Rodeo Comes to Wyoming in Second Life

One may now ride a bull in Wyoming and try to beat my score.

This is a low level interactive object but a small start to a much more interactive island. It is interaction with objects that will become the hallmark of this learning sim, along with quality learning activities.

The rodeo is located at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wyoming%20Entrepreneur/35/220/25

Today I tried the language exchange site for the first time, called Instituto Español. I spoke with someone from Arizona and another person from New York. Very nice to practice my Spanish a little. We used audio of course, although using text would also have been a positive experience.

Language exchange is one of the most successful educational efforts to date in Second Life.


Also, the train is fully operational although I can't say the same for Old Faithful Geyser. The latter is proving to be a real challenge.

Finally, wild-life has come to Wyoming!

Wyoming Entrepreneur Island on Cybergrrl Oh Show in Second Life

After watching many interviews in Second Life, someone interviews me (Bronco Skytower). Big thanks to Aliza Sherman for the interview and helping to promote our island.

Watch the video below:

Watch live streaming video from metaworld2 at livestream.com

Video: Old Faithful erupts against a Devil's Tower backdrop

Devil's Tower is finished, the train is proving challenging (but worth it) and Old Faithful is erupting every 4 minutes.

Made presentation to our Advisory Board yesterday, which seemed to be well received. These are important people in Wyoming.

Christmas break should lend some time to keep the work moving along and hopefully, I can take some building classes during this time, in Second Life of course, and become a decent builder. Takes times and effort though.

Enjoy the Video:

Train being installed Today

The train is being installed today, or at least the installation is starting today, on Wyoming Entrepreneur island. Quite a site with train tracks all over the sky and ground. Once operational, will carry up to 10 people and will travel around the island, stopping three times for loading/unloading.

Very cool.

Old Faithful Geyser finds its way into Second Life

A rough draft of a live Old Faithful Geyser is now active in our Second Life island. This is just one of many Wyoming world-famous landmarks that will soon debut at Wyoming Entrepreneur island.

The final version will be visually richer, and erupt more often.

Here is a link to the island:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wyoming%20Entrepreneur/128/128/26

University of Texas to Roll Out Statewide Second Life Offerings

Using grant funding, the entire University of Texas system is about to become involved in Second Life. Basically, the state's higher education system is going to have multiple Second Life islands to outreach the school's offerings in the world's best and most popular virtual world environment for adults. This involves 16 major universities each of which, is required by the state of Texas to have a Second Life representative.

At a presentation in Second Life today, the project lead did not give highly specific details of what "being involved" translates to. But, one may assume research, and teaching and learning will be at the core of all activities.

Read the BLOG article HERE.

This is huge and bolsters both a higher ed presence in Second Life and, solidifies the Linden Lab lead in the virtual world arena.

Spread the news...

Breast Cancer "Pink" event a Hit in Second Life

The Pink event, held October 16 at the Disney fan park in Second Life called Mouse World, was a hit and demonstrated the burgeoning power of virtual worlds. Money was raised for breast cancer research and awareness.

I recently read an article from the Journal of Information Systems Education (refereed) titled Extending the classroom through Second Life. The authors report a figure from 2007 that states "80 percent of active Internet users will have a virtual presence in the form of an 'avatar' in at least one virtual world by the end of 2011." If true, online 3-D virtual worlds will indeed become the second great Internet revolution, possibly as great in magnitude as the world wide web itself.

So what does this all mean and why is virtual world technology becoming such a sociocultural phenomena? Since the Romans introduced the concept of a world wide web by building their extensive road system, human beings have reached out with manifest destiny-like ventures to extend life to and beyond all possible borders.

Once we learned to use email we extended societal borders greatly but lost some human touch in the process. Now, we are claiming it back and virtual worlds is one way we are doing that. Nonverbal communication cues are part of Second Life and similar environments, unlike practically any other medium on the web right now.

This morning in Second Life I attended a live Folk concert broadcast from the U.K., then attended a class on basic building in Second Life, both broadcast in real time. These are great technologies that will eventually be present on Wyoming Entrepreneur island.

Stay tuned.

ReactionGrid and OpenSim, Far from Prime Time

While I believe strongly in competition, I also have some understanding of consumer behavior.

When I first logged onto Second Life I downloaded a file for a minute or so, then launched and was in-world within one minute.

Today I went to check out ReactionGrid and OpenSim considering there is some buzz in higher ed about them.

I had to download 2 files for ReactionGrid, neither of which were described well, and the list of instructions was outrageously long. Then, the system rejected my password after all that. So, okay, what a pain but I reset the password and the system then rejected its own password.

At OpenSim, I clicked on the download file, after confusing to non-existent instructions, and the file would not download.

With all its problems, Second Life is supreme and there is no close second, nor is there any evidence that a viable competitor is on the horizon.

Back to consumer behavior; consumers don't want or need a hassle or a bunch of geeky instructions. They want a product delivered, with the consumer in mind.

Anyone disagree or agree? Leave a professional, informed comment.

Terraforming in Place

The land is taking shape and tomorrow, some structures will arise from the dust. Very cool.

One may now see the major areas of our island.

Today I have been shopping a little for horses and trains. Our steam engine train will carry people around the island, past all of the attractions and locations. Horses are a little trickier. A good horse for a Second Life island, can be quite expensive. I would like our horses to be rideable without someone attaching them to the avatar, and, I would like them to return to their parcel once someone gets off, and start grazing. Plenty of horses, but a good one is so far is about L$10k which is too much.

Island Build Markers in Place

Met with our builder today for 90 minutes going over the artist's concept (ha ha, mine), resources for images of Wyoming, and some of the legal stuff.

She (our builder) has placed markers around the island in preparation for the build. When setting a timeline, and assuming we do not broaden the scope of the project, the initial build will be finished December 1, 2009. This will be Wyoming Entrepreneur Island 1.0.

Wyoming Entrepreneur Island 2.0 build will take place in 10 months from now and include much more interactive objects on the island that teach entrepreneurs business basic through fun activities and games.

Will Second Life be replaced by a Competitor?

There are never guarantees in business. Well, unless a business stops marketing... You get the picture.

Linden Labs product Second Life has competition brewing and making progress. Seemingly the new and sustainable frontier of virtual worlds is higher education, whose momentum is only growing. Using peer-reviewed academic journals as an indicator, there is a lot of research and interest in academia, even though "some" of the seniors and older boomers in higher ed are sure this is a passing fad. Kind of like...automobiles.

Back to the lack of guarantees in business, a competitor can take advantage of the king/queen of any market by preying on a product's weaknesses. Let's face it, SL is not intuitive, but it is powerful. It is hardly free to own an island, yet higher ed gets one for half price.

In the list below are some of the major players in the virtual world arena, although there are certainly others. Of note is OpenSim which is open source, and ReactionGrid which is going head to head with SL for education and business marketshare. Perhaps one of SL's competitors will keep better check on much of the anti-social behavior and sexuality found in Second Life, which steers quite a few people away. And again, the complexity issue must be overcome.

Anyway, the worlds below are interesting. Although not competing with SL's adult grid, check out Indiana University's Quest Atlantis. This is what the site says: Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks. QA combines strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. Participation in this game is designed to enhance the lives of children while helping them grow into knowledgeable, responsible, and empathetic adults.

ActiveWorlds
http://activeworlds.com/

Forterra
http://forterrainc.com/

OpenSim (open source)
http://opensimulator.org/

QuestAtlantis
http://questatlantis.org/

ReactionGrid
http://reactiongrid.com/

There
http://there.com/

Sketch of Wyoming SBDC Island: Wyoming Entrepreneur

I think we have a working draft of the project. There are some interactive elements here. The island will feature different parts of Wyoming with emphasis on the Yellowstone environment and some desert.

We will have fishing and kayaking on the Green River, climbing on Devil's Tower, an old steam engine train to see it all, mineral pools, Old Faithful Geyser and Lodge, horse riding, Teton Mountains, and a few other things.

Focus of course is on teaching and learning about entrepreneurship in Wyoming. I present this concept to our builder Monday, October 4th in a web conference and a visit to the island.

Initial Build Finalized, Links to Free Consulting and BLOG in Place

Finally have signs on the island with links to free consulting and this blog. Not much on the island yet so the signs stand out.

Our design is finalized so construction of the island features and structures will begin in October, months ahead of our original timeline. Getting a good start is...good!

Wyoming Entrepreneur Group & an Airplane

Nervously, I started a Second Life group today. I say nervously since once you start a group, you have 48 hours to get someone to join, or you lose your L$100 and you can never use the name again. Worst of all, it takes 12-24 hours before you show up in any searches, so that does not leave much time.

Luckily, I am a member of the Wyoming Residents group and invited all of them to join the Wyoming Entrepreneur group.

We now have 5 members which is one per hour since I created the group.

This will be useful as we try and tie our community into this project through communication and who knows, maybe even a little Wyoming volunteer building labor (hint-hint, I know you're out there).

We bought a plane!

That's what you do I guess: buy a plane. And yes, it flies very, very well. What a way to travel the island.

Feel free to try it out and here is the SLURL to the island:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wyoming%20Entrepreneur/117/110/24

Thar be land ahead! Wyoming SBDC has a Secone Life Island (kind of)

A unique fixer upper? Well, they are all when new and besides, we have an experienced and talented Second Life builder on the schedule. No, not me! But I will get there.

These shots may not be inspiring, but considering the journey I have taken they are awesome!

Thanks to the Wyoming SBDC State Office for support and vision.

And now the real work begins. We are looking to have a working model March 2010 and launch the island officially May 2010. I love exceeding timelines but we'll see.

Linden Verified Island Name - Getting Closer

Good news as Linden Labs sent me an email confirming the name of our island which is of course: Wyoming Entrepreneur.

Universities Buying Land in Second Life - Wyoming SBDC Purchased Island

We are on our way to island ownership. Last night I did an online chat with a SL educational rep. They sent me to a SL site called Special Order in Second Life. The address is: http://specialorders.secondlife.com. This is where an educational orgnizations apply for an island at a discount.

What is needed:

- Name on account and you can have a different name for billing and delivery (island owner)
- Address (obviously)
- You choose a from four island shapes and they have a graphic to look at
- You MUST have your institutions federal tax ID number
- You will pay by invoice net 30 which includes the island purchase price and either 6 or 12 months of island maintenance fee.

Even with this expense, we will save a truck load of our budget if we start meeting internally in SL instead of phone conferencing. Savings will be in the thousands and the timing is impecable considering current budget reductions.

And, hey, this is a fun project with strong outreach potential.

Second Life SBDC Island Project Approved

State office approved the Wyoming SBDC Second Life project, so land purchase is now a go and underway. Challenge: figure out how to pay for it using the U of Wyoming purchasing guidelines. Always a learning experience for me, but nice people to work with.

We will purchase an entire island (estate). Part of the proposal is that we will consider leasing a parcel or two to other Wyoming entities that compliment the University of Wyoming entrepreneur services.

Also, I have sent an addendum of the proposal to the state office asking for funding to build the island with a professional Second Life builder. The result will be a faster better build and, the builder will allow me to watch and learn as she is takin' care of business.

More to come on that. But, I discovered the Second Life video tutorials on the official site. I have tried YouTube and other places, but there may be the best out there.

http://secondlife.com/showcase/tutorials

AECT CAVE Island Video

As mentioned I am a member of the AECT Virtual World Committee. We are encouraging divisions to choose a design for us to create in their room. Very interesting project.

Here is a brief video I made today of the island.

Resources to Get Started in Second Life & Computer Hardware Needed

Upon arriving at Second Life.com and starting a new account, which is free, one ends up on Orientation Island. There, you are given a basic, hands on tutorial about setting up your avatar, moving around, and interacting with objects. You can then go to Help Island and pick up some free clothing, and other objects like things to build with.

But there is more to learn and it does take some time and patience. The pinnacle I would think, is to have a person experience in SL right there with you while setting up. But there are many online resources that are great so I will list a few of them:

Second Life Wiki
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Help:Getting_started_in_Second_Life

Downloadable Quick Start Guide from SecondLife.com
http://static-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Second_Life_Quickstart.pdf

Second Life FAQ
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Help:Second_Life_FAQ

Once you master the basics and are ready to start building, this non-online resource
that can be purchased at Amazon (or many other places) is quite useful. Building is a
whole new world in comparison to cruising around in SL. And, it is really fun and interesting.

This is a book called: Creating Your World: The Official Guide to Advanced Content Creation for Second Life

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470171146/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

System Requirements to Use Second Life

This page at http://www.secondlife.com/ has the requirements needed to run in Second Life.

http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php

If you are buying a new computer and taking yours in for a graphics upgrade, I would recommend at least a 1 gig graphics (video) card which is more than the minimum. Refer your tech person to the link above though and this should provide adequate explanation. Or, refer them to me.

I welcome questions about SL from Wyoming small business owners @ matkins2@uwyo.edu.

I certainly don't know everything, but day by day I am picking this up. Check out Bronco's new hair and clothes as he is standing in front of a fountain in New Orleans Square of Mouse World. Whoa, ready for something formal...

Educational Pricing in Second Life

Universities receive significant discounts in Second Life. This page has the pricing as of August 2009. The title of this article is a link. Or, go to: http://www.secondlife.com/land/privatepricing.php .

Second Life land can be purchased on the Mainland or Private Island. The Mainland is kind of like living in a city where you have neighbors close at hand. A private island is just that and, it should be noted that with a private island purchase, you get a dedicated server, assuming you purchase a full region. Seclusion does have it price, but along with great advantages.

Second Life Proposal sent to Wyoming State SBDC Office

The proposal is off. We may have the first official SBDC island in Second Life. Cannot confirm but searching in SL makes it seem so...

In my investigation for the proposal I have come to believe that Second Life is without question as cost effective, and in some cases more so, than other communication media like telephone. The downside is that telephone conferences can be accomplished through cell phones although I noticed that SL has a program that allows someone to call into and island meeting with a cell phone. Another disadvantage to SL is that most communication is synchronous.

Yet all text communication can be saved and reviewed later.

Linden Labs has done an amazing job with this software and seem to be progressive in responding to their market.

First attempt at building in Second Life

Made my first attempt at building in Second Life today, after reading the building chapter in SL for Dummies. The book does not cover the subject extremely well but there are other places to learn.

Anyone who starts out new in SL is given a variety of textures, clothing, hair, and other objects like furniture.

In building, textures are very, very important and I can see I need many more. They can be found free by searching.

I have noticed that one may take objects from other places but I need to see if that is acceptable, and if the owner intends to share if they don't restrict others from taking their objects (like pine trees for example or furniture).

My first building is below. Not eloquent to be sure, but this is much trickier than it looks!

Second Life for Dummies & the Kool-Aid Man

Before purchasing this book on Amazon, I used YouTube, Wikipedia, Second Life.com, and a few general Google searches to learn of this multi-user virtual environment.

Second Life for Dummies brings it all together by two authors that seem highly fluent in Second Life.

Here are a few news unique things I learned from the book (among many, many others):

• Average user age is 28 (although probably rising)
• Where to get lots of free stuff
• What a SLURL is (and you should learn too)
• You can become the Kool-Aid man or, Goofy or, a Jedi in SL
• How to communicate effectively
• Societal conventions
• Sandboxes: places to practice building. I personally use EdTech and pretty much
  stay within the realms of higher education for this type of activity

Mainly bought the book to learn how to build, but the more learned the better. In a few chapters I start building...

Second Life SBDC proposal to be submitted this week. Wyoming SBDC avatar gets new hair and clothes.

I sound like a girl saying that, but he (Bronco) is looking better all the time. Check out the shiny black shoes.

Today I am working on the Second Life proposal for our SBDC state office. The proposal will cover the intended outcomes of the project, costs, tentative timeline, etc. Wow, sounds like a business plan.

Rough Sketch of Wyoming Entrepreneur Second Life Island

Not all ideas in this sketch will come to pass, yet it is better to have too many ideas than not enough.

But again, the cornerstones (core competencies) of our island will be:

The Cake

1. A place for Wyoming small business to receive counseling
2. A place for Wyoming small business to attend classes
3. A place for Wyoming small business to watch video, view slides, download templates, and more (kind of like our website but more fun using as avatar).

* Notice that when attending classes, visitors to our island will sit on an animal like a
buffalo, antelope, elk, rattlesnake, deer, moose (my favorite), bear and of course, the
jackelope

The Icing (dreaming section)

1. Fish the Green or Platte rivers
2. Climb Devil's Tower
3. Hike to a waterfall
4. Go skiing
   

Here is the sketch, which will undoubtedly evolve:

Wyoming in Second Life - My Recent Blog Post

Go HERE to see the article that gives a very brief overview of Second Life, and announces our plans to develop an island for Wyoming Small Business.

Joined Virtual World Committee of the AECT

Virtual World Committee is a committee of the Association of Education Communications and Technology (AECT). This is a very valuable find and it's membership is filled with talented academics who well understand virtual learning and Second Life.

An island called CAVE is under current and fast construction.

http://www.aect.org

Disneyland imitation "Mouse World" showcases great ideas and technology

Being an overt fan of Disneyland, I have searched Second Life for such. Mouse World has basically re-created the entire Park and allows visitors to watch vintage video of Disneyland, and ride many of the current and former attractions. Wow! One may tour the Haunted Mansion, ride Pirates of the Caribbean or the Jungle Cruise, sail in the sky above on the Disneyland Monorail, etc. You may even buy a Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich.

Not interested in Disney attractions for our SBDC island, yet the technology used in Mouse World is intriguing and provides great insight to some of the things we can do to create and engaging island.

Mouse World in Second Life is well worth a visit to procure new ideas and view possibilities.

3 Core Competencies of SBDC in SL

While SL is a fantasy world of sorts, there must be some basic competencies that mirror the real world, even though it will be done in a very fun and engaging way. They are:

1. A classroom for teaching a group of people.
2. A counseling location for one-on-one or one-to-many counseling and sharing of documents.
3. A self help area that can be accessed 24/7, with video, PP, templates, and links to other resources and people.

I am working on a schematic of the Wyoming SBDC island and have some good ideas.

A professor from Colorado State University gave me some great advice about my project recently.

My Avatar in Second Life: Bronco Skytower

Here are some photos of my avatar. I am flying in the first photo.

Definitely need to learn the monetary system and find some clothes a little closer to what I really wear. Although the AECT tshirt is very cool.

The avatar seems to resemble me, but I couldn't add gray hair on my sides! Personally, I want my avatar to look like me.

Got started in Second Life

Getting started does take some time, especially the specific physical characteristics of your avatar.

Carefully choosing a first name 'cause you are stuck with it. I wish I had simply chosen my own first name.

I will eventually want to buy some clothes. More on that later. Getting started is good enough and the details can come later.

Once inside, I used the search button at the bottom to find some places to go. And, I searched Google for a guide that shows you how to move around.

I went to the Harvard University Law School site and to Mouse World, which is an amazing recreation of Disneyland. You can even ride the attractions. Wow.

Here is a film from the University of Maryland that demonstrates how to get started. YouTube is an awesome place for learning Second Life:

Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Second Life

Every project has a starting point, this Second Life gig is no exception. So, here I go.

I work for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Wyoming, as a Regional Director in Rock Springs. We brand ourselves with the name: Wyoming Entrepreneur.

As webmaster of our site (www.wyen.biz), and a doctoral candidate studying instructional technology, I am ever searching for ways to use technology for outreaching to our clients, the entrepreneurs of Wyoming.

I believe that a Small Business Development Center in Second Life makes sense. We will have a place to hold conferences, counsel clients one-on-one or one-to-many, a video screen and documents download area, and some fun things to do like visit landmarks in Wyoming; perhaps ski at Jackson.

My approach to this project supports my work and my dissertation topic which so far is Counseling entrepreneurs in a 3-D multi-user virtual environment (muve). So, the approach to this will be as academic as possible as I would like to guide the project's efforts by using learning theory when feasible.

That is all for now other than to say that the Wyoming SBDC State Office supports this project and is awaiting a formal proposal.