CiberBlog

Conclussions of the work group Metaverses and 3D environments, coordinated by:

• Melanie Hughes
• Gloria Gómez- Diago
• Ramiro Serrano García

This Work Team aimed to receive insights from different perspectives about the uses and possibilities of Virtual Worlds and 3D Environments. The questions we proposed for encouraging the arrival of works covered the main issues related to Virtual Worlds. Our intention was to motivate the participants in these Virtual Worlds from different approaches and with different purposes to share their experiences. Then, we drew our Work Group description by integrating the following topics: applications of these environments, ways of making the contents generated in these environments more accessible, sciences that are using them, advantages of utilizing these environments for educational purposes, specific educational tools for Virtual Worlds, experiences of institutions and enterprises which are present in these environments, which are the Virtual Worlds more widely used and accepted and why.

Communications context

We have grouped the works which we have received and evaluated in four categories in order to reflect in an easy way on the different insights that all the texts, videos and slides give to us. We consider that the set of slides submitted by Professor Pierre Lévy contextualize the remaining works in a brilliant and clear way. “Toward a Civilization of Collective Intelligence” encourages us to think about the most important changes that have happened in our society, pointing out the necessity of a new language that can represent the essence of Collective Intelligence. Understanding the term “Virtual World” as a space which is formed by human actions, their objects and the interactions between them, Pierre Lévy proposes the Information Economy Metalanguage (IEML) which is derived from two philosophical dialectics: 1. virtual / actual, 2. seeing / being / thing_ for the interface between the human mind and the computer power of cyberspace. The IEML semantic space can be used practically as a coordinate system to represent economic, social and cultural phenomena and can be considered theoretically as an abstract place where human collective intelligence is unfolding.

Thus, the eighteen works which we have received and evaluated, apart from the one referred to by Pierre Lévy, enable us to improve our knowledge about Virtual Worlds. All of them constitute a complete picture which shows the most salient characteristics of Virtual Environments, helping to seek more applications for them. We highlight the international character of this Work Group. Authors involved in the Work Group “Metaverses and 3D Environments comprise eleven, different countries: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Italy, Japan, Peru, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In what follows, we explain the main insights that the works received provide. As previously mentioned, we have assigned the works to one of four categories, depending on the perspective of the authors. The categories are:

1, Theoretical Explorations of Virtual Worlds

2, Educational and business experiences in Second Life

3, Creation of tools for being used in Second Life

4, Exemplification of characteristics and applications of Second Life

All the categories, except for the first contain works that refer to Second Life. This is because of the possibilities that this Virtual World allows without the need to have land there or a server for managing it.

Graphic “Four approaches to Virtual Worlds: “1, Theoretical explorations; 2, Educational & Business Experiences; 3. Creation of tools; 4, Exemplification of Characteristics and Applications.”

 

• 1, Theoretical Explorations

In this part we comment on those works submitted which reflect on what using Virtual Worlds implies. These works identify characteristics of the Virtual Worlds and establish bridges between the real world and these environments.

“The footprint of Galicia in Second Life“ (CASÁS AGUÍN, Z.) is focused on identifying the footprints of Galician culture in the metaverse Second Life. Thus, the author identifies five types of places related to Galician culture that are represented in Second Life: 1, public meeting places for Galicians: the Galician Center, created by Klauss Wind, the journalist Nacho Mirás, the Corner of Galicia, created by the avatar Maruxa Allen. 2, workshops and conferences organized by Galician Universities: University of Coruña, University of Santiago, University of Vigo 3, offices of private companies (Caixanova), 4, shops: Inditex, Adolfo Domínguez 5, simulations of Galician places of touristical interest: Turimso Rías Baixas. The author concludes that the footprints of Galician Culture in Second Life are simulations of Galician places, the presence of three Universities and some Galician companies seeking a better difusion of its products among users.

The paper, “Sociología do Metaverso“ (ANDRADE, P.) is written in two parts. In the first part, the author discusses the widespread application of sociology to understanding virtual worlds and highlights that the Metaverse exists only by virtue of social construction and collective agreement. In the second part of this paper, the Geo Novel is described as a unique literary expression of the sociology of the Metaverse, blending social structures and culture with the unique fourth dimension of cyberspace/time

“Second Life: Cibercorpos e experimentaçoes identiáries em un mundo Virtual“ (BATISTA, M.), explores real world culture and identity through experiences attained via a “cibercorpo” or digital body. The author provides example of how the cyberworld liberates us from pressure to maintain physical youth and beauty as well as from stereotypes of race, age and gender. This is largely due, he writes, to the fact that cyberspace is thought of as an aspect of the real world, not its opposite. He suggests this provides users with a dual life, a place where we can change and experiment with aspects of our analog lives and thus enables us to come to better know ourselves.

The potential of Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life to provide a unique training and knowledge sharing environment, very different to the real world is the focus of “Mundos digitais virtuais em 3D e aprendizagem organizazional: una relaçao possível e produtiva“. (MORETTI, G.) Throughout the paper, the author explores how businesses and Universities have recognised the organisational learning possibilities available in Second Life. Interestingly these organisations have come to the conclusion that the growing of knowledge communities and sharing of information cannot be conducted in the same way it is done in the real world if it is done for best effect. The virtual space creates a certain freedom and playfulness to create and collaborate not possible in the real world. It can make participants keener to continue their involvement in a Project ‘inworld’ when official times díctate that they need not be there and increase the desire to work together.

Gaming theory has historically influenced mathematical theories, such as the work of John Nash. The research work “Crisis Financiera Mundial. ¿Es posible una solución futura a través de los videojuegos Everquest?“. (VARAS ROJAS, L. E.) examines the possibility that through the virtual world, particularly video gaming in EverQuest the future of the global financial crisis might be simulated and studied. This concept comes from the notion that economic theorists have not historically had a real world lab in which to study the future. Through the use of a Virtual World where players begin poor and must work for their riches, this possibility now exists. It also provides a place in which to experiment where game designers are like the government; faced with political questions about how far to intervene in the market and thus in the lives of their ‘citizens’.

• 2, Experiences of Educational and Business Activities accomplished in Second Life
  

Second Life (SL) constitutes one of the tools used in the last years to increase the learning experience. Its use has been directed to language learning, but others areas of knowledge have included SL as one of the best ways of delivering and/or complementing their courses. Under the category Educational and business experiences in SL, we have included two groups of papers: one is compounded for those papers that discuss the main challenges and difficulties of using SL as instructors and or students; the second group includes the presentation of two initiatives of business experiences through SL, at two different levels of education “Story of Drive Through ELF“ (ERBA, G.) and “Espacio Virtual de la Universidad de San Martin de Porres del Perú (USMP) Caraterísticas y Aplicaciones” (UGAZ, M.)

“Using Second Life to stimulate learners oral production” (BERRIOLO, A.), explores the experience of teaching/learning Italian through Italianiamo, an experience of learning a language with a non-structured design based on the problem based learning approach that allows the learner to overcome their communication difficulties and encourages the conversation flow when needed. To achieve that purpose the author explores the many “tools” that can be used to trigger communication between participants. “Transferable skills and Teacher education in Second Life” (FERRIDAY, B.) is a must read study of how teaching skills can be delivered in Second Life to adult learners wishing to embark on a career in teaching. The paper asks some questions about how to transfer those skills successfully to the real world and the main implications it has. “Education in Second Life. Experiences of a Mentor and NCI helper“ (TALPO, L.) summarizes the complexity of Second Life, giving special importance to one single topic: education. The author discusses the main difficulties of transferring knowledge to new residents.

“Story of Drive Through ELF” addresses the process followed by a private, commercial ESL school (Drive-Through ELF) about how an organization can use Second Life, with other communication technologies not only to reduce costs, but also to allow stakeholders to participate and/or contribute as freely as possible, according to their changing needs, availability, and/or preferences, on their own terms. The paper underlines the biggest achievement of this organization, which is that it has managed to attract many diverse people who have contributed their time and effort to the school and in the many ways in which they have done it, on their own initiative. Finally,

“Espacio Virtual de la Universidad de San Martín de Porres del Perú (USMP) Caraterísticas y Aplicaciones” reports the process undertaken by Universidad de San Martin de Porres (Perú) in SL. Beginning in 2008, the University began the adventure with a small office to research and create a supporting community that has been successfully used for marketing purposes and it has sparked the interest of the whole university community.

• 3, Creation of Tools for being use in Second Life

The works grouped in this category show the possibilities which we have in Second Life regarding the design of educational tools for different purposes. Thus, these five works constitute an interesting window through which we can clearly see what we must take into account when designing tools, for seeing opportunities to create them and even guessing which type of future tools can be designed for use in this Virtual Environment. The authors, experienced users of Second Life, who design tools with different purposes in mind; illustrate with examples the process for designing a tool in Second Life, which are the main issues that must be considered for creating it and even describe for us some of the educational tools they have created. From an applied and didactic perspective, authors use images and even videos recorded in Second Life that illustrate all the concepts they share with us.

“Notes about Linden Scripting Language (LSL) and its possible applications“ (MOCHIZUKI, A.), This work it is an introduction about the main characteristics of the Linden Scripting Language, the language that it is used in Second Life to make the Virtual World function like the real world. The author explains important issues we must know about scripts (which are their characteristics, which are their limits, how to get or create them). Furthermore, the slides show examples of how scripts can be applied within educational tools. In this way, the author, includes a video in which we can see a chemistry lesson that she carries out in Second Life using an educational tool she has designed.

Through the slides “Description of two Educational Tools for Second Life: Memorize & Categorize“ (MOCHIZUKI, A.) we virtually attend an explanation about two educational tools designed and created by the author: “Memorize” and “Categorize”. The author explains the applications of these tools and she also shows how the tools work, how they must be prepared and how we can change them for several purposes. The slides contain two videos recorded in Second Life, one for each tool, where Akemi MOCHIZUKI shows the tools working and, with voice-over, explains how we must use them. Both tools cover two main processes involved in the learning activity: Memorizing and Categorizing. Thus, Memorize is used in order to help memorize concepts or ideas and Categorize is suitable for learning to group concepts which are related. Both tools can be used without the need of or the presence of a teacher because they evaluate the answers given by the users and, when the answer is not correct, the tools give the right answer.

“Designing Tools in Second Life“ (MOCHIZUKI, A.) This work is a set of slides which gives us a walk through the main issues we must consider if we are interested in designing tools in Second Life. The author talks from her experience and explains the importance of having land or using a sandbox (public building spaces in Second Life), the necessity of being aware of the number of prims we can rezz on a given plot of land, how to upload images in Second Life from Real Life, and the importance of contact with other avatars that design tools. In the last slides, the author explains the design process for tools in Second Life and how the tools can be easily updated and adapted for many purposes and objectives. MOCHIZUKI shows us several examples of how she has updated some of the tools she has designed and how she has easily applied them to a variety of purposes.

“INTERWRITE-DDB (the best interactive whiteboard for 3D environments)” (VUELTA, M.) is a work focused on showing to us an interactive board that can be used in Second Life and in compatible Virtual Environments. First, the author makes an introduction where he contextualizes the importance of designing educational tools that can be used easily by teachers in Virtual Environments. The second part of the text is very interesting because the author, from a first person perspective shares with us the process of overcoming obstacles during his own exploration in Second Life in order to find an interactive board. His words help us to travel around Second Life, being aware of the importance of the sociability in this environment and we can see how some features of this Virtual environment have improved (now we can use voice, for example). VUELTA describes the boards he found during his travel, which are their characteristics; advantages and disadvantages and who has created them and, finally, he tells us how he met the designer; Akemi MOCHIZUKI, who helped him to make his idea real. In the last part of the text, VUELTA identifies the main characteristics of the Interwrite DDB: Make annotations on a surface, directly in Second Life, making presentations using several slides, make highlights and annotations on projected images, drawing figures, highlight videos using freehand, etc.

“Arena Rezzer and Moderation Tool“. (RYBA, M.) In this work the author describes two tools he has designed and created for allowing an organized talk or discussion to run in Second Life. As we have seen thanks to other works that were submitted in this Work Group, organizing meetings or group discussions is one of the most useful applications of Virtual Environments. The tools designed by the author cover two main issues regarding the realization of a meeting: the organization of the exchange of ideas and the physical organization of avatars in the virtual environment. Thus, Arena Rezzer displays a space where the avatars can sit for participating in the meeting. The tool is customable, modifiable, allowing for more or less seating, as well as adjustabledistance between the seats. Moreover, it is possible to change its color appearance, etc. The Moderation Tool, by allowing participants to join a queue of speakers, makes conducting discussions easy by avoiding people talking at the same time.

The author of this work point outs one issue that is mentioned by the three previous authors that have been included in this category: The social characteristics of Second Life are very useful during all the creation process of tools (for identifying the needs of the users, for testing that the tools work and also for improving them once they are created).

• 4, Identification and Description  of Characteristics and Applications of Second Life

The fourth group of works in this category identifies and explain the main characteristics of Second Life. The authors have adopted a qualitative, descriptive approach, which integrates experience in the use of Second Life. Communication Science, Social Research and Art are the specific perspectives from which these works have been prepared.

“Understanding Second Life as an extension of ourselves through the identification of five characteristics of this virtual World“ (GÓMEZ DIAGO, G.) illustrates and describes five characteristics of Second Life (1, detail in the representation of things; 2, Intelligent objects; 3, tools for displaying contents, 4, social Environment, 5, Linked to the real world) The set of slides shows some of examples of what can be achieved in this virtual world. They help us understand the possibilities available there and further potential applications of Second Life. The next three works, apart from identify more characteristics of Second Life, propose concrete applications of this environment: Social Research and the creation and teaching of Art.

“Conducting Research in Virtual Worlds“, (HERVET,G.; ELLAFI, K. & RIGAUX-BRICMONT, B) provides an approach for using Virtual Worlds as a space for conducting social research. After an initial introduction to Second Life, the authors explain the possibilities of this virtual environment for conducting social research. The last part of this work deals with the ethical issues that researchers must take into account when they research with subjects. Specifically, the authors suggest attitudes and procedures that researchers would be served well to adopt when conducting projects in Virtual Worlds.

“Online Qualitative Research and Metaverses“ (EL KAMEL, L. & RIGAUX BRICMONT, B.) highlights the need for adapting traditional research methods to the online context. The text offers an evolution of Internet research. The authors conclude that since 2001, researchers of various scientific areas use the Internet more as a research method than an object of study. According to the text, the methods more used in online research are ethnography, focus groups and interviews and there are three types of online research: 1. research whose purpose is not necessarily the Internet itself and whose authors use the Internet as a data collection field. 2. research where using the Internet as a research field is quite mandatory, 3. research in metaverses or virtual worlds. The last part of the text deals with this emerging field of research, its advantages, disadvantages and the ethical issues which must be considered.

“Dan Yapungku in Second Life, Däniel Vandermissen in Real Life“ (VANDERMISSEN, D.) is a work, and a small piece of art focused on the applications of Second Life for teaching and creating art. The author identifies and shows some examples of the creative process realised in this virtual environment: creating 3D constructions, teaching other avatars, discussing and receiving help, developing projects in teams, using second life as a part of a real lesson and vice versa. The work submitted by VANDERMISSEN combines the description of the advantages of Second Life regarding the art practice exemplified through videos and small pieces of art that he has embedded in the slides. Thus, one of the videos “Cursus Art Creation in S.L” shows the houses made by four of his students in KH Lim College. The first video that is included in the slides, “Man of the Rain” integrates a voice-over that says: “This is the story of someone, in fact nobody who liked to learn more and to find out about the possibilities of the digital world. Perhaps it is about creatures, made by a human, in Real Life, to live and move in a Second World”.

Subjects and open discussions in the forums

Few but relevant, deep and lively discussions took place in the forums of the Work Group. Language acted as a barrier for participants and authors alike. The authors received emails in Spanish and when they wanted to answer or comment they could not do so if they have selected English as the language of the webpage of the Congress. Nevertheless, the quality and importance of the debates among participants was very high. We have mapped the topics that were discussed in five categories in order to share them briefly.

1, Types of Virtual Worlds

2, Requisites for accessing and being comfortable in Second Life.

3, Perspectives from Virtual Worlds can be studied.

4, Applications of Virtual Environments.

5, Theoretical concepts.

• 1, Types of Virtual Worlds

The discussion about types of Virtual Worlds gave us many other perspectives that provide a more complete picture of the insights provided by the works submitted (Most of them referred to Second Life) In the Forums, we talked about the Open Sim technology and the possibilities that this will offer in the future. We shared ideas about why this technology is not much used at this moment (people need to have a server to set up their places of work and residence) and how this will change and become more accessible for users in the future.

Participants also talked about other virtual worlds and have came to the same conclusion: Second Life has at the moment many advantages over other virtual environments in terms ofthe vast potential for user created content, and also the social aspect. The other Virtual Worlds which were cited were Runescape and EvE Online.

• 2, Requisites for being comfortable in Second Life

Participants talked about which are the requisites for using Second Life and about the time that people need to acquire the necessary skills for beginning to explore Second Life. Moreover, people pointed out the importance of training teachers in the use of Virtual Worlds. Other topics commented on here included the importance of using Moodle and connecting Moodle with second Life (Sloodle)

• 3, Perspectives from Virtual Worlds can be studied

Some participants engaged in a debate about the perspectives which we can use to study Virtual Worlds. The perspectives proposed were the Science of Communication, the Phenomenology, and a Transdisciplinary Perspective.

• 4, Applications of Second Life

In the forums people shared ideas about several applications of Virtual Worlds: Creating Art, designing laboratories for studying economic situations and for solving economic crises and also for making the invisible in society visible in cyberspace, protecting and promoting a culture or a language and doing Social Research. Regarding this last topic, people commented about the importance of preparing the contexts where we might carry out our research.

• 5, Theoretical concepts

Participants dialogued about the convenience of considering Virtual Worlds an extension of ourselves, agreeing that Virtual Worlds, help us to live not another life but rather a richer life, thanks, mainly, to the facility for interacting with other people in these environments. Moreover there was a meaningful debate focused on identifying the meanings of concepts as cybertime or Web 3.0.

Analog crisis, digital future?

Thanks to the commentaries made on the forums, we are able to identify many more options to the application of Virtual Worlds for being more creative, for teaching, researching, developing business ideas, for maintaining relationships of all kinds with other people, etc. Therefore, taking this into consideration, we are able to arrive at the idea that doing so is the best way of combating a crisis. Moreover participants and authors shared ideas about the possibilities of using Virtual Worlds in order to study the economy and look for solutions that can be applied in real life.

Guidelines

Being highly cost efficient Administrations should start supporting projects that create reusable content in Virtual Worlds, specially designed for learning.