I have been visiting various campuses in Second Life to learn how visitors can be engaged and learn new things using this medium.
Worthy of mention is the Second Life Planetarium (Slurl:Second Life Planetarium) where you can view the constellations moving around you, with a guided voice tour. It felt like I was in an IMAX theatre all over again. Further up was the International Spaceflight Museum (Slurl: Spaceport Alpha), where I got up close and personal with a whole arsenal of rockets. Even cooler was the 3D moving planets. Just speak out a date (like your birthday) and the planets will move into position.
Another immersive but much creepier experience awaited me at Virtual Hallucinations (Slurl: Virtual Hallucinations) where you are treated exactly like a patient with schizophrenia. You hear voices which say nasty things to you, and you see things differently from normal people. After a while I had to turn off the virtual voices because it was just too unnerving, like watching the Sixth Sense all over again. It certainly is an eye-opener especially if you thought all along that schizophrenia simply means having ‘split personalities’.
I visited Reuters (Slurl:Reuters Atrium). In real life, they have a Second Life News Center website and it is amusing to see how they keep track of the currency exchange rates between Linden Dollars and US Dollars. There is a goldmine of information on big businesses joining Second Life.
BTW, the links I’ve provided will only work if you have Second Life installed on your system.
What other Second Life places have you enjoyed visiting? Have you learnt anything new? Do share your experiences by posting a comment or trackback.
[Update: 5 Dec 2006 – The Sydney Morning Herald reviews Virtual Hallucinations]
Technorati Tags: secondlife, SL, social networking, education, mental health, planetarium, reuters, virtual worlds
Comments
I hope its just a matter of time before more educational content is provided in Second Life. Further, I hope that some of it is provided at a reasonable fee making it available worldwide, and not just those based in wealthy nations.
Canada’s taking some good first steps with the announcement of a real world / Second Life – based campus – a collaboration between 4 BC-based institutions.
Nice work there Van. I have surfed around, flown around the second life environment so far, but unfortunately, first life doesn’t take too kindly to my forays in second life. I just wonder how a family man like Mr Brown with 3 kids can find time to play so much World of Warcraft and do podcasting en masse.