SPA Conference session: Using Second Life® to assist your First Life | |||
| One-line description: | An overview of how a virtual world can be used to benefit your organisation | ||
| Session format: | Something entirely original [read about the different session types] | ||
| Abstract: | Virtual Worlds, in particular Second Life, have achieved increasing prominence as a place to do business. This session will use Second Life to explore how they are used within organisations to facilitate co-operative work and as tools to work with clients. | ||
| Audience background: | No pre-existing skills or knowledge required. However participants who want to actively participate will have to create an account in Second Life before the session (full details of how to do this will be provided beforehand) and download the Second Life client to their laptop. Appropriate for someone wanting an overview of how a virtual worlds could be used to support their business. | ||
| Benefits of participating: | For those with no previous experience of virtual worlds an understanding of what a virtual world is and knowledge of its uses. For those with previous experience of virtual worlds an appreciation of the ways in which virtual worlds can contribute to working both with colleagues and clients. | ||
| Materials provided: | Details of how to create an account in Second Life Access to on-line and paper-based materials about how to get going in Second Life. Landmarks and notecards provided in Second Life covering places to be visited A conference T-shirt to wear in Second Life A Second Life ‘goodie’ bag | ||
| Process: | The process followed will be a guided, tailored introduction to Second Life with participants split into groups depending on their previous experience. In case of network or hardware problems videos will be used in place of the guided tours. NB this session may require Robinson Centre to open a selection of ports in their firewall as detailed at: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Firewall_Configuration | ||
| Detailed timetable: | 75 minutes total comprising: 10 minutes introductions, getting everyone into Second Life and splitting participants into 2 groups – those with previous Second Life experience (Group 1) and those without (Group 2). Each group will have a least one session leader with them. Group 1 (those delegates with previous experience of Second Life) 5 minutes sharing of experiences and aspects of Second Life participants particularly want to explore 45 minute supported exploration of Second Life based around delegates preferences Group 2 (those delegates without previous experience of Second Life) 15 minute demonstration of what is possible in Second Life 15 minutes guided familiarisation with the environment to enable participants to gain a feel for how to use their avatars and interact with each other 20 minutes chaperoned tour of businesses in Second Life Groups 1 and 2 together 15 minute discussion of participants experiences in Second Life and other virtual worlds. Salient points will be recorded on a poster to share with other delegates | ||
| Outputs: | Poster summarising participants views of the uses of Second Life in their workplaces. | ||
| History: | This is a development of a session we have run on a number of previous occasions introducing academics to Second Life. | ||
| Presenters | |||
| 1. Jane Chandler University of Portsmouth |
2. EmmaDuke Williams | 3. Jonathan Crellin | |