Second Life Education Programs in NY Times, Goes Open Source, and other tidbits

Photo from Kate in Flickr
Social Signal Open House in TechSoup Office last week


I'm playing catch up here on a bunch of Second Life stuff happening over the past week that I didn't want to let slip through my fingers:

Social Signal held an open house in Second Life to welcome their new virtual worlds manager, Catherine Winters, to Social Signal.  Over fifty avatars attended.  If you look at the photo closely, you'll notice that Alex replicated her Mac sticker cover for her laptop.  Social Signal has also published a white paper on why Second Life and Virtual Worlds are important.

Last week, I wrote about US Congress in Second Life and wanted to mention Aldon Hyne's excellent write up here - much better than the obnoxious write up here.

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article about education programs in Second Life.  If you think that Seocond Life is just about  buying virtual houses, be sure read this.   According to the article and what I've seen on the educators listserv first hand over this past year, the education community is growing: subscribers to its education listserve number more than 1,000; at least three islands run by library groups are open to the public; and universities are
collaborating by lending space on their own islands or sharing ideas. Graduate students doing research or teaching in Second Life have formed a mobile colony that holds discussions with experts in subjects like online ethics or aesthetics

What they didn't mention is the new Nonprofit Island that will be opening a few weeks.  I'm embargoed from saying much more, but pretty soon ....

The article has some quotes from Rebecca Nesson, daughter of Berkman Center founder, Charles Nesson.  Father and daughter have been co-teaching a Harvard Law School course in Second Life this past semester, called CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opnion.  I attended a lecture on the use of technology in the legal classroom last month in Second Life, facilitated by Rebecca Nesson.  And, while, I'm not a lawyer, the discussion was so relevant to technology adoption/change issues and it Rebecca was a damn good virtual facilitator.  I learned a lot.

Next week, while in the UK and on a laptop that won't support the Second Life client (there are access problems), the Berkman Center will present a highlight of this course - a virtual trial!  Nesson describes it on his blog:

In the final week of the class we will doing a first-of-its-kind Second Life event. We will be holding a moot trial of Bragg v. Linden Labs in our new courtroom on Berkman Island. Bragg v. Linden Labs is a real case currently making its way through the United States federal court system. Bragg is a former Second Life resident whose SL account was terminated and SL property was seized by Linden Labs after they determined that he had exploited the property purchasing system. He is suing for the value of his SL property that he bought through legitimate means in Second Life. We will try the case twice in our courtroom, once under the Second Life Terms of Service Agreement and once at common law. Professor Nesson will serve as the judge in both trials. Teams of Harvard Law students enrolled in Evidence will serve as the lawyers. We are seeking volunteers from within the Second Life community to serve as jurors or to role play the parts of witnesses. We also welcome all at-large participants to participate in the trial by sitting in the public gallery from which we can see all the action in the courtroom but also have our own discussion of the proceedings without disrupting them.

Ethan Zuckerman, a persuasive critic of Second Life, has withdrawn his "Second Life is not Open Source"  complaint in light of Linden Labs announcement. NOT!   See Allan's comment and read Ethan's post.  This should be good fodder for debate ....

Last month, I was hoping to catch Mia Farrow in Second Life.  Unfortunately, the event got cancelled due a fire.  The event took place today.   There's still time to catch this opening happening tommorrow, January 10th: European Young Professionals (EYP) To Launch 2007 London Chapter Simultaneously
in Real Life & Second Life

Comments

[Allan Benamer]

Actually, Ethan Zuckerman has NOT withdrawn his SL is not Open Source complaint. He makes the same case that I would make -- the server source code is not under a GPL-like license. This is a philosophical point but eventually one that has practical implications. Can progressive nonprofit IT types truly be comfortable putting their content down into yet another data silo? It seems to be a repudiation of what we accomplished on the Web and still continue to do. It runs against the grain of all our calls for open API and open source technology.