Dont forget to join us for our fantastic Unconference Event scheduled for tomorrow!

Eternal Life: Using 3D Virtual Worlds Technology For Life Extension and creating the new “Uploadable You”.

Futurist Dell Wilberg will be sharing his insights on the use of existing and future Virtual Reality and 3D worlds to extend your life both today and tomorrow. Did Ponce de León have the right idea and the wrong technology? Dell will set out to prove that you do not have to explore the everglades of Florida to find the mythical fountain of youth. It exists today if your willing to open your mind to the possibilities of Virtual World life extension.

Want to live forever? Find out how at Dell’s presentation. Presented using Second Life Voice and Multimedia!

Event Details:

• Date: Sunday 3 May 2009
• Time: 2pm AEST/ 9pm SLT. Check your local time here
• Location: jokaydia Meeting Hall (SLurl)

Thanks again to the fabulous Stephan Bethune aka Steph Ridgway who has made great recordings of our April Unconference! You can access them via Talking VTE.

Click on the links below to access:

• Audio recording of Session 1 Unconference #3 – Introductions and News Updates by jokay Wollongong& update from Emerly Alter
• Audio recording of Session 2 Unconference #3 “The Pulsar Project and MMetaverse Surface” by with marlonj Myers

Planning for our May Unconference is well underway, with futurist Dell Wolfensparger offering an intriguing session which I am sure will spark interesting discussions! It’s titled ‘Eternal Life: Using 3D Virtual Worlds Technology For Life Extension and creating the new “Uploadable You‘.

For more info or to voluteer to facilitate a session check out the jokaydia Wikispace!

Thanks to all who participated in our April Unconference, it was lots of fun! ;) We had a great session with marlonj Myers, who is doing some truly fantastic work, as well as an update from Emerly Alter on her work and a little builder’s buddy class from me. I hope you all enjoyed it!

Below are resources and links from the Unconference sessions:

Session 1: The Pulsar Project and MMetaverse Surface with marlonj Myers

Marlonj facilitated a session which covered the Pulsar Project which he has been working on since April 2008, and also his latest work with MMetaverse Surface. Check out the resources from his presentation below:

My favourite part of marlonj’s session was this great video he presented on his work with MMetaverse Surface, which seeks to create a tangible interface to control avatars from a real life surface, and uses free and open tools including those created by the LibOpenMetaverse group and reacTIVision – a toolkit for the rapid development of table-based tangible user interfaces (TUI) and multi-touch interactive surfaces.

This work is really exciting and points to lots of exciting applications of these types of user interfaces for virtual worlds in the future.

Marlonj has even made a great machinima which shows a prototype model he’s built in SL to demonstrate how this type of tangible interface for virtual worlds could be used. As marlonj notes, it could be used to interact with objects in the virtual space via a series of objects placed on a table in the real world, and would allow for a sense of greater immersion via a 360 degree view of of the environment via projections on the walls of the space.

For more information on marlonj’s work check out:

• marlonj’s Blog
  
• The Pulsar Project

Session 2: Using the Builder’s Buddy Tools

For session 2, we visited the jokaydia Sandbox to experiment with the Builder’s Buddy tools, which allow users to create ‘rez-boxes’ pretty easily using open source scripts. A special thanks to Gnu Curry, who has made a great package of the scripts and some resources which we used during the session. (Yay, Gnu!).

If you’re interested in getting a copy of the Builder’s Buddy tools, visit the jokaydia Sandbox (SLurl) where they will be available for another week or so. We’ll try to re-run this session at an upcoming jokaydia event for those who missed it! ;)

Other News and Updates: Emerly’s Project

Emerly Alter aka Vimani Perera is one of our newer jokaydia residents, but she has wasted no time getting started and has created a brilliant example of how virtual worlds can be used for teaching and learning as part of a tertiary Management Consulting course. You can visit her space on jokaydia II (SLurl) and I really recommend it as a great example of use of video, information tools and Sloodle. Congratulations, Emerly!

During the unconference Emerly provided a little information about her projects, and also invited people to help contribute to her research. Check out the info she’s provided below and give her your support!

A note from Emerly:

I am a Master Student in Business Studies at Department Management of Massey University (New Zealand – Wellington) . I am conducting a research on virtual worlds. I am studying the perception of educators regarding their acceptance to conduct classes in virtual worlds. My research questions are as follows.

1. How do the known determinants of Technology Acceptance (according to existing TAM related research) influence the intention of educators to use MUVE to conduct virtual classes?
2. How do the educators perceived the potential benefits of educational use of MUVE claimed in the literature?

I have selected Second Life as the virtual world and I have created a this class to include education tools in Second Life including sloodle.

I am at the data collection stage of my research and I am searching for volunteers. In particular, I am searching for educators who have a background in traditional teaching or educators who are already conducting classes in Second Life. If you know of anyone who could potentially help me this it would be greatly appreciated.

Give Emerly your support by answering her questionaire or passing it on to you colleagues!

• Click here to download Emerly’s Research Questionaire (Word Doc) and provide her with your responses
• For more info or to submit your responses email Emerly directly.

Other Updates:

Dont forget the other updates and projects we discussed during the event!

• Dont forget to add your feedback to our first annual jokaydia Community Survey, and help us plan an even better jokaydia!
• Provide feedback to the Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education Conference 2009 team on the conference last weekend. They need your comments and suggestions to help shape next years event!
• Newbie Event happening this Wednesday… check out the jokaydia Wiki for more info!
• jokaydia Community Meeting happening this Thursday … stay tuned to the blog for more details!

Thanks to one and all for contributing to yet another fabulous event! Special thanks also to Stephan Bethune who battled technology to record the event for us.. I really appreciate it Steph!

Our next Monthly Mini Unconference is happening on Sunday 10 May 2009 . Make a note in your diary now! ;) Details are on the jokaydia Wikispace.

If you’re interested in presenting a session on your projects inworld, or would like to facilitate a discussion as part of our Unconference series, please contact me!

Dont forget our monthly mini unconference is on at the Islands of jokaydia tomorrow!

This month we have a fantastic session from jokaydia resident marlonj Myers, who is doing amazing things in two projects:

• The Pulsar Project: Second Life Tools for Educators is focussed on identifying, locating an create tools that are useful for teachers and students in Second Life.
• MMetaverseSurface Interactive Installation is a tangible interface to control avatars and objects inside Second Life or OpenSim.

There’ll also be updates on various projects on the Islands of jokaydia including Edusquare (Slurl), jokaydia SLoodling and some of our upcoming events.

We’ll finish up the Unconference with a short building tutorial! By special request from a number of residents on the Islands of jokaydia, we’ll be going through a quick demo and tutorial on using Builder’s Buddy to make ‘rez boxes’ which allow you to rez a set of unlinked items in configuration – sorta like a holodeck you can carry around in your inventory! ;)

Please note, this session is best suited to participants who have a basic understanding of the building tools in Second Life. If you’re completely new builder, please visit the Ivory Tower of Prims (SLurl) and check out their self-paced tutorials prior to our session to learn the basics!

Event Details:

• When: Sunday 5th April, 2pm AEST / 9pm SLT. Check your local time here
• Locations: We’ll be starting at the Pulsar Project Headquarters (SLurl) and then visiting the jokaydia Sandbox (SLurl) for our Builder’s Buddy session.

You can now access our March Unconference Podcasts via Talking VTE! Check out Session 1 and Session 2.

A huge thanks to Stephan Bethune aka Steph Ridgway for capturing these recordings for us yet again!

Keep your eye on the jokaydia Events Calendar for upcoming events!

A special thanks to all who joined us today for the March Mini-Unconfererence today – especially to our facilitators who all did a stellar job.

Annabel and Konrad gave a great update on the Virtual Classroom Project and how it is developing. I’m really excited to see the careful design of learning activities going on in the project and am really looking forward to watching it continue to evolve.

To stay up to date on the VCP project, keep an eye on the VCP Wiki page, or subscribe to Annabel and Konrad’s blogs.

Annabel also provided a number of usful links you might wish to revisit including:

• http://www.hyperhistory.org
• http://http://teachinghistory.org/
• http://vrroom.naa.gov.au/
• http://simulatinghistory.com/

Our second session, which focussed on Web Video was delivered by Skribe Forti, and was fantastic as well. I particularly liked the videos he selected to demostrate the message – all brilliant in various ways.

You can view Skribe’s resources below, (with cool embedded videos via Slideshare!) and I’ve included links to the videos he shared as well.

Youtube Links from Skribe’s session:

• Schoolbag – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70HZOjPzhzg
• Googlers – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmjCtu2L_5A
• Still Free – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwU2t3BJtiM
• Sticky Note – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rZqw5bXb4
• A Thousand Words – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Z8gW8NBks

Our Unconference finished with a quick excursion to visit Al Lurton’s latest exhibition over at the Kelly Yap Gallery (SLurl) and was lots of fun. Dont miss Al’s Interactive Dome! ;) The exhibition is open till 15 April.

A special thanks also to Stephan Bethune aka Steph Ridgway who volunteered to come along and record the session. Thanks yet again Steph!!! And also to Konrad, marlonj, Henny and Pandora who captured the images I’ve used in the slideshow above!

Our next unconference is coming up on 5th April. Further details available on the jokaydia Wiki! In the meantime, dont forget to enter the photo competition!!

Yes, that’s right! It’s Mini Unconference time again! The Islands of jokaydia’s Community of Practice will hold our montly Mini Unconference this Sunday 8 March (AEST) and you’re all invited! ;)

We’ve got several fabulous sessions planned, including:

• Annabel Recreant and Konrad March will give us an update on their wonderful work on the Virtual Classroom Project. Check out both Annabel’s and Konrad’s posts on the subject and the VCP wiki page for more info.
• Launch of the Annual jokaydia Community Photo Comp!  Yay! – this is one of my favourite events for the year.
• Skribe Forti on Video in a Web 2.0 World. Dont miss this one – Skribe is an Australian expert on machinima and video production for the web and I’m sure will lead a fantastic session.
• Visit to Al Lurton’s latest exhibition over at the Kelly Yap Gallery (SLurl) – what a great way to finish up the event!

For more details you can check out the jokadia Unconference Wiki page, and of course all participants are welcome to add additional topics for discussion!

EVENT DETAILS:

• AEST TIME: 2pm, Sunday 8 March 09
• SL TIME: 7pm, Saturday 7 March 09
• Check your local times at Timeanddate.com
• Venue:  jokaydia Castle! (SLURL)

Please freel free to email joannamkay@gmail.com if you need further details. I hope to see you all at the event!

Many thanks to Stephan Bethune who managed to grab a great recording of our very first monthly mini-unconference!

He’s done a great editing job, and I’m so glad we have a record of our inaugural event.

The recording includes:

• An introduction to activities on joykaydia for 2009 as well as the launch of edusquare – jokay (jokay Wollongong)
• An update on the Virtual Classroom Project and the new Educator in Residence! – Konrad Glogowski (Konrad March) & Annabel Astbury (Annabel Recreant)
• The Launch of ‘The Dancers’ – a new art installation/ meeting space on the Islands of jokaydia by Al Upton (Al Lurton)

You can listen to the mp3 recording via Talking VTE!

Join us for the first in our series of Monthly Mini Unconferences!

Following the success of our Unconference last year, we’ve decided to get busy and hold one every single month!

All members of the jokaydia Community, and the SLeducation community in general is invited to contribute to these sessions, where you are welcome to share a project, discuss an idea, ask for feedback or show off your students work.

If you’re doing something fantastic in SLeducation we’d love you to take part! Just visit the jokaydia Wikispace Mini Unconference Page to add your topic or IM jokay Wollongong for further details!

The first event will be held this Sunday 1st February at 2pm AEST time. That’s 7pm on the 29th Feb SL time.. and as usual, dont forget to check your local time on Timeanddate.com! The venue is bar jokaydia (SLurl).

Topics this week include:

• An introduction to our activities for 2009 as well as the launch of one of our key projects!
• An update on the Virtual Classroom Project and our new Educator in Residence!
• The Launch of ‘The Dancers’ – a new art installation/ meeting space on the Islands of jokaydia by Al Upton!

There will also be time for residents and friends on the Islands of jokaydia to share their ideas and suggestions for 2009 activities.

I hope you can join us!