Visit WRAITH and Lady Dragoness at the Wraith Dragon Temple in Second Life to see some fantastic dragon statues. I have featured my favorite here, the Gravois Dragon created by Wal Krugman.
Close up (showing teeth) of Gravois Dragon statue by Wal Krugman
There is much to see on the island with its landscape of woods and clearings, gazebos, ruins and long arching foot bridges set against a backdrop of mountains. You can wander around and see a considerable array of dragon statues.
Gravois Dragon statue ( Wal Krugman states that the statue will ' temp-rez on your land using one prim only'.)
The Lady Dragoness sells a natty line in crowns and coronets for ladies. I also saw a fine piece of head gear for male avatars called the Dragon Warrior Helm (image below shows the display in the Lady Dragoness Sanctuary).
Dragon Warrior Helm available at the Lady Dragoness
I also discovered, while wandering the island, that Wal Krugman has created a line of wearable dragons that can perch on your avatar’s shoulder. I purchased one and now I am waiting to see how my other pet dragon Spit Wrath deals with the company…
Spit Wrath on the left and new tiny gold dragon on the right. (That is a painting in the background not Wraith and Lady Dragoness island, though the island does resemble the painting in some respects.)
I have been thinking it’s time to take a look at communication devices in Second Life. I tend to really like the Steampunk inventions first and shiny futuristic space age devices second. The thought behind this little examination of communication equipment is based on the idea that fact follows fancy. Who knows we may all be wearing the next fancy thing-gummy permanently attached to our bodies? (No more dropping our smart phones down the loo.) Maybe we will be powering our own devices with our own body heat rather than causing them to stall with our sweat à la the iphone? The following photographs show the futuristic Holo Wristcomm created by Fenrir Reitveld.
Wristcomm provides a flip up virtual keyboard that glows in the dark (very useful)
A closeup of the Wristcomm. It's like wearing a netbook wrapped around your arm.
Wristcomm arm held at elegant angle while seated
Activating the Wristcomm's 'Danger' feature which (unlike the iphone) works under water
Unable to speak (underwater). Typing for help...
One observation to make, if you wear this device in a location where there is a lot of lag it keeps your arm locked up as though you are wearing a plaster cast. This reminded me of the prosthetic devices I have read about recently: Offbeat O&P–Prosthetic Finger Implanted with USB Drive and Eye-socket camera films from inside the head. Perhaps one day we will be able to get casts for broken arms that come loaded with MP3 players, IM, WiFi and direct links to facebook and Ebay?
I went to visit Bryn Oh’s Immersiva the other night and discovered ColeMarie Soleil was there! She was singing live with her avatar perched atop a giant rusty bird suspended high in the sky.
Cole Marie with her audience balancing upon Bryn Oh's art
Immersiva Faerie ColeMarie Soleil (& Golink Koba)
There were some pretty amazing looking avatars gathered round ColeMarie including this one by Kevlar Keen.
A telephone conference takes all the participants’ voices and squishes them together. Ideas can be communicated and action steps decided etc, but later it’s really hard to recall who was who, and who said what during the call.
The joys of a conference call...
Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life gave a talk in April of this year to the Gronstedt Group in Second Life. During this talk he described his frustration with telephone conference calls:
“Think about when you are sitting at a meeting using a speaker phone, and you are staring at that speaker, and then after a while you become frustrated because you think; ‘Why am I looking at this stupid phone’, and you try to look at the other people but that feels really awkward, so you look at the ceiling. Then you kind of give up in frustration and maybe look back at the phone.”
Philip Rosedale then added that our brain localizes “the voices that it hears as being little tiny humans that are sitting somehow inside that phone… If there are multiple people at the end of your line your brain images them all as being trapped inside that little phone, and that’s really unpleasant because two people (or more) are right in the exact same space. When they are speaking to you from the same place… your brain has a hard time.” (Rosedale, 2009).
"...little tiny humans that are sitting somehow inside that phone…"
Webinars tend to be dull to look at and tedious to listen to. They largely depend upon the skills of a moderator who hopefully has an engaging voice (qualities that are often lacking). Webinars also tend to be formulaic and predictable and, as my last post observed, they are rather sorry objects to look at. The poor visual quality of webinars goes a long way towards explaining our ensuing attention drift and poor memory recall.
An attempt to show the movement of attention when viewing the two-dimensional webinar screen.The red arrows indicate the short 'attention loop' generated by webinar viewing.
This short visual attention loop is very similar to the movement pattern of a goldfish swimming in a fish tank. The fish swims from one end of the tank to the other, as it reaches the end it bumps into the glass wall of the aquarium, and turns to swim to the opposite end of the tank. It then meets the glass wall at this end of the tank and swims back, and so on, ad infinitum. (Does the fish’s brain contain enough memory to know it has been to the end of the tank and back already?)
The Goldfish Attention Loop
In the case of humans staring at a relatively unchanging computer screen, the low demand of the webinar ‘goldfish attention loop’ triggers us into finding something more visually stimulating to look at. Based purely on anecdotal evidence it is well known that people open up their email while ‘attending’ an online meeting or training. Others simply carry on working, making phone calls or chatting to colleagues.
Now, when we look at the 3D environment of a virtual world depicted upon our computer screen our eyes can peer into a synthetic distance. This gives us the illusion of space and by adding the visual representations of familiar objects, we can create an ambiance, or mood, to this virtual meeting space. These extra peripheral visual details plus the use of additional ambient sound effects assist concentration and we end up remembering more as a result!
Companies are switching over to the web to deliver many of their training programs. This is due to the current economic climate coupled with our growing concern for the environment. A training delivered online is cheaper, and leaves a smaller carbon footprint than a face to face meeting with people driving (and sometimes flying) in to attend. It makes a great deal of sense to run meetings and trainings online, unfortunately the quality of such trainings often leaves a lot to be desired.
X
Talking to educators and trainers involved in such courses I get the impression that everyone accepts the fact that these trainings are as dull as dishwater. They, the trainers, know that many of the remotely based ‘attendees’ are continuing to work, surf the net, check their email and make phone calls etc, during the course of the training. The trainers are given limited resources (that are being pruned back more and more in many cases) yet they are expected to churn out training programs to hundreds of employees. Managements do not want to provide additional resources to help the trainers do their job, they just want to know the training has been delivered. A recipe for depressed trainers delivering mediocre and bland training programs to say the least!
X
Having sat in on a few web based seminars myself I have been wondering just why they are so difficult and dull? I began surfing the net (sometimes during webinars) to see what the real scoop on these particular training applications might be. I soon found plenty of glowing adverts for webinar platforms scattered across the web, but little is available that actually analyzes just how effective webinars are for delivering trainings.
A typical webinar screen window
I decided instead that it is possible to speculate on how we really look at a webinar site based on a study conducted by Jakob Nielsen PhD. Nielsen, a former Sun Microsystems Engineer, has become world renowned as a (if not the) web usability expert and web user advocate. In 2006 he carried out a study where he observed the eye-tracking movements of 232 individuals when they were looking at websites. This eye-tracking study found that individuals tend to hover over particular areas of a web page regardless of the information on that particular page. He called these areas ‘hot spots’ and showed that we have a tendency to view web pages according to a specific pattern that shows an ‘F’ shape. (Nielsen, J. 2006). X
Nielsen’s eye scanning study has been the focus of considerable attention from website designers. Naturally they aim to place the most important information at the point on the page where the viewer’s eye is likely to linger most frequently. (However, it appears that webinar site designers have not sat down and taken a look at how our eyes look at 2D web pages.)
Image above taken directly from Nielsen's 'Reading pattern eye tracking' study
The image above shows the eye tracking hotspots on three different web pages. Please see Jakob Nielsen’s website useit.com for more information.
I have taken my diagram of a typical webinar page and superimposed the Nielsen ‘F-shaped’ viewing hotspots to see where webinar viewers are most likely to be looking when participating in a webinar. (See below).
A typical webinar window with superimposed Jakob Nielsen eye scanning hotspots.
My conclusion is that people wander off to other activities because of the low degree of visual stimulation provided by a webinar site!
I am a busy person so I really appreciate the notices sent out by Bettina Tizzy to the NPIRL group. These notices tell me when a new art exhibit is on show in Second Life. They also tell me about special events which might involve music and dance (one day I will make it to see the Zero G dancers perform!) The NPIRL group also covers imaginative ‘builds’ which brings me to my present cyberloom post. I was reviewing my NPIRL note cards recently, and Bettina mentioned the Abyss build, and added ‘you have been to The Abyss?’ Well I had not, so I swiftly set out to make amends by paying a visit.
A view of one of the major Abyss towers
The Abyss. Detail showing pipes and concrete.
The Abyss turns out to be a shop. It reminded me (in an odd way) of one of those very exclusive tiny shoe shops you walk by in the posh parts of London. The sort that has a very bored shopping assistant who looks as though she fell out of a fashion magazine like an unwanted subscription card. Such a ‘real world’ shop may display about 12 pairs of shoes, each posed like sculptures on stands or spotlit glass shelving. The Abyss shop displays a range of cyberpunk items; not too many, after all post apocalyptic grunge has its own exclusivity in Second Life.
The Abyss. Detail showing windows sliding below ground level
The shop sits in a big damaged tower block. Turrets and towers reach up all around pointing up into the thick soup clouds above . Everything leans at dangerous angles, in places you can see the metal skeleton of lost towers reminding us of the shattered World Trade Center. The whole construction, created by the brilliant builder Gene Replacement, seems as though it is standing on a broken earth. I expected to hear the stones and rubble shifting, bricks grinding each other into dust, and sudden mini avalanches of debris.
Abyss view showing turrets and towers
Some of the towers reminded me of an old university, and I wondered if it was a statement about collapsing ivory towers? Or, perhaps this is a visual metaphor for the recent battering of so many American vanities? But then the location’s subtitle is “Risen from the Darkest Depths”. Maybe this is some alien, organism growing up from the earth’s molten core? You will have to go to The Abyss and decide for yourself. Just remember to dress up to go shopping here! Then you can pose casually amongst the other very thoughtfully dressed avatars who have dressed to be seen shopping at the Abyss.
Abyss shop detail (showing cloth designs by Khai Sinister)
Icarus by Cheen Pitney at the Blackwater Sculpture Art Gallery in Second Life
The virtual sculptor Cheen Pitney (great name) is a master at creating flying sculptures that defy the laws of physical world gravity. He is especially gifted at creating mythological creatures and fabulous flying men with gorgeous sweeping wings (see ‘Icarus’ above).
Phoenix with Rose by Cheen Pitney
His work is currently on display at Jurin Juran’s Blackwater Sculpture Art Gallery. As a novice of 3D building I am awed by Cheen’s ability to sculpt with prims. There are many, many artists at work in Second Life but few can ‘draw’ in 3D so expressively. Cheen’s shapes have confident, expressive lines reminiscent of a Japanese artist painting in inks (i.e. you have to get that line just right!)
Strange battle of the Ice-Tigers at Blackwater
As I wandered around the Blackwater Sculpture Art Gallery I found myself wishing that some of Cheen’s art had been positioned higher in the sky. But then maybe that was very deliberate? By putting the sculptures just above the ground there was a sense of them having just leapt up into the air. Instead of a ‘frozen moment’ caught via a photograph, Cheen had created frozen movement in a virtual world. The image above captures a fierce battle between Ice-Tigers; in the background you can see a sword statue (also created by Cheen) exploding into eternity, forever on the point of total fracture!
Close up of the Flying (marble) Bull
Visit Jurin Juran’s Blackwater Sculpture Art Gallery in Second Life to see more work by Cheen Pitney and other artists including: Starax Statosky/Light Waves, Masterful Escape, Madcow Cosmos, LittleToe Bartlett, Pavig Lok, Osprey Therian, Nomasha, Stella Costello, Stormy Roentgen, Ub Yifu, Loki Ball and Jurin Juran.
Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark,
Brandy for the parson and bacchy for the clerk,
Laces for the ladies and letters for the spie,
Now watch the wall my darling while the gentlemen go by.
(Rudyard Kipling. The Smugglers Song.)
The virtual world can be used to train people in customer service, managing conflict resolution, science, architecture, medicine and much more.
Probably the most well publicized simulation was created by Ken Hudson of the Loyalist College’s Virtual World Design Centre for the Canadian Border Services Agency. Post 9-11, the agency could no longer send student border guards to the actual border crossing to gain first hand interviewing experience. Due to heightened security concerns students had to role-play interviews within the college environment. The students were struggling with this aspect and the pass rate for students dropped. Instructor Ken Hudson decided to recreate the border crossing in Second Life. The students then ran interview simulations in the virtual world. The result of this role-play interviewing caused a dramatic improvement that could be measured. In 2007 student’s interview skills (without the Second Life simulation) had the average grade of 58%. In 2008, after the use of the simulation, student’s interview skills averaged 86%, showing an improvement of 28%. (See New World Notes for the original story). Check out the following YouTube video (also shown on Wagner James Au’s blog) this provides a sense of the simulation conditions for the students:
Two thoughts intrigue me about this simulation. One is the thought about smugglers attempting to carry illegal goods across so-called ‘real world’ borders. Smuggling has changed from the days featured in the romanticized Rudyard Kipling poem above. An example of this is the ‘Cocaine cast’ story’ where a man tried to smuggle cocaine compressed into a plaster cast for a broken leg.
The second thought revolves around using Second Life to create a virtual border post, intriguing when one of the wonders of Second Life is that it is multi-national and has no border controls… But then, perhaps the new ‘mature’ sims will have controlled border crossings? And then, that begs the question what would a virtual world smuggler smuggle?
Honored guests gathering for Bryn Oh's '4Jetpacks4' immersive adventure. We all checked each other out as we waited for Bryn to transport us off to the performance area. It was like an opening scene to an Agatha Christie novel... who was going to be murdered? Who was the assassin? Or as Dirk Talamasca said 'We are just having smokes and boozing it up in the lobby.'
We finally arrive at the Research Centre for the Study of Interplanetary Organisms. Glyph Graves, one of the mad scientists, presented findings following his intensive 'exploration into the forefront of Organic Transmutation'.
Glyph explains that he has melded a Paramecium and a common, everyday coelenterate respectively (otherwise known as a single cell organism and a jellyfish). The result is what he describes as a friendly, placid and strangely attractive specimen that 'may even provide a suitable replacement for the household pet'...
The gelatinous 'pet' suddenly sucked Dusty Linden into its squidgy self via aggressive osmosis. Glyph shouted 'ummm don't be alarmed... its just mistaken you for its offspring... they seem to carry them around much like a kangaroo... it should realize its mistake shortly....' Sure enough, Dusty was squirted back out, yet she managed to retain her poise admirably (despite being covered in pastel colored, salt flavored goop).
Nonnatus Korhonnen (seen here as none other than Gattina Dumpling) then presented creatures that existed eons ago in 'pre-nonnatus history'. Somehow, Nonnatus had managed to retrieve two small seed fragments from 'the oceans of infinite combinatorial possibilities'. With the help of an 'entirely artificial pulsating red mass' Nonnatus was able to coax fresh new organisms to be brought to life!
Nonnatus' creatures rising from the artificial ocean of endless possibilities. 'This mass sustains the whole system, yet I had to create it from scratch. It is a vital part of the whole, it was not until after I had completed it that the system became completely self sustaining. I can only wonder what held its place before my time.' (Nonnatus Kerhonen March 13. 2009)
Bryn Oh then began summoning a Rain Pixie which she described as ' The cutest little thing you have ever seen!' Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to reveal the cute little rain pixie, or the grand finale with the species that stands 8 stories high and can read minds! I am bound by complex laws of Organic Transmutation and Immersive Secrecy, plus I fear reprisals from Glyph Grave's pet... (I don't have the family connections of Dusty Linden after all).
Only 10 avatars can take the Bryn Oh’s tour of the Research Centre for the Study of Interplanetary Organisms at one time (more avatars generate too much lag). However, there is a chance to win a visit, and see the cute Rain Pixie, and the 8 stories high mind reader for yourself! Visit Bryn Oh’s blog post ‘4Jetpacks4′ for more information on how finding a Wonka Bar wrapper on Immersiva will entitle you to this magical immersive tour.
