What is Second Life?

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003 and is accessible via the Internet. A free client program called the Second Life Viewer, similar to a web browser, enables users (Residents) to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with Linden dollars, or travel throughout the world (which is refer to as "the grid"). There is a thriving "real" economy in Second Life where residents earn Linden Dollars which they exchange for real currency. Second Life is for people aged 18 and over, while Teen Second Life is for people aged 13 to 17.¹ Second Life is not a game. It is not rules or goal driven. All of the content and activities are created by the residents.

Educational instutions have been in Second Life since its inception. However, like real life, there are areas and people on the "main grid" that were somewhat disreputable and tended to disrupt educational pursuits. In 2007, the New Media Consortium and Linden Labs launched the NMC grid (now a series of grids) for exclusive use by educational institutions, research institutions and museums.

UWF in Second Life

UWF purchased a small parcel on NMC's Teaching 3 Island. Our little corner is named UWF Lab, and is there for facutly and students to use and explore. Computer Science, and most notably Laura White and Bernd Owsnicki-Klewe, have created the buildings, flora and fauna that you see on the plot. Teaching 3 also includes a common space with classrooms, art galery, and amplitheatre that we can schedule for our use.

Our Second Life URL (aka SLURL) is:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%203/51/116/23
Send an email to Karen Barth (kbarth@uwf.edu) with your real name and avatar's name and she will send you an invitation to UWF Lab.

Getting Started

To get "into" the environment, you need to create your Second Life account and avatar:

• Second Life's registration page at https://join.secondlife.com/?lang=en-US
• OR via the NMC's own custom avatar creation site at http://sl.nmc.org/create.php

We recommend NMC's Orientation Island to new and existing accounts- they have a basic orientation, advanced orientation, one on Second Life Culture, and one specific to education resources. Unlike the Second Life orientation, this is a place you can return to at any time to learn more about the environment. http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Orientation/69/107/32/. Join the NMC community to have full access to the Orientation resources.

1. Click on the "Search" button at the bottom of the Second Life screen (this is in the Second Life application, not on any web site).
2. Open the "Groups" tab.
3. Enter the name of the group (NMC Members) and click "Search".
4. Click on the group name in the results.
5. Click on "View Full Profile"
6. Click the "Join Now" button on the right hand side (just above the officers listing).

Once you have joined, then you can teleport to the NMC Campus or use this url to teleport there from any web browser: http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Campus/139/225/42

Or you can click on the "Map" button from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Go to the "Find Region" Bar and replace "Find Region" with "NMC Orientation Island" or "NMC Campus." Hit enter so that the buttons below are highlighted, and select "Teleport." You may want to review and print our one page Quick Reference Guide for the NMC Campus:

The NMC members group is for faculty, staff, or students who work or attend classes at a member institution of the New Media Consortium (www.nmc.org). Membership provides access to the NMC Campus sim and helps NMC members recognize each other while in Second Life. Members of the group are asked to adhere to a code of conduct that governs the group. (For a copy of the Code of Conduct, see http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Campus_Code).

You can stay in tune with the latest news via the NMC Campus Observer at http://sl.nmc.org. NMC and member organizations post their virtual conferences and meetings on this site.

Research and References on Second Life

• NMC Observer: A rich source of information for educators and happenings on teh NMC Grid. The site is searchable.
• Second Life: Reaching into the Virtual World for Real-World Learning. Educause Center for Applied Research (PDF)
• Accounting for Second Life, Journal of Accountancy (PDF)
• Proceedings from SL Education Workshop (PDF)
• Second Life: 128 Resources from Educause (documents, presentations, podcasts, blogs)