NVWN – The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network (www.nordicworlds.net) cordially invites you to participate in the Innovation in Virtual Worlds Seminar. This seminar is part of a series of Virtual Worlds events organized in the Nordics and its purpose is to stimulate knowledge sharing and ne tworking among individuals and organizations interested in 3D Internet innovation.

When: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012

Where: Second Life: VCEI – Virtual Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation on the Stockholm School of Economics Island in Second Life.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SSE%20MBA/194/74/2001/?title=SSE%20Virtual%20Center&msg=Welcome%20to%20the%20SSE%20Virtual%20Center

In addition, the event will be livestreamed on NVWN’s channel: www.livestream.com/nordicworlds, and can be followed in room Pub 5 at the University of Turku, Publicum building.

Program

SESSION I: Virtual Worlds Innovation 14-16 EET (GMT +2) / 4-6 am SL

14.00 – 14.20 Presentation of the NVWN Project and Innovation Seminar (Titiana Moldovan, Matti Näsi, NVWN Project Researchers, UTU)

14.20 – 14.40 Presentation of Star Stable Online (Sweden) by Johan Sjöberg, Co-founder

14.40 – 15.00 Presentation of Indusgeeks (India) by Siddharth Banerjee, CEO

15.00 – 15.10 Break

15.10 – 15.30 Presentation on Open Sim Community by Robin Teigland, Associate Professor and Project Leader NVWN

15.30 – 16.00 Presentation on Future of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Virtual Worlds by Eilif Trondsen, Ph.D., Strategic Business Insights

16.00 -16.15 Break

SESSION II: Future of VW Platforms 16.15-18.00 EET (GMT +2) / 6:15-8:00 am SL

Panel Moderator: Robin Teigland, Associate Professor and Project Leader NVWN

Participants:

- Eilif Trondsen, Ph.D., Strategic Business Insights (USA)

-          Ilan Tochner, Co-Founder and CEO of Kitely (Israel)

-          Justin Clark-Casey, Core Developer of OpenSim (England)

-          Cemil Turun, Founder and CEO of Yogurtistan (Turkey)

Discussion and Final Remarks

The event is free of charge. In case you are not familiar with Second Life, you can join through our open channel at www.livestream.com/nordicworlds.

For additional information, please contact Titiana Moldovan (tpmold@utu.fi) or Matti Näsi (mjnasi@utu.fi)

NVWN – The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network is an international, inter-disciplinary project co-funded by Nordic Innovation, investigating entrepreneurship and innovation through virtual worlds and the 3D internet: http://www.nordicworlds.net

You may view the latest post at
http://nordicworlds.net/2012/01/25/innovation-in-virtual-worlds-seminar-feb-1/

Below you’ll find the latest version of the conference programme.

The subject of the activities relates to the topic of gender and language in education and is included as an activity under our English teacher-training programme. Our ambition is to bring students from different cultural educational contexts together in order to explore aspects of gender and language in a classroom context. Providing a culturally mixed forum for such discussions will, in our opinion, bring new insights into these issues and hopefully widen our students’ horizons. In this context it is worth mentioning that many of our students will be working in schools of heterogenic cultural demography in their future professional lives.

Specific activities will be carried out during the autumn 2011. We have planned three such specific activities under the project:

A group discussion (in groups of four) of a ‘case’, which illustrates different aspects related to language and gender in a classroom situation.

A group workshop (in the same groups of 4) involving the creation a case example/anecdotes, which illustrate/s various issues related to language and gender. In the creation of this case we will ask the students to draw on the collective experiences of the all the four group members present.

An observational study of teacher behaviour related to gender and language, which will go on parallel to the two events above. For this part of the study the students will be asked to observe the behaviour of our own lecturers/teachers who are assisting them in the collaborations. We have two teachers working in this capacity, one male and one female. The students will be asked to fill in two online evaluations (one for each teacher) in order to produce a short observational report evaluating potential gendered behaviour of our teachers and in a debriefing meeting at the end of the project we will relate the findings to the theoretical frameworks studied in the course literature.

The collaboration will be conducted online, primarily in the virtual world of Second Life. We will also provide tools for asynchronous written collaborations in the form of a wiki, where each group will have access to their own space.

Suggested dates for meetings etc are as follows:

6th -16th of September:

Technical and social initiation: During this period we will provide all participants with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the tools (Second Life and the wiki). We will have group meetings for this purpose on the 6th of September (13.00-15.00 CET) and on Friday the 16th of September (13.00-15.00 CET) in Second life and we will also contact all who feel they need private one-to-one guidance on an individual basis in the ‘window’ 7-15th of September. We will also provide the students with contact details of their partner groups and encourage them to meet up and get to know each other in Second Life or using any other tool they see fit (Skype, MSN, e-mail etc).  Our ambition is thus that ALL participants should have entered the environment and tested the functionalities prior to the actual workshops. In addition, we hope that the participants also will have had a chance to at least get to know each other superficially prior to the planned events.

20 and 21st of September

Discussions of case: The discussion of the case will probably take about 1-2hrs and will be conducted in groups of 4. Since we are anticipating a total of 12 groups we have booked two days for this event but note that students will only be committed for one 1-2hour-session. Because of potential time differences etc we cannot at this time specify exact times for the event.

4 and 5th of October

Workshop – creation of case example: The creation of the case example will probably take about 1-2hrs and will be conducted in groups of 4. Since we are anticipating a total of 12 groups we have booked two days for this event but again note that students will only be committed for one 1-2hour-session. Because of potential time differences etc we cannot at this time specify exact times for the event.

Note that we will also ask students to summarise their findings from each meeting in a wiki tool. The observational study will be reported using an online questionnaire tool.

20th of October

Debriefing: During this meeting we will evaluate the activities together and also reveal the results of the evaluation of our own teachers and discuss these results. The meeting will take place in a face-to-face setting in a lecture hall at Umeå University with online access through U-stream or Adobe Connect.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in participating and if there are any changes in time or content frameworks that you need us to make in order to accommodate your specific institutional needs.

Tiedot ja yhteyspyynnöt tai lisätiedontarpeet voi lähettää minulle osoitteeseen:

hanna.outakoski@samiska.umu.se

tai kokeen vetäjälle Mats Deustchmannille osoitteeseen (ruotsiksi/englanniksi)

mats.deutschmann@engelska.umu.se

Historiallisia paikkoja

• 1920-luvun Berliini: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/1920s%20Berlin/237/232/751
• Villi länsi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Pass/131/218/651
• Muinainen Rooma (tämän lisäksi on useita muita ‘Roomia’): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA/215/25/22
• Edo-kauden Japani: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Japan%20Kansai/89/37/22
• Holokaust-museo: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Japan%20Kansai/89/37/22
• Elisabetin/Tudor-ajan Englanti: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Renaissance%20Island/220/227/28
• Sikstiiniläiskappeli: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vassar/212/89/25
• Muinainen Mesopotamia: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FAS/196/115/52

Arkeologiaa

• Klassillista arkeologiaa: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/24/37/23
• PORTUS-projekti (Rooman satama Ostiassa): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/University%20of%20Southampton/100/4/701
• Giza: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/iCommons/178/149/49
• OKAPI-saari ja Çatalhöyük: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okapi/62/25/28

Kirjallisuutta

Morgan, C. L. (Re)Building Çatalhöyük: Changing Virtual Reality in Archaeology. Archaeologies, Springer New York, 2009.

Getchell, K.; Miller, A.; Allison, C. & Sweetman, R. Exploring the Second life of a Byzantine Basilica. Serious Games on the Move, Springer Vienna, 2009, 165-180.

Graham, S. Special Reviews Section: Second lives: online worlds for archaeological teaching and research: Linden Labs, Second Life, www.secondlife.com. European Journal of Archaeology, 2007, 10 (1), 77-79.

Keskustelutilaisuuden aiheena on historian ja arkeologian esittäminen ja opettaminen Second Lifessa ja virtuaalimaailmoissa. Keskustelun aluksi esitellään suomalaista Arkeologiaa virtuaalisesti (ArVi) -hanketta sekä tutustutaan joukkoon ulkomaisia esimerkkejä historia- ja arkeologia-aiheisia hankkeita ja alueita. Osallistujat ovat myös enemmän kuin tervetulleita esittelemään omia hankkeitaan ja kokemuksiaan.

Paikka Place: EduFinland IV Auditorio

Linkki tilaisuuteen Link to EduFinland http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Edufinland%20IV/127/73/22

Ohjelma Program:

*   Dr Maryanne Maisano / DrM Magic, University of North Carolina, USA: How we use Second Life for Higher Education
*   Timo Niemelä / Tanni Audeburgh, Hamk: Miten streamaan musiikkia Second Lifeen? Streaming music to Second Life
*   Avatteret nousevat lavalle. Catwalk for Avatars - we talk about clothing in SL. Special commentator principal lecturer Dr. Pirjo Seddiki
*   Vierailut Visits to Culturally Interesting Places
a) Museum Island / SL constructor’s view, Sanna Ylikylä / Banana Naxos
b) Art in SL, Tuija Marstio / Blankuska Tebaldi (Sistine Chapel, Vassar Castle)

Emännät, Hosts: Kirsi Lindfors / Christiana Cooperstone & Irma Mänty / Rami Milena

Järjestäjänä: Haml, Lahden amk, Laurea ja Metropolia

https://sbs.dabbledb.com/page/educationinsl/UqLOTzeG#focus:QWZnaGFuaXN0YW4tVE9MQ01vdW50YWluQ2FtcHVzLTEyNzkxMg==/page:dHJ1ZQ==

The organizers would like to extend a big thank you to all the participants, and to Joseph Clark, our guest for the day!

Selected Environmental Education Sites in SL In No Particular Order compiled by Joseph Clark (SL: JS Saltwater), Florida State University, December 2010

(Please note that these sites are constantly evolving and that this is by no means a comprehensive list–but it’s a good sampling of what’s out there in late 2010.).

· Campus Virtual FI-UNAM, Ingenieria UNAM. Information about a math ed project: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ingenieria%20UNAM/241/131/23

· Etopia Eco Village - Environment, Etopia Island (193, 56, 22). Model cohousing and green-living arrangements: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Etopia%20Island/193/57/22

· US Department of Energy (DOE) Is, Energy (94, 186, 44). Exhibits and displays: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Energy/117/132/46

· CREATION MONOLITH BIOME (128, 127, 26). Biodiversity, classification, ecology, biology: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BIOME/128/128/28

· Genome Island, Genome (117, 145, 52). Genetics: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Genome/118/145/53

· ><)))”> Splash Aquatics, Gooruembalchi (111, 176, 70). Lifelike and accurate marine life for your SL constructions: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gooruembalchi/120/179/70

· Dive and Explore, DAN (56, 127, 51). One of the better virtual coral reefs is just offshore: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DAN/57/127/52

· Polluted Harbor, Caletta. A great place to stimulate discussion about the lifecycles of consumer products, or the hidden costs of industrialization, or even environmental justice issues: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Calleta/99/214/27

· Oil Rig, ANWR. This is the tongue-in-cheek “prim rig” but it’s a great “platform” for conversations about offshore oil drilling: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ANWR/102/168/40

· The Weather Channel HQ. NO LONGER EXISTS - but it was a great place to talk about nature in the media. And yet, isn’t all of this “Nature in the media”?

· Center of Water Studies, Better World. Great models of aquatic environments and a clearinghouse for information: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Better%20World/48/28/21

· The Abyss Observatory , Second Earth 3 (213, 35, 22). Excellent exhibit on deep-sea life: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Second%20Earth%203/214/35/23

Portals to environmental groups in SL:

· Commonwealth - Community for No, Commonwealth Island (67, 221, 31): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Commonwealth%20Island/68/221/31

· ECO Commons @NPSL, ECO Commons (29, 20, 26): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ECO%20Commons/30/20/27

Marine science and weather exhibits and activities:

· NOAA’s Second Island Okeanos, Okeanos (62, 214, 30): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okeanos/63/214/30

· NOAA Virtual Island in SciLands, Meteora (176, 160, 26): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Meteora/177/161/27

Several “beautiful nature” builds that can be approached from a culture-studies perspective to unpack ideologies of nature:

· The SL Botanical Gardens , The Botanical Gardens (193, 59, 39): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Botanical%20Gardens/194/60/38

· Tanglewood Forest, Caledon Tanglewood (128, 210, 22): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Botanical%20Gardens/194/60/38

· *******JAPAN TEMPURA ISLAND ***, tempura island (168, 118, 22): http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/tempura%20island/125/45/33

It was quite an international and professionally diverse crowd that gathered on EduFinland III in order to talk about the theme of the day – teaching foreign languages in Second Life. The discussion covered a great variety of topics, ranging from how Second Life can be used to create a safe environment for practicing spoken language skills, to how a virtual classroom can accommodate students with special learning needs. Strategies for overcoming practical issues that tend to arise when using Second Life in education– such as verification of the students’ identities and common technical difficulties – where also debated, along with the best way to start teaching in virtual environments. All in all: lots of knowledge, experiences, and insights of teaching and learning in Second Life where shared. Thank you to all the participants for your contribution in making the meeting a success!

The next meeting hosted by AVO-project and EduFinland will take place in mid-December. The main topic of discussion will be how Second Life can be used to highlight questions of environmental sustainability in an educational context. For this occasion, we have invited Joseph Clark, Florida State University, USA, to give a small presentation as well as a guided tour of islands that can be suitably used to illustrate issues of environment and sustainable development. More information will be available soon.

(written by Olle)