Where's the Beef?

As a scientist, science communicator, and artist, I got into virtual worlds as a means of communicating scientific data; I got to play in the first CAVE installation at Supercomputing in the 90s, put VRML data worlds online in ‘95 (no one could see them, of course). Now I am most to see how teens and tweens create their own places (from homes to playgrounds to knowledge spaces and games) and how teachers and other educators adjust to seeing this new medium as a tool for more traditional learning—is this changing? I think so, truly. But the question remains: Where’s the Beef?

While I am excited about creating interactive worlds on the model of MOGs, I think our greatest success at Cornell is the development of and our experience with the SciFair Model, a process model. This model is based on common sense and observation of the how people adjust to and colonize the public worlds of Active Worlds and now Second Life. What it comes down to, is virtual worlds are all about people and we leverage this social appeal to get kids of all ages to learn to use the medium for thoughtful self expression. To do this, we have to provide “baby steps” that are fun and meaningful.

This is not the place to start spouting educational theory But the keywords for our projects are “contstructivism”, “situated learning”, “affinity groups”….. with a little critical thinking and a bunch of 21st Century and foundation computing skills. There, the keywords are set for the search

>SciFair is a part of SciCentr.org (www.scicentr,org –check out the movies.) Scicentr.org, was founded as a virtual science museum (no bricks and mortar), which is a sustaining member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC). The original fantasy concept for SciCentr is a landscape scale space on the model of “the 1929 Worlds Fair meets George Jetson.” That concept emerged in 1998 and it still holds, but it isn’t built … yet…. Check out Kevin Lynch’s wonderful small book, The Image of the City (1960) http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/62 to help you think about applying his basic concepts to virtual worlds.

At Cornell, we now focus on designing and supporting learning experiences (primarily using and within virtual worlds, but not just Active Worlds) for a variety of audiences. We are getting ready to launch a service learning course in Computing and Information Science with a lab component, CyberYouthFair (CYFair), aimed at attracting students from across the University. We also are working with a school district to design a staged process of engagement with Social Studies and computer literacy for 6th grade. This district-level collaboration has real potential across the curriculum both for addressing the pervasive problem of student engagement , and for introducing students to computing and even algorithmic thinking earlier than we have been able to do until now.

In my posts this month, I would like to talk more about:

1) the importance of developing technological tools for evaluating the content created by students and their engagement with virtual worlds as affinity spaces.

2) letting go of the traditional landscape metaphor in creating places, and

3) what it is like to work directly with a school district committed to integrating this technology into school day and after school learning.

If you are interested in something else I might have experience with, let me know.

Comments

[Dr. Cat]

1.

I'd very much like to get the opinion of a professional educator on the suitability of the scripting language I invented for our game for educational purposes. It's focused on ease of learning and ease of use rather than power & being able to do everything a programming language does. It's english-like, event oriented, and gives the user templates to copy and paste that talk about recognizable things and events within the game structure. I've always felt it was a good introductory language, but it'd be nice to get a more experienced viewpoint on that issue. The game it's found in is Furcadia, at www.furcadia.com.

I'm also glad to hear someone else talking about looking beyond the landscape metaphor - I think MySpace is one of the primary examples of this phenomenon. A user's web page on MySpace serves, in some ways, the role of "place", but it doesn't mimic geography the way online games or virtual worlds do. I think we'll see a lot more spaces where the connections are primarily in the "social space" rather than any kind of geographical space, and I've long been thinking about the best ways to incorporate those sorts of links into a more conventional virtual world or game as well. I think they're the core of the community, in many ways.

[Chris]

2.

"letting go of the traditional landscape metaphor in creating places"

When you get to this, may I ask that you constrain your post to just this topic? I'm very interested to see your take on this, as we don't talk much about choice of metaphor in the games industry and we really, truly, must.

Best wishes!

[ro388ck]

3.

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[Margaret Corbit]

4.

Thanks for your comments. I guess we will talk about space first.... When you look at the list on the left of the blog, you get some idea of how vast the range is of just the digital worlds we all live in. And yes, I think we need to look at Web 2.0 as a relevant info space... More soon.

[Moses]

5.

A lesson learned by Web 2.0 entrepreneurs is that computers can make things adjacent in a way that mere geometry (2D on a web page, 3D in a virtual world) is insufficient to describe. We should have learned this with the arrival of hypertext, but it feels we're exploiting this only recently, with the ubiquitous "tagging" you will see in Flickr and similar sites, or the "friends-of-friends" nets you see in Friendster/Facebook et al.

Will virtual worlds be left behind, because their nature is tied to ideas like "landscape" and "travel time"? (imagine having to put up with slow answers from Google, or missing citation links in Wikipaedia until you save up for your epic education mount...)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

6.

Will virtual worlds be left behind, because their nature is tied to ideas like "landscape" and "travel time"?

Depends on your definition of "world". We are human beings, we like landscapes and vistas, whether that is as participants in a music festival or watching the sunset. Flickr is too disconnected to be satisfying in the long-run.

You'll find "travel time" on Wikipedia and Google too: it takes time to traverse the page or search-results list you have to go... Does "travel time" make movies and books old fashioned? You need to control "travel time" if you want to design an experience.

Btw, most virtual worlds are naively layed out in 2D, not 3D, for technical simplicity, so there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of connectivity even in a pure euclidean space.

[F. Randall Farmer]

7.

Here! Here!

Down with the Tyranny of Geography!

[Ask yourself why the vast majority of land-mass in second life is islands.]

Avatars when (and only when) they make sense!
["I am not a car." AND "Who needs an avatar to do banking?"]

Context is King.
All Hail the King.
Long live King Context.

[magicback (Frank)]

8.

In regards to space and geography, there is a notion of distance and location. Most kids in the US probably couldn't tell where one African city is from another, but they do have an idea of where Africa is.

Translate to web space and geography, there is a notion of distance by number of clicks to make or pages to traverse and a sense of location.

That's my sense, but I'm interested to hear how kids see spaces, geography, location, etc.

9.

I've played a mud or two with so much magic travel that distance was irrelevant. That made for a bit two muchs oneness.. you felt little different in one city or the next because you enemy could be on you instantly or you could be in another space in a costless click.

To have tone you need a place, and divisions, and sometimes barriers of time , and the burden of travel create gardens (and sometimes membership, or slight time hurdles or secrecy hurdles can do the same.

BUT... its not all or nothing and even Flicker is all or nothing. When people keep a IRC chat diaglogue goind, are playing a mmorg, maybe are on the phone, or watching a live show on TV.. they are really mutiple places at once. Their particpation in the different realities varies in intensity and their focus may eb and flow between them.

I'm trying Travian out....just started so imnot sure how or if they've managed to create any real game beyond "who grinds the most resources".

But the time there can move very slow (at first) turn based games would allow you to be a little in them always...

you trancend geography with a phone...have for almost 100 years. nothing uniqely new to relationships by phone that are very real and perhaps distant althoug gaming together has other levels of relationship beyond talking. Doing buisness deals aranging design or legal contracts cross country transcends geography for non social purpose.

But yes we are layering differently. We can layer visual, and auditory, conversation and task accomplishment in many ways.

The communications are part of the long march of progress of transportaion ease and speed allowing for ubiquitous presence on demand

...yet the ubiquity of travel does not define the definition of space. Space is more defined by human focus rather than pysical presence.

If you were put into a room across the country but were gagged, blindfolded, hancuffed and had your hearing jammed by white noise... you could physicallly be in another place but you really wouldnt have "been there" at all.

Where you are "at" is where your mind is alert to (and perhaps split). How to hold attention and shape the experience in the environment is the geography...and design of geography is changing but shape and size and location natures changing dont make it go away. barriers to entry take more of the place of miles , rules of discourse, color music and layout replace walls and decor.

[shander]

10.

that was me above btw

[Stephanie Gerson]

11.

"Will virtual worlds be left behind, because their nature is tied to ideas like "landscape" and "travel time."

"Flickr is too disconnected to be satisfying in the long-run."

Virtual worlds will be 'left behind' and Flickr will be 'too disconnected' only when they aren't useful for satisfying their intended function.

I.e., the use of geography or lack thereof depends on the application at hand.

I.e., I'm with F. Randall: long live King Context.

Which means, instead of asking what is more useful between geography or lack thereof (or avatars vs. not, 3D vs. 2D, etc.), the question becomes: under what circumstances is geography (or avatars, 3D, etc.) useful?

F. Randall writes: "Avatars when (and only when) they make sense!" Which begs the question of *when* avatars make sense. Can a typology of functions/uses/applications/whatever be devised, to help elucidate when avatars make sense? Among other things.

Because, I assume, we'll be deploying the entire diversity of ingredients available to us. Just in different circumstances.

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

12.

Which means, instead of asking what is more useful between geography or lack thereof (or avatars vs. not, 3D vs. 2D, etc.), the question becomes: under what circumstances is geography (or avatars, 3D, etc.) useful?

Eh? And that is somehow helpful? Flickr DOES have a geography, but as I said, it is too disconnected to be satisfying. In other words: IT DOESN'T TAP INTO THE POTENTIAL OF HAVING A GEOGRAPHY. It certainly couldn't exist without one.

[shander]

13.

Stephanie's point about flickr perhaps sucessfully functioning as "intended" and Grostads hoping for more have no contradiction of course.

If you look at Photoblogs . org you get a bit more of the "salon" sort of feeling (here and there, browsing collections that are commented on by other _artists_... Not as consistent as I might hope (or i might hope for even richer experience within the geography.

Its funny to find more "there, there" in a lose collection of sites run in different ways by different programs ....

The geography, or the "there" is based upon the distinctness of the contributors and perhaps a nexus of focus perhaps photography_by_those_doing it as_art rather than some snapshots, some social sharing of peoples vacations, many pictures where the subject not the photography is the content.

Flicker strikes me more as a tool...a hammer or a saw isnt a there. A lumbermill out of a box isnt a there. A lumbermill full of laborers sharing a work day with children in the same schools is a there, -if- you spend some time in the environment.. for Time in a place using your senses and interacting or at least observing others doing the same is more a "there".

Flickr, by showing what others have been looking at in changing hot streams, and top lists makes a little bit of "there" but not a very satifying salon because of the eclectic mix and stilted nature of contribution.

[Tripp]

14.

@Margaret Corbit:

I'm working this summer on a demo/prototype using (and abusing!) a 3D RPG as a platform for teaching teenagers chemistry. The larger idea is to use games to create engagement and facilitate learning. My partners and I have the feeling that there's a market in both commercial and educational senses for this kind of tool, but we haven't seen it done well yet, strangely.

I'm also trying to get to know the landscape of "what's out there" now. Can anyone give some examples of tools/games/software/etc. that they've seen that are along these lines?

[Stephanie Gerson]

15.

Wow. I'm almost sorry I wrote anything. My only point was that it's neither yes or no geography, but *when* and *how* to incorporate geography. (Geography isn't inherently bad/useless/insert-appropriate-adjective; just a matter of context like F. Randall suggested.)

[Kami Harbinger]

16.

@F. Randall Farmer:
[Ask yourself why the vast majority of land-mass in second life is islands.]
Avatars when (and only when) they make sense!
["I am not a car." AND "Who needs an avatar to do banking?"]

It's true that the landmass in SL is about 20% mainland and 80% islands (see economy graphs), but this is not because people don't like geography. First, Linden Lab has not been adding land to the mainland as fast as demanded, and the price per square meter went through the roof over the last year. LL recently announced that they're adding another continent, basically another 25% to the mainland.

The majority of the islands are connected in groups, some bordering on continents, and even within a single island, there's geography. 256m x 256m x 768 m is a lot of 3D space to move and navigate in. Have you visited The Port? It's an enormous interactive art installation/gallery, in a single region.

The mainland is one of the most interesting places on the grid, because you can walk out your door and find *anything*. It's like being in Manhattan; you may not want to live there, but it's very interesting. Geography allows you to explore a random selection of content. People buy land and move to places where they'll fit in, so eventually content settles a bit. You can always use search to teleport right to the content you want, if you don't want to just explore.

But that leads to the second reason people make islands: security. If you want security, you don't live in Manhattan. You move someplace further out, where you have some control over your neighbors. It's not that you don't want geography; I would love to be able to bridge my island to the mainland so people could fly in.

As for whether or not you need to be an avatar all the time, do you need to have a body all the time? What I'm doing right now would work just as well if I was a brain in a jar. And if you're just shopping or websurfing all by yourself, there's no point in having an avatar, a mere chat window so you can stay in contact with your friends is good enough. But as soon as you're with other people, as soon as there's even the slightest possible social aspect to what you're doing, you want to see the other people, and they want to see you. If you're at a busy store, that validates your choices and you get to see who else is shopping there, what social class they are (in SL, furries don't associate with Goreans much, etc.), and talk to people who clearly have some common interests. Anything more social than that, of course you need to be an avatar.

And maybe you are a car. I know people whose avatars are transforming robots, or dragons, or a small hovering statue, or a .5m-tall ferret. If that's what your self-image is, you should be it, and not be afraid of it. I like a line from Rocky Horror Picture Show: "Don't dream it, be it."

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

17.

Shander: [Photoblogs...] Not as consistent as I might hope (or i might hope for even richer experience within the geography.

Shander: Flicker strikes me more as a tool...a hammer or a saw isnt a there. A lumbermill out of a box isnt a there. A lumbermill full of laborers sharing a work day with children in the same schools is a there, -if- you spend some time in the environment.. for Time in a place using your senses and interacting or at least observing others doing the same is more a "there".

Yeah, I think you nailed something important here, err there. The relationship between consistency and tool, and the fact that social interaction always "take place" thus making a there. (Even on the phone, I think.)

Tools by themselves does not make for a set of places that are interconnected/related in meaningful ways. Social interaction brings meaning to the various settings which the tools are enabling. I agree that flickr appear to be more like a tool, neither functionality or usage brings about a coherent world and that this "lessens the landscape of theres".

One might compare it to the press and their coverage of celebrities. It adds value and meaning to the stories that they can connect them through movies, parties and so on. The social ties between the celebrities make the stories more interesting and easier to follow. So yes, "geography" is a pretty fundamental feature of the human mind, I think.

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