Beth Kanter in real life presenting social media in Cambodia
NMC Symposium for the Future
Professors Jan Baum and Bridget Sullivan
Professor Jan Baum and Bridget Sullivan attended the New Media Consortium Symposium on the Future October 27-29. The conference is the fourteenth in the NMC’s Series of Virtual Symposia and was held in Hakone. The conference explored “actual and potential applications of technology that could impact issues of global importance over the next five years and beyond.”(nmc.org)
The presentations and sessions where all held in the new Hakone environment. “The Hakone Project is a collaboration between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Linden Lab to create a new platform for the creation and operation of virtual environments for use by educators of all levels, from pre-K through graduate school. This new environment comes complete with all the power and potential of Second Life®, but with none of the constraints that have troubled many educational adopters.” (nmc.org)
Apparently the new Hakone area is on a server hosted by NMC behind their firewall and completely controlled by them, with the assistance of Linden Labs of course. The client used for connecting with the environment strongly resembled the standard SL client, making the transition to the new environment easy. Linden Labs and NMC are due to announce the details of this project this fall.
The presentations where of high quality. All are archived on the NMC website as audio recordings. I especially enjoyed the second day keynote speaker Beth Kanter. Her talk, The Networked Nonprofit showed us how network weavers are using social networks to enhance the reach of non-profit enterprises. Kanter read to us from Robert Frosts’s “The Wall” to illustrate concepts of and open and closed networks, and transparency. So many great ideas about the potential power and usefulness of social networking.
The Hakone Project area will be used again for the next NMC virtual symposium to be held in spring 2010. Maybe we’ll see you there!
Professors Jan Baum and Bridget Sullivan have the video Teaching at Towson Takes on a Second Life on display in the fall faculty “New Work” exhibition in the main gallery of the Center for the Arts. You can watch the video here or stop by the exhibition to see it larger and take a closer look at all the other fantastic faculty work on display.
Fall 2009 classes begin Monday 31 August at Towson University. IAMD courses being offered this semester include ART620 Graduate Typography and ART765 Graduate Design for the WWW. There is still time to apply to the IAMD certificate program and register for classes. Students may enroll in courses as non-degree seeking students as well. Check the Graduate School website for more information regarding non-degree seeking student status.
With the start of the semester Second Life office hours will resume Monday nights 8:30-9:00 PM on Monday 14 September. For more information on how to get started in SL check out towsonusecondlife.blogspot.com you may find previous Getting Started posts useful. For general information, video tutorials and other useful SL resources follow the Getting Started link (also listed under Topics on the left).
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Students, faculty and staff enjoyed in-world refreshments and lively conversation with President Caret in Braman Hall on the Towson Innovation Lab island in SL Thursday 2 April 3:30-4:30pm.
Questions included: concern for increased tuition rates, the method for determining a snow closure of the university and its impact on commuter students, would the University support a design collective at TU similar to the one a SCAD, and thanks from students for the recycle-all program and extended TU shuttle service.
Reporters from the Towerlight and Baltimore Sun were present for the event.
Interactive Media Design students attended, and asked great questions too.
The OTS sponsored workshop on building in Second Life was jammed packed with useful information. Karen wasted no time getting us right into the step-by-step process of building a treasure box with a lid that opened and closed when clicked. It was an ambitious demo and everyone learned a lot about building. Check out upcoming Second Life workshops being sponsored by TU/OTS at http://www.towson.edu/OTS
Towson University Office of Technology Services would like to invite you to the Building Objects in Second Life workshop with designer Karen Carmer, an in-world business owner and designer from Towson University, on March 11 at 1:00 PM in the Cook Library. This hands-on workshop is an introduction to basic prim building in Second Life. Ms. Carmer will direct participants in the creation of various objects in SL such as furniture pieces. No SL building experience is required; however you should have moderate experience navigating the SL environment (4-6 hours spent in-world) and an SL avatar. Participants may attend virtually in Second Life or attend the simultaneous hands-on workshop held in Cook 404B.
Date: March 11, 2009 Time: 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Location: Cook 404B
For additional information and to register please visit the OTS training website at www.towson.edu/otstraining
The workshop is open to TU stdents, facukty and staff. You will need to register for the workshop. Follow the link above to register.
Prerequisites: Created a Second Life avatar and have moderate experience navigating the Second Life environment (4-6 hours spent in-world).
Towson University students, faculty and staff experienced first hand the newly established Towson Innovation Lab island in Second Life at the Towson University in Second Life Unveiled event held in PAWS (University Union). Faculty and students enjoyed a tailgate atmosphere while learning about the educational opportunities available in SL.
You can read about it in the
