time looked like grid would come back up at noon SL time ie official discussion start time - but then was postponed 2 hours so Ishbel and I (via email, thanks heavens for old technology) decided to postpone talk too, to Monday.

Had omitted to mention that between successful discussion on SL interviewing and this discussion had been social event scheduled on the skating rink. In a nutshell was bit of a mistake, think need to employ social secretary as am good enough at organising festivities (extra skating animations, Gluhwein etc.) but not good at publicising event in sparky manner. Was grateful therefore to Adelaide and Jocelyn who graciously stayed for while and tried out spins, couple skating etc.

Meeting, toast

Meetings organised in SL: 1 (good); Experiences of toast throwing: 1 (good)

Am holding another discussion tomorrow so must hurry up and write about last one, held nearly 2 weeks ago. Was on interviewing for research in SL. Am particularly interested because students are doing research interviews in SL and so have been thinking about differences between RL f2f interviews, SL interviews, other online interviews. The transcript for the meeting is at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=188. Will aim to do entry about this on the IBL blog.

Fairly small group but interesting discussion, with more questions than answers, but I picked up a few tips and also led to suggestion for next research-focused discussion (on sampling). Crashed out half way through and when logged back in people were discussing what people do when someone crashes out i.e. that just take it as normal, except when suspect that person hasn't REALLY crashed out but it using that as convenient excuse.

At end of meeting one participant asked would liketo have toast thrown at me. Not invitation I get every day, so agreed readily. Had to Edit Land, to turn on scripts and object entry for all residents. However was worth it when gratifying flurry of toast flew through air. A dodgy moment when wondered whether would have to clear up toast from floor, but in fact it was self-clearing toast which disappeared magically. If only messy food in RL acted like that.

Meetings

Interviews given: 1 (good); People dropping by: 3 (good); Offices created: 1 (good); No. of cool offers of unpaid work: 1 (good); Strangers observed editing appearance on skating rink: 1 (curious).

Have not mentioned that although island scarcely Picadilly Circus have been a few more people turning up. Was on island last Saturday being interviewed by Marilena whilst lounging by the pool and having nice chat generally. A business lecturer who has come along to a couple of meeting suddenly joined us which felt v. nice as like to feel that island is place where people might like to hang out.

Also Swiss librarian who came to discussion with report from Konstanz meeting dropped in beforehand to take balloon ride and say hello.

Realise haven't blogged that discussion here, but have done so on the Information Literacy blog. The pic here shows Tulle and Marky, after the discussion finished and is basically included so can see rather fine flower arrangement that is now a feature of the office.

Have finally made cubicle space for Ishbel in departmental building, since she is part of team with undergrads in SL. A couple of nights ago she visited it and fortunately liked the way had kitted it out (though as she has SL Skills, she may choose to personalise with her own stuff).

Lastly, after previous Babylon5 entry, was contacted by one of people who run the sim and asked if would like to help with marketing effort of the B5 Experience. Was v. surprised and flattered but also torn as

a) would be v. cool thing to do but

b) am already hiding behind vast piles of Unfinished Work in office and gazing glassy eyed at oodles of emails in inbox with all other zillion things I'm supposed to be doing.

In end said that would like to be part of Team but have to be realistic about time committed. This seemed to be OK so will have to see how it goes.

Is now taking me some time each day just to visit all places where have land/quarters. with personal land will note that number of office blocks have risen which is bit of shame. Also think only person to have bought a photo from shop is Ishbel.

Bought a v. nice Christmas tree though, so can contemplate that when feel stressed.

I realise I am a metaverse evangalist

Meetings on SL attended in RL: 1 (good); Healthy food consumed = 1 apple and 1 handful of undidentified green matter decorating sandwiches (good); Unhealthy food consumed = sandwiches, biscuits, cake, coffee (bad); Handbags not bought = 1 (good, I suppose).

Yesterday attended meeting in London organised by landlords (i.e. Eduserv ;-) and the CETIS project at Strathclyde Uni. Once had hauled RL self out of bed and onto early train, traced venue at end of lane off Theobalds Road, and picked up biscuits (type = ordinary) to sustain self through rest of morning, was hey ho for sitting listening to people.

The RL version of Art Fossett gave totally awesome short roundup of what SL is about. His ppt slides each had pic of Art, in a different t-shirt in each pic to illustrate points. He said he had thought of doing this by showing Art changing t-shirt each time in SL. V. nice idea but pondered that might be dodgier for self as is something intrinsically tacky about watching female avatar changing into a series of t-shirts, even if had demour cami on in vest layer.

Presentations will be loaded by CETIS shortly, in meantime there are posters at http://www.slideshare.net/eduservfoundation/eduserv-foundation-sl-projects and also displayed on Eduserv Island inworld. Two which appealed most immediately were Theatron 3 and a project at the Institute for Education which is looking more at the social side of SL through qualitative research. Theatron 3 is crafting detailed (and prim heavy) recreations of theatres in SL (after a successful 3-D web project). Is interesting for numerous groups - historians, theatre studies etc etc plus tourism-type appeal plus use as performance space (and would imagine for, as in RL, corporate entertaining in RL, can imagine Bill Gates' avatar swanning in for product launch). Also raises information management issues.

At lunchtime (sandwiches = reasonable; fruit = good) was able to pop into SL to show someone my office. Had already got v. excited at glimpse of it in background as Art was showing people round Eduserv Island.

After the 2 afternoon presentations had coffee (= standard institutional) and cake (= good) and then a one hour discussion. Was debate about whether what SL offered to educators was new or not. Some felt was not much advance over chat, but most (I think) disagreed and felt it gave more. General feeling that do need to identify what is uniquely effective/ useful about educating in SL. At moment little research on impact of SL: hope this strand of things doesn't get lured down a meaningless quantitative quest.

Was also disagreement about whether should ever REQUIRE students to go into SL. Personally feel that if it is educationally meaningful, aligned with LT&A etc. etc. then is much like any other activity (seminar, lecture, lab, whatever) - everyone should have to do it. Art quoted someone's opinion that 1 in 10 people "get" SL. However, I pointed out that often students don't "get" lectures either, and that doesn't stop us forcing them to do them (or at least timetabling them, which is by no means the same thing as getting students to attend...)

Anyway was at this point that realised that in 3 short months have moved from academic who curled lip in sneering fashion when speaker (at May Eduserv symposium) said he was a metaverse evangalist, to being a metaverse evangelist myself. Unfortunately job title is still Senior Lecturer, so fear will either have to curb metaverse tendencies before take over whole life, or change jobs.

One speaker said how a fave thing was dressing up in SL and taking posters of self (ie avatar) which was reassuring. On way back to St Pancras was also reminded of shopping in that passed shop selling exquisite leather handbags with tasteful flower appliques. However, cost £350 rather than 350 Linden, so sighed and walked by.

Did not take any pics of RL event, therefore have included photos of 1st home, i.e. Japanese tea garden. NB last pic is me splashing water dreamily (i.e. with pose ball DAYDREAMING placed artfully on stone), and in entirely innocent fashion. 2nd last was taken (intentionally) at night, so is meant to be dim. As usual, click on thumbnails to see full size.

First Information Literacy Meeting!

Discussions held: 1 (good); People attending: 3 (good); Percentage of conversation contributed by self: 85 (bad, and that’s counting lines not words)

Yesterday held first Information Literacy (IL) discussion in office. Not publicised much at all so no surprise that v. few people turned up but was what wanted really as enabled it to be Learning Experience though also hopefully not waste of time for others.

Was based on IL research map created for RL conference earlier in year. Map is on wall in office and can also download it from http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
Had created v. large version of map in advance and positioned it under office so could slide it up around to highlight bits was talking about. Had wondered about positioning it in air above office, but wondered if this might be too difficult for others flying about it. Think will try this out with colleague Yuxuan who was one of those to attend, to see which he thinks is best.
Was question early on about Delphi study (is type of survey, used when you want to get expert consensus, 3 pairs of students have done studies quoted on poster) so actually spent lot of time explaining that. Will put up extract from the explanation when get back to office, am currently away) On going back see that Yuxuan actually picked up on a particular point on the poster and I just steamed on regardless. Note to self: need to improve “SL listening skills”.
One question that came up was IL research and Continuing Professional Development for practitioners. At legal librarians conference that spoke at in June, when talked about legal librarians’ ideas of priorities for IL, a couple of people said that the Delphi method sounded interesting & they might use it. Thought this was encouraging in showing that learning about research methods can be interesting to professionals, when can see application in their own RL.
Also raised was whole issue of literacies. Yuxuan (shown in final photo) said “I think there is a danger in presenting literacies (e.g. computer literacy, e-literacy ... even information literacy) as if they exist in some objectivist way. It seems to me that [ultimately] everyone has their conception of a particular literacy, although there seems to be more agreement about some literacies (e.g. information literacy).” Also later Tiana mentioned SL as vehicle for literacy and possible interest in looking at overlap between IL and ICT literacy. Apart from twisting Yuxuan’s arm to lead a discussion in future, also thought that having session(s) on “literacies” might be interesting crossover event IL/education/ICT people.

Event v. useful in thinking how could do things better. Obviously can ask people to look at notecard or outside-world item like pdf or ppt, but not everyone wants to do “homework” before an event. This one was actually flagged up as me explaining, so think it was OK me saying a fair bit. Am thinking about ways to make next one more interactive, though also some people just like to listen and shouldn’t be forced.
One thing I thought was that could identify some colleague in group to IM with questions about SL basics e.g. for people who aren’t sure about moving round or touching things so can ask privately. First photo shows Tiana, Kristina (typing), Yuxuan and me (standing up)
On a more serious note, as you will see, wore almost same outfit as to CITASA conference. Different black top had shorter sleeves, exposing wrists and neccessitating trip to EARTHONES store to get bracelets matching necklace.

CILIP aftermath

Visits to SL: 0 (bad); Holidays in RL: 1 (v. good); Hours spent waiting at Madrid airport after plane cancelled on way home: 5 (bad)

Was away from SL for a week. In meantime see that as hoped, feature on Mark Taylor's blog article in CILIP website about SL opening. Yay. Interesting to see that, as in RL, am slightly disappointed by how look in photos (see 2nd photo, taken by Mark Taylor). Seem to be chubbier and less attractive than in photos taken of self. Perhaps this not surprising when consider that spend ages positioning camera for most flattering shot. Apparently I and IanSnowley Allen "exchanged ideas for possible professional uses for Second Life". Furthermore in a comment Lindsay asks "How can I read or hear the discussion Sheila had with Ian about possible professional uses for 2nd life?"

Can remember saying nothing coherent on professional uses of SL, although think wittered something about exploring nature of information literacy with students. Actually now I write it that sounds quite good, so perhaps if could edit transcript down to 3 lines and take out spelling mistakes would be OK.

CILIP President has also made comment on last blog entry, which is nice but bit alarming. Professional life coming possibly too close for comfort. Is evidently question will have to ponder at length e.g. in RL
1) do not admit to colleagues that spend hours looking at clothes &arranging flowers in office.
2) when writing about meetings am generally v. polite rather than saying that was so dull that gave up will to live and started manic doodling in effort to stave off rigour mortis. Not that ever attend dull meetings in RL, obviously; ahem.
3) do not write about students except in v. minimal way, as is otherwise abusing position of teacher.

Point 3) is one of ethics and as take v. seriously will not change for this blog. However others require more thought. Or as thought is v. hard, could just keep blogging & see what happens.

Photo shows me in Blogher 07 conference which is where I am at the moment. More on that soon....

Excitements, Reboot

Items marked in RL: 0 (v. bad); Instant Messages sent: 2 (good); Crashes whilst in SL: 1 (bad; Blogger's automatic save v. helpful, otherwise would have been v. v. bad)

4 Exciting things
1) BBC Radio 4 book of week Tim Guest's "Second lives", allegedly "revelatory journey through the electronic looking glass of alternative life online." Hmmm: extract this a.m. sounded v. Radio 4, SL evidently no longer cutting edge. Expect next thing will be Tom and Brenda selling Tom Archer Sausages in SL, & Jolene and Sid operating virtual pub/casino. (Archers is v. good radio soap, I am addict in RL, actually Archers in SL would be exciting too)

2) IM-ed members of Information Literacy Group to say that meeting at 11am UK time. Forgot to say what day (tomorrow), oops, so had to send 2nd IM. Have arranged to meet in Abo Akademi under cherry trees. This is really because kimono looks good under cherry trees, but don't say this in IM.

4) Visit Kansas State Library and adjoining Readers Garden. Recline and watch self doing strange hypnotic page turning gestures (see pic). Resist urge to sign up for book discussion. Actually not hard as don't want to discuss any books on list.

3) There is a Sculpted Prim contest. Enough said.

Notice that AF is online. Should I attempt meeting? Not sure. In RL AF has not answered latest email, BUT has offered friendship on Facebook. This all gets v. complicated. Decide will sneak away, but anyway decision taken out of hands as at this point computer freezes and have to Reboot.