Beyond Second Life

Tony Bates refers us to an article in the Chronicle by Jeffrey Young: After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds.

The article details the challenges universities have faced when trying to integrate SL into lessons. Consequently, they are exploring other venues for instruction that offer more controls and fewer distractions.

Sometimes this leads to additional problems. Few companies in this specialty are as established as SL’s parent, Linden Labs. Some have gone broke, taking virtual classroom space with them when the plug was pulled.

A couple of promising efforts either underway or coming this year include Open Cobalt from Duke University, funded by the NSF and the Mellon Foundation, and OpenSimulator which leases virtual space for instructional purposes.

Several initiatives are out there to offer classroom space to educators at no cost to them. Young notes Aaron E. Walsh over at Boston College hosts about 2,000 educator accounts on Education Grid, a world devoted to online instruction that Walsh set up through his project, the Immersive Education Initiative. The mix on Education Grid is about 80% university profs and 20% secondary teacher accounts. The IEI leases space from OpenSimulator.

To counter the academic exodus, SL now offers a version of its software universities can host on local servers, which effectively prevents outsider access and the ability for students to wander over to red light districts.

It’s interesting to see the idea mature from a fanciful notion, to gritty reality, to something tailored for specific educational needs. For instance, initially universities set up virtual spaces identical to real world lecture halls. This resulted in unwieldy virtual space that was hard to navigate. It’s also interesting to see the day coming when SL will be considered “old hat” by professors and students, who will be using newer, more robust environments geared specifically for virtual education from the ground up.

No Indoor Plumbing, but Plenty of Ethernet

Thanks to Tony Bates for pointing out the latest issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. There’s a very interesting article, complete with photo spread, on a Chinese gold farm for World of Warcraft by Anthony Gilmore.

Far from the sophisticated urban centers marking China as a world power, this rural tech outpost employs folks around the clock, and pays them a decent local wage for their efforts. The article is quite positive toward this gray market endeavor despite its violation of WoW players’ TOS.

I’ve never bought gold in WoW (at the higher levels, making gold is rather easy, particularly when gaming the auction house), but I’ve always been curious about gold farmers. This article is worth a read.

References:
Gilmore, A. (2010, February). China’s new gold farm. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(4). [Online.] Available: https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/863/628

Virtual CSI: North Carolina State Grant Lets Games Recreate Crime Scenes

Interesting developments on a $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant to North Carolina State: Researchers plan to develop virtualized crime scenes with the help of 3D laser scans and the Unity gaming engine. The grant’s product will be called IC-CRIME, for Interdisciplinary Cyber-enabled Crime Reconstruction through Innovative Methodology and Engagement.

Here’s the key section from Reuters:

The scanners can capture millions of data points at a crime scene within a few minutes and recreate highly detailed virtual crime scenes.

“The game world will be embedded within a Web page also containing data in the form of text and 2D graphics,” said Dr. Michael Young, associate professor of computer science and an expert in serious gaming at NC State.

“We’ll be building an easy-to-use interface on top of the game environment that will allow CSIs and other investigators to link locations in the crime scene to external sources of data, such as hair and fiber databases, finger print images and investigator notes.”

Via Joystiq.

References:
Gaudiosi, J. (2009, Nov. 27). Videogames find ways to help real CSI solve crimes. [Online.] Retrieved Dec. 1, 2009 from http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5AQ0TR20091127

New Issue: Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

A new issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is out. This issue’s focus: Pedagogy, Education, and Innovation in Virtual Worlds. Click here for the journal’s home page, where you can access current and past articles. James Paul Gee has a paper in this issue entitled Games, Learning, and 21st Century Survival Skills. Many of the other articles focus on Second Life in education. There is one on Quest Atlantis. JVWR is published by the Virtual Worlds Research Consortium, a Texas non-profit.

2008: Half a Billion for New Funding in Virtual Worlds

Here’s an interesting factoid posted by Don Reisinger over at CNET: last year about half a billion was invested in 63 different virtual worlds. These game-like online environments are used for work, socialization, play, and education.

Reisinger says venture funding tapered off a little for new virtual worlds in the fourth quarter, just as funding for everything else slowed down.

CFP: ED-MEDIA 2009

>> Call for Participation Deadline: December 19th <<

ED-MEDIA 2009–
World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications

* Please forward to a colleague *

http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call.htm
_______________________________________________________________

ED-MEDIA 2009

World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications

June 22-26, 2009  *  Honolulu, Hawaii

(Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort)

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

** Submissions Due: Dec. 19, 2008 **

Hosted by the University of Hawaii

Organized by
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
http://www.aace.org

Co-sponsored by:
Education & Information Technology Digital Library
(htttp://www.EdITLib.org)
______________________________________________________________

** What are your colleagues saying about ED-MEDIA conferences? **
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/testimonials.htm

COLOR POSTER–ED-MEDIA 2009 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Available to Print & Distribute (PDF to print; 200kb)
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/ed09poster.pdf

>> CONTENTS & LINKS  (details below) <<

1. Call for Papers and Submission & Presenter Guidelines, Deadline Dec. 19th:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call.htm
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/submitguide.htm
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/PresenterLounge

2. Major Topics:  http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/topics.htm
3. Presentation Categories: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/categories.htm

4. Corporate Showcases & Demonstrations: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/corporate.htm
5. Proceedings & Paper Awards: http://www.aace.org/pubs
6. For Budgeting Purposes: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/rates.htm

7. Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii http://www.aace.org/conf/Cities/Honolulu
8. Deadlines: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/deadlines.htm

INVITATION:
ED-MEDIA 2009–World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications is an international conference, sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). This annual conference serves as a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on the research, development, and applications on all topics related to multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications/distance education.

ED-MEDIA, the premiere international conference in the field, spans all disciplines and levels of education and attracts more than 1,500 attendees from over 60 countries. We invite you to attend ED-MEDIA and submit proposals for presentations.

All presentation proposals are peer reviewed and selected by three reviewers on the respected international Program Committee for inclusion in the conference program, proceedings book, and CD-ROM proceedings.

For Call for Presentations, connect to:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call.htm

All authors MUST follow the submission guidelines and complete the Web form at:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/submitguide.htm

For Presentation and AV Guidelines, see:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/PresenterLounge

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES:
* Keynote Speakers
* Invited Panels/Speakers
* Papers
* Panels
* Demonstrations/Posters
* Corporate Showcases & Demonstrations
* Tutorials/Workshops
* Roundtables

TOPICS:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/topics.htm

The scope of the conference includes, but is not limited to, the following major topics as they relate to the educational and developmental aspects of multimedia/hypermedia and telecommunications:

1. Infrastructure: (in the large)
- Architectures for Educational Technology Systems
- Design of Distance Learning Systems
- Distributed Learning Environments
- Methodologies for system design
- Multimedia/Hypermedia Systems
- WWW-based course-support systems

2. Tools & Content-oriented Applications:
- Agents
- Authoring tools
- Evaluation of impact
- Interactive Learning Environments
- Groupware tools
- Multimedia/Hypermedia Applications
- Research perspectives
- Virtual Reality
- WWW-based course sites
- WWW-based learning resources
- WWW-based tools

3. New Roles of the Instructor & Learner:
- Constructivist perspectives
- Cooperative/collaborative learning
- Implementation experiences
- Improving Classroom Teaching
- Instructor networking
- Instructor training and support
- Pedagogical Issues
- Teaching/Learning Strategies

4. Human-computer Interaction (HCI/CHI):
- Computer-Mediated Communication
- Design principles
- Usability/user studies
- User interface design

5. Cases & Projects:
- Country-Specific Developments
- Exemplary projects
- Institution-specific cases
- Virtual universities

6. Special Strand:  ** Universal Web Accessibility  **

PRESENTATION CATEGORIES:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/categories.htm
The Technical Program includes a wide range of interesting and useful activities designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information.

CORPORATE SHOWCASES & DEMONSTRATIONS:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/corporate.htm

Companies have the opportunity to demonstrate and discuss their educational technology products and services in through Corporate Showcases and Demonstrations/Literature.

PROCEEDINGS & PAPER AWARDS:
http://www.aace.org/pubs
Accepted papers will be published by AACE in the Proceedings Book and on CD-ROM. Proceedings in this series serve as major resources in the multimedia/hypermedia/telecommunications community, reflecting the current state of the art in the discipline.

In addition, the Proceedings also are internationally distributed through and archived in the Education and Information Technology Digital Library, http://www.EdITLib.org Do You Subscribe?

Papers with high review scores will be invited for publication consideration by AACE’s respected journals, especially for:
- Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (JEMH),
- International Journal on E-Learning (IJEJ), or
- Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR).

All presented papers will be considered for Best Paper Awards within several categories. Award winning papers may be invited for publication in the AACE journals.

FOR BUDGETING PURPOSES:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/rates.htm

The conference registration fee for all presenters and participants will be approximately $395 U.S. (AACE members), $450 U.S. (non-members). Registration includes proceedings on CD, receptions, and all sessions
except tutorials.

All conference sessions will be held at the Sheraton Waikiki Resort ( http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/hotel.htm) located on the famous Waikiki Beach and in walking distance to the city’s shopping district – with magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean.  Special discount hotel have been obtained for ED-MEDIA participants!

WAIKIKI BEACH, HONOLULU, HAWAII
http://www.aace.org/conf/Cities/Honolulu

Whether your idea of fun is soaking up the sun on a pristine, white sand beach or nightclubbing in Waikiki, hiking the trails or sampling some of the fantastic Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, we know that you’re going to enjoy yourself on O’ahu.

Explore Hawaii online at:  http://www.gohawaii.com * http://www.visit-oahu.com

DEADLINES:
http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/deadlines.htm

Submissions Due:          December 19, 2008
Authors Notified:             February 23, 2009
Proceedings File Due:    May 1, 2009
Early Registration:          May 1, 2009
Hotel Reservations:        May 20, 2009
Conference:                   June 22-26, 2009

—————————————————————————-
To be added to the mailing list for this conference, link
to  http://www.aace.org/info.htm

If you have a question about ED-MEDIA, please send an e-mail to AACE Conference Services, conf at aace.org

Contact:
AACE–Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
P.O. Box 1545
Chesapeake, Virginia 23327  USA
Phone: 757-366-5606 * Fax: 703-997-8760
E-mail: conf at aace.org  *  http://www.AACE.org
***************************************************************

A Useless Interactive Whiteboard

The use of interactive whiteboards is gaining increasing acceptance in schools, despite high price tags often pushing them up above the $3,000 mark. One of the things pounded into our heads as technology trainers is that technology is only as good as the user. This is particularly important with expensive technology, as it can quickly become a wasted resource in the wrong hands. Several books have been written by ed tech critics decrying wasteful spending in schools, and such criticism can pose formidable challenges to raising support for additional funding.

Last night on the SNL election special, I watched a hilarious example of the misuse of high-end technology. Fred Armisen used an electoral map to accomplish absolutely nothing of significance. The larger point of the skit probably revolved around the pointlessness of political analysis by the media, but using high tech to accomplish nothing provided a beautiful example of how not to use interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

A couple of funny moments: zooming in on Ohio for a “closer look,” only to stare at the rooftop of a warehouse; taking a look at Oregon by moving it out in the ocean; moving Minnesota over Virginia (“Imagine the sheer weight of it”).

Interactive whiteboards are one of the next big things for classroom gaming. We’ve seen efforts at creating them on the cheap using simple laser pointers and the Wiimote. A commenter to that post pointed out a new classroom MMO called Edusim3D, which is an open-source virtual world students access through whiteboards.

Anyway, take a look at Armisen’s skit here. You have to fast forward through a couple minutes of Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers to get to Armisen’s bit. This skit would be good to play in training to make the point that technology empowers teachers, but only if it is used well. By itself, technology (even interactive gaming technology) is worthless.

Study: Scientific Method Best Taught in Video Games

Tom Hanson is editor of the highly regarded OpenEducation.net. We talked earlier via e-mail about an excellent post he has on empirical research by Constance Steinkuehler over at U. Wisconsin and doc student Sean Duncan. The title of their paper sums up nicely Steinkuehler’s and Duncan’s research: Scientific Habits of Mind Within Virtual Worlds, accepted for publication in the Journal of Science Education and Technology and due to appear in the Spring issue. They looked at online discussion forums for World of Warcraft, long the most popular MMORPG, and found the vast majority of the posts consisted of “social knowledge construction” rather then “social banter.” About 2,000 posts in 85 threads were examined.

Over half of the posts evidenced systems based reasoning, one in ten evidenced model-based reasoning, and 65% displayed an evaluative epistemology in which
knowledge is treated as an open-ended process of evaluation and argument.

Steinkuehler and Duncan suggest that scientific habits of mind, developing proper skills of inquiry and increasing students’ scientific literacy, are not effectively developed in traditional school environments. On the other hand, virtual worlds and online games like World of Warcraft do engage students and encourage them to use the scientific method, or at least certain elements of it, along with teamwork and persistence to solve problems.

Hanson notes a recent interview in Wired between Dr. Steinkuehler and Clive Thompson, in which she describes her epiphany regarding the potential of MMORPGs for instilling scientific habits of mind. It occurred during 12 hour stints in Lineage, playing mostly with young boys scattered across the four corners. She and the boys would construct a theoretical model on defeating a raid boss, try it and see what worked; modify accordingly and try again. She realized she was witnessing the scientific method put to work within an online gaming environment, often without the participants realizing it. Thompson states it thusly:

This led Steinkuehler to a fascinating and provocative conclusion: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today.

Click on over to Tom Hanson’s summary. I think you’ll find that his OpenEducation.net is well worth visiting.

The Art of Marriage Proposals Through Gaming

We Aggies know a thing or two about proposing to our beloved, especially if she is an Aggie too. (Alas, my wife is from Louisiana, where everybody professes loyalty to LSU, whether they attended that fine school or not.) There is one tree on the A&M campus in particular, the Century Tree, that has a tradition of serving as a pop-the-question spot for thousands of couples. Here’s a YouTube video of one such marriage proposal. (If a woman is lucky enough to be or snag a member of the Corps of Cadets, as in this video, she gets quite a bit of extra pomp and ceremony throughout the entire wedding process than the average Aggie these days. The Corps has dwindled from comprising the entire student body back in the day to a couple thousand or so students now.)

There have been many other creative proposals at TAMU over the years (probably mostly by guys who weren’t in the Corps (see parenthetical above)). During my graduation ceremony, for instance, an Aggie awaited his beloved to descend from the podium, her diploma in hand, before going down on one knee. The MC had been briefed ahead of time and paused in calling out names to wish them well, and everybody in the coliseum whooped and hollered for the couple.

Another story that comes to mind dates back to when a thriving hot air balloon business existed in College Station, and Kyle Field was left unlocked and accessible most of the time. The fellow had friends buy hundreds of paper plates, and had them spell out the Marry me? question on the bleachers so she could read it as they floated over in the balloon.

So, Aggies know a thing or two about proposing to their sweethearts. But there are lots of neat stories about guys finding creative ways to pop the question. I recall one fellow hiding the ring in a box of Cracker Jacks and setting up a picnic for his girlfriend on a cliff overlooking the ocean. After the couple finished off the meal, for desert he handed over the box, and waited nervously for her to open the “toy surprise.” She reared back her arm to toss the packet over the cliff, willing to carelessly toss away what was usually a cheap trinket. He went ballistic, grabbing her arm and yelling, “Wait!” She opened it, and was surprised, but it was a close call and he almost lost an expensive diamond engagement ring.

Guys dating women who like games seem to consistently hit upon the idea of sneaking marriage proposals into the game. Several men over the years have popped the question through crossword puzzles, convincing complicit editors to run rigged games. Here’s one example.

But finally, we have a real gaming geek story. This fellow re-programmed his girlfriend’s game so a ring and wedding cake appeared upon reaching a certain score. Bernie Peng ported over a copy of Bejeweled to the Nintendo DS, and gave it as a present to his girlfriend. There is no official version of Bejeweled for the DS, you see, so this was something special for her. Ordinarily such shenanigans might be frowned upon by corporate, but PopCap Games (owner of Bejeweled and other popular casual titles) turned it into a publicity event.

There have been marriages in virtual worlds, notably in Second Life and World of Warcraft. Somehow, cheating in marriage garners more publicity. But electronic marriage is old news, since any enhancement to communication leads inevitably to more social interaction. The book, The Victorian Internet, detailed a legal marriage performed at a distance via telegraph and Morse Code. But as video games continue to gain a stronghold in the public psyche, look for more social interactions like marriage, and social research, online.

The Top 5 Most Offensive Video Games

Torture. Sexism. Political assassination. Pedophilia. Mass murder. These five topics are explored in the videogames discussed here. All five games have raised hackles and ire among parent groups, watchdog organizations, politicians and the press. The games have been lambasted as being in poor taste at best to downright offensive at worse. Not all players find the games offensive, however, seeing them rather as venues to explore topics covered elsewhere under protections offered by freedom of speech. Therefore, “controversial” might be just as appropriate as “offensive” in describing these games.

From a researcher’s point of view, such titles might offer opportunities for exploring variations in value judgments, or how some topics receive different responses when they are explored through videogames rather than more traditional media.

1. Title: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

Developer: Danny Ledonne

Commentary: Low-res graphics interspersed with footage from Harris and Klebold combine to offer players an opportunity to relive the Columbine shootings. The game has come under intense criticism. MSNBC’s Citizen Gamer columnist Winda Benedetti reports that independent developer Danny Ledonne, “has been called a ‘disgusting and sick individual,’ … His life has been threatened multiple times.” The controversy surrounding the game was too much for officials with the Sundance Film Festival, who banned it from their Guerrilla Gamemaking Competition last year.

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2. Title: JFK Reloaded

Developer: Traffic Games

Commentary: This historical first person shooter places players in a Lee Harvey Oswald role, seeking to assassinate President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade passes the Texas Schoolbook Depository in Dallas, ca. 1963. The Kennedy family has opined this game is particularly despicable, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, probably every US President from here on will see a videogame made involving their assassination. A Google search turns up several for President George W. Bush. One of the most recent controversial titles is Virtual Jihadi, which involves a terrorist plot to blow up W.

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3. Title: Operation Pedopriest

Developer: Molleindustria

Commentary: Players are tasked by the Vatican with covering up pedophilia among priests in this Flash-based production. The developers claim they were trying to make a point by developing an offensive game to highlight an offensive topic.

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4. Title: The Torture Game 2

Developer: Carl Havemann

Commentary: The original Torture Game is Flash-based, and involves inflicting pain on a lifeless dummy (the man figure is euphemistically called a rag doll by the developer), hanging by ropes on the screen. The Torture Game 2 adds adjustable ropes, gun damage, realistic sound effects from chainsaws, and additional health to the victim so the torture can last longer. Stress reliever? Anger venting outlet? Or simply, as the developer puts it, mindless entertainment? Media outlets like MSNBC and Fox News have featured pieces lambasting the game, and the Parents Television Council issued a parental alert. As Andy Chalk over at The Escapist notes, all the hullaballoo has only led to more downloads.

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5. Title: Miss Bimbo

Developer: Nicholas Jacquart

Commentary: Miss Bimbo is the English version of the French game Ma Bimbo. In both, players (typically young girls) are tasked with maintaining and enhancing their avatars’ good looks via virtual purchases for plastic surgery, breast enhancement, diet pills, etc. The players then ply their avatars with gifts and send them out to party with other players. Once the virtual money runs out, players can pay real money for additional Bimbo Dollars through PayPal to continue keeping up appearances. The economic plan behind the sites has led to threats of lawsuits by parents, and criticism by watchdog groups that the game sends entirely wrong messages about personal worth and self identity to its target audience of pre-teen and teen girls.