Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

CLASS SUMMARY:

We started with some discussion on the students’ blogs and suggested that you review the ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT WEEK sections for each class to ensure you have written the required posts. We also had a a quick review from each team on progress in the group project. As is normal at this stage in the module some teams appear to be making more progress than others. Locks and Tae reminded students that the purpose of the project was to give participants the opportunity to discover the joys AND difficulties in working with others online and to learn something about the differences between online collaboration and real life team working. Participants were also reminded that even though this is a group project you will be assessed individually: based on your feedback in class; participation; and critical reflection on the process in your blogs.

Sitearm Madonna, guest lecturer, then delivered his talk on team working in an online environment. Accompanying slides can be seen here. Commencing with an explanation of ‘le nom en ligne’ concept (similar to nom de plume and nom de guerre) he went on to talk about the challenges of collaborating with others online. As a graduate of the module he is in a good position to give participants some guidelines on how to work on the group project. Site gave an overview of how teams work, the roles of individual team members and referred to the Belbin approach. He emphasised the importance of all nine roles being activated: meaning that you will need to take on more than one role at different times during the project.

Then he spoke about the importance of clarity around the group’s presentation of their project and how easy it is to leave your audience confused. The most common mistake when presenting is for the participants to be unclear about their key message. Site suggests it is ‘impossible to underestimate the ability of an audience to understand you’! He described a range of tools teams can use to support the planing and development of their project.

Finally, Site spoke about identities and affiliations. He described how multiple affiliations lead to multiple identities and the importance of being aware of your online presence. He concluded with a warning to guard your privacy, keep space between your identities and post appropriately.

Sitearm will return next week to talk about content creation online.

Following some discussion we visited the Dublin Virtually Live Conference venue. Site offered support to the teams in developing their projects and said participants could use either the amphitheatre or the Conference venue for their presentations. We agreed to make a decision on the venue at next week’s class.

ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT CLASS:

• Write a post to your blog comparing your experience of team work with the description outlined by Sitearm, particularly with reference to Belbin’s Nine Team Roles.
• Decide on your preferred venue for the presentation. We will make a decision at next week’s class. (It was agreed that all presentations should take place in the same venue because the logistics of moving everyone around SL would be insurmountable.)

CLASS SUMMARY:

The class discussion looked in more detail at what is meant by ‘content’ and talked about the various types of content that can be created online, from building objects in SL to writing posts for blogs etc. This led on naturally to considering the merit and value of content. Determining the value of other people’s content requires an understanding of their reputation. In traditional publishing the high cost of production has resulted in an industry that is controlled by the commercial publishing houses or the press. Academics are published following peer review. These mechanisms regulate the output and give consumers a signal regarding the quality and value of the output.

The online environment has all but eliminated the cost of production allowing anyone to publish to  a blog, or create any other content they can imagine, without any of the ‘gatekeepers’ of the analogue world filtering the wheat from the chaff. Therefore we have to find other methods for rating the calibre of what it available.

When offering our own content we should be aware of these issues so that we can present ourselves in the most appropriate manner to our relevant audiences. Developing our personal brand requires establishing a reputation for reliability and consistency to start with. Many of the online tools available to support content distribution also include statistical analysis of how our content is accessed which is useful for seeing how others might value our content.

We moved the class to the Dublin Amphitheatre for the second half of the class simply to vary the environment. This is one of the possible venues for the final presentation of the group project. However, it is entirely up to the class to decide on the most appropriate venue, which may be anywhere in SL that suits you and can be agreed by all. There was some discussion about how the groups are functioning and we decided to review that in the next class.

ASSESSMENT:

Tae reminded the class that he and Locks were conducting the first assessment of the module. Some students have not yet submitted links to their blogs or their twitter contact details. You need to do both immediately or you risk failing the assessment. Participants were advised to re-read the posts for each class and ensure they have completed all items listed under ‘activities for next week’, particularly ensuring you have written all the posts required.

ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT CLASS:

1. In your groups prepare a brief summary of progress on your project work.
2. Write a post to your blog describing your experience of working in your group so far. Be honest about what is not working in addition to what is working and consider how you would like to be better.

CLASS SUMMARY:

The class was based on a discussion about content creation online. We started by considering what constituted content and came up with writing on blogs, Facebook, Amazon, Kindle; music on iTunes; videos on Youtube; photos; and objects made for SL among others. This led on to thinking about how content is generated, and why, what is the purpose of writing a blog, or posting photos? Sharing content and thinking about its value led Inish to share a link to a website that values twitter accounts which proved interesting as we discovered how much ours are worth.

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the ownership and protection of content. The terms and conditions to which we agree when signing up with social networks such as facebook and twitter frequently include relinquishing our copyright. In addition, even though we might wish to remove images or text at a later date this may not be possible. It was also clear that copying digital data is much easier than copying analogue information which may lead to greater infringement of copyright. Generating an income from online content was thought to be as time-consuming as it is in real life and the conflict that can ensue was noted.

Inish Karu shared her experience of creating content for her store in SL.

After class Symeon Siamendes took us on a tour of the fabulous Lauk’s Nest, one of the earliest remaining natural parks in SL.

ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT WEEK:

1. Reading: Thoughtful blog post about the legal issues around protecting ‘things’ you create in SL. Read the comments also.
   
2. Write a post about content creation in your blog.