Professionals See Their Future in Second Life

Following up on the great survey work by Dmitri Williams and others, posted recently on Terra Nova, I have just posted some results from a survey in Second Life.  Social Research Foundation, a non-profit organization, conducted the study, and my analysis is now available at Metanomics.

This is a "panel survey," so it does need to be taken with a grain of salt--these are the first 1258 respondents from a group of 11,000 Second Life residents who have agreed to participant in lots of surveys, focus groups, etc.

My headline for this analysis comes from one of the most interesting results of the survey: people who are using Second Life primarily for professional reasons predict that they will be using Second Life more in 2009 than they are in 2008. Those who use Second Life for personal reason also project  increases in Second Life use, but not as strongly. Among professionals, those seeing increased use outnumber those seeing decreased use by 4.4 to 1, compared to "only" 2.6 to 1 for personal users

There are other results that could have also served as a headline, such as "Second Life Residents May Be More Interested in Your Brand Than You Thought," or "Getting Harder to Find Good Paid Work--and Good Workers--in Second Life."   But the professional/personal twist seemed the most surprising to me.

Comments

[paul]

where is the contact of the page?

[Robert Bloomfield]

If you are looking for the contact for the Metanomics page, that would be me, rjb9 (at) cornell (dot) edu.

[KRISTIANNA]

I see virtual worlds like Second Life only growing and expanding. Two decades ago, computers were almost considered luxury items with very few households owning one. Today most families own more the one PC, and the once reluctant older person who vowed never to own one is now prowling the internet on a daily basis.
Each day another person discovers Second life and their reason for joining varies; the older rediscover youth, the disabled find physical limitations erased, and the lonely find fiends enabling them to be anything and everything they ever dreamed of in Real Life and it only takes a click of a button .
Kristianna Rubble, Account Manager
Pulse Point Marketing LLC
Soul Creations and Building in Second Life

[CherryBomb]

They are only feigning interest in my "brand." What they really wanna see is my tattoo.

[cris]

Gym Goes Online

The traditional view of gym class is changing all over the United States. While most of us remember the endless games of kick ball and calisthenics, students at all grade levels are having a very different experience in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools across the country. The traditional gym class is shifting from team sports and group oriented activities to more independent and individual activities to keep kids active all year round.

Reasons Behind the Change

Two factors most influence the change in the traditional gym class. On the one hand, the increasingly competitive standardized testing is taking class time away from physical education. Many schools recognize that the way to bolster test scores is to devote more time to core subjects, like math and reading, and often gym class is the place with the most room to cut from busy school schedules. This trend is taking place in schools in all areas, including urban and suburban schools.

The second issue behind the shift from traditional gym class is the focus on the obesity rates of children in the United States. Educators agree that traditional formats, particularly combined with large class sizes, don't give students the amount of exercise that they need to lead healthy lives. The average group oriented gym class usually only engages a child for a few minutes out of the average hour long gym class. Think about how much time a student stands around waiting for their turn in a game of kickball and you'll see how much time the student actually participates in physical activity during a traditional gym class.

Independent Physical Activity

Unlike the team sports that have traditionally dominated physical education, today's gym classes take advantage of the greater variety of individual activities that make the most use out of student exercise time. Activities like yoga, martial arts, bike riding, and jogging have come to the forefront in modern physical education where the new focus is on tailoring gym class to meet the needs of the students who take it and, hopefully, help them to develop lifelong habits of regular exercise.

While many students get embarrassed by their lack of coordination in team sports, there is a much greater variety of activities that students can participate in, taking the attention off of performing in a group and onto establishing strong personal exercise and fitness goals. By encouraging independent physical activities, physical education programs encourage more students to take responsibility for their personal fitness and feel better about themselves when they exercise.

Taking it Online

Many schools are taking the gym student completely out of the gym by making it an independent study class. In this way, students get credit for doing physical activities outside of school, such as taking a martial arts class or jogging a certain amount of time each day before school. Such programs take the pressure off of the student's class schedule, allowing them to focus more on academic areas in school and enjoying physical activity outside of school. Student and physical education teachers track progress and work together to set goals without using valuable academic time in school. Schools across the country have set up online monitoring programs where students can measure their individual activities while keeping everyone healthy and happy.

http://www.egitimcafe.com

[Second Life Update]

Hello,

This is a pretty interesting survey. I agree with some of the above comments that Second Life will be used primarily by artists, educators, communicators, and professionals. I do however still see the promotional and gaming benefits of this particular virtual world.

[keriman]

yes

[MMO]

The only professionals I can see using Second Life 'in the future' would be Educators. Having a virtual environment for teachers would be more cost efficient and it would allow educators to meet with students even if they are very far apart.