The Final Week
This is the final week of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s not-so-spectacular quarter system. The week of “spring break” is coming up with a sense of ennui attached. The final presentations for the Second Life class is coming up and I cannot help but to look back on the quarter.
We started out with very little knowledge of Second Life itself. We are ending with a little more knowledge about this niche world. Not only is it a niche, it is additionally comprised of its own niches. The population of Second Life is smattered with subpopulations that engage in activities that are quite distinct from one another. The business that my group is attempting to create is focusing beyond the niche to the mainstream users.
Our ultimate goal is to make Second Life more acceptable as an economically self-sustaining world. If everything works correctly, the business will expand the market for businesses in Second Life without taking away the share. For perspective, visualize the pie as growing bigger but not necessarily changing.
Second Life’s tepid growth rate may be acceptable for Linden Labs, but I can see the potential for greater things. It has the ability to make make virtual our imaginations. Considering the chaff that fills the internet these days, Second Life offers a very rich experience—though even its champions have succumbed to tunnel vision.
They claim that Second Life is useful as an educational tool but I have yet to see it fully utilized. I walked into a conference early in the course. The avatars were sitting plainly in their seats while the guest of honor sat in the front answering questions via chat. As they asked their questions, I wondered how this was better than simple instant messaging. As I watched the PowerPoint presentation on the screen, I realized that there were simpler methods out there to achieve the same objectives.
A visually rich environment such as Second Life should present rich information. Otherwise, the program is an unnecessary addition to a process. Second Life could easily be used to present blowup diagrams and schematics of equipment or to visually demonstrate a rendering of how atomic particles interact with matter.
This will require either a high level of knowledge/training for the instructor or a Second Life guru who is involved with the lesson planning process. True talent can be difficult to find. Perhaps it is simply a matter of transitioning a programming from one focus to another. I lack sufficient knowledge to make worthwhile suppositions.
The class has definitely been interesting. I have enjoyed the experience in Second Life. I am definitely anxious to present our business to the class. I feel like our group has a very viable plan. We’ll see after Wednesday!
Tags: business, Second Life