Some short films about what Stefan has described below.

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

From the congress itself;

(Thanks to Hobart College for that video)

Here is what the kids came up with.

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;

It’s been a very busy week for the Avatar Project!

Early in the week, a group of students from the secondary college we’re working with (a school in Melbourne’s West whose students are generally disavantaged, with many from refugee backgrounds) teamed up with students from Melbourne Grammar School for Melbourne Grammar’s “Framing the Future” Youth Leadership Conference:

http://www.mgs.vic.edu.au/news/mgs_FramingTheFuture.php

Our group of seven Western students then hi-tailed it the next morning to Sydney for a three-day convention convened by our partner organisation, whom we can’t name here due to research ethics guidelines. This partner is a global collaborative school initiative, and uses a blend of technologies including, blogs, online learning, wikis and ‘virtual worlds’ to provide engaging collaborative learning experiences. It has 14 partners around the world, including us. The convention was a three-day event focusing on the collaborative use of Second Life, with events, presentations and activities organised for students and teachers to take part in.

Melbourne Grammar Concert

In the early part of the week, the students from the West acted as Second Life mentors to the Melbourne Grammar students in the production of a virtual version of a concert staged as part of the conference. The concert, which featured Shane Howard, Neil Murray, Archie Roach and Robert ‘Froggie’ Taylor, took place at Melbourne Grammar School. Behind the stage on a big screen the audience could see a virtual, Second Life version of the concert, while the real concert was being streamed into Second Life where the whole world could see it (excuse the low-res phone pics):

Real and virtual concert at Melbourne Grammar School

The concert from the back of the hall

Each virtual ‘performer’ in the Second Life concert was controlled by a student sitting at a computer in a building across the campus, and the entire virtual show was live edited by students using three different ‘cameras’.

Sydney Congress

Very (very) early the next day, our Western students, two teachers and two Avatar Project folk took a plane to Sydney to attend the first congress for our partner, along with other students from Australia, NZ, Singapore and Japan, teachers, educational experts and Second Life educational luminary Lindy McKewon.

Some first-hand observations

It was interesting to witness these two events back to back, and to see what they told us about the use of 3D immersive technologies to facilitate collaboration. Here are a few of my notes, based on my own subjective impressions and those of the people I spoke with:

• students and teachers varied greatly in their level of interest in Second Life.

• a good deal of the students from disadvantaged backgrounds were interested in using Second Life. This seemed to apply across genders. However, this could be skewed by the fact that only interested students from the West applied to take in these activities in the first place

• students from the more privileged private school backgrounds were more mixed in their level of enthusiasm for Second Life: initial observations were that the boys were generally more keen on using it than the girls. Some ideas suggested by people I spoke to were that, since the boys were keen to build things in SL, it may have parallels to trade-based or technical classes (woodwork, metalwork etc). Also, someone else suggested that the private school girls weren’t interested in the social aspects of SL because their social networks are already established and set

• the combination of working online and offline simultaneously was awkward at first, but became productive and positive once students had settled into working with SL and each other

• students from the Western school benefited greatly from being taken out of their usual environments. They got on well with other students, forming new bonds and partnerships

• students had different strategies for dealing with the unknown. Some undertook ‘forays’ into unfamiliar social territory, retreating back into their ‘comfort zone’ after a while. This process of extending out and pulling back repeated itself. The ‘pulling back’ was both physical (finding groups of friends/schoolmates) and/or virtual (MSNing friends, for instance) and may provide an explanation for why some students prefer to instant message others even when they have SL chat available…it’s the familiarity of the environment that may provide comfort.

• some students who were naturally shy or didn’t feel comfortable communicating in groups were able to ‘rehearse’ socially interacting through the mediated environment of SL. In some cases this has led to changes in offline behaviour: one Sydney student with Aspergers Syndrome in particular had, according to anecdotal reports, been transformed from a withdrawn, silent student into one of the most active participants in real-world activities

• one organiser stated that SL is not essentially a tool for collaboration; that it works best when people are ‘doing their own thing’ within it. In the case of the congress, this occured after the collaborative activity, when members of the mixed groups worked out (in real life) what they were going to build in SL and who was responsible for which task. Members then went ahead and built their bits individually.

• One organiser commented that many students of Asian background tended to not speak up in group situations but were very active in blogging and other written communication forms

Greetings!

Participating in virtual worlds like Second Life can be lots of fun; shopping, meeting new friends, shopping, attending live events, shopping, sailing, skiing (yes, really), oh and did I mention shopping (a girl needs a good wardrobe, even if it is a virtual one!). While all these activities may be fun, there are also many serious uses for virtual worlds.

Second Life, a popular virtual world, has attracted a large contingent of professionals who are conducting physical and mental health research and/or educational activities in the environment. Some of the more prominent include:

UC Davis Virtual Hallucination

One of the most widely publicised medical simulations is the UC Davis Virtual Hallucination simulation in Second Life. Since its launch in 2004, the simulation has been a ‘must-see’ in Second Life. The simulation was developed by Professor of Psychiatry Peter Yellowlees, and a group of colleagues from the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science in response to the frustration experienced by people with schizophrenia that can result from the inability of “therapists, family members and caregivers to fully understand their experiences, especially the auditory and visual hallucinations that often are symptoms of the disease” (1). You can see a short video of the simulation by clicking on the Avatar Project VodPod link to the right of this entry. The video is quite confronting and may leave you a little shaken.

Ann Myers Medical Centre

The Ann Myers Medical Centre simulation in Second Life has been developed to provide students with a hands-on, interactive environment where they could hone their skills as diagnosticians (2).

Second Health

The concept of a fully equipped hospital simulation was the vision of staff at the medical school at Imperial College in London with the National Physical Lab (NPL) in the UK as project manager. The simulation is an outstanding example of the ways these environments can be used to improve the skills of physicians and demonstrate cutting-edge medical facilities (3).

Virtual Neurological Education Centre

This simulation provides has been designed as a training and demonstration site featuring the virtual experience of a neurological disorder (4).
1. http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20070404_virtual_psych/index.html
2. http://ammc.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/the-beginning/
3. http://virtualworlds.nmc.org/portfolio/second-health/
4. http://www.vnec.co.uk/VirtualWorld.html

More interesting Second Life health related sites:

Top 10 Virtual Medical Sites in Second Life –blog post
Health Info Island – blog post
Health groups in Second Life form coalition – news article

Next Week:

A closer look at how practitioners are using virtual environments in mental health fields

Greetings!

Machinima (short for Machine Cinema) has been described as a “collection of associated production techniques whereby computer-generated imagery (CGI) is rendered using real-time, interactive 3-D engines, such as those of games, instead of professional 3D animation software” (1).  Put simply, Machinima is the process of making digital movies using ‘amateur’ tools which are relatively simple to operate and mostly free (professional Machinima makers please forgive the ‘thin’ explanation).  What this means is that almost anyone who has access to a computer and a virtual environment such as Second Life can have a go at becoming an online Spielberg.  A focus of the Avatar Project will be the production of Machinima by the students at Debney Park Secondary College and we look forward to showing you some of their work later this year.  I’ve added some videos to the Avatar Project video collection of Machinima that has been produced by other young people; you can access the videos by clicking on any of the links on this site or by visiting:  

http://avatarproject.vodpod.com

I hope some of you have a go at this fun and creative activity.

Debbie

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima

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.

Greetings!

Many (most?) people associate avatars with game characters however research is revealing other uses for these digital representations of our selves.  Researchers have been actively investigating the potential for using avatars to support theories which suggest that online behaviour (avatar use) affects offline behaviour.  

Researchers at Stanford University recently conducted a study that utilised the connection many people feel to their avatars coupled with the power of visualisation, to test the effectiveness of using avatars to initiate and reinforce behavioural changes .  The research, described as ‘weight loss with a mirrored, optimal-self avatar through vicarious reinforcement’ revealed a tendency for people to physically exercise more often in real-life after they had seen their avatar exercising online (1).   While this might seem a little Machiavellian to some, consider the possible applications for treating obesity.  Conversely, research has been conducted using avatars as a tool to assist in repairing the fractured body image of people with eating disorders (2).

Using avatars to encourage ‘perspective taking’ through online role-playing activities has also produced positive outcomes.  Research findings from an activity that placed young people in a role-play situation as an ‘elderly’ avatar demonstrated a reduction in stereotyping.   

Although the use of virtual reality technology is not new, the rich graphics, the availability of online virtual environments, and tools that enable user created content are resulting in great leaps forward in understanding and using these digital representations of the self to affect positive outcomes in many areas of mental health.

1. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/npr-on-the-stan.html

2. Riva, G., Bacchetta, M., Baruffe, M., et al. (1998). Experiential cognitive therapy: a VR based approach for the assessment and treatment of eating disorders. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 58:120–135.

3. http://vhil.stanford.edu/pubs/2006/yee-digital-shoes.pdf

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.

This will be published as a comic book for the students to take home, and the best story will be turned into a short machinima film towards the end of the year.

Classes at Debney are going well, the network is up and running, we have installed new graphics cards, and it’s all systems go.  The kids are all very keen, with more than we can handle attending voluntarily at lunch classes, and a full class of 20 students who are thoroughly engaged.

Greetings!

As an addendum to yesterdays post – I have located the source of my meme about future politicians growing up playing computer games.  Be warned the writing could be interpreted as vitriolic however, being familiar with the author’s work, I think there is also a fair amount of ‘tongue in cheek’.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/28/games.censorship

Cheers!

Debbie

Greetings!

You’ve probably all heard, and possibly used the term ‘Web 2.0′ but could you define it?  I’ve read many similar but different definitions, but I think this one that is supplied by www.webopedia.com paints a pretty clear picture:

Web 2.0 can be a difficult concept to wrap your head around so here’s a link to a video that I think does the job beautifully:  http://tinyurl.com/4×4fn2

If you doubt the ubiquity of Web 2.0 (or Social Software as it’s also known) check out the array on this site:  http://www.go2web20.net/ 

If you’re wondering what all this has to do with anything, consider this comment that I heard, or read today (not sure which – I hear and read a lot!), that in the next generation the USA would have a president who had grown up playing computer games.  The use and uses of today’s technology will affect most areas of business and governance tomorrow when control is in the hands of those who routinely use Web 2.0 applications to communicate, collaborate and network .

Comments?

Cheers!

Debbie

Greetings!

Apologies for my tardiness, I had hoped to blog weekly but as we all know, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” (Robert Burns).

I’ve been reading some of the excellent publications that can be found on the VicHealth Mental Health & Wellbeing: Publications and Reports page (1) and I’m particularly enjoying “Bridging the Digital Divide” (Blanchard, Metcalf and Burns, 2007) and the fantastic report “Young people, wellbeing and communication technologies” (Wyn, Cuervo, 2005). 

Given young people’s early adoption of technology it’s not surprising that they are also flocking to virtual worlds at a staggering rate.  Here are some facts:

-  There are now (April 2008 ) more than 100 virtual worlds operating or being developed that specifically focus on young people (under-18 ) (2)

-  Registrations for existing youth oriented virtual worlds are in excess of 200 million young people globally (3).

These figures highlight the the need to understand how young people use these spaces and underscore their importance as an emerging space where young people gather to connect.  

For more information – http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2008/youthworlds.html

Cheers!

Debbie

1. http://tinyurl.com/47vvwn
2. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/report-100-yout.html
3. http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/all-world-numbers.jpg