Australian Virtual Worlds Workshop - AVWW08

I was lucky enough to attend and do a short presentation at the AVWW08 at Swinburne last Friday and Saturday.

Below are the slides from my presentation.

More to come about this, it was a great experience.

http://www.avww.org

Video tip - a return to the blog

After a slack couple of months of blogging, classes are finally over and I will finally get to document what has been happening.
A video tip for panning, consider the amount of times I have NOT done this, seems useful.

Best Camera Trick Ever! - Awesome video clips here

Machinima/Photo Diary from the Sydney Trip

Finally another blog post. The end of term three.
Here is a short clip we put together in a session yesterday.

It's been far too long since the last post

Busy times.

From the recent Skoolaborate congress in Sydney, I helped run a machinima workshop and met some quite amazing people;




(Thanks HC)

More video to come, I wont waste words for now.

And from the MGS Make Poverty History workshop(earlier in the week), where we had some of our regular kids acting as mentors producing a virtual concert and real projections;

Slideshow with some snapshots

Spore Test

I did a quick test of Spore, it's great, certainly has potential for some workshops involving students where we don't have net access, and perhaps good as a backup lesson. Here is the output(as an AVI) after about 30 minutes work.



http://www.spore.com/trial

Random Avatar Observations

This blog is a bit of a mish mash, a catch up from the past couple of weeks when there has been so much happening.

The last few classes
In the past few classes we had the kids working on soccer shirts, then a ball, then a game.
The shirts activity is something that the kids really seem to get into. A note for next year is to start with some Fireworks lessons - but most seem to pick it up fairly quickly and in general their attention (especially the boys) to the details on their soccer shirts (names, numbers, logo, sponsors) was probably better than with most of the other objects we have asked them to make. This lesson possibly left the students who aren't such sporting fans a little segregated, a few such students hung around together and built more fantasy-inspired costumes with wings and more of a goth/emo feel.
The ball lesson was a little more maths inspired but hopefully something all of the students got something out of, and something which with a more simplified script could be a great introduction to physics. Students are given a 'beach ball' which they can modify by changing it's size, material, texture, hollowness, and script (which has several variables including buoyancy). Their task was to find which combination made a good soccer ball for within Second Life, keeping in mind it wouldn't necessarily resemble what worked in real life.
Most students at least had a try and changing a few numbers, and I would say most had a fair understanding of how it all worked.
The game was chaotic but fun, with lots of kids staying into lunchtime in an attempt to score, and interesting people teaming up. Two of the brighter kids cheated, one by clicking the ball(which cna send it in different directions) and the other buy building a big wall which he moved as a goalie to block the goals. Quite admirable really, only the wall should have been transparent and we would have been none the wiser!



Who is going to Sydney?
The teacher team at Debney Park is selecting the seven students who will be able to attend the congress. They will be chosen next week.
The general criteria are;
- Work hard in all classes
- Work well in a team
- No suspensions
- They need a reference from one of their teachers
- Permission from their parents
It will be interesting to see how next terms (new) class goes, considering they won't have that same motivation to behave and work hard.

Sexism
One issue we have had with a student is his attitude towards women, something that has possibly meant him missing out on being part of the group going up to Sydney for the congress.
This is a shame, it was one of the female teachers who I think has made the decision (with support), however I wonder whether taking him up to a conference organised by a girls school would have been a good or bad thing, or if there is some way of letting him know that he has missed out and needs to change his approach.

The school support
One thing which has been essential to the success of the project so far has been the support of Magdi at Debney Park. His patience has allowed us to stay there throughout several stages of us trialling the program, and his willingness to let us experiment with new lessons and enthusiasm when promoting the project to the kids has been essential.
Magdi also has the support of the Principal, who for example will be driving the school bus to the airport for the Sydney trip. It's things like this which I think have made Debney Park an ideal place for us to test the program, they are small but very flexible. Last year some of the students walked the Kokoda trail and the school has a long history (150 years) of helping integrate migrants into the community, so it's nice to be part of that from a totally fresh perspective.
Over the coming weeks I will be finalising the lesson plans for next term with Gene and Magdi. This requires quite a bit of planning because we need to use the Soundhouse studios and Gene 2/3rds of the way through to handle the machinima side of things, and we also need to try and match our activities and outcomes with their curriculum.

Skoolaborate
Once again this has been essential to how well the program is able to run at the moment. The Skoolaborate environment is evolving into a place where things like the mall and the kids own neighbourhood will take on a life of their own, and be teaching the kids some very valuable skills. During many classes the Debney Students have come into contact with kids from all over the world, with varying degrees of 'success' - ranging from insulting them, to helping them by telling them how they can do things, to chatting to them and adding them as friends. One interesting measure of this could be to check each students friends list and see where they are all from (all names have suffixes indicating this).

Building in Skoolaborate
The stores in the mall (which has been moved and needs a bit of work) seemed to have a great impact on the students, especially the freebies which gave them a good idea of what is possible, and gave us more objects which appeal to more people.



I have just built a sky-soccer stadium(yet to be scripted) as our soccer match in class went very well, except the ball kept going out of bounds.
I will be writing up our planned activities for the Skoolaborate wiki, we are also hoping to have a demonstration machinima film made to show at the congress. We may need to arrange some extra classes with the kids who are going to Sydney.

Flemington Film Festival
I have the permit forms for the film festival and hope to get full plans completed over the school holidays, including a budget, applications, sponsorship/support requests, a website to take and display entries, and whatever else we can come up with.

Taking students from Debney Park to Melbourne Grammar as mentors
A great opportunity has arisen where we can take some of the Debney Park kids to the MGS Leadership Conference which is July 28-30th, right before we go to Sydney. This is a great opportunity and is right up the Avatar Project alley in regards to social inclusion.
http://workshop26.wordpress.com/

TAFE Classes
Once again I have TAFE classes (5 all up) starting next semester. One thing we haven't considered at meetings is if we wish to do a similar kind of thing with the TAFE students, and if we can get any more research data out of it.

The effects of using Second Life VS the effects of using Cutting Edge technology
I think one thing that we might need to keep in mind for the research is that there are almost two seperate things which have influenced the project. One is the Second Life software itself, the other is the fact that we are using cutting edge 'new media.' One example of this is how the Debney kids are getting to travel to MGS - this is in part because of the social nature of the software, but realistically is more because they have cutting edge skills. When more kids know how to use Second Life it will be a different story. At the moment we are aware of every Australian kid in Teen Second Life (they are all in Skoolaborate) - so it will be interesting to see how (or if) this changes.

Reference from the HB guys
I popped past the Horse Bazaar office and Sim referred me to an Alan who wanted a youth oriented tech workshop done for a Brimbank council festival in mid September. I am looking into the Spore creature creator for this(no net required) and will drop him an email, it might be another good chance to get the kids out in the real world.

Some example stores for Skoolaborate

Today I lept into the timehole that is Second Life and did a demo store in the mall selling lighting (so the kids can get an idea of how they can sell things they make);


As well as a freebie warehouse with crates full of goodies, so everyone can stock up their inventories a bit.



Classes continue at Debney, at the moment we are working on superhero comics in pairs.

Remote teaching assistance in Second Life

For todays class I logged on to Second Life from home to see how much help I could be from there.
In a nutshell, it was a great way to observe the kids interacting virtually and be a part of that interaction.
In terms of assisting the students it wasn't very effective, although many may need a short lesson on using the communicate tool so they are not limited to communicating with avatars they can see.
I had very little idea of what was going on in the lesson, when I met the students they were hanging around an apartment which one of them has taken over. The one who had taken it over (B) had built a wall locking the rest in. I showed them how they could get out using the camera, so it was actually a lesson most of them will remember.
During this interaction a student from the US popped in. The transcript for this is included in the field reports.

Teaching in Second Life - how students respond

One of the more interesting issues which has arisen so far is how various kids are responding to classes in Second Life.
Something I noticed to an extent last year with the TAFE kids and has also been mentioned to me this year by the class teacher, is how it is surprising who responds to each lesson. It would be very interesting to get the teachers views on this as well, as he knows many of the kids quite well.
Overall there seems to be a trend towards those kids who are usually on the outer, with perhaps less traditional literacy skills, being interested and engaged in Second Life.

The other aspect of how engaged the students are is the activity we are doing. For example it was surprising to see how more students seemed engaged when we were making the t-shirts than when we were initially modifying avatars, perhaps because of the more real and personal nature of the t-shirt activity(the kids can upload their favourite team/message/brand).

As we now get through to more complex lessons (creating comics) and after we have told them the best get to go to Sydney, more and more students seem to be showing more and more interest.
That said, the three who were pointed out at the beginning as the most talented continue to be the least engaged.

Eyob's comic

I missed this, another good one from class today, from a young guy who lost all his work and had 5 minutes to make it all up. Very creative (if not entirely PG).

Second Life compare to Teen Second Life (Skoolaborate in particular)

I thought I would write this on the train on the way home, as it's something I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.
Since going into the censored, calm and also uncluttered environment of Skoolaborate(TSL), I have been more inspired to build and communicate 'in-world'(some lights, cameras and a van for our machinima making class, as well as several positive and productive conversations). The classes I have held there have all been a joy.
I returned to the main (adult) grid on the weekend to shop for some talking animations I could use with the machinima films we are making.
My experience was something that has kept me away from the main grid in recent times, without me being fully conscious of it.
Firstly even though I knew what I wanted, and knew it existed, it was impossible to find it without wading through piles of adult animations.
Which had people testing them.
When I see two avatars acting something out, unfortunately I know that there are two people controlling those avatars(possibly both male based on some statistics) and the whole experience of shopping for a talking animation(seemingly innocent) - turns into a walk on the depraved side of virtual life.
Sadly it seems there aren't many experiences which don't in Second Life at the moment.

Going through all of this has made me realise how good it is to be in a controlled and smut free environment.
This is something which few people in the main SLpossibly consider due to commercial concerns, which involves traffic, but perhaps the adverse could be true in the future.
Benefits include;
- There is no content, so people have to use their imaginations rather than their vast inventories.
- No griefers (no strangers at all, period).
- No obvious idiots - I would like to phrase this in another way, but it's not just the griefers, it's that being in Second Life is often like sitting on the train around 4pm listening to schoolgirls gossip(except they are 40ish). I find this incredibly annoying. The schoolgirls who do gossip are thankfully (so far) not using Skoolaborate for that purpose.
- No ads everywhere, sales pitches messing with facts.
- Less lag.
- People are there for good reasons, and worth talking to and meeting(either teachers or students.) I have met some great people in Second Life but it is always through a personal introduction or connection of some kind.
- Being able to look at something and say, 'this guy made it all from scratch, and he is from here...."
- Kids have to make things, there are no cheap short cuts.
- Responsibility/Accountability (linked to all above).

There are some bad things;
- I have less control personally- money/land/returning objects/scripts and things I have already done in the main SL(going to Sydney should fix half of that).
- We are trashing the place at the moment, leaving a lot to be returned (same issue, I need more permissions).

The thing about the regular internet and real life, is that to a certain degree, people cannot act out their fantasies in public(on an unwilling audience anyway).
In a virtual world they can, for better or worse.

Please note that this blog has been written knowing that our own students cannot access it from the school network. If your students can and you have any issues with any of the content, please feel free to contact me directly.

Beginning to learn Comic Life

Here is Ashav's first attempt at a comic using Comic Life and Second Life. Today was an introductory lesson, over the coming weeks the students will be working in groups to create more in depth stories/comics, the best of which will be made into a machinima film.




And another one....with some great style;

Some t-shirts from todays class as a comic

Plasq / Comic Life is helping us out

My new favourite software company, Plasq, have generously agreed to donate 25 copies of Comic Life to Debney Park so the kids can have more copies to make their machinima comic book (Soundhouse has 12). At $30 a copy this quite valuable in terms of money and allowing the kids to be able to work on their assignments at the same time.
Thanks to Mark and the team at Plasq.

A quick round up of the past few weeks

It's been a while since my last confession so here goes...

Firstly the Comic Life and Second Life idea is definitely a goer. I met with Magdi and Gene a couple of weeks back, and we have agreed on the following basic structure;

1 - Kids storyboard ideas (in Comic Life). We have 30 day demos, and 12 copies in the Soundhouse studios, but I have emailed them asking for more support(25 copies).
2 - Kids take snapshots in Second Life to create a comic, several pages each. This will then be published as a book. We need some sponsors/funding for the printing.
3 - The best story is then chosen for the group to make a short machinima film of, with help from Gene. Each student will play a role in the production (eg. set design, costume design, director, cameramen, lighting)
4 - We organise a Flemington Youth Film Festival late in the year where all students from all schools can contribute. Lots of sponsors needed here.

Secondly - classes are in full swing;

This week I have so far attended on Monday (lunchtime and double period after) and Wednesday (double period and then lunchtime) for the first full classes we have been able to have.
Monday was the introduction to Second Life, where kids were shown how to sign in, the basics of getting around, and how to edit their avatars and take snapshots.
Both curiousity and 'keeping up with the joneses' meant that kids were keen to learn how they could do everything, they were very keen to get things like motorbikes and hover boards, and helped each other learn a lot. At first people often refuse to share things (like the motorbikes) until they realise that giving it to someone else doesn't cost them anything, and they get into the spirit of giving.

Mondays class was the group I will be taking for the remaining 8 weeks of this semester, year 10s who have so far been doing Alice (quite complex software by Carnegie Mellon). They responded very positively to Second Life in particular.
The lessons objective was to create an avatar and to take some snapshots of it, which all students managed to do without any problems.

Tuesday I found out we did have some unnoticed issues, after receiving and participating a long email thread based on;

"You will find attached a screenshot of two Australian people on the Skoolaborate grid, who were saying some rather inappropriate things."

At the end of the day it was all resolved but it is a touchy issue which will need more attention on my behalf in the future.

I have now included a more intense lesson regarding the rules into the introductory lessons.


On Wednesday many students were on a school excursion so we had half a class of year 9s, half year 10s. I started with some augmented reality just to get their attention (techno magic) and we then once again explored Second Life, beginning with a run down of the rules then working mainly on avatars and the basics like adding friends and using inventories. We shall teach the same group on Friday.
Gene commented that two of the girls who are very into Second Life normally struggle to show an interest in anything computer related. I think this was perhaps happening across the board in several different ways, each person was totally engaged and as opposed to the first lesson we had very few distractions.

Lunchtime we had some of the younger students in once again, they were very keen. K and his little buddies jumped straight on and into it, and barely asked a question all day, bringing in a few more new members with them. We may have to restrict who can attend lunchtimes in the future, it is going to be full next week I think.

Using Comic Life to create Second Life comics

Using http://plasq.com/comiclife-win - the subject matter is a little droll but I just wanted to see how it all worked, better things to come!
This will be one of the lessons at Debney Park.

Debney tests/festival site/signing up

I went to Debney today, the network is working as was reported, and all is looking very good for the near future. On the way home I popped past the Flemington Community Centre and got a contact for the festival site(which they assured me is as simple as letting them know in writing when and where but we will see.) There is a picture above of the wall we can project onto.
I then into the computer shop, they only have 4 of the graphics cards we need but can get more(they were meant to call back but didn't, I may have been on the phone it was a busy day.)
I then signed up Grace and Peter as well as a couple of students using the Skoolaborate signup portal, which was finally working.

Youth Film Festival

I just spoke to the Moonee Valley council then Michelle at the Flemington Community Centre about a youth film festival to be held outdoors near their facility.
They have an ideal wall(which is next to an outdoor basketball court) which they have had projections on before, which is accessable from the flats nearby.
We need to get permission from 'Leisure and Recreation Services' (I am sure they name these places so you cannot google them) - which we will get details for tomorrow when I pop past.
I am already hoping for some good weather.

I have emailed Magid regarding this as well as Gene, perhaps we can get more schools involved(he already teaches machinima making). Overall it would be good to get as much of the community involved as possible(stalls etc).

The filmmakers trailer I am building (in the Rex Viewer.)


I have also downloaded Alice which Magdi is using in class, it looks incredibly difficult compared to SL! I hope Second Life is working well enough with the new network for us to do the classes in that.

Debney ports open, YJC, Trailers

Finally! The ports at Debney Park have been opened, and we should be able to use all the computers easily.
We are going in to test on Thursday, as well as buy and install the graphics cards.

I also finally spoke to the contact at the YJC, she raised a lot of issues they have with having research programs running there, quite a bit I hadn't thought about. I have been given a head office contact who we have to get approval through.

SL seems to be crashing more than ever at the moment, I am working on a trailer for our young film-makers. A current ideas is to give each crew their own little kit and space where they can do their machinima making.

Building some stuff for the film studio

I had some spare time on Saturday so I made a few little props for the Machinima Studio we will be building, with each little creation it seems that little bit more real.


A studio spotlight, clapper slate, and a camera.


Grace joined me in world to work on some avatars which will be more suitable for the kids.

Another shopping list for Skoolaborate

FOR THE AMUSEMENT AREA (Any other ideas?)

Monster Coaster - $4799 - Copy
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=625049
Bumper Boats Pool - $2500 - Copy
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=33163
Terra DS3 Skydiving Ship - $500 - Mod/transfer
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=21228
Radio control cars - $2500 - Copy/Mod
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=231543
Touring balloon - $1200 - Copy/mod
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=618981
Action Surfboard rack rez system - $1500 - Transfer
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=563332
PIPELINE Waves

Rock climbing wall - $1500 - None
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=447390
High diving board - $350 - Transfer
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=34727
Bumper Car Arena - $2500 - Copy
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=547994
Paddle boat rezzer - $2500 - None
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=494061
Terra CTH-100M marine helicopter (rezzes, all can fly) - $1100 - Copy/mod
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=442732

The Solar System Boxed (Educational) - $500 - Transfer only
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=512989
Mayan Calendar Kit - $0 - Mod
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=481053
NPC Tools in a box(script and edu tools) - $0 - Copy/Mod/Transfer - SEVERAL COPIES
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=589645

Photoball deluxe photo studio - $1600 - Mod/Transfer
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=546813

Second Inventory - $11000 - Copy only
"Second Inventory also requires that you purchase the software for each avatar you intend to use it for. In other words, to transfer creations between two avatars, will require two licenses."
Because of this we could get a copy for Raja, but given the cost($45) I am not sure if we will actually be in a position to use it very much
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=541881

VU Build Complete

Just a link to another project I have been working on, and finally completed;

http://vuslbuild.blogspot.com/2008/04/snapshots-from-second-life.html

Augmented Virtual Reality

Using Artag to map 3d objects on top of virtual objects, Augmented Virtual Reality?
Not a very good use of technology, but interesting...

Dept of Education Update

Fun times.
There are three options;
1 - We do what we are doing, but need so much certification it's not going to be worth it, on any level
2 - We get a physical switch
3 - We work through the system. Right off the bat, this might be an issue at Debney, as their net provider is Myinternet, who are apparently not very flexible. Netspace, the largest provider, will likely allow us to access SL (if we target only netspace schools) and there is another one called Brightsparks.

I am providing Neil with a packet capture so he can see what the program needs to be able to do in addition to accessing ports, and can check if the department is blocking it in any way.
He has recommended I write to Netspace, Myinternet and Brightsparks asking them if they allow access based on the SL port information ang getting responses in writing.

UPDATE - Packet capture done and sent, and I have emailed Myinternet, I need to check Netspace and Brightsparks before emailing.
http://www.myinternet.com.au/contact/offices.html
Done
http://netspace.net.au/enquiry/
http://www.brightsparks.net.au/contact-us.html
To go

A big update, Debney, Tech, Skoolaborate

Debney Park Progress

- Friday Lunchtimes

We have only done a couple of lunch sessions so far,(with a Curriculum Day, Good Friday and now holidays).
The first wasn't well attended, as not many kids had been alerted.
The following week was packed, 10 kids all keen to have a look and probably just to do something. We could only have 4 online at once with the laptops, and the wireless was very slow, so some got frustrated and lost interest. For the next session we will have some offline tools to work with.
One student in particular was modifying cars and motorbikes, he has an excellent understanding of OOP.





- Tech Issues

We went in early to test the graphics cards(worked well) and wireless. It took a while to install on just the one PC, the whole lab will take at least a few hours.
The ADSL wasn't on, and we are praying they got ADSL2 not just ADSL one. It's organised through three companies, and Justin spent over an hour on the phone just trying to talk to someone about it.

- Dept of Education

I got a phone call today from Neil from the Dept of Education in response to asking to get the ports opened. He said it was not going to happen, and when I asked about installing our own line he was worried it was a breach of department protocol, despite me explaining how we aren't connecting to their network.
He is calling Debney to make sure they have signed the necessary forms, and we might have to get a switch installed which will change it from one network to the other.
This might save the project money as well as allowing all the computers to be hardwired to the connection, so perhaps it's for the best.

Skoolaborate

- Inventory Issues

I have been gathering objects for the Skoolaborate group in my avatar Raja Ra so we can bring him to the Skoolaborate grid with lots of goodies.
Included in this will be a rental system for the mall and an amusement park, my latest wiki entry is copied below;


Raja Ra is the next SL avatar to be moved over to the Skoolaborate grid with objects in his inventory.
Feel free to list any objects would would like to bring here so we can create a comprehensive library of useful objects.
Please email dale (at) oztron (dot) come if you have any queries.
The aim is to have Raja Ra stocked up before the next meeting so we can all chat about it then.

Hippotech Rental System for the Mall and Apartments.
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=89924
Web module
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=335240
Door control module
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=171935
Calendar - cogboard(works with google)
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=401296
Guided tour - few choices
Bumper cars/boats/rides
ShareIt photo board - (lets up to 15 pics be shared and changed by students ) http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=323317
Bike transport
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=532264
Stats collector
Fireworks!

Tutorials that can be displayed
shoes, sirts, jeans, jewellery, lots of items that can be used to set up a variety of malls that will stimulate some sort of development
also include green staff like plants
textures for a texture forest
DCS Combat System
Holodeck
Decent Power Point Presenter
Decent .mov presenter - permissions

1on1 English
Following is a list of Items found on SLEX that I would like to acquire:
Some of them will be transferable among the students, however some are not, (these items will be used by me for building).
**I have added the links and some small descriptions after these items - Dale

"Zero Prim RezzBox Holodeck - Reseller Kit" (Copy/Transfer Permissions) - I am not sure if this one is so suitable, it's more of a room rezzer than the traditional holodeck
Alternate Holodeck - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=175968
"SLoft, Professional Sculpti Development System" (can't transfer)
"Rez-Faux (huge build packager/rezzer)" (can't transfer)
"Builders Bundle City Textures" (Full Permissions) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=598589
"14 Blank Prim Flexi Skirts for your clothing creations" (Full Permissions) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=572023
"StairsPack#2 by Cel Edman" (Full Permissions) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=499334
"New 1000 Full Permission Scripts" (Full Permissions) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=563994
"Dress Makers Kit v1.6 w/virtual closet" (Full Permissions) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=468647
"Animation builder,Puppeteer" *one was sent over with Surfand Sands, and is displayed in the games area, but I think there are permission problems. I have emailed the builder to see if he can provide several copies of the free version, waiting for a reply.
Linked Prim Animator Lite - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=468371
Tree Wizard - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=361822
Water Wizard - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=328156

From Kathy
Kathy MLC Amicus Box for Skoolaborate

Pre-Skoolaborate meeting information

I just spoke to Westley(Skoolaborate) about a few issues, here are some notes;

Group permissions - selling the land to a group, assigning roles

Stocking up an avatar(Raja Ra) with the following items....(links added and a few more items found since)
calendar - cogboard(works with google) - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=401296
marketplace - hippotech
guided tour - few choices
film festival - speak to chris
bumper cars/boats -
paintball guns - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=416083
ShareIt photo board - (lets up to 15 pics be shared and changed by students ) http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=323317
bike transport - http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=532264
holodeck
stats collector
fireworks!

We will discuss them further in the meeting today.

Update

A quick update as I haven't posted for a week or so;

- Myself and Grace returned to Debney last Friday for the first lunch session, quite poorly attended but we got some posters up and about and will be right to go this Friday. I have shown Grace the field reports and it was good just to have a run through of setting everything up.
This Friday I will be in early to show Magdi through Second Life and the lessons we will be doing.
- Skoolaborate meeting this Thursday at 1.20pm
- I met Greg and Adam from Melbourne Uni and RMIT and had a good chat, I hope to get a contact for a childrens hospital program they know of shortly.
- Contacting YJC once staff memeber returns from leave tomorrow.
- Going into the Flemington Community Centre to see what facilities they have(perhaps we can do after school on Fridays somewhere there as Debney is not available), and to chat to them about the film festival, checking if there are any other events we might be able to join up with.

- Just spoke to Stefan regarding job descriptions(google docs), as well as getting permissions and ethics sorted at the school, and equipment for the Debney Park class.
Basically what we will need is;
Netgear USB WPN311 $43 X 15(rangemax maybe more?)
256MB 8400GS Leadtek $49 X 15
Netgear WNR834B Rangemax $152 X 1
All this is from MSY.
The graphics cards are much cheaper than I thought, hopefully they are a decent size, we can check Thursday. One other concern is having 15 computers running through one router, perhaps a cheaper one will suffice, but I need to check up on it.

Meeting with Magdi at Debney

Today Justin and myself went out to Debney Park to meet Magdi.
We will be doing Friday lunchtimes, working towards doing some machinima in the second half of the year with Magdis class.
I will be going in at 11am next Friday to do some Professional Development with him, showing how Second Life can be used across different subjects.
Other issues we discussed

The PCS in A27 - looking at equipping 15
- Graphics cards (PCI, need to test one for size)
- Modem router - the ADSL2 wasnt actually connected, only the phone line was. Justin spent an hour on the phone sorting this out with Optus.
- Wireless dongles

Running a film/machinima festival in Flemington as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, the students are going to have a think about a name.
Keywords for the title Flemington, Debney Park, Film Festival, Machinima Festival, Youth.....
Perhaps get Gene, Magdi, Justin, myself on board as the organising group?
Contact the Flemington community centre, Moonee Valley council.

Make some new posters.



Justin also already has a contact for working with kids at the hospital, Greg W who we were meeting next Tuesday anyway.

I am typing this at Horse Bazaar, just about to head to Vic Uni to meet Stefan and chat some more.

I am writing this from Horse Bazaar.

Open Life Grid

A long awaited open source project using the SL engine has arrived, http://www.openlifegrid.com.
I was finally able to log on this morning, it feels like the old days (18 months ago!) in Second Life, and serves as a reminder of just how far Second Life has come in that time.
Crashing, freezing, no inventory, a female avatar which I cannot alter - it's all quite interesting once again!
The great thing about this is that we could have kids log into Second Life to see what is possible, then set up our own private sim to do lessons on. I will have a quick go at getting a stand alone server/sim up and running.

Creating a comic strips lesson

As we will be doing some machinima classes this year, I am designing a comic strip template and lesson which can be used as we work our way up to a short film.

Here are a couple of the templates from the demo I am writing up;

Report from Friday

One of those days....
I started off by going out to Debney Park to check on the graphics cards we will need as well as routers etc.
Because the existing system is hardwired, we cannot really put in a switch, so we will need a wireless router and 15 or so wireless usb sticks(we will need to check exact class sizes).
Secondly - the graphics cards we need are PCI-E not AGP as we originally thought.

I then went to meet the City of Melbourne with Grace and Stefan. The meeting was not what we expected, they wanted to get our ideas rather than having us get ideas from students.

I was then unable to get the laptops which need to be taken back to Fernando, so that's a task for next week.

Skoolaborate update

I have just sorted the inventory of Surfand Sands, I have attached an image of it so you can see easily how I have sorted things.
Basically there are two useful folders, the ones with full permissions, and the ones which can be copied and transferred.
A few of the full permission folders might have one or two 'no modify' items, but they are generally still useful, for example in a folder of 20 vehicles you might not be able to modify a few, but they are still good examples for the kids.

The next task is to go through the items in those two folders, and sort them into a few logical 'packs' which we can give to teachers and students. Ideally this is where I would like to get Peter Rocco in to help, as we can include a lot of these things in the mood ring. The main benefit of this will be that the sim won't be getting filled up with random objects as their vehicle veers into the water or underground etc, we can give the kids on good version of everything which cleans itself up.

For the mall, I would recommend we get an avatar loaded up with the following items(they are no transfer so it could be best to have one avatar dedicated to this purpose only, once that AV has set up the system it can give us permissions to admin it).
This is the same system I used to use on Festival Island without any hassles.
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=89924
Web module
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=335240
Door control module
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=171935

Current developments, myself, Stefan and Grace will go to this meeting tomorrow to see how we can integrate our project with what the City of Melbourne is doing for their Future Melbourne Project.

What: working group for composing "Central Melbourne Connected" section of Knowledge Melbourne
When: Friday 15th February, 12.30-130pm
Where: CH2 building, corner of Little Collins and Swanson St

I also have to get into Skoolaborate tonight to work on sorting out some inventories.
Justin has another possible research lead which will be interesting to follow up.
Tomorrow(Friday) we will also drop into Debney Park with a graphics card to test.
Another thing I need to follow up there is the overall school network and whether it can be worked around.

Letter to Chris, Skoolaborate Japan Member

Hi Chris,
Thanks for such immediate feedback, I look forward to working with you.
At the moment one of the schools we are working with will be doing one machinima/sl class for this first semester, and rolling it out further in the second semester. I will also be working on a program which travels to various other schools assisting them in creating machinima using SL, all of which will feed back into Skoolaborate.
Our project website is at http://www.avatar-project.org which will be updated a lot over the coming months.
I am currently working on a small course which will take students through basic SL skills, into comic strip like machinima then finally a short film at the end. My initial idea for this is to have the kids playing out scenes from the future(of Melbourne or wherever) but I am sure this will evolve over time. The future theme works well with a lot of the mental health issues we are trying to address, but obviously so will many others, and what teachers and schools want will help shape it all further.
In terms of the building, I am happy to come in and meet you to help get some kind of structure up and running when we are both free. It would be great to have a few 'studios' that we could assign to kids and let them build their sets and props in, to let them set up their own virtual production companies and start building their own little creative groups, taking ownership of their creations.
I believe the best model for this kind of thing might be a theatre/hq/centre with a few studios attached(like hangars, or hollywood), all working seperately, to come together and compete in an online machinima festival(something our teachers/schools are already interested in). We could arrange prizes and sponsorship and use competition to get the kids making the machinima, and then collaboration to run the festival and machinima studios together. This way we can take time, find some good students to be heads of our 'studios' - then they could become part of some larger organisation which runs the Skoolaborate Machinima Studios (SMS, kinda catchy) and so on.
In this kind of scenario, I don't see language as an issue. We could all throw a great international film festival which all students attend and watch each others creations.
These are all just ideas, I tend to spew them out so feel free to take and leave what you choose.
Thanks again for getting in contact,
Chat soon,
Dale

>>>SENT IN REPLY TO THIS EMAIL

Hello, Dale. It was great meeting you at the VC today, and I hope to work with you on this machinima idea a bit more later in the year. I explained an idea to Jane that I'd like you to read and please tell me your thoughts as I would like to develop some type of project to do by this fall. Here's a copy of the email text I sent to her....

Hello, Jean. It was nice meeting you at the video conference today, and I appreciate the fact that you stayed awake despite the time and poor weather conditions back on the East Coast. I really like your ideas about the type of projects that you would like to do with your students, and I think some collaboration is definitely possible in the area of acting out plays or literary scenes through avatars. Machinima is just a term used to describe films created in virtual environments, and Second Life provides the best available toolset to create your own sets, costumes and gestures in the virtual world. One of my goals this year is to begin the process of making machinima on the Skoolaborate islands using a "studio area" and then filming scenes being performed by live avatars and editing them into some sort of movie. These movies can then be streamed in-world on video monitors placed on the Skoolaborate islands, or even posted to YouTube where the general public could watch them. I'd be very interested in finding a few others who would be willing to create a sub-group that will develop some sort of machinima collaboration on the island. What I envision is very similar to the way Lucasfilm (and just about every major studio these days) produces films from different locations around the globe. For example, you could have your students choose a scene, storyboard their shots, and do the live "acting" through their avatar while another school does the actual video capturing (filming) and editing, and yet another school designs the sets (or costumes if your kids don't have the time). I think this would be a great way to collaborate on a project from different areas around the globe and appeal to the different strengths and goals of each school involved in the project. It sounds like Dale is keen to the filming and editing aspects of machinima and has the equipment to do it. Since my kids are not very strong in their language ability, we could possible create sets and costumes leaving you to focus on your goal of getting your students to plan a scene, act it out, and reflect on the meaning of the language and context. Of course, this is just an example and we could find different combinations of duties to assign to each participating entity, but I think it may be an idea we can build from. I'm CCing this to Westley and Dale, so to anyone reading this, please tell me what your thoughts are...

Chris

Skoolaborate Meeting

Very interesting, Peter R, Grace, Justin and myself all attended, a strong turn out for our project.
The meeting format was much more effective than I thought it would be.

Meeting with Debbie and Stefan - New gallery on site

Monday I met Debbie and Stefan to chat about her joining the team as a researcher. I think it will all work very well, Debbie looks at Second Life from a totally new perspective and knows it well.
From my angle, I have provided her with the Activities and Outcomes framework I have started, hopefully we can work together on that to create some new activities.
Two things Debbie mentioned which I have to follow up are Grantswatch and the Terranova mailing list.
Yesterday I was introduced to a new gallery system called Piclens (http://www.cooliris.com/) (VERY WORTH VISITING AND DOWNLOADING)

It allows for some amazing gallery style 3d views of images online(using a small plugin and some publishing software.)
The idea behind using this is that it can be used during demonstrations/conferences, to flick through a wall of photos and snapshots from the project. The kids will also be shown this in class and encouraged to take snapshots from within SL to add to it.
The site is down today, which made me panic, but then Mdwebhosting.com.au is down as well, they are terrible.
Online conference for Skoolaborate at 4.20pm EST today, looking forward to seeing what's on the way this year.

Mood Ring Project

Inspired by the Inspire Foundation's ROC Game, we have decided to try a similar project within Second Life.
The concept we are using will be a mood ring which the students wear whilst within the virtual environment. They will then have a menu or HUD from which they can select how they are feeling at different points of their experience. The color of the ring on their hand will change as they select different emotions. They will also have the option of making a light source in their chosen color follow their head, and perhaps a particle trail and additional effects, so it's not just a 'ring.' It will be interesting to see how far we can take this.
This data will then be emailed to a web server for further analysis.
The basic concept behind this is that it will help young people to be more aware of their own emotions and to consider to why they are feeling that way.
The mood ring was chosen as something the kids will attach to their avatar and consider part of their identity and appearance, rather than an external kind of questionnaire.
Below is a basic chart for the emotions and colors based on some quick online research of mood rings, which can be adapted as we find more suitable ways to use this kind of tool.


Peter R (SL) will be assisting with the scripting and HUD/menu for this project.

Friday 01/02/08

Todays tasks;
Getting back into the emails;

- Maree R (Ed Partnerships) about meeting up

- Education Dept: after a few emails I got a response regarding unblocking the ports at SCs.

Based on your description of the problem below it sounds like you need
to instruct your schools to speak to their ISP, as we (the operators of
Vicsmart) are not placing any restrictions on these traffic flows
outbound to the internet.

- Future Melbourne Evillage - posted a few things about how they had removed all of the previous posts, these people seem to have very little or no understaning of online communities. Several hours later and no response.

- Emailed Peter R about HUD for emotions in Second Life (similar to Inspires game). We will be working on a 'mood ring' or something similar through which young people can express their emotions in a quick and simple fashion.

- Emailed Sarah A at DHS about getting a contact to take the program into the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre(Parkville).

I also had another read of the Qld Govt report, some of the research questions included in the appendices seemed like they could be useful.
I also heard from Stefan regarding possibly working with PT, a southern based training centre.

Avatar Project Blog for Me

I have started this blog to keep track of a lot of the work I do for the Avatar Project from home. All field trips are reported through the website at http://www.avatar-project.org, and are password protected as they contain private information and research data.