Its All Coming To An End!

This semester is coming to a an end, which can only mean one thing the presentation day for virtual environment module is only a few days away. Preparation has started to create the best possible presentation we can to inform the class and lecture's how are journey in trying to make a charity and cause go global has gone. As mentioned previously that our project aim is to raise awareness for the charity www.tlc4cf.ie and awareness for the disease cystic fibrosis. We had planned to use Second Life as a base as we wanted to encompass a part of out virtual environment module. In hopes that it would not just include a community that is often over look in society but also to broaden our knowledge on on-line interaction, using digital worlds and participating in a virtual reality to help us mange and create content within it. The idea of 'holding a rose for cystic fibrosis' and continue the challenge on to another person/avatar we felt was appropriate and thought that it would of gained more feedback and interest than it had. However, by doing it we have obtained information on how to brand, mange and create content on-line more efficiently. Things that could of benefited our project;

• The group didn't get in contact with individuals from the charity (as we didn't realize we could), this could of helped to spread the word about the idea. 
• Should of interlinked all sites and really designed them to look and appear the same to create a better on-line identity.
• More time could of been dedicated to building on-line connection. Even making more friends in Second  Life could of help spread more awareness or given us further knowledge on where to spread the rose. 
• Could have contacted second life radio's/broadcasters to try and air our idea. This could of created a bigger platform from to use. 
• Could have contacted other charity's within second life to see if they could of interlinked with out idea or given our group suggestions. 
• Possible could  have set up a charity bucket in certain locations in second life.
• Tried to reach out to a wider group of societies/organisations within second life 
• Interlinked all form of content on-line (such as adding links into any content that was on-line about the project) 

As none of the group is very familiar with Second Life's software it has been a challenge for the group to figure out how to put together our slides and imagery for the presentation day. For idea's on this to be shared we met up in Second Life to have a chat and see whether we could figure it out. We had a discussion and decided that we would probably have to ask one of the lecture's to help us create 

our slides. Kerri (wordpress.com/2015/04/27/reflections/) kindly offered to contact Dudley and see if  he could help us or give us advice. We also went through breaking up the project in to four different sections so that we could each take apart and expand on it. I wrote out the sections while doing this, Elly (ellymariec.wordpress.com) did some searching on presenting in second life and found this http://www.pechakucha.org/faq that discuses a way of presenting images in a, show and share work. It seem like it could be helpful to use for the project and even if not it is yet another on-line programme that I have learned about through this module. This will will be the last push to try and get the presentation together as we are presenting in-front of the class on the 7th of May. I just hope that even though it hasn't gone to plan the effort that was put in pays off. 

Unfortunately for our group our 'going global' hasn't gone as smoothly as we would of liked as we received very little feedback from any one when handing our rose's out. However, I have definitely learned a lot from the module. My computer skills have improved and even my anxieties about talking to stranger's on line has slowly broken away. This has ultimately allowed me to communicate with in a virtual environment, create my own on-line identity (my avatar and blog), mange a social networking site, gained a greater knowledge for personal brand identity, work collaboratively across the world, and gain more information about on-line content and creating ones own on-line content. Before this module I would have given little thought to such things but as our global society grows on- line it is important to understand how one is contributing to this. The module and project has definitely developed more of an on-line confidence within me. And as our world is becoming ever more immersed in  technology it could ultimately help me in years to come. Although at times it has been frustrating with communication difficulties and trying to wrap my head around new software it has expanded my appreciation for the time and effort that goes in to such things like Second Life and on-line content. Even updating twitter or tumblr to keep up with ones on-line identity takes up more time than I would have ever thought. I am grateful that I was able to take the module and develop a greater knowledge of the technical world. 

Finally Found What I Was looking For!

As I have mentioned previously in this blog, I am not the most technical person. Only in the last year I got a smart phone and still don't have vast amounts of on-line social media accounts. However, I do enjoy a good computer game from time to time and ever since I went on to Second Life, I have been trying to find somewhere I could drive a car or motorcycle. But have found it nearly impossible. One thing which I have found to be a barrier for the group project (making a charity go global tlc4cf.com, Raising awareness for Cystic Fibrosis  ) was the not knowing where to go in Second Life. Because the virtual world is so vast (much like our own) its hard to know where to start, or who to talk to. There is little information on where to go when you are looking for something specific. I have found my self numerous time's roaming place to place and giving up, as I get bored with just roaming with no purpose, or right destination ahead. Well finally after a good while of searching I found a place which allows you to have a demo of a car for free. The controls are slow and don't really give you great accuracy but it was a bit of fun all the same. By far my favourite thing to do in Second Life (FUN DRIVE & THE STREETZ, Ethereal Cove - Moderate check it out). 

A Never Ending Answer or A Never Ending Question?

"Is one life enough?" was the question we opened with, at the start of this semester. A question that can't quite be openly answered, a question that has no right answer, and a question that could perhaps still be up for debate generations beyond our own. After watching a documentary on Second Life (Life 2.0) I started wonder about identity, perceptions, and living a second life. I myself have never been a technology, social media, or on-line enthusiast and rather shy away from on-line interaction with people. Perhaps this is just in my make-up. I rather being out doors, on a motorbike or just generally finding new adventure's in the mountains (quite literally as I live in the Wicklow mountains). I enjoy the company of my friends and family and have never felt the need to be anything other than I am. Honestly, communicating with someone that I have never met in person makes me uncomfortable. To be true, this Second Life, Virtual Environments, module centred around technology, has left me completely out of my comfort zone and something I would of never have considered before. But what if this was not how I felt? What if I found it hard to communicate with individuals in RL, or just rathered being on-line than out side? What if I felt the need to create an alter ego? Would one life simply not be enough? Or would real life become the second life? I engrossed my self in the documentary Life 2.0, asking my self all these questions and wondering what separates Second Life users needs from my own. After watching I decided once again to explore the world of Second Life, this time teleporting to anywhere and everywhere from fairy lands, to shopping centres, city's to country's, swimming in the sea to riding a bicycle on land. Yet, still I did not get the appeal and the entire time I roamed and talked to people, I felt their must be something I was missing. There must be more to this that draws people in and allows them to become consumed. As I could not find my answer in Second Life I decided to do a bit of on-line research.

'TED Talks' hosted a presentation on Second Life in 2008 (www.ted.com/talks) where Philip Rosedale talks about the virtual community he founded and the hidden involvement it has had on human creativity. Explaining how, as a child, he was extremely creative and how later in life he became interested in computer programming. He discusses when the internet came along he just wanted to create a world that would, in some way, recreate the laws of physics and the rules on how things came together. His idea was about "being able to make things." He also discusses the appeal of discovering space, like the child's dream of exploring space and becoming something new. In Rosedale's eyes, virtual spaces allow this to happen. Allowing us to recreate ourselves "in the disembodied world of electronic communication, identity floats free of the stable anchor that the body provides in the real world"(1) it contains anything and everything. Within Second Life there is the possibility to be anyone without the RL restrictions; "there is no body to anchor identity. One can have as many electronic persona as one has time and energy to create."(2). For those who do not feel comfortable being just themselves there are endless possibility;

" A single person can create multiple electronic identities, their only link their common progenitor, a link which is invisible in the virtual world. A man can create a female identity; a high-school student can claim to be an expert in virology"(3). 

This is an appeal within Second Life perhaps because, their is no stigma on appearance, age, gender or culture stereotypes. Similar to this, Howard Rheingold in his article A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community  explains, because of his job, how he was alone for the majority of the day and had little opportunities to expand his circle. However, although psychically isolated he feels less alone because of his virtual community explaining "I have participated in a wide-ranging, intellectually stimulating, professionally rewarding, sometimes painful, and often intensely emotional ongoing interchange with dozens of new friends, hundreds of colleagues, thousands of acquaintances."(4). For Rheingold, virtual spaces has opened a doorway for him to communicate and interact with others. Another appeal of Second Life is creating, consuming and exploring information which is explicitly and inherently social within virtual environments. 

There is not one thing to pin point why Second Life and virtual environments appeal to certain people and not to others. What seem to be prevalent in all sources of information I found was that for certain individuals, it was a way of interacting, creating, learning and experience with other people. Whether they found it easier because of their schedule, their personality or finding people similar to themselves, it was their way of communicating and finding friends and a community that suited them. I have not gained the ultimate answer to whether or not one life is enough. I think no amount research could ever answer it definitively, but what I have learned is, one life is enough for me. For others, the same cannot be said and that is completely and utterly OK! If we were all the same, life would be a very boring and lonely place.

Footnotes

(1), (2), (3), Donath, Judith S. "Identity and deception in the virtual community."Communities in cyberspace 1996 (1999): 29-59.

(4) Rheingold, Howard. "A slice of my life in my virtual community." High noon on the electronic frontier: Conceptual issues in cyberspace (1996): 413-36.

Taylor, Tina L. "Living digitally: Embodiment in virtual worlds." In The social life of avatars, pp. 40-62. Springer London, 2002.

http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life?language=en#t-1426060

Life 2.0 documentary

The End is Coming...

Yet again another week has come and gone. Classes are slowly becoming obsolete as project and assignments deadlines merge their ugly head upon us once again. The long summer evenings become the ultimate tease, luring us away from the ever pressing piles of work. Students itch at their desk dreaming of their long awaited summer holidays but somber mood quickly sticks to their wide smiles awaiting the dreaded exam hall. For some it will not be the last time, for certain lectures it will be a lifetime, for others it will be the end, as they step out onto the world with new prospects, new dreams, and a new future at their cusps. But first we must take all academic confidence, every piece of sweat, blood and tears that we have immersed into our work to prove that all our energy was worth it. For this module (virtualenvironmentsmodule.com) it will be a very feared presentation as we stumble, stutter and stammer through ours words. The challenge increased by the lectures expectations of an auditorium full of avatars that we have supposedly become 'friends' with. We'll ramble nervously about our group project that has taken a turn for the worst with little to no response from anyone spoken to. So the next few weeks remain the last bit of time to merge all efforts, all energy, all knowledge to create something that resembles the work, hardship and endless endeavors that have gone into the past months.

The Endless Endeavour

The endeavour today was to try and spread red flowers with the motto 'hold a rose for cystic fibrosis' around Second life and try to make awareness for, not just our chosen charity, but cystic fibrosis in general.  I was all ready and had figured out how to share the rose faster than I was able to last time, I had my speech all written out  and was ready to find a place that was full of people to start sharing awareness, knowledge and insight into cystic fibrosis and our charity tlc4cf. But unfortunately it didn't all go to plan. Firstly I couldn't find anywhere that had people that would talk to me. They where so completely endorsed in their own conversation that I didn't seem to exist. However, I did just so happen to bump in to Dudley Dream Scape a lecturer of ours for virtual environment (see blog here  https://dudleydreamscape.wordpress.com/) and he was my saviour, advising and suggesting places that I could go to talk to people. So my hopes where lifted again and off I went on my adventure to spread awareness... 

But no....Smash, bang, boom, it all came crashing down in a petty poof of smoke. As I wandered around place after place, sending my message and sharing my rose. Not one person spoke to me or even made an attempt to acknowledge me. Until.. My conversation bar turned orange (which means I had a reply) after all the time I had spend roaming and trying to share I actually felt a little excited that someone had responded. This excitement was quickly stomped on, burned bright like a match only to turn to ashes. As I opened the message all I saw was a hateful message from a hateful person. 

'I DON'T CARE' 

was the only miserable, remorseless and hard-hearted message I had got all day.  

Consumer and Producer

As discussed  previously in the this blog technology and media is virtually everywhere from smart phones, laptops, computers, ipads, to on the go or at home. It seeps into nearly every aspect of our lives " Everywhere we remain unfree and chained to technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it"(1). Along with this new and ever changing technology comes social media, a way to connect, to brand, endorse, be something new, create, collaborate, consume and produce.  Although these forms of media can contribute and expand to our existence at times they can have devastating effects on our lives. For instance in 2013 a British first youth police commissioner resigned from her post after homophobic and  drug related tweets that she had posted between the ages of 14 and 16 were released (uk.news.yahoo.com).  A survey conducted by Northon by Symentec in 2011 showed that “more than half of UK adults would remove everything they had ever posted online about themselves if they could” (2). A similar situation arose with an employee of IAC that tweeted a racist and inappropriate comment. The employee was subsequently fired for her a actions (www.theguardian.com). People become the producer of their own social identity because of these social platforms that are made available to them. However, neglect to understand the consequence of their actions. This freedom of speech becomes blurred by these ignorant comment, certain user of these sites saying what every they want with out basic concepts of the social repercussions. Weather or not a tweet or comment was made at the age of 14 or not it should not be accepted into society for a, public figure or not, to make racist or discriminatory comments on social networking sites. Harsh actions should be taken to allow for people to understand that they cannot say what they want on social media it is an aspect of live that should be taken seriously. If one is to become the moderator of their own social networking site they should have the sense to know that every action has a consequence.

The point was made in the article uk.news.yahoo.com that privacy and protection of ones profile should be made. Although, in tern is a good thing, it also posses the question on whether or no employers have the right to look at these profiles to know what kind of person one is? It could be argued that if unsocial, racist, discriminatory or sexist comments are being made by someone an employer should know as not to promote these behaviour in a workplace.

Ending Here

Footnotes

(1) Heidegger, Martin. "The question concerning technology." Technology and values: Essential readings (1954): 99-113.
(2) Waugh, Rob. 2015. 'How To 'Clean Up' Online To Land That Job'. Yahoo News UK. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tweet-paris-brown-controversy-how-to--clean-up--online-to-land-that-job-103722398.html#WuqMcf9.
uk.news.yahoo.com

It Takes Time..

Its been a hard few weeks since the american students went on their holiday break and a week later  in Ireland we did two. So communication has lacked somewhat for the project that we have been assigned to make a charity go global.  Maybe because lectures seem far from the picture when your on your holidays, you can relax, enjoy the sun and leave your worries far behind...or maybe you're desperately cramming to finalise your dissertation, studying for upcoming exams and letting the long sunny days watch you while your head deep in a laptop (I know I was anyway). Although its been hard to keep in contact with the group and constantly work together on the project. The two girls Kerri and Sophia were hard at it getting the red roses ready to hand out in Second Life to help our charity and cause go global. Finally, the time had come to get the long awaiting ball rolling and start handing out the roses.  But not without some glitches. Because the time difference between American and Ireland can become a bit of a hassle and ultimately results in the group having little time to actually spend together (which is really not ideal when trying make something known worldwide) which is no fault to anyone. However, this resulted in myself missing a meeting with the group and trying to figure out how to hand out roses to other avatars and endorse the cause. Not an ideal situation as my Second Life knowledge is really not that advance but thankfully I got there in the end. The hope is now that they it gets some kind of recognition. Although, I think even creating awareness to a few people would be worth it in the end.

The last few months has really shown how hard it actually is to get something out there for people to see. Even with the vast amount of technology that is out there the time and dedication it takes to endorse, brand and market something is never ending. The project has shown how much time it really would take to truly globalize something and the time that would have to be put into it would be immense. Its has shown how a group really has to come together and form a solid plan, applying resources and knowledge together to achieve the goal. As each of the team  members was given the responsibility to set up and manned a social networking site that was made for our charity http://tlc4cf.com/ I was given the responsibility of the http://cysticfibrous.tumblr.com/ . It really showed me how much effort it takes to keep on marketing something through social networking. I had never been a big social networking fanatic and never really understood the addiction to it. However, I have found a new form of respect for people that continuously brand and market themselves or products on social media. It is a lot harder than it looks.

Ending Here