Crossing Cultures and MUVEing Worlds: Exploring Aspects of Cultural Identity in

Second Life

Julie Watson and Ann Jeffery Centre for Language StudyUniversity of Southampton

Overview

• Second Life (SL)• Teaching and learning in SL• The Cardenio Project• The M3 Project (Muve, Moodle and

Microblogging)• Hands-on exploration of teaching and

learning activity in SL using related websites

Second Life (SL) • A 3 dimensional avatar-based virtual world (or MUVE) which

is free to join… …where you can create an avatar, explore, meet people, buy or rent virtual land, build, do business, teach or learn…

• Linden labs began development in 1999; launched in 2003• Total no. of residents: c. 12,000,000• Residents logged on at same time: up to 62,000• Currency: linden dollars• Residents spending money in SL: 342,000• Islands owned: c.12,000• UK universities with a presence in SL: at least 42

How can SL be used in education?• Distance and Flexible Education • Presentations, Panels and Discussions, Displays and Exhibits Training and

Skills Development • Roleplays and Simulations, Data Visualisations and Simulations • Historical Re-creations and Re-enactments, Living and Immersive

Archaeology • Multimedia and Games Design; Theatre and Performance Art; Machinima• Treasure Hunts and Quests • Virtual Tourism, Cultural Immersion and Cultural Exchange • Language Teaching and Practice, and Language Immersion • Social Science and Anthropological Research • Politics, Governance, Civics and Legal Practice; Business, Commerce,

Financial Practice and Modelling • Real Estate Practice; Product Design, Prototyping, User-testing and Market

Research • Architectural Design and Modelling; Urban Planning and Design

*http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses

The Cardenio Project

• To investigate notions of culture and personal identity in SL through a series of in-world search tasks and blog discussion

• To bring together ML teachers (new to SL) and experienced SL residents to form a small self-supporting project community

• To explore the potential of SL for informal learning and more specifically as a platform for language learning and teaching

SL quest

• To find a location in SL with personal cultural associations and identify a cultural symbol

• To post SLURL and description to blog• For other participants to visit SLURL and

search for the symbol, take a snapshot and post with a comment to blog

In-world and blog posts• I spent several years of my life living in

Scandinavia …There are some things that are very symbolic and meaningful for me there. At this SLURL you should find a couple of them - head out west from the main square to the edge of the town… and see one of the familiar giants of the Scandinavian landscape: sometimes solitary, sometimes in pairs and sometimes in groups.

• The thought that triggered my choice of windmill was the flat landscape and the rural theme, so the connection to windmill counties such as Norfolk.

• I spotted a very large structure on the hill and thought, "Aha! Maybe that is my familiar giant." So my choice is also a windmill, now sadly missing from much of the UK landscape.

• A majestic sight for a wonderful building not often seen in my country anymore though there used to be thousands.....

• I think of windmills in relation to the Netherlands too - but what I had in mind for Scandinavia was something more symbolic of it's modern and environmentally clean image.

In-world and blog posts• These two little objects are often found in

British gardens…and are very representative of British gardening culture. However, do you think these objects originate in the UK? Have you seen them in other countries or heard stories about them?

• I found these …under the potting bench. The first garden gnomes were thought until quite recently to be Germanic in production …researchers now believe this honour is Poland’s.

•They first appeared in the 1840s in England apparently. The French typically use garden gnomes to make a political statement:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1437439.stm

• Gnomes are not only found in Europe… Every country has their own legends for instance in Australia it is believed that the gnomes there are as good at cricket as they are at tending gardens.

In-world and blog posts

• Usually the Japanese lucky 'neko' (cat) has a raised paw - what does it signify?

• Did you check for two tails? A much more ancient creature than the Maneki Neko (lucky neko) is the Nekomata. The Neko-mata is a haunted cat spirit. It has a split tale, walks on its hind feet's and controls the dead.

• So maybe the centre of a cat's power is seen to be in its tail?

• Maybe, cats tails are docked to mimic a Bobtail? Or perhaps a tailless cat was bred to avoid docking? The culture of docking ears and tails on animals is a very strange one.

Challenges

• Providing training and support for ‘newbies’

• Learning curve • Technical issues• Time constraints• In-world vs. blog preferences

Cardenio outcomes

• Range of perceptions of culture and personal identity were reflected by search tasks and blog postings

• Bonds formed between group members, and in-world community contact looks set to continue

• Proposals from ML teachers for using SL to support language learning and acculturation

The M3 Project

Aims• To integrate SL (Muve), Moodle (VLE)

and Twitter (Microblogging tool) • To explore the use of a social networking

tool for teaching and learning purposes• To test the use of this tool combination in

three different learning contexts

Explore• http://edumuve.com/tour/ A blog sharing websites of interest to

educators in SL

• http://www.slideshare.net/epcad/educational-simulations-in-second-life-for-fashion-technology-students A SL Project for Fashion Technology students in USA

• http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses An exploration of educational uses of SL

• http://www.cxknowledge.com/ A website providing guidance on introducing students to SL

• http://www.eduisland.net/salamanderwiki/index.php?title=Language_learning A wiki for exploring SL content, activities, and tools of educational value for language learning

Thank youOphrys Fleury

MissAnnie Ducatillon