As advised recently, I took delivery of my shiny new Second Life island called Godot. My initial excitement started to give way to the pragmatics of getting Godot into a state where it can serve my research needs. Reading about island development in other forums could leave you believing you need a hefty bankroll and a dedficated design team. And I suppose if you are looking for something to match your corporate image then that might be the case.
I decided that my original choice of an island shape did not really meet all my requirements so I had to learn a little about terraforming. My searching lead me to Terragen (terrain generator) and Bailiwick (channel editor) – a couple of tools that allow me to create a new shape and topography for the island. And I’ve done so. They are relatively easy to use and so far I’ve not had to refer to the Help tools. Having said that I’m using a fairly broad brush approach to create the landscape.
The next concern is to think about parceling the land so that it can better manage media streams and can be shared/rented with other educators.
Then I need to relocate (and perhaps reorganise) the Lost City scene from Maceday to Godot. I’m hoping that with the massive increase in prims fro building I can add some extra functionality into the redesigned space.
Coincidentally, I’ve been in touch with one of my undergrad lecturers (from the mid-80s) who is beginning to look at the potential opf Secodn Life in theatre design. I’m looking forward to learning about his ideas.
The scenario for the Process Drama is also under the microscope. The topic of inworld governance is a bit of a tricky one when participants are relatively new to Second Life and unaware of many of the political wranglings that occur across the SL world and the Real world.
Also, as a side note… Eva Petersson and Tony Brooks are visiting scholars from Denmark. Eva’s work has several similarities to my own work and I am currently working through her book NON-FORMAL LEARNING THROUGH LUDIC ENGAGEMENT WITHIN INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS.
Keep your eyes open for updates on Godot’s development.