On 3/1/08, Roger Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Speaking perosnally, I want to communicate online in realtime and not to
> have to enter a 3D surrealistic realm to do so.

That's my problem with Second Life as well. We've got webcams and
VOIP; why bother with creating a virtual person when you can talk to a
real one? Now the answer to this is that it's either a) a novelty and
the excitement will soon wear off, or, b) people don't like themselves
so they create a persona of how they want to look and act.

> My point being, that people will use online options if they are of immediate
> relevance to their daily professional and personal lives.  I frankly do not
> see Second Life in this category.  I enjoy discovering the universe we live
> in every day and see no need to inhabit a second one!

I was at a eLearning conference last year and saw 2 presentations on
Second Life. Up until then, I had never heard of it and I consider
myself pretty internet savy. While the presenation was going on, I
tried to log onto Second Life and check it out. First, I had to
download an application to even access the site which was annoying.
Secondly, my 2 year-old laptop which was state of the art when I got
it, didn't have the graphics capability to run application.
Ridiculus!! That's enough to deter most people from using the product.
When I got back to work, tried using my work computer which had a
slightly better card. It worked okay but was still a little slow and I
still spent about 2 hours futzing with my avatar to get her to look
just normal, let alone anything like me. I also was a bit puzzled
about why we had to choose one of their last names. Why can't we use
our own names, especially if it is going to be used for real business
meetings, conferences, or university courses?

There were a few things that were kind of cool about Second Life. One
lady had taken old plans to Egyptian temples and recreated them in
full color on SL. That was cool. Another university had their own
island and set up their own economics scenerios because the SL
currency, the "Linden", was more stable than the dollar. I think these
are great applications of SL.

But the flip side of all this is while it is free to create an avatar
and sightsee, you have to pay to build anything permanent. And even
though there are widgets to create clothing, furnature, and buildings,
you really need to have access to a graphics program to make the
really cool stuff.

For museums, I think they need to look at their purpose and mission. I
don't want to get into a debate about "what is a museum" but IMHO,
museums are firmly rooted in "real", tangible, objects. I think SL has
some great opportunities for marketing and exploration of other times
and places, but not for creating virtual museums. Brick and mortar
buildings are the best places to see museum exhibits, not online. SL
should be used to compliment museums, not recreate them. And like
others have mentioned, there's a lot of time and money that go into
creating things on SL. Does your museum have that to spare? Are there
other things you could be doing with that money?

So in conclusion, I think SL type environments are the future. What
that future will be is uncertain. It's something to keep an eye on but
the cost and time involved to even just experiment with it are rather
prohibitive at the moment and I think museums looking to do more
online should look at other avenues like podcasting, social
networking, and Web 2.0.

Deb

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