Proceedings SLACTIONS2010 International Conference

SLACTIONS
2010 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Manchester Business School, Second Life, 2010 SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference: Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms: Proceedings of the... / edited by Kathy Keeling, Debbie Keeling, Ana Margarida Maia, Ricardo Nunes, Gonalo Cruz and Vnicius Loureiro Manchester, UK: Manchester Business School, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-903808-07-1
Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference

Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms November 18th & 19th, 2010 Manchester Business School
Edited by: Kathleen Keeling, (Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK) Debbie Keeling, (Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK) Ana Margarida Maia (University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal) Ricardo Nunes (University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal) Gonalo Cruz (University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal) Vnicius Loureiro (University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal) Local chapters at: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK (chair: Kathleen Keeling) So Paulo, Pontifcia Universidade Catlica de So Paulo, Brazil (chair: Donizetti Louro) Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China (chair: David Herold) Houston, Texas Southern University, USA (chair: Ana Boa-Ventura) Tel-Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Israel (chair: Hanan Gazit) Porto, University of Porto, Portugal (chair: Antnio Coelho) Wellington Institute of Technology, New Zealand (chair: Todd Cochrane) Thanks to: SPCVideojogos Sociedade Portuguesa de Cincias dos Videojogos, Portugal Published by: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK, 2010 II
Contents

Conference format .......................................................................................................................................................................................................IV The Papers .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................V
Virtual societies, virtual economies: An analysis of Second Lifes economic development .............................................................1 Procedural Modeling for Realistic Virtual Worlds Development ...........................................................................................................8 A Proposal for the Development of Behavior of Autonomous Entities in Second Life .....................................................................16 Probing Cognitive Biases in Virtual Worlds: Second Life As a Case Study ..........................................................................................24 Second Life, Second Morality? ........................................................................................................................................................................29 Self-Esteem in Second Life: An inWorld Group Intervention for Women with Disabilities ............................................................34 Using Second Life as an Interface for Personalized Search .....................................................................................................................39 The P.R.O.S.E. (Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments) Project: Conducting In-World Behavioral Research on the Metaverse ......................................................................................................................................................................................................43 Second Life as a research environment: Avatar-to-Avatar interviews. ................................................................................................51 User Involvement in the Design of Educational Virtual Worlds .............................................................................................................54 Affordances for Childrens Participation in Virtual Worlds .....................................................................................................................58 The importance of using devices designed for achieving specific objectives in Virtual Worlds. Exemplification by introducing tools which can be applied for improving three issues involved in the teaching/learning process of a language. ................... 62 Students attitudes and experience: A case of SecondLife ........................................................................................................................67 Using games to promote student integration in universities through the use of virtual worlds ..................75 Puzzles as a creative form of play in metaverse .........................................................................................................................................79 Design Education Towards the Second Life Platform ...............................................................................................................................87 The Literary Theory applied to Creation Process of Second Life residents: A Case Study of Liberato Lindman resident and its development. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................93 Networked Education: The importance of testing the pedagogical design in teacher training in virtual worlds .....................102 Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond ...........................................................................................................................110 Journalism in Virtual Worlds ............................................................................................................................................................................... 116 MKAC, Museum Kadura Art Center Project................................................................................................................................................122 I Summit Latin American Art.....................................................................................................................127 HELPMI - A virtual helpdesk for virtual worlds and beyond ..133
Committees.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................VI
III
Conference format
by Leonel Morgado, Nelson Zagalo, and Ana Boa-Ventura

SLACTIONS 2009 was an innovative conference. It was held in the Second Life virtual world, but also in physical (real-life) auditoria over 4 continents. It was a mixed event, with diverse modes of participation and involving several communication flows all the way from those taking place between participants sitting side-by-side at a real auditorium in real life, to those between audience and speakers in a real or virtual podium, or to the communication between participants attending the conference from the comfort of their offices or homes. When we set out to organize an international conference on scientific research involving the use of virtual worlds or metaverse platforms, as this expression renders the concept more precise our first idea was to hold it traditionally, in a Portuguese academic setting. But why make it so local? Why should we drop a rich online environment where we cooperate with colleagues and partners across the world for one where most people would have to allocate significant budget for participation? We decided to organize it in Second Life. We were now left with the problems of the much needed interaction during any conference - what about the informal moments of physical proximity, of eye contact, of physical handshakes, and those healthy discussions while sipping coffee or a hearty tea? What about coffee breaks, conference dinners, evening tours, social moments where one can relax and get a more humane feeling of where fellow participants stand on the topic at hand? Sometimes conferences end up being the single moment in a given year where colleagues who cooperate remotely have a chance to meet. Wouldnt we be missing that? To solve this dilemma, we devised the SLACTIONS format as we describe next. The conference would be held on a single location in Second Life. From here on we will call this the in- world chapter. Participants and speakers would be able to attend and present their papers from physical rooms across the world. From here on we will call these locations our local chapters. Presentations taking place in the in-world chapter would be projected on screens at the local chapters, so people could follow the presentations, and still interact with fellow participants attending the same physical location. And why not let participants at local chapters follow the proceedings with their own computers? Well, they could! But by following a projection, we ensured that a camera operator kept the video flowing from presenter to slideshow to audience, and people could follow proceedings even if they were not acquainted with the Second Life interface. Furthermore, by having less people online, the conference could be enjoyed by many more people than the small crowds typical of Second Life events given the limits imposed by the very technological platform, and local chapters could be held even if their bandwidth allowed only a handful of Second Life avatars.
IV
The papers
Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms
Virtual societies, virtual economies: An analysis of Second Lifes economic development

Ctia Ferreira
CECC/UCP, Palma de Cima, 1649-023 Lisboa. E-mail: csaferreira@sapo.pt internet growth a new dimension for our social lives is emerging, a virtual one. Within this virtual dimension we are able to have several activities, from sending electronic mails, to operating a transaction through our web-bank, managing a blog, or even being a character in a game or non game-based virtual world. Within these virtual spaces several communities are rising and in some cases we may even be witnessing the rise of new virtual societies. In order to achieve a better understanding on the emergence of these new types of societies our proposal is to analyze one of the most important residential virtual spaces Second Life. The central element of our analysis will be its economic system. Online multiplayer games are one of the most used web-based platforms. Through these virtual spaces we can achieve an alternative space for the development of our social lives, a sphere characterized by de-materialization of social interaction: the growth of the internet, and of shared virtual reality spaces within it, has enabled new choices in terms of what kind of physical beings we inhabit. (Castronova, 2003: 7). Second Life is one of the most complex virtual worlds available. In this platform players are invited to actively participate in its development, not only in space construction buildings, green spaces and general surroundings, but also in its social development institutions and groups that will contribute to in-worlds economy, culture, identity or hierarchical organization. Second Life has reached such a development level that nowadays it is possible to do almost everything that we can do in real life: going for a walk in several touristic locations, practice sports, play games, go to the theatre, cinema or a concert, attend conferences or classes, talk with friends or meet new people, meandering throughout the world, or even to have a job. One of the characteristics that make this virtual world different from the other is its economic system. The majority of massive multiplayer online role-playing games have economic systems you need to have money (usually designated by gold) to be able to buy artifacts that empower your avatar. What makes Second Life different is not the fact that it has its own economic system or even its own currency, but the possibility of exchanging its virtual money for real one 1 and vice versa . This distinguishing feature is making its economy almost as complex as the real one. This paper aims to analyze Second Lifes economic development in order to verify if we may be witnessing the emergence of new moneyscape and consequently an alternative social dimension. Our analysis will be draw upon statistical data released by Linden Lab.
Second Life is one of the most popular virtual worlds. It offers almost endless possibilities depending on what we want to do: we may just wander from place to place, explore the several locations that constitute this world or we can accomplish specific activities like going to a concert or to a conference, or even having a job. The characteristic that make this virtual world different from the others is its economic system. The majority of the massive multiplayer online role-playing games have an economic system we need to have money (usually gold) in order to be able to buy artifacts that empower our avatar. What makes the Second Life different is not the fact that it has an economic system or its own currency, but the possibility of exchanging its virtual money for real money. This possibility makes its economy almost as complex as the real one. Our proposal is to analyze Second Lifes economic development in order to verify if we may be witnessing the emergence of new moneyscape and consequently an alternative social dimension. Our analysis will be draw upon statistical data released by Linden Lab.
Introduction
The modern consumer society turned the spending of money not only into a central economic practice, but into a dynamic, complex cultural and social activity. (V. Zelizer, 1997: 2001)
Money is a central element in contemporary societies. In The Philosophy of money (1982), Georg Simmel
conceptualized money as a symbol and analyzed its effects upon people and society. As soon as symbolic exchanges were replaced by the use of money we observed the rising of a new form of social interaction the economic exchange (cf. Simmel, 1982). Social development has been shaped by the element money once with money in our pocket, we are free [] (Simmel, 1991: 23). Money became one of the most prominent elements of modern societies, but regardless the social evolution of our era an era characterized by the massification of new communication technologies, OECD considers that the three classic functions of money are not expected to change in near future. It is expected the rise of new digital forms of payment that make economy more and more global, nevertheless, money will continue to be an unity of account, mean of payment, and store of value (cf. Miller et al, 2002). Despite the fact that money will be keeping its primary characteristics, we are witnessing a change, a change in the social dimension where transactions take place. With
Virtual lives, virtual economies

Before the advent of the avatar, there was only one world to live in, Earth, and only one avatar to inhabit there, the Earthly body. The recent emergence of virtual worlds besides Earth has vastly expanded the range of choices regarding ones own physical being and the space which it inhabits. (Castronova, 2003: 32) Internet development and generalized use were very important to bring reality near fictions technological worlds that are a recurrent theme in literature and cinema th 2 since the beginning of 20 century . With internet development and the rise of web 2.0, or social web, we are witnessing the growth of social platforms. In the last years several social applications rose; the goal of all of them is to induce interaction, collaboration and share among their users. Blogs, podcasts, wikis, social and sharing networks and social games are among the most popular web 2.0 applications (cf. Pascu, 2008). Social games, one of the characteristic applications of web 2.0, are a sub-genre of massive multiplayer online games. These games revolutionized not only video-games industry but entertainment industry in general. The first online multiplayer games were remarkable, they allowed players from all over the world to get together and play in a shared space. The virtualization of social space had a notorious impact in entertainment industry and the number of networked players grew rapidly. However, the goal of these games was similar to the majority of games to win, to be the most powerful and eventually the most feared. The distinctiveness of massive multiplayer online social games is their aim: to live. The challenge is not to be the first to achieve the end and to win the game, but to live an 3 experience through an avatar , a character created to live in this alternative space. This kind of games may take place in varied settings and offer different possibilities but there is a common element they recreate new worlds, new social spaces, second lives. One of the examples of these technologies is a virtual space created to offer the possibility of living in a different dimension, a different reality that have several similarities to the real one Second Life. This platform like other virtual worlds is often called metaverse, meaning a virtual world where humans represented by avatars interact in a tridimensional digital space. Virtual spaces like Second Life offer the possibility of having a virtual representation on a different dimension the cyberspace. Through these web-based platforms we can achieve an alternative sphere for the development of our social lives, a sphere characterized by de-materialization or de-physicalization of social interaction (cf. Knights et al, 2007: 750). The first large scale multiplayer 3D environments appeared in the 1970s, but as soon as internet was made available for personal computers the number of these platforms rapidly increased. Nowadays there are more than 50 3D virtual environments; one of the types of these virtual spaces is what Edward Castronova called synthetic worlds worlds that are created completely by design and
live only within computers are synthetic, and the world of earth, air, fire, water and blood that weve inherited from our forebears is real.(Castronova, 2007: 7). Second Life is one of the most complex synthetic worlds available, in this platform players are called residents and they may actively participate in worlds development your world, your 4 imagination . Residents are represented by avatars, humanoid figures that might be totally personalized and even lose their original human look. It is through these avatars that residents develop an active and complex social network: The avatar mediates our self in the virtual world: we inhabit it, we drive it, we receive all of our sensory information about the world from its standpoint. (Castronova, 2003: 5). Avatars are the medium that allow us to have a virtual representation. Second Lifes development level improved so much since its launch in 2003 that now it is possible to do almost everything that we can do in real life, and residents are more and more exploring the several possibilities offered by this platform, at the same time they are organizing themselves in thematic groups and communities. The growth of residents interest in in-worlds activities had encouraged Second Lifes economic development; but this interest was also promoted by Second Lifes intellectual property rules, which define that everybody has the intellectual property of what they create, so they may sell it to other residents if they want. This innovative right helped to stimulate in-worlds economy and residents begin to invest time and money in this virtual place. Linden Labs business model is then based on the premise: you pay for the land, so you may build whatever you want, and you may charge visitors for activities or products, and at the end you can take the earned Linden Dollars and change them for real money. The possibility of exchange Linden Dollars for a palpable currency is one of the characteristics that made Second Lifes economic activity so prominent nearly 5 USD$35 million are traded monthly between residents . This volume of transactions makes Second Life one of the world's largest user-generated virtual economies.
Second Life: the emergence of a new moneyscape

Nowadays Second Life is not the same platform that was launched in June 2003 by Linden Lab. It evolved and became an alternative social dimension. Through its development it passed through key milestones that had direct impact in its social structure. Three of these keymoments were LindeXs creation in 2006, gambling prohibition in 2007 and Xstreet acquisition in 2009.
LindeX, gambling prohibition, Xsreet

LindeX is Linden Labs own currency exchange; through this service we are able to buy and sell Linden Dollars. It is available for residents in Second Lifes website or in 6 several places in-world . This service offered by Linden Lab allows them to control in-worlds micro-currency value, and since its launch Linden Dollar has been a stable currency. Gambling prohibition also contributed to a better
control over Linden Dollar. Until 2007 gambling was legal in Second Life, this activity had a very important role in inworlds economy and everyday millions of Linden Dollars were transacted through this industry; but following the US gambling law Linden Lab had forbidden all type of gambling games:
While Linden Lab does not offer an online gambling service, Linden Lab and Second Life Residents must comply with state and federal laws applicable to regulated online gambling, even when both operators and players of the games reside outside of the US. And, because there are a variety of conflicting gambling regulations around the world we have chosen to restrict gambling in Second Life as described in a revised policy which is posted in 7 the Knowledge Base under Policy Regarding Wagering in Second Life.
8
After this change economy development decreased, but just a few months later economic flows recovered the previous levels residents began to invest in land and traditional economic activity began to gain importance in this virtual space. By this time the almost infinite capacity of creation offered by Second Life began to be finally explored by residents. Nowadays there are some very lucrative activities that take place within this virtual world; one of these is the creation of objects and scripts that enriches the virtual experience. Commerce became such a major activity that in the beginning of 2009 Linden Lab bought one of the most important shopping web sites of Second Lifes products, 9 Xstreet . This acquisition made commercial transactions among residents much easier.
Economic stability and the emergence of a new moneyscape

Throughout Second Lifes development Linden Lab made the effort to present its synthetic world as an appellative one in order to compete for audiences with game worlds as World of Warcraft or EverQuest. One of Second Lifes major strengths has been its economical solidity.
Throughout the years and because of the adjustments described Linden Dollar stabilized and began to be seen as the official in-world currency. Users established a stable relationship with it and it is the monetary unit used for all kind of transactions within Second Life. Since LindeXs creation Linden Lab is being able to guarantee its stability and Linden Dollars exchange value has remained stable since then approximately L$250 to the US Dollar. This stability was understood as an invitation to investment and residents are transforming the possibility of having a second life in a virtual representation of the real one while in-world they are in a synthetic world but have a real economic behavior (cf. Castronova, 2006). In order to understand the new cultural global economy Arjun Appadurai (1996) suggests an alternative model, a model that explores the relationship between the scapes of contemporary cultural global flows: ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes and ideoscapes. The suffix scapes was chosen in order to represent the flows of modern world: ethnoscape the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world; mediascape the distribution of electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information as well as the images of the world created by these media; technoscape the global configuration of technology; financescape the landscape of global and fluid capital; and ideoscape a scape marked by the global master-narrative to understand and represent the world (cf. Appadurai: 1996). Having this conceptualization as basis, we want to purpose a new scape, the virtual moneyscape. We understand moneyscapes as being complementary to financescapes. Financescapes are related to a global capital disposition that is a more mysterious, rapid and difficult landscape to follow than ever before. (Appadurai, 1996: 34). By moneyscape we intend the dimension of our lives that is connected to money, either as an economic element, or as a cultural one. Due to its economic development Second Life is becoming a virtual moneyscape within this virtual space money has a major role both as an economic and cultural element. Linden dollars may be understood as the social glue of this virtual environment. The number of hours and amount of money invested in Second Life reflect its social-economic development level. In the second quarter 2006 users spent 10 million hours inworld. This number had increased until the 2nd quarter 2009 and from the 3rd it decreased from 126 to 109 million nd hours in the 2 quarter 2010 (see Chart 1):
Chart 1 Hours spent in-world (2006-2010) 140.000.000 120.000.000 100.000.000 80.000.000 60.000.000 40.000.000 20.000.000 0
Chart 2 Average no. users with repeat logins (2006-2010) 900.000 800.000 700.000 600.000 500.000 400.000 300.000 200.000 100.000 0
During the two final quarters 2006 the number of users with repeated logins was around 487 thousand, and in the two first quarters 2010 this number increased to approximately 1.4 million (see Chart 2):
If we compare the two final quarters of 2006 with the two first quarters 2010 we see that the number of transactions among users increased from 53 million to 186 million. Chart 3 represents these transactions by amount:
Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
Chart 3 Transactions among users by amount (2006-2010) 120.000.000 100.000.000 80.000.000 60.000.000 40.000.000 20.000.000 0 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2nd >= 500,000 L$ 100,000 - 499,999 L$ 20,000 - 99,999 L$ 5,000 - 19,999 L$ 1,000 - 4,999 L$ 500 - 999 L$ 200 - 499 L$ 50 - 199 L$ 20 - 49 L$ 2 - 19 L$ 1L$
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Chart 4 Volume of $US exchanged through LindeX (2006-2010) 35.000.000 30.000.000 25.000.000 20.000.000 15.000.000 10.000.000 5.000.000 0
Chart 5 Volume of Xstreet sales (Linden Dollars) (20062009) 1.000.000.000 800.000.000 600.000.000 400.000.000 200.000.000 0
The majority of transactions among users entail low values to around 1.4 billion Linden dollars till L$19. Nevertheless throughout the years the number of transactions between L$20.000 and over L$500.000 have been increasing. In the same period of time final two quarters 2006 and first two quarters 2010 the amount of virtual currency exchanged in LindeX increased from US$14 million to US$60 million (see Chart 4); and the Xstreet sales increased from L$99 million (when it didnt belong to Linden Lab)(see chart 5). Regarding the profit obtained in-world, the number of in-world business owners with profit is increasing, as well as the profit by amount. In the last two quarters 2006 the profit distribution per business owners was: less than $10US 36.606 (total users with profits from in-world businesses); $10-50US 19.119; $50-100US 5.186; $100-200US 3.975; $200-500US 3.475; $500-1.000US 1.510; $1.000-2.000US 911; $2.000-5.000US 543; and more than $5.000US 295. The profit distribution by amount in the first two quarters 2010 was: less than $10US 234.051 (total users with profits from in-world businesses); $10-50US 113.878; $50-100US 23.464; $100-200US 16.107; $200-500US 15.194; $5001.000US 6.396; $1.000-2.000US 3.702; $2.0005.000US 2.329; and more than $5.000US 1.264 (see Chart 6). This data shows how profitable Second Life can be and why the in-world investment is still growing.
Chart 6 Business owners profit by amount (2006-2010) 250.000 200.000 150.000 100.000
Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
> $5000 USD Profit $2000 to $5000 USD Profit $1000 to $2000 USD Profit $500 to $1000 USD Profit $200 to $500 USD Profit $100 to $200 USD Profit $50 to $100 USD Profit
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$10 to $50 USD Profit
The investment in virtual land, on the other hand, has not been so stable. The land auctions are exclusively conducted by Linden Lab and in those the area available to auction is not always the same. As the acres auctioned decrease (see Chart 7) the land sales among residents increase (see Chart 8), which means that land is also a profitable business for residents. In spite of being lucrative to residents, it is also good for Linden Lab because to be able to buy land residents must upgrade their accounts to paid ones known as Premium accounts. Chart 7 Acres auctioned 80.000.000 70.000.000 60.000.000 50.000.000 40.000.000 30.000.000 20.000.000 10.000.000 0
Lifes economy is stable by the end of 2009 it was evaluated in 500 million Euros. If we compare it, for instance, with facebook, this social networks economy is not close Second Lifes development level; but on the other hand, facebooks user number is increasing rapidly and it has already exceeded 500 million users. Even though Second Lifes economy had stabilized, the volume of inworld transactions remains stable; in fact Second Life is being seen more and more as an alternative space to the development of economic activities, once it has not real life 10 contingencies and offers a new set of possibilities . Reallife companies are still investing in this virtual world; last month there were 378 companies registered in Second Life.
Conclusion
Second Lifes prominent economic development is having consequences in economy at two levels: in-world and outworld, meaning Second Life and first life economies, respectively. At the level of in-world economy we are observing an increase of monetary investment, residents are exchanging more real money for virtual one and this is stimulating transactions among them. On the other hand at the level of out-world economy, residents are exchanging more Linden dollars for currencies that have a real market value. This means that there is a higher volume of virtual produced money entering real life economy. Regarding this, it is important to understand the impact that this new economic dimension may have. The economic capital produced inside virtual worlds is the result of the emergence of an alternative social dimension; people are cultivating new and existing social networks in cyberspace which is leading to the rise of a new social-economic dimension constituted in a virtual scape. Second Lifes importance as a new moneyscape is growing and despite the world economical crisis residents and first life companies continue to invest in-world and to exchange high amounts of real currencies for Linden dollars. We may understand this phenomenon as the growth of a parallel economic dimension which has its own microcurrency and consequently its own economic and social system. 11 Despite the level of uncertainty that still is associated to virtual worlds, Second Lifes economical data shows that the level of trust in this alternative dimension is growing, so this platform may not be the future of virtual moneyscapes but it helps us to understand what might be the future of world economy and of the cultural life of dematerialized money which share its main characteristic with real currencies: it is a unity of account, mean of payment and store of value. REFERENCES
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Chart 8 Land sales by residents (square meters) 450.000.000 400.000.000 350.000.000 300.000.000 250.000.000 200.000.000 150.000.000 100.000.000 50.000.000 0
These statistical data show that Second Life is still growing but in a much slower rhythm than it did between 2006 and 2007. We consider that there are two main influences for this slow down: 2008 financial crisis that is still affecting world economy, and the growth of social networks, particularly twitter and facebook. Despite this Second
Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms Castronova, E. (2002). On virtual economies. CESifo Working Paper Series, No. 752. Retrieved 10/06/09 from http://ssrn.com/abstract=338500. Castronova, E. (2003). Theory of the avatar. CESifo Working Paper Series, No. 863. Retrieved 10/06/09 from http://ssrn.com/abstract=385103. Castronova, E. (2006). Synthetic worlds: The business and culture of online games. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Castronova, E. (2007). Exodus to the virtual world: How online fun is changing reality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dibbell, J. (2007). Play money. Or, how I quit my day job and made millions trading virtual loot. New York: Basic Books.
manipulated by a computer user (as in a computer game) (Merriam-Webster Online, retrieved from http://www.merriamwebster.com/). 4 Second Lifes slogan.
5
Data retrieved from http://secondlife.com/statistics/economydata.php. Average registered in 2009.

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Knights, D. et al (2007). Electronic Cash and the Virtual Marketplace: Reflections on a Revolution Postponed. Organization 14.6: 747-768. Malaby, T.M. (2006). Parlaying Value: Capital in and beyond Virtual Worlds. Games & Culture 1(2):141-162. Miller, R. et al. (2002). The future of money in OECD (2002). The future of money. Paris: OECD Books. Pascu, C. (2008). An Empirical Analysis of the Creation, Use and Adoption of Social Computing Applications. IPTS Exploratory Research on Social Computing. JRC Scientific and Technical Reports, EUR 23415 EN. Retrieved 28/07/09 from http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC46431.pdf. Simmel, G. (1982). The philosophy of money. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul (1978). Simmel, G. (1991). Money in Modern Culture. Theory, Culture & Society 8: 17-31. Zelizer, V.A. (1997). The social meaning of money: pin money, paychecks, poor relief, and other currencies. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1994).
There are Lindex kiosks at several in-world locations, as well as ATM points. Both of them have the same purpose, but configuring them in different formats allows recognizing two different real-life activities money exchange and cashing withdrawals. 7 http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Knowledge_Base 8 Complete announcement available at: https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2007/07/26 /wagering-in-second-life-new-policy 9 https://www.xstreetsl.com/
10
There are researches that show how virtual social spaces, especially game-based ones, are being used as an alternative economical spheres (see, for instance, Castronova: 2002, 2006, Dibbell: 2007, Malaby, 2006). 11 This uncertainty is mainly related with the fact that virtual worlds like Second Life are not palpable, and there still is a high number of people that see them as not trustworthy. Not only there is distrust because of anonymity, but also because Linden Lab has control over Second Lifes continuity if Linden Lab decides to shut down the servers this virtual spaces ceases to exist.
The exchange process is similar to the real value currencies one. Linden Lab has an exchange platform Lindex, where is possible to exchange real currencies for Linden Dollars and vice versa. In the majority of virtual worlds (including immersive multiplayer game environments) the virtual currency is not exchanged but bought as an object; and it is not unusual to find these currencies at sale in platforms like ebay. 2 Science fiction is a genre that had appeared in the 19th century. Science evolution was the main theme of the first sci-fi narratives. 3 The etymology of avatar proceeds from Sanskrit avatrah meaning the descending of a divinity from paradise to Earth. According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary the substantive avatar means the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu), an incarnation in human form, and an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person. Due to the high number of virtual worlds, the concept avatar acquired a technological significance: an electronic image that represents and is
Procedural Modeling for Realistic Virtual Worlds Development

Pedro Brando Silva
FEUP/DEI, INESC Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465, Porto, Portugal Email: pedro.brandao.silva@gmail.com
Antnio Coelho
FEUP/DEI, INESC Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465, Porto, Portugal Email: acoelho@fe.up.pt
The creation of virtual environments, corresponding to real world settings, constitutes one of the most important, but also most time and resource demanding processes in content development for virtual worlds. By querying real-world data sources, the building process can be automated, reducing the need for human intervention. However, these may present additional management difficulties due to their number, dimension, format or level of detail, therefore requiring specific techniques to operate on them. This paper describes the application of a procedural modeling solution, called PG3D System, on the creation of realistic virtual urban environments and their employ in virtual world applications. This systems implementation in spatial database management systems induces fast data access, large data manipulation features, complex query capabilities and format flexibility, allowing the fast creation of large scale virtual environments, imbued with optimized data structures, compatible with any digital game, custom modeling tool or metaverse platform.
Figure 1: Sydneys representation for Second Life (Linden Research Inc., 2011) The use of procedural methods for generating threedimensional content for virtual reality applications has become a recurring practice, with interesting results, requiring much less effort, by generating, automatically (or at least, with little human interaction) three-dimensional models. Some guidelines and directions should be introduced by the user, or information sources that are used to describe the spaces in detail. However, sometimes the size and number of such sources is too large, thus requiring fast ways to access them and powerful machines to operate on them. On the other hand, this does not necessarily mean that such sources are detailed enough to obtain accurate models, which makes it crucial to use stochastic methods or empirical data on the urban environment to amplify the existing information. To address these issues, the PG3D modeler, a solution for procedural modeling of virtual urban environments, has been conceived. This paper aims to describe the advantageous application of the PG3D modeler in virtual environment creation for virtual worlds. Its main characteristic is its implementation in spatial databases management systems, and operation based on a PG3D Grammar, a set of rules, which defines the instructions for the modeling procedures. To complement the database, a management tool also exists, allowing the configuration of the necessary parameters of the modeling processes, as well as the export
Introduction
The creation of virtual environments constitutes is one of the most demanding processes regarding the development of virtual reality applications, in the way that it requires the design of large amounts of highly detailed and quality contents. This leads to great costs and a great deal of effort, as well as long development periods. When considering metaverse platforms, where people and organizations try to introduce their real world structures, the recreation of existing urban environments has become a frequent goal. This leads to a greater immersion of the player to the scene when he recognizes it, or to an aspiration to visit the real world structures when he does not. For developers however, this presents greater difficulties, since real information must be used (figure 1).

of generated data into a set of interoperable formats, inducing its use in various applications, such as digital games, custom modeling tools and metaverse platforms. These two parts together compose the PG3D System.
The PG3D Solution

The creation of realistic urban environments presents several challenges to which many authors have tried to answer over time. These include, for example, the visual correspondence in real environments, the use of information sources, or even the definition of sufficiently powerful tools able to model large urban areas. The goal of this section is to present how PG3D tries to address them. A more complete description can be found in (Silva, 2010)
Related Work
This work fits into the scope of procedural urban modeling, a research area which already possesses quite a few number of interesting approaches, some of them dedicated to specific subjects. Regarding the modeling of terrains, there is the work of Bruneton e Neyret (Bruneton & Neyret, 2008), which presents a method to integrate the various components that lie over them, such as streets, rivers and lakes, relying on a view dependent quadtree refinement scheme. For road creation, Parish and Mller used Lindenmayer Systems or L-Systems for short (Prusinkiewicz & Lindenmayer, 1996) - originally used in the simulation of plant and organism community growth, being able to generate extensive street networks(Parish & Mller, 2001). With the same goal in mind, Chen et al. used tensor fields, which allowed interactive control over the road generation (Chen, Esch, Wonka, Mller, & Zhang, 2008). In their CityGen system, Kelly and McCabe (Kelly & McCabe, 2007) introduced a more interactive way to define primary and secondary roads. Regarding the modeling of buildings, Wonka et al. introduced the split grammars (Wonka, Wimmer, Sillion, & Ribarsky, 2003), a new type of parametric set grammar based on the concept of shape brought up by Stiny and Gips(Stiny, 1980; Stiny & Gips, 1972). He also presented an attribute matching system oriented by a control grammar, offering the flexibility required to model buildings with many different styles and designs (Wonka, et al., 2003). Based on this work, Mller et al. developed the CGA Shape (Mller, Wonka, Haegler, Ulmer, & Gool, 2006), a shape grammar capable of producing extensive architectural models with high detail. The CGA Shape is a sequential grammar (such as the Chomsky Grammar(Chomsky, 1956)), therefore all the production rules are applied in sequence, in order to allow the characterization of structure (Mller, et al., 2006). The implementation of the CGA Shape is integrated in the CityEngine framework (Procedural Inc., 2009). Although these approaches are able to produce high quality fictitious urban environments, few are dedicated to the reproduction of real world urban environments, having therefore limited GIS data support. For this matter, Coelho presented in his work (Coelho, Bessa, Sousa, & Ferreira, 2007) the Geospatial L-Systems, an extension of parametric L-Systems which incorporates spatial awareness. This combines the ability of data amplification provided by the L-Systems (whose production rules are applied in parallel) with the geospatial systems, allowing spatial analysis of georeferenced data. This solution is integrated into a modeling tool called XL3D modeler, which provides interoperable access to various sources of information, allowing the reproduction of real urban environments.
The PG3D Modeler

The name PG3D is an acronym for Procedural Generation 3D, but is also related to its implementation process, namely to the technologies in which it was implemented. The fundamental idea behind the PG3D concept is to develop the procedural modeling processes directly on a spatial database management system where either geographic data sources, as well as the created models, are saved. The modeling operations are developed as stored procedures in programming languages of the database itself. The platform that possesses PG3D modeling capabilities is called a PG3D modeler. Since the objective lies on the modeling of real urban environments, the use of real world data is of utmost importance. Once loaded into the database, they can be queried directly without great overhead. Likewise, once started the modeling process, both final and intermediate results will be recorded in the database allowing the execution of more complex queries on them, thus expanding the range of modeling possibilities, as well as guaranteeing the safety of the generated data in case of crash or failure. Also, by relying more on database access, it can operate on smaller sets of data a time, thus overcoming the memory limits that sometimes occur for larger environments.
Use of Spatial Databases

The modeling of virtual urban environments replicating real environments leads to the need for data sources which describe the various features that compose them, such as its location, height and appearance. Such information, however, can hardly be found in a single source and organized in one place. It is essential that these sources can be connected somehow by having some common reference. In this sense it is important that the data is georeferenced, i.e. contains a reference of its location on the earth's surface. This spatial information is fundamental to relate the many entities in the multiple sources. While any database is capable of processing alphanumeric data, the spatial databases have additional features for processing spatial data types. These are normally called geometries. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specification created the "Simple Features", which defines various types of geometry (Open Geospatial Consortium, 2010). Spatial databases are also packed with multiple functions to operate over this type of data, as well as indexing features, which induce optimized search abilities.

The spatial databases are thus a solution for storage, organization, operation and management of multiple sources of georeferenced data. Given their additional capability of editing and processing of data, format incompatibilities can easily be solved. Moreover, they can provide special features to the PG3D Modeler, since their own modeling processes act on similar data structures and may enjoy from their optimal query and geometry management abilities. data load, to be used in further steps.
PG3D Grammar
Derived from its close relationship with the database and its implementation in own programming languages, the PG3D Grammar was born. On the one hand, it defines structures and operations, taking advantage of the PG3D concept, but on the other hand, second, it expands its range of possibilities. As the technical implementation details of this grammar do not constitute the main subject of this article, a more general overview will be presented, whereas a more complete explanation can be found in (Silva, 2010). PG3D grammars are an extension of shape grammars (Stiny, 1980), more specifically, the CGA Shape (Mller, et al., 2006), endowed with the capabilities of geospatial awareness and relational development, stemmed from Geospatial L Systems (Coelho, et al., 2007). Having been strongly influenced by both, it constitutes an attempt, where possible, to combine their greatest potential. Before discussing the structure of the grammars, some of its basic concepts must be explained: PG3DShape: The PG3DShape or shape for short, is the main data structure manipulated by all procedural modeling processes, and therefore also in the PG3D grammar. A shape can correspond to a surface street, building, or even just a portion of it, such as a wall or corner of a window (figure 2). A shape contains a set of geometries that graphically describe the type of element to be represented. The PG3DShape is set in a hierarchy. As will be described later, shapes evolve by successive substitution. It is therefore possible for one to know its predecessor, i.e. the shape from which it derives, allowing querying on shapes that descend from a particular predecessor.
Figure 3: Relationship between multiple layers The geographic references contained in the layers shapes turn their relationship possible, making it possible, such as in the example above, to combine information about the road networks and building bases with surface information, fitting into each other in an appropriate manner.
Grammar Definition
The PG3D grammar can then be described by its constitution in the following elements: \endash A set of PG3DShapes, which aggregates one or more elements with graphical representation. \endash The axiom, which defines the starting point of the modeling processes, defined by one or more PG3DLayers. \endash A set of user-defined production rules, called PG3DRules, which delineate the modeling instructions, specifically the processes of replacement and development of PG3DShapes. The procedural modeling process consists in successively replacing shapes in an iterative manner, starting with the axiom, and following the instructions contained in production rules. In the first iteration of the process, the layers that are part of the axiom (which indicate what sources of data should be loaded) are analyzed. After this point, having already a set of shapes, the procedure is developed iteratively - at each iteration, for each shape created, a production rule matching that shape is searched and applied. Once this is done for all shapes, it moves on to the next iteration which will handle the newly created shapes in the previous iteration. This process is repeated until no more rules are applicable to any shape or if an iteration limit, imposed by the user, has been reached. The main idea behind the successive replacement of shapes is of progressive creation of detail, which means the models are incrementally improved. Thus it is possible to generate simple, usable models in a first step, and evolve them according to available data sources and rules. The result of each step can be queried separately, which can be extremely useful in virtual world applications to generate various levels of detail of the same environment.
Figure 2: Various kinds of PG3DShapes PG3DLayer: A layer is a data structure that includes one or more shapes that share the same data source, therefore a common meaning, serving as a way to organize the shapes. A set of PG3DLayers define the starting point for a procedural modeling process, containing instructions on
Production Rules
Production rules are structured in the following form: Predecessor Successor
In its most basic form, the definition of the predecessor
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consists of a capitalized symbol composed of alphanumeric characters. This rule shall be applied to all shapes that have a matching symbol. The successor, in turn, can become quite complex, containing a sequence of modeling operations and symbols, which will mark each new shape creation. Each new shape will be the result of applying all previously called operations on the predecessor shape, and will act as its replacement. Consider the following example:
in most cases some prior processing is needed before they can be used. For that, PG3Ds implementation in databases is extremely advantageous, since it can perform many functions (arithmetic, geometry manipulation or modeling) in queries (e.g., SQL or the used language) and therefore create new sources with usable formats. Besides using own PG3D structures, which allow easier data manipulation, a geometry representation of shapes, polygons and vertices are used, namely the multipolygon, polygon and point types (Open Geospatial Consortium Inc., 2006), respectively. Their employ allows direct use of existing geometry manipulation functions as well as optimized indexing, speeding search operations, which are especially important in geospatial awareness features.
Shape1 translate(vector3(0,10,20)) Shape2 scale(vector3(5,5,5)) Shape3 colorShape(rgba(255,0,0,255) Shape4; This rule will replace all shapes called Shape1 by 3 different shapes. Shape2 will correspond to a simple translation of Shape1, Shape3 will be 5-time bigger version of Shape2, and Shape4 will be equal to Shape3, except red colored. The operations are therefore applied in sequence, while the shape naming saves these changes as new shapes, which will replace Shape1. Rule definitions may contain additional features to allow the construction of more complex structures (Silva, 2010). Parametric Rules: From one rule application to the next, it may be necessary to send certain information. For that reason, the production rules do accept parameter definition, in a similar way functions in programming language like C++ do. Conditional Rules: The definition of rule conditions is essential for the development of shapes, especially when loaded with external information sources or when subjected to stochastic processes. The PG3D Grammar thus includes support for control structures, such as the IFTHENELSE expressions. Stochastic Rules: To compensate for the lack of information that some sources may contain, the use of randomness can become a form of data amplification, when used and controlled effectively. The parameterization can be achieved through specific expressions provided which operate based on probabilities, which can control, for instance, the frequency of appearance of a particular characteristic in a certain environment. Parenthetic Rules: By using a stack it is possible to save and load states, i.e. results of transformations over shapes. By using PUSH, the current state is saved on a stack, and loaded from it when POP is used. The use of the name parenthetic derives from its concept from LSystems, which use the [ and ] operators to achieve this goal, but to avoid conflicts with array definitions, it has been replaced in PG3D. Attributes, Limits and Textures: Using the same values in more than one production rule is a common practice. Therefore it is possible to declare constants only once, and use them multiple time in rules.
Conditional and Characteristic Development

One of the major feature of the PG3D Grammar is its ability to conditionally develop each shape (or any of its parts, namely vertices or polygons) based on its properties. In other words, the evolution of a shape may depend on its current status or on the corresponding data that may exist in the data sources. The control structure IF...THEN...ELSE is one way of checking these properties. The other exists at function level, in that the some support a boolean parameter, allowing the operations to be applied only to parts of a shape fitting a certain condition. To indicate the intent to act based on the state of the shape or its vertices or polygons, PG3D supports the three reference symbols starting by the percentage sign, %s, %p, %v, respectively.
Geospatial Awareness
The concept of contextualization in geospatial PG3D grammars derived from its application in Geospatial LSystems (Coelho, et al., 2007). Its main idea consists in developing shapes not independently, but based on their surroundings, avoiding the creation of unrealistic structures. This is especially important when performing occlusion tests.
Figure 4: Colored faades demonstrate geospatial awareness Suppose a couple of buildings share common walls: these should not contain any windows, balconies or front doors. Since all the elements are spatially referenced, such check is easily achieved. Figure 4 shows building walls which do not have any other wall in front of them at a distance lesser than 3 meters away. This makes them potential good faades for buildings:
Transforming, Reading and Accessing Real Data and Geometries

The first step in using geographical information sources is to understand their format and how to avail them. However,
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PG3D Graphical Interpretation for Real-Time Virtual Applications

Another important feature of the PG3D System lies on its graphic interpretation of the modeled shapes. As mentioned before, PG3DShapes are built from geometries that describe their appearance. To be able to view them in any graphical tool or framework, it is necessary that its structure is previously "translated". However, this operation can become complicated depending on the requirements and potential of the target platform. The database management system chosen was PostgreSQL, using the PostGIS spatial extension, which allows not only the load and storage of geographic information sources, but also the execution of spatial operations in the created data structures. The chosen programming language was PL/PgSQL, which takes advantage of its native implementation in the database to increase the power, flexibility and performance of the created functions. Since this database management system does support neither 3D visualization nor custom file writing capabilities to export the data, a client application was conceived (figure 6). This makes use of.NET framework and C# to provide easy and fast ways to manage, visualize and export the produced environments. The PG3D System is therefore the junction of the PG3D Modeler and this client tool, working in client-server architecture
PG3D Structure as a Key Feature

PG3D operates with the most basic forms of graphical data on which the computer graphics normally operate: vertices and their conjunction in polygonal meshes, especially in triangular meshes. This structure is thus easily integrated with development platforms, graphic editing or viewing, but especially game or virtual world engines. This type of data structure, integrated with capabilities of complex queries on the database, induces increased optimization capabilities. For example, the ability to detect vertices with the same characteristics in large sets of shapes can dramatically reduce the amount of data to be drawn by the graphic card when rendering the entire scene. This type of approach, tempered by some optimization techniques available nowadays, such as vertex buffers and index buffers can allow the visualization of very large urban environments (figure 5), even in real time applications such as metaverse platforms.
Figure 6: PG3D Client Interface
Results
The PG3D System was developed in order to facilitate the modeling of virtual urban environments by reducing the human interaction in the process, thus contributing to less effort, less design time and hence lower production costs. It is therefore ideal for applications that make use of this type of content such as digital games and virtual world applications. To demonstrate the advantages stated by the PG3D concept, some tests were performed at various levels.
Figure 5: 10km urban area, featured by PG3D
Capacity, Quality and Level of Detail

An important factor in modeling is the quality and level of detail of the created elements. To be able to achieve certain levels of detail, it is necessary that the modeling processes are capable to reproduce existing buildings (or at least most of them) with enough precision. The development of this feature was a major goal of the PG3D modeler. An example of a created building is displayed in figure 7.
Data Visualization and Export

The implementation of the PG3D modeler in databases makes it difficult, if not impossible, to display graphic information directly in the database management system tools. As such, the use of the generated data has to be performed by external applications, such as services or clients that access the database for extraction and subsequent visualization or export of the generated models. Together with the PG3D modeler, they form the PG3D System.
Implementation and Technologies

PG3Ds full name refers, besides to the reference to its objective, to the technology in which this first prototype was implemented. PG3D is therefore an acronym for the triple PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Procedural Generation 3D.
Figure 7: Model of a house, featuring high detailed windows, shutters and balconies
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The presented model shows that the various elements of the building faade of a house can be defined with great detail. The design of such structures, however, needs the definition of a larger number of production rules, which, in turn, take more time to process. The application of production rules is done in an iterative way, which allows a progressive improvement of the models detail. Due to the possibility to load intermediate states of development of each model, multiple levels of detail of the same environments can be used. This is especially useful in virtual world applications, in order to adapt the displayed detail to the machines capabilities, making the world navigable even in slower ones. This rule operates over the information of the roads, applies an asphalt texture (b) after optimizing it (a), and places the roads on the surface, adapting it to the elevation features (c).
BuildingFootprint placePolygonOnCustomSurface('SurfaceDump') //a extrude(double(record(%p),'height')) //b STOC 15% setTexture(@t_Window1) //c 15% setTexture(@t_Window2) 15% setTexture(@t_Window3) 15% setTexture(@t_Window4) 15% setTexture(@t_Window5) 25% setTexture(@t_Window6) ENDSTOC setUV(5,5) //d {hasTag(%p,'Edificio.Top') %each : BuildingTop, %rest : BuildingSides}; //e
Visual Resemblance and Accuracy

In order for a virtual world visitor to be able to recognize the created virtual urban environment, is it important that its elements hold as many similarities to the real ones as possible. This is achieved mostly through the distribution of roads and buildings, but also through a lot by smaller details, such as faade outline and contained features. Due to the limited amount of data sources used until this moment, only the first perception has been achieved (figure 8), so some work in this area is still being developed.
In this step, the building footprints are loaded and placed on the surface, like the roads (a). The information of their heights, also contained on the database, is used to extrude the footprints (b), creating volumes of the buildings with real heights. To introduce variety in their textures, a stochastic method is used to choose them, based on probabilities (c). This way, each texture (except the last) has a 15% probability to be chosen. Afterwards, the UV mapping of the texture is applied based on a fixed size (d). Lastly, the shapes are divided (e): the building sides are saved in a shape called BuildingSides and the top face is saved in a shape called BuildingTop. This new shape is considered in the rule below, which creates a roof-like structure (a) from this top face and applies a red brick texture (b).
BuildingTop extrudeTaper(3,5) //a setTexture(@t_RoofRed) //b BuildingRoof;
Figure 8: Comparison of the Boavista Roundabout in Porto, Portugal and its correspondent virtual environment
Definition of modeling processes

The definition of production rules represents the main task to be done by the user intending to obtain procedurally created models. However, such may not always be an easy task, since both data sources and projected models must be carefully analyzed beforehand. Even so, when regarding more basic environments, such as the simple definition of building blocks and streets standing on a surface (figure 9), the rules can be very straightforward and simple. For the following example, three layers corresponding to the surface, road and building, are considered, which contain real world spatial information. The rules that follow have been labeled with letters in order to help their explanation:
Surface surfaceOptimize(20,20) //a setTexture(@t_Stone1)
SurfaceStone;
The following rules, when applied, produce the example portrayed in figure 9. As it can be seen, even through a small number of production rules, very satisfactory results can be obtained. These simple rules can be applied to as many models as intended in a matter of seconds, a task that could take hours or days when modeled individually with manual tools.
Figure 9: Aliados Avenue in Porto, Portugal
Integration with Virtual World Applications

The development of quick and simple ways to put the created models into practice constitutes one of PG3D main concerns, and such is achieved, as mentioned, by the visualization and export abilities of the PG3D client 1 application. The software itself uses the XNA Framework (figures 4,5,7,8 and 9), a popular game development framework, to display the tridimensional models. Its implementation in high-level languages and powerful features has made XNA quite attractive for a growing number of users, and therefore a recurrent tool for the creation of virtual worlds. Although its employment in
//b //c
The rule above takes the information about the surface (contained in a shape called Surface), optimizes its data structure (a) and applies a texture (b), being its path saved on a variable named Stone1. In the end, the result is saved as a new shape called SurfaceStone (c).
placeVertexOnCustomSurface('Surface') //c Roads;
Roads surfaceOptimize(20,20) setTexture(@t_Asphalt)
//a
//b
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game creation is mostly single player oriented, some 2 attempts are being made regarding massive multiplayer online games (MMORPG).
Figure 12: Open Cobalts Alice and Dancing Girl avatars in a virtual representation of Portos downtown Figure 10: Aliados Avenue in Porto, Portugal, represented in 3 a virtual environment played on Unreal Tournament 3
In this sense, their direct integration with the PG3D System could enjoy the additional possibilities of already implemented runtime model loading and large-scale environment support. In order to employ the obtained models in further platforms, PG3D supports their export to COLLADA4, a popular exchange format for 3D content. Figure 10 shows the use of a PG3D created environment in Unreal Tournament 3, an online multiplayer game. The import procedure consisted simply on loading the COLLADA file using the powerful Unreal Development Kit and defining some properties. For other applications, where a more restricted number of formats is accepted for their content input, the data import cannot always be done directly, being an intermediate format change needed. The popularity of COLLADA has led to a significant support by various authoring tools. This means, that it is not only possible to import and export to various different formats, but to carry manual changes on the procedurally created models, if desired, in order to refine, correct or add further details (figure 11).
Open Cobalt intends to be a platform for collaborative user virtual workspaces, in which the users can easily add new contents and manipulate them in real-time. It is able to import external 3D content in the ASE format, which is a standard ASCII format common to many authoring tools. After converting to this format, a single drag and drop action of the file to the display window is sufficient to import the PG3D generated models into this virtual environment application (figure 12).
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

The PG3D System is still in an alpha phase, but shows enormous potential regarding the procedural modeling for development of virtual representations of real-world urban environments. In short, the PG3D System features: Loading and organization of georreferenced information sources regarding real-world urban spaces; Procedural modeling of tridimensional virtual environments, oriented by user-defined production rules, which operate over these sources; Visualization and export of the generated models for use in multiple games, authoring tools and virtual world applications.
Besides presenting itself as a much faster, simpler and cost-effective method of content creation, the results are likely far more accurate and consistent than if they were created manually. The laborious task of mass modeling is, in such cases, much easily led by procedural methods. On a more technical view, the PG3D concept has demonstrated to induce the following advantages, comparing to other procedural approaches, such as: Quick access to data sources, since it reduces the data access overhead; Greater modeling limits, since it can operate over small sets of data at the time, therefore is not limited by environment size;
Figure 11: Generated urban model processed by the 3Ds 5 Max authoring tool As a further example of a virtual world application, the 6 same models were tested on Open Cobalt , which makes 7 use of the Open Croquet SDK to manage the virtual environments on a large user scale.
1 2 3
http://www.xna.com/ http://levelgrindonline.com/ http://www.unrealtournament.com/
4 5 6 7
http://www.collada.org http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax http://www.opencobalt.org/ http://www.opencroquet.org/
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Greater safety, since it stores every step on disk and can be recovered even in the case of crash; Easy data source creation and manipulation, due to the availability of database query languages, such as SQL; Easy execution of complex operations through custom queries, derived from the relational database structures and query languages. An example would be the creation of optimized models formats for use in real-time viewing applications. Easy integration with any platform, since the modeling functions are stored in a database and can be accessed by any client or service that intends to enjoy from their procedural modeling capabilities.
Interactive System Generation.
for
Procedural
City
Mller, P., Wonka, P., Haegler, S., Ulmer, A., & Gool, L. V. (2006). Procedural Modeling of Buildings. Paper presented at the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Papers. Open Geospatial Consortium. (2010). Simple Features. from http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sfa Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. (2006). OpenGIS Implementation Specification for Geographic Information - Simple feature access - Part 1: Common Architecture. In J. R. Herring (Eds.) Parish, Y. I. H., & Mller, P. (2001). Procedural Modeling of Cities. (SIGGRAPH 2001), 301 308 Procedural Inc. (2009). 3D Modelling Software for Urban Environments. Procedural, from http://www.procedural.com/ Prusinkiewicz, P., & Lindenmayer, A. (1996). The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants: SpringerVerlag. Silva, P. B. (2010). Modelao Procedimental para Desenvolvimento de Jogos de Computador. University of Porto, Porto. Stiny, G. (1980). Introduction to shape and shape grammars. Environment and Planning B, 7(3), 343-351. Stiny, G., & Gips, J. (1972). Shape Grammars and the Generative Specification of Painting and Sculpture. Paper presented at the Information Processing '71. Wonka, P., Wimmer, M., Sillion, F., & Ribarsky, W. (2003). Instant Architecture. 22(ACM Trans. Graphics), 669
Despite these advantages, the results still have to be further developed, especially to achieve greater visual resemblance with existing environments. The achievable model quality is high, though their correspondent creation time to attain them is still too elevated for more detailed cases. Although the time to manage the sources is reduced, the modeling operations are still too slow, therefore optimizations still have to be done. The usage of the generated data has been successful, but in order to integrate them more easily with any game, additional formats should be supported in the future. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is partially supported by the Portuguese government, through the National Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT (Fundao para a Cincia e a Tecnologia) and the European Union (COMPETE, QREN and FEDER) through the project PTDC/EIAEIA/108982/2008 entitled 3DWikiU 3D Wiki for Urban Environments". REFERENCES Bruneton, E., & Neyret, F. (2008). Real-time rendering and editing of vector-based terrains. Computer Graphics Forum, 27(Eurographics 2008), 311-320. Chen, G., Esch, G., Wonka, P., Mller, P., & Zhang, E. (2008). Interactive Procedural Street Modeling. Chomsky, N. (1956). Three Models for the Description of Language. (IRE Trans. Information Theory (2),), 113124 Coelho, A., Bessa, M., Sousa, A. A., & Ferreira, F. N. (2007). Expeditious Modelling of Virtual Urban Environments with Geospatial L-systems. Computer Graphics Forum, 26(4), 769-782. Kelly, G., & McCabe, H. (2007). Citygen: An
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METAVERSE
A PROPOSAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BEHAVIOR OF AUTONOMOUS ENTITIES IN SECOND LIFE
Donizetti Louro1, Mauricio Pontuschka2, Srgio Roberto Pellegrino3

Aeronautics Institute of Technology ITA, Computer Science Department Praa Marechal Eduardo Gomes 50 - 12228-900 - So Jos dos Campos So Paulo - Brazil (1,3){don, pell}@ita.br Pontifical Catholic University of So Paulo - PUC-SP, Computer Science Department Rua Marqus de Paranagu, 111 01303-050 So Paulo So Paulo - Brazil (2)tuska@pucsp.br
Abstract
In this article we study the behavior of autonomous entities in metaverse, by means of Petri nets, aimed to understand, define and implement development tools. When comparing this approach with current technology of objectorientation, we note that the well-known class diagrams do not provide abstractions so adherent to the context of the simulators as Petri Nets.
Keywords: Petri Net, entities, behavior, autonomous
Introduction
The environment of Second Life is one of the experiments with the greatest impact when it concerns man's desire to play at being creative. Contemporary society is marked by a shift in the knowledge acquisition. Therefore, we can observe that many discussion forums ensure the advancement of learning and development tools for immersive environments. This direction, we intend this paper to discuss a proposal to consolidate the creation and construction of autonomous entities in Second Life. 67.5 million Internet users according to Ibope1 / Nielsen in December 2009. In September were 66.3 million. Ie: in just three months came to 1.2 million new Brazilians over 16 years on the Internet. Brazil is the 5th country with the largest number of Internet connections. Thinking about this growing number of users, mainly in Brazil, decided to start a research work on process improvement for implementation in the construction of immersive environments, demystifying and presenting ways to secure software development. In this direction, the simulation system has good and sufficient in the use of certain mathematical techniques, which allow you to mimic the operation of virtually any type of operation, process or permission from the real world. On becoming of their applications "implies modeling simulation of a process or system, so that the model mimics the real system
Brazilian multinational, private equity, IBOPE is a leading market research in Latin America. 68 years ago provides a wide range of information and media studies, public opinion, voting intention, consumption, brand and market behavior.
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responses in a succession of events that occur over time," Schriber [1974] In other words, "Simulation is the process of designing a model of a real system and conducting experiments with this model in order to understand their behavior and / or evaluate strategies for their operation," Pegden, CD, Shanon, RE, Sadowsky R [1991]. Understanding the Proposal When we navigate in the Second Life environment we can observe that the most participants represented by avatars are exploring the world and not executing tasks by doing some job and work in some activity. We find places with a lot of people talking and communicating but it is difficult to see some people working together and building something that could provide the sense of a well done job. If we would like to make a different place that provides a more collaborative environment we will have to start to think about some important roles that interact and build this place. Let s think, by an example, about playing bowl. We can build a empty place with the bowling lanes and all the objects that are necessary to play the game, but if we think about having some people around playing, talking and serving the players, it could be a more interactive place. Those elements that could act in this environment we call automata objects. These objects could be constructed with its own characteristics and behavior and this will provide the sensation of the world around us. So the sensation that we have when we cross a street and there are cars and other people moving could be represented in these environments. In our experience of crossing a street the other people are just the other people and don t necessarily are avatars controlled by real persons. This idea is to bring movement to the environments and provide a dynamic experience to the visitors, even if we make some visual difference between real avatars and the automata objects. In this line of though, we started to search for a good way of representing models to define the characteristic and behavior of these automata objects, and some answers could be found in our academic activity by observing how the students of different courses understand the activity of software modeling. In this experiment we observed two different courses under the Computer Science
Department of Catholic University of Sao Paulo that are: Computer Science and Technology in Digital Games. Under the Computer Science course realize that the focus is on studying the area of computing in its various aspects including systems development, operating systems, compilers, artificial intelligence among others. We note also that users are quite different and have different sets of concepts, skills and competencies which are linked to perform adequately on each activity to activities relevant to their area. In several courses in the area of technology and accurate, it was found that most comes to software development, but each presents a different process. Realizing that there are different ways to produce software, students come to understand that the production of software is not something static and make it possible to be unified. It is impossible to unify the development process, considering the effort expended by Ivar Jacobson, Booch and James Rumbaugh Grandy trying to write the Unified Method (Unified Method) and realizing that this would not be possible to alter their approach to writing the UML (Unified Modeling Language). Even after finding that it is not possible to adopt a single methodology for developing software for all kinds of problem, we found that the problem only reduced in size, but still persisted. A new attempt was the unification of design models by defining a single language to write computer2 programs. Thus, the Unified Modeling Language is not really a unified language for all software development processes, but rather a comprehensive attempt to unite aspects present in many development methods in a visual language. We note that it is not unique by a counter example that are structured programs that are not expressed in standard UML, or programs written in LISP which use different programming paradigms. Why not have been written under the paradigm of object orientation are not supported by UML. Under the Technology in Digital Games course, the way of thinking of software building it s completely different. The primary data are not numbers and text, but elements in a complex
A good analogy to this attempt was the eort of trying to create the Esperanto language as the only world language which would replace any language. This eort misses the cultural aspect rooted in verbal languages which also inuence the way we structure thought.
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environment. In this way, the models that are concepted by Technology in Digital Games students, naturally uses an object oriented paradigm and several threads of execution in the runtime environment. The Computer Science students have to learn to work with objects while the Technology in Digital Games students already start to work with objects at the first class. In other hand, Computer Science students can build computer software from scratch and they are able to open a simple text editor and start their software. We know that there are different kinds of students and it s risky to affirm that all Computer Science students think the same way, but we are talking about waves and the way the most students of each course work with their software development challenges. We began this paper discussing about the ways of representing a certain content (in this case is software), so we can think a little about the following questions: What is the best paradigm for use in the expression of the metaverse? How best to represent their building models? The choice itself is not a problem, the problem is in the form of thought used in its production, as not all forms of representation through codes and diagrams support our structures of thought. Currently the choice of UML as a form of representation has been very common in virtually all software development. In a quick assessment could refer to this language we choose, but then when we focus specifically the production of computer games we began to encounter problems that are unusual in software in general and thus require a different expression. The Modeling There are several tools for the study of dynamical systems and, according to Samilifard & Wright (2000), "Modeling with Petri nets (PNs) has been widely studied and applied successfully in the areas of dynamic systems. In our case, we will use in discrete simulation. "Thus, we reiterate Peterson (1981), the PNs are important to allow a mathematical representation, analysis models and provide useful information about the structure and dynamic behavior of systems modeled."
With this, based on these work, we are using an elementary model of PNs (or ordinary) of type Place / Transition (LT), as they are characterized by parallelism and synchronization. Decisions to use a modeling of the systems are based on mathematical rigor and the availability of analysis tools. Louro,D., Barufaldi,A., Ferreira,C.(2010) Petri Nets are formed by: The asset called transition ; The liabilities denominated place ; What connects places and transitions called arc. The simulations allow inferences about discrete systems modeled on the condition of not developing its architecture or its construction; it presents conjectures in the validation process, which allows defining and redefining the limits of the system. The remaining checks will be measured in the model development work, as well as its implementation on the suggested model. In discrete simulation, identification and description of processes, the functional point of view, characterize and account for the dynamics of this system. Thus, computer simulation3,, with this application, it is expected to represent the system through a set of processes, each one possessed of certain values as signic elements responsible for all activities in the system. After all, apart from these elements, by which it is perfectly possible to create a discrete model, other elements also perform important with the development and application of simulation techniques. In Petri nets have components such as the transition, which is active and the corresponding any action performed within the system, and the place, which is passive and is related to some state variable of the system. According to Murata (1989), "the realization of actions is associated with preconditions or conditions of the state variables of the system, ie, there is a relationship between places and transitions, which enables you to perform some action." Thus, these places and transitions are vertices of the graph associated with Petri nets and establish connections by arcs that will be indispensable in the analysis process. Louro,D., Barufaldi, A., Ferreira, C.
The computer simulation of systems, or simply simulation, is the use of certain mathematical techniques, used in digital computers, which allow you to mimic the operation of virtually any type of operation or process (systems) in the real world.
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(2010) In this context, initially held numerous tests, types of modeling and analysis of systems that do not exhaust the possibilities for development of specific modeling tools, but want to contribute to a proposed application in immersive environments. Thus, according Samilifard & Wright (2000), Petri nets have been widely studied and applied successfully in the area of discrete event dynamical systems, which are characterized by parallelism and synchronization." According to Nash4 in his Nash Equilibrium5 paper [NAS50] that we have a game we should have several elements such as: two contestants vying for a particular feature and the contestant who wins the win. Thus, virtually all Computer Games have elements with a high level of need and evidence of concurrent execution so they can implement the independence of actions between the players and the feature that interacts with the environment and with the players and at the same time has its identity well defined. These elements behave as autonomous elements in the same shared environment that is the essence of electronic simulation environments. This problem, although it was presented in the context of the computer games is a generic problem that is the modeling and implementation of Distributed Discrete Systems. This problem is in the modeling, definition and implementation elements such as simulators and autonomous
4
characters in Metaverses.
virtual
environments
and
Discrete Distributed Systems are dynamic systems that evolve with the occurrence of physical events in time intervals, usually irregular and unknown. The occurrence of an event because, in general, an internal change in the system and these changes may be observable or not by the user [CURY01]. There are several diagrams that were developed with the intention of modeling discrete distributed systems and the main models used for this purpose are: Petri Nets and their extensions; Markov Chains, Queuing Theory, Semi-Markovian Generalized Processes (GSMP) and Simulation; Process Algebra; MaxPlus Algebra, Temporal Logic and Temporal Logic for Real Time, Languages and Automata Theory (Ramadge-Wonham) [OKA07]. For this discussion, we chose the class diagrams of UML and Petri nets to provide an opportunity for integration and joint use of these diagrams in order to be able to express the behavior of some elements Metaverses. The area of computing resources development presents the most varied nature to solve a wide range of problems. Problems that can be digitally expressed are strong candidates to have proposals for computational solutions. The Metaverses, because they possess the characteristic of being expressed digitally, they fit perfectly in the range of solutions to be handled by computers, but the load of autonomous elements and competitors is very large and worth in their model there are models capable of withstanding such detailing. A Petri Net is a form of graphical and formal definition of discrete distributed systems and have the characteristic that, at any time during its execution, any of its transitions can be triggered. In addition, Petri net is a modeling technique that allows the representation of systems, using as its foundation a strong mathematical background [MAC96]. These two components are connected by directed arcs that can be single or multiple depending on the system that intends to produce. Given its feature to easily model such relationships become very adherent to the area of computer simulations in different fields of knowledge. Can be used from simple examples to sophisticated academic military air navigation systems.
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John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born June 13, 1928) is an American mathematician whose works in game theory, dierential geometry, and partial dierential equations have provided insight into the forces that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life. His theories are used in market economics, computing, evolutionary biology, articial intelligence, accounting, politics and military theory. Serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University during the later part of his life, he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi. Formal Denition of Nash Equilibrium theory: Let (S, f) be a game with n players, where Si is the strategy set for player i, S=S1 X S2 ... X Sn is the set of strategy proles and f=(f1(x), ..., fn(x)) is the payo function. Let x i be a strategy prole of all players except for player i. When each player i {1, ..., n} chooses strategy xi resulting in strategy prole x = (x1, ..., xn) then player i obtains payo f i(x). Note that the payo depends on the strategy prole chosen, i.e. on the strategy chosen by player i as well as the strategies chosen by all the other players. A strategy prole x* S is a Nash equilibrium (NE) if no unilateral deviation in strategy by any single player is protable for that player, that is
5
A game can have either a pure-strategy or a mixed Nash Equilibrium, (in the latter a pure strategy is chosen stochastically with a xed frequency). Nash proved that if we allow mixed strategies, then every n-player game in which every player can choose from nitely many strategies admits at least one Nash equilibrium.
In this sense, we can use Petri Nets to establish ways of defining the behavior of autonomous entities in metaverse NPCs (Non Player Characters or non-player characters) or even puzzles. When comparing this approach to character development with current technologies of object-orientation, we note that the wellknown class diagrams do not provide abstractions so adherent to the context of the simulators as Petri Nets. This technique has the particularity to permit modeling parallel systems, concurrent, asynchronous and non-deterministic [VAL80]. His basic graphic representation is formed by only two components: an active called a transition that is represented by a bar and other liabilities denominated place represented by a circle. The places correspond to state variables and transitions correspond to actions performed by the system [MAC96]. The simulations allow inferences about discrete systems modeled on the condition of not developing its architecture or its construction, it presents conjectures in the validation process, which allows to define and redefine the limits of the system. The remaining checks will be measured in the model development work, as well as its implementation on the suggested model. In discrete simulation, identification and description of processes, the functional point of view, characterize and account for the dynamics of this system. Thus, computer simulation5,, with this application, it is expected to represent the system through a set of processes, each one possessed of certain values as signic elements responsible for all activities in the system. After all, apart from these elements, by which it is perfectly possible to create a discrete model, other elements also perform important with the development and application of simulation techniques. In Petri nets have components such as the transition, which is active and the corresponding any action performed within the system, and the place, which is passive and is related to some state variable of the system. According to Murata (1989), "the realization of actions is associated with preconditions or conditions of the state variables of the system, ie, there is a relationship between places and transitions, which enables you to perform some action." Thus, these places and transitions are vertices of the graph associated with Petri nets and establish connections by arcs that will be indispensable in the analysis process.
Louro,D., Barufaldi, A., Ferreira, C. (2010) In this context, initially held numerous tests, types of modeling and analysis of systems that do not exhaust the possibilities for development of specific modeling tools, but want to contribute to a proposed application in immersive environments. Thus, according Samilifard & Wright (2000), Petri nets have been widely studied and applied successfully in the area of discrete event dynamical systems, which are characterized by parallelism and synchronization." According to Nash6 in his Nash Equilibrium7 paper [NAS50] that we have a game we should have several elements such as: two contestants vying for a particular feature and the contestant who wins the win. Thus, virtually all Computer Games have elements with a high level of need and evidence of concurrent execution so they can implement the independence of actions between the players and the feature that interacts with the environment and with the players and at the same time has its identity well defined. These elements behave as autonomous elements in the same shared environment that is the essence of electronic simulation environments. This problem, although it was presented in the context of the computer games is a generic problem that is the modeling and implementation of Distributed Discrete Systems. This problem is in the modeling, definition and implementation elements such as simulators and autonomous characters in virtual environments and Metaverses. Discrete Distributed Systems are dynamic systems that evolve with the occurrence of physical events in time intervals, usually irregular and unknown. The occurrence of an event because, in general, an internal change in the system and these changes may be observable or not by the user [CURY01]. There are several diagrams that were developed with the intention of modeling discrete distributed systems and the main models used for this purpose are: Petri Nets and their extensions; Markov Chains, Queuing Theory, Semi-Markovian Generalized Processes (GSMP) and Simulation; Process Algebra; MaxPlus Algebra, Temporal Logic and Temporal Logic for Real Time, Languages and Automata Theory (Ramadge-Wonham) [OKA07]. For this discussion, we chose the class diagrams of UML and Petri nets to provide an opportunity for integration and joint use of these
20
diagrams in order to be able to express the behavior of some elements Metaverses. The area of computing resources development presents the most varied nature to solve a wide range of problems. Problems that can be digitally expressed are strong candidates to have proposals for computational solutions. The Metaverses, because they possess the characteristic of being expressed digitally, they fit perfectly in the range of solutions to be handled by computers, but the load of autonomous elements and competitors is very large and worth in their model there are models capable of withstanding such detailing. A Petri Net is a form of graphical and formal definition of discrete distributed systems and has the characteristic that, at any time during its execution, any of its transitions can be triggered. In addition, Petri net is a modeling technique that allows the representation of systems, using as its foundation a strong mathematical background [MAC96]. This technique has the particularity to permit modeling parallel systems, concurrent, asynchronous and non-deterministic [VAL80]. His basic graphic representation is formed by only two components: an active called a transition that is represented by a bar and other liabilities denominated place represented by a circle. The places correspond to state variables and transitions correspond to actions performed by the system [MAC96].
models that are used in various brands as our next example. The Figure 2 shows a representation of syntax that we have two brands. This model illustrates a diagram that is not converted into a state diagram; this is because in each location we can have more than one mark.
Figure 2 - Diagram of Petri has more than one appointment.
This example illustrates contextualized not only an articulation of the model so that it contains more than one mark in one location. But if we are to contextualize a bit better in order to create a practical example of the use of Petri nets for modeling logical relationship between spaces and markings, then we consider Figure 3 which represents a formulation of the famous case of the dining philosophers.
Figure 3 - Diagram of Petri for the case of the dining philosophers.
Figure 1 - cyclical and simple Petri Net illustrating the behavior of a store that opens and close every day to be developed in a metaverse. This behavior is intended to compose a part of a city behavior.
The Figure 1 shows an example of a pattern of behavior where a certain part of a city that represents an automata object switches between its states opened and closed. Each place (circle notation) specify an activity been executed and can be modeled as animations in a metaverse. This model is quite simple and could be replaced by a state diagram of UML without loss of expressiveness. Each transition marking a move from one state to another. In this case the whole model has only one brand represented, but we can build
This is a situation formulated by Edsger Dijkstra6 in 1965 and it is a hypothetical problem of dinner five philosophers sitting at a table by one of two things: to eat or think. While eating, they're not thinking, and thinking, they are not eating. The five philosophers are in a round table with a big bowl of noodles in the center. A fork is placed between each pair of adjacent philosophers, and as such, each philosopher has one fork to the left and a fork to your right. As spaghetti is difficult to serve and eat with a fork only, it is assumed that a philosopher must eat with two forks. Each philosopher can only use the fork to his immediate left and right.
Edsger Dijstra was a computer scientist at the Netherlands known for his contributions in development of algorithms and programs, programming languages (for which he received the Turing Award in 1972 for his fundamental contributions), operating systems and distributed processing.
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The problem of dining philosophers is often explained using chopsticks and rice instead of spaghetti and forks, as it is intuitively obvious that the two sticks are needed to start eating. Similarly, we can model the behavior of objects and characters in the metaverse with the help of Petri nets so that we can establish the appropriate mechanisms to achieve its logic and characteristics impacting the simulation of expected behavior.
techniques, has facilitated the implementation of the tool for Petri Nets. The proposal for the development of the behavior of autonomous entities in Second Life, is an example of resource that can be incorporated into the existing platform such as documentation and tutorial for beginners, in a different format, as a form of motivation in learning for future developers. The next challenge is to continue the use Petri Nets by students and teachers to compile and study environment relations in order to produce Second Life constructions incorporating automata objects. These automata objects are designed to play secondary roles and will compose the interactive environment. So, with this study we understand that Second Life Environments could increase its expression in the way of building more complex places that provide most interactive experiences. References [BAN96] BANKS, J., J.S. CARSON and B.L. Nelson. Discret-Event System Simulation. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper SaddleRiver, N.J., USA, 1996. [BOH01] BOHAMEC, M. What is Decision Support. In Proceedings of the 4th International Multi-conference Information Society (October), vol. A, pp. 86-89, 2001. [CHI93] CHIOLA, G., MARSAN M. A., CONTE, G. Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets: A Definition at the Net Level and Its Implications. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 19, n. 2, p. 89-106, 1993. [COO83] COOLAHAN, J.E., ROUSSOPOULOS, N., Timing Requirements for Time-Driven Systems Using Augmented Petri Nets, IEEE Transaction on Software Engineering, 1983. [CURY01] CURY, J.E.R. Teoria de Controle Supervisrio de Sistemas a Eventos Discretos. V Simpsio Brasileiro de Automao Inteligente. Canela, R.S., 2001. [DIT95] DITTRICH, G., Modeling of Complex Systems Using Hierarchical Petri Nets, Codesign - Computer-Aided Software / Hardware Engineering, IEEE Press, 128-144, 1995. [JEN90] JENSEN, K., HUBER, P., SHAPIRO, R. M., Hierarchies in Coloured Petri Nets,
Figure 4 - Diagram of a petri net describing a airport behavior
The Figure 4 presents a model that describes an airport behavior. This model can be used to implement a city s airport working in a metaverse without the need of real avatars playing pilots and other workers acting and serving in order to make the airport work. Real avatars could use this airport to travel thru different places and look at landscapes as they could do in real life. Conclusion This study was contemplated with the use of Petri nets in discrete simulation, modeling and analysis for the construction of worlds such that simulated processes and instructions for the development of programming in immersive environments. A theoretical tool called Petri Net was used as support and process analysis and shown adequate test. With the needs assessment and diagnosis of all programming activities for Second Life, following procedures, concepts and
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Lectures Notes in Computer Science, Vol.483, 313-341, Springer-Verlag, 1990. [JEN92] JENSEN, K. Coloured Petri Nets: Basic Concepts, Analisys Methods and Pratical Use. New York, v. 1, Springer-Verlag, 1992. [LOU10] LOURO, D.,Barufaldi,A.,Ferreira,C., Discrete Simulation - Modeling and Analysis for Air Defense Operations. XII SIGE - Defense Operational Applications Symposium (2010) [MAC96] MACIEL, P.R.M., LINS,R.D., CUNHA, P.R.F., Introduo s Redes de Petri e Aplicaes, 10a Escola de Computao, Campinas, Julho 1996. [MOL82] MOLLOY, M.K. Performance Evaluation Using Stochastic Petri Nets. IEEE Trans. Comput., v. C-31, n. 9, p. 913-17, 1982. [MUR77] MURATA, T., State Equation, Contrallability, and Maximal of Petri Nets, IEEE Trans. On Automatic Control, 1977. [MUR89] MURATA, T., Petri Nets: Propriets, Analysis and Aplications, Proceding of The IEEE, 1989. [NASH50] NASH J. F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 36, 48-49. [PEG90]PEGDEN,C.D., SHANON, R.E., SADOWSKY R. Introduction to Simulation Using SIMAN, McGraw-Hilt New Jersey, 1990. [PET66] PETRI, C.A. Kommunikation mit Automaten. Schriften des IIM Nr. 2, Institut fr [PET81] PETERSON,J. L., Petri Net Theory and the Modelling of Systems, Prentice-Hall, 1981. Instrumentelle Mathematik, Bonn, 1962. English Translation:Technical Report RADC-TR-65-377, Griffiths Air Force Base, New York, v.1, Suppl.1, 1966. [OKA07] OKAYAMA, B.K. Modelagem e Anlise de Processos de Negcios em uma Empresa do Ramo Automotivo Atravs das Redes de Petri, Curitiba, 2007. [MUR89] MURATA, T. Petri Nets: Properties, Analysis and Applications, Proceedings of the IEEE, 77(4)541-580, April de 1989. [POOL98] POOL, M. and Stafford, R.. Optimization and Analysis of Performance in Simulation. Proceedings of the 1998 Winter Simulation Conference (December), vol. 2, pp. 1689-1691, 1998 [SAL01] SALIMIFARD, K. & WRIGHT, M., Petri net-based modelling of workflow systems:
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An overview , Management Science Department, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, 2001. [SCH74] SCHRIBER, T.J., Simulation Using GPSS, Wiley,NY,1974.
Probing Cognitive Biases in Virtual Worlds: Second Life As a Case Study

Zeynep Gken Kaya
Istanbul Bilgi University - Computer Science Department Kurtulu Deresi Cad. Yahya Kprs Sok. No: 1, Dolapdere 34440 Beyolu Istanbul zeynnepgokcen@gmail.com
Temmuz Sreyya Grbz

Istanbul Bilgi University - Computer Science Department Kurtulu Deresi Cad. Yahya Kprs Sok. No: 1, Dolapdere 34440 Beyolu Istanbul temmuzsr@gmail.com share with games. According to 2009 report of virtual worlds consultancy KZero, 579,000,000 users among 1,733,993,741 go online and log in one of the fortyseven virtual worlds and in this way they find the chance of becoming the best of themselves by creating the ultimate supreme life they have always dreamed of, in easy, painless and cheap way. Market research firm Strategy Analytics proclaimed estimated growth rate of social virtual networks as thirty-eight percent by 2015. All these signify magic circle, a term coined by Edward Castronova in his book Synthetic Worlds to define a virtual membrane between virtual and real worlds, becomes more transparent day by day. Therefore, it is unavoidable to expect virtual medium affect the physical one. There are many ongoing researches on this phenomenon of cyberpsychology and its behavioral reflection to the physical world. Amid the many, one research (20 08, Bailenson) shows the confidence and suspense acquired online via avatars affect physical world behavior unconsciously. Another research (2008, Yee) demonstrates the effects of randomly assigned avatars on real physical appearance and psychology. These kinds of results suggest that virtual worlds are good candidates for kind of platforms McGonigal emphasizes. They can bridge across two mediums and contribute to a better world. Objectives Bearing this observation in mind, the research titled "Developing Interpretation Bias Modification as a 'Cognitive Vaccine' for Depressed Mood: Imagining Positive Events Make You Feel Better Than Thinking About Them Verbally" (2009, Holmes), which reveals the fact that a person is happier and less biased in terms of interpretation bias, the keynote of social phobia, when in imaginative mood, inspired us to focus on social relations, cognitive biases and imagination. To do a qualitative empirical research about sociological aspects of a particular software that has a community based on, we chose Second Life for number of reasons. First, it fits to the requirement of the research. It is one of the most popular virtual worlds in worldwide and 24
With the advent of Web 2.0, open source technologies, social networking, computing and programming is influenced by social interactions and the theories that dictate these interactions. Undergraduate computer science majors were asked to do an empirical research project on the sociological aspects of a particular software that has a community based around it. This project was inspired by the research Developing interpretation bias modification as a 'cognitive vaccine' for depressed mood: imagining positive events makes you feel better than thinking about them verbally. Considering the importance of one's capacity to make rational judgments in social interactions, the researchers explored particular social cognitive biases to see how they evolve in Second Life, where imagination and creativity are limitless. These researchers spent 115 hours playing the game, getting involved in social situations and dialogues with other players. Specific biases that were observed include stereotyping, ingroup biases, out-group biases, ego-centric bias, deformation professionelle, fundamental attribution error and observer-expectancy bias. Introduction Gaming can make a better world says Jane McGonigal who is a renowned game designer and director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto. According to her, if we play at least twenty-one billion hours a week by the end of the next decade problems like hunger, obesity, climate change will be solved. Many may find this a bit extreme, nevertheless her argument, which points to the fact that we become the best version of ourselves in games, is remarkable. Knowing this gives us a great basis for hoping games to be a platform of change. The four reasons, which are blissful productivity, the ability to weave a tight social fabric, the feeling for urgent optimism and the desire for epic meaning, that McGonigal marshals to support her thesis can be adapted to anticipate the very same for metaverses as well because of the same nature they
launched in 2003, it has reached to high level of population which continues to augment significantly. Second, it gives us opportunity to intermingle in social setting and observe the interactions among the avatars. Last but the most important is its creativity-wise feature that there is no limit in imagination while you are in Second Life. Gathering all these together, we decided to chase some of the social cognitive biases to explore whether they exist in Second Life. The list of biases we looked for is as diverse as stereotyping, out-group homogeneity and in-group biases, deformation professionelle, fundamental attribution error and egocentric bias. We anticipated Second Life to be a biased free environment since it demands imagination and creativity. Conclusion we can draw from such result is the possibility of overcoming cognitive biases in Second Life and similar mediums. One practical significance of this would be the resolution of many problems in large extent from racism to gender discrimination and many other social conflicts in favor using Second Life as a platform of change. Emphasizing this is a unique research in means of probing cognitive biases in a social virtual world, it should be appraised only as a reconnaissance. We provide further knowledge on cognitive biases and relevant psychological experiments as background information, our methodology, research process, results together with shortcomings and feasible suggestions for taking this research into one step forward in the rest of our paper. Methodology Our methodology is explained as follows. We were on SL approximately 115 hours and we interacted with other avatars more than 100 hours. We created several avatars having different physical appearances and profile information. We got spontaneous dialogues in addition to conversations resulted from following scenarios, which we had planned before, in order to obtain benefit related to cognitive biases. These formed our data and we sought results by analyzing them. Admittedly there were times we were immersed in playing and the player side of our behavior weighted more than the researcher side. Together with this fact, considering this as a subjunctive type of research, our own experiences eventually became matter of analysis. We had no constraints such as gender, country and age hence while choosing a place to settle down, we designated our criteria as high population composed of different ages and genders. The age range is estimated to be between 18 and 62, but it cannot be truly known since users may have given false information about their age. The place had usually male dominant population; however there had been times that there were only women avatars. One thing that should be noted is, there were female users in disguise of male 25
avatar and vice versa. This situation was noted in some avatars' profiles. We wanted users to be from various countries and the dominant language to be English. The present countries in the place were as varied as England, USA, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, India, Australia, Spain, Italy, Russia, France, Taiwan, Malaysia, Turkey, Hebrew, Wales, Brazil, Argentina, Slovenia, Korea and Saudi Arabia in order of encounter rate. We paid attention for chosen place to have its own regular visitors whose behaviors could be interrogated regularly. Observing frequenters also allowed us to notice the changes in their behaviors under different circumstances. During our research we encountered university instructors from Brazil who were doing research on social dynamics at the same spot. This also supports appropriateness of the land for research purposes. We came across 300 avatars and around 50 of them were frequenters of the place and yet we could not establish direct dialogues with all of them. There are double dialogues with 18 people, but we also have group dialogues to which almost everybody in the place at that time contributed to. We can say that one of the difficulties we experienced was leading double dialogues into the direction of our research. On the other side, group conversations are much flexible and it is possible to have broad extent of topic to discuss while it is not required to be acquainted with everyone in the group. Group interactions are also more helpful for observing social cognitive biases. Except voice chats unfortunately, we have the records of every other conversation. We also saved interesting profiles which were meaningful to our purposes. Additionally a name list of the visitors of the place is recorded. However due to the ethical issues, we will give neither the name of the avatars nor the name of the place. Observed Cognitive Biases In the physical world, there exists a norm that body is the key to the identity. Therefore people tend to use their bodies as a medium to express themselves. This tendency leads us to examine how members of a society can perceive each other while focusing on the appearance, not the personality. When social interactions become bound to visual features of humans, we face appearance- based biases which are compromised by a main bias, stereotyping. In virtual worlds body is ascribed more meaning and for that reason its use as a way of self-expression is different. Accordingly we expected stereotyping bias to occur differently in the context of Second Life. However, as far as we witnessed, stereotyping exists in virtual worlds in the same way that it does in the physical world. Moreover, it is because of the creative nature of virtual worlds that stereotyping bias is at least as vigorous as it is in the physical life. In the real world
stereotyping can be noticed by different reference points like age, gender, job, appearance, and ethnicity. A research (2008, Andreoni and Petrie) shows that there is a tendency to reward beauty hence generally physically attractive people earn more money and women in this category are perceived as more cooperative compared to others. As this research proposes, semblance is one of the main attributes that people give importance while communicating and working collectively. We can easily validate this proposition in virtual platform regarding the fact that stereotyping is considerably easier to investigate in reference to avatar-based nature of virtual worlds. Generally, first things an avatar wants to know about another avatar are age, gender, ethnicity information which form reference points of stereotyping and leads one to immediately categorize and classify. We experienced stereotyping in many ways, but one example among the many is when one of our female avatars suggested to a male character cybersex via instant messaging. Male avatar started to behave suspicious about the real gender of the female avatar. When we questioned his suspicion, his answer was an evidence of stereotyping owing to his gender based biased that only males offer to have sex. We searched for two related contradicting biases which are out-group and in-group biases. In-group bias is seen when people give priority to those whom they see as group mates. Out -group homogeneity bias is the tendency of not perceiving other groups' members as varied as their own group mates. In a study done at Rutgers and Princeton Universities (2001, Bordens & Horowitz), students were asked to watch a videotape in which a student is introduced as being from other school. The student had to decide before participating in a psychological experiment if she wanted to stay together with or apart from other participants. The watchers then had to predict what a student from university would do. The results showed that students were tended to see "the members of out-groups more similar to one another than members of in-groups". Taking this experiment into consideration during our probing helped us to devise our avatars' attitude towards the others in order to spot on their natural group- biased actions. We tried to put them in positions that they would act in accordance with group-biases. We noticed that in-group bias occurs more than outgroup bias. Especially during observing new users' interactions with others, this bias became even more significant because there is an apparent division between newbies and long-time users. This separation provided us with an experiment field for testing the knowledge we gained from the literature analysis. In an instance of our experiments, one of the new users, who was feeling estranged to Second Life, found newbie group mates like her and she tried to hold the group 26
together by emphasizing on newbie identity. Although there were many long-term users in the quarter, newbie user did not endeavor to communicate with them and complained about how long-term users behave same although long-term users group varied in itself all having different attitudes. This type of behavior was common in long-term user groups against newbie groups too. Another in-group bias is noticed between people who share same religious believes. Our avatars hid their religion from others and they were excluded out of the group. Nonetheless, others avatars was more cordial to our avatars only when they told they have same religious views with the group. Out-group homogeneity is not observed within the time range of this research; however, it would be wrong to say that it does not occur in the virtual worlds because if there is in-group bias, there is a big possibility for out-group bias to exist too since two of them are related. Deformation professionelle is the bias of one's tendency to approach everything with one's professional perspective. An experiment done (2008, Kamarck) on three student groups who were thought on one of the disciplines of microeconomics, development in Maoist China and basic astronomy. Results showed that students experienced training deformation owing to the perspective they gained. Accordingly, less honest group after training was the group who received training on microeconomics. This experiment shows that training on different disciplines affects point of views differently and indicates the importance of how deformation professionelle bias can have control over one's perception. Since having a profession in Second Life is an optional activity that users occasionally choose to do, our expectancy was not to encounter deformation professionelle bias in Second Life unless users reveal their real life professions in the opposite way of our expectancy. Therefore, with the insight gained from real life experiments, we thought a good way to observe this bias would be analyzing nick names because nick name is a powerful self-expression tool in metaverses unlike "real life". However, we could not examine single such situation. Furthermore, after completing field research, we surprisingly noticed that we were the ones who were under effect of deformation professionelle. Surname of one of the avatars was chosen as Scientist without thinking, but with having a professional obsession that marked our choices and opinions. Many of the avatars suspected Scientist avatar as it was a researcher. Every comment made by the Scientist avatar was evaluated as a comment of literal scientist by some avatars and it probably was mostly a result of the deformation professionelle bias that Scientist avatar had. This situation almost revealed our purposes and put the research in danger. Fundamental attribution error is being biased on observed behavior that causes underestimation of
situational reasons of that behavior. In an experiment done (2000, Gladwell) to verify this bias, group of people was told to watch two groups of basketball players with same level of basketball skill, but in different gyms where there was enough light in one and less light in other. When the audience was asked the reason of shots missed by the players in the dim gym, there was a tendency to relate it to the abilities of the players. As this experiment suggests, when the real cause of a behavior is obviously related to the situational circumstances, people who have this bias are not able to see that reality. We thought reactions of avatars to our method for probing this bias could show some clues about the existence of this bias even in Second Life. Social interactions in Second Life most likely start with information exchange between avatars, hence they can only be able to interpret each other's behaviors according to their knowledge about one another. This situation involuntarily makes them disable to realize their situation-caused acts, adversely they interpret these acts from a wrong point of view which is earned by their information-based relationships. In our research to test the existence of fundamental attribution error, we revealed our secret to some of the avatars and told them that we make research in Second Life. Knowing this fact changed their attitudes towards our behavior and they started to relate any attitude of ours to our researcher identity. There were times that they insist our behavior was emanated by our research motivations, but it was not true. Egocentric bias occurs when a one takes the responsibility of a joint action on one's self. In an experiment done with married couples, egocentric bias was empirically verified by showing majority of spouses took the responsibility of negative contributions to the marriage on themselves and assigned their partners for positive contributions(1989, Fincham and Bradbury). We witnessed same kind of unnecessary self-incrimination during a group chat. While voice chat was on, the avatars without microphone seemed disturbed due to the division of community into two groups; the ones with voice chat and the ones do not have the required technology. Discussion of drug use in voice chat caused greater annoyance and administrators of the place put it down. The avatar who started the conversation in voice chat took the guilt on himself although he was not the only one who contributed to drug use discussion. Everyone else who joined to voice chat remarked it as a group involvement, nevermore he because of the egocentric bias he had, he asserted the contrary. In addition to the biases above, we should also report one bias that we had not planned to chase after, but still experienced. That is observer-expectancy bias which causes a researcher to be in tendency to manipulate the data accordingly with the research. Clever Hans 27
experiment is one example in which human trainer had an inclination to believe that a horse could do arithmetic rather than thinking his instinctive body language made up an illusion of a horse with mathematics skills. While scanning the conversations which constitute our data, we found we were in effect of the same bias during our interactions in Second Life. There were dialogues in which we had forced to take out nonexistent facts from appearances of avatars. We over questioned avatars with distinctive properties such as headscarf, cane, having height under average and having wheelchair to undermine the reasons of nonregular appearances while there was no beyond meaning. It should be noted that even if it is not a social bias, it is worthwhile to mention because it gives hints about creativity in Second Life and diverse choices of users. Results and Limitations Throughout our research, we tried to find track of illusory correlation and trait ascription biases too, but we could not observe them. Even so we do not deny that they may be observed in a further research. It may very well be result of difference in behavior due to imaginative process that takes place in as we anticipated. Still, we do not deny the chance for observing them in a deeper research. In addition to two biases we could not observe, our experiences indicate that a more detailed research may also provide behavior observation on Forrer effect, illusory correlation and trait ascription biases. Another point that should be accentuated is our observation of social cognitive biases in Second Life made us recognize that they are not autonomous. In every kind of relation one assumption follows another and in a similar way one bias can produce another. Even so, this leads us to think that overcoming one of the biases may help for overcoming others too. This shows how powerful virtual worlds like Second Life can be, if we can achieve modify our perception and thus behavior via them. We probed stereotyping, in-group bias, fundamental attribution error, observer expectancy effect during social interactions in Second Life because in addition to its imaginative feature, properties it shares with games would have resulted in less biased mood. However, according to the results of our empirical research, avatars exist with biases which they inherit from the physical life. Moreover, imaginative and creative atmosphere Second Life offers via limitless option mostly triggers our biases instead of abolishing them as we expected. All the same, this does not prove McGonigal's claim "games can create a better world" to be wrong. Under convenient and required circumstances virtual worlds can still be used for such an aim. Nevertheless, in means of cognitive biases, it seems difficult to overcome of them through virtual
experience. Since our research is the only work in this topic, it should be regarded as a starting point and a model for further researches. Having more experimental research methods and a longer time-range can provide fair amount of insight related to the existence of each bias we searched for and many other cognitive biases that we could not get a chance to encounter. REFERENCES
Andreoni, J. & Petrie, R. (2008) Beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments. Journal Of Economic Psychology 29, 73-93 Book B. (2004, October). Moving Beyond The Game: Social Virtual Worlds Bordens K. S. & Horowitz I. A. (2001), Social Psychology, London: Routledge Dell K. (2008, May) How Second Life Affects Real Life Donath, J. S. (1998). Identity and Deception In The Virtual Community. Prepared for the book Communities in Cyberspace by Kollock, P. and Smith, M. London: Routledge Eastwick, P. W. & W. L. Gardner (2008). Is it a game? Evidence for social influence in the virtual world. Social Influence,4:1,18 32 Emerson T. (2007, June). Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Biases and Global Risk Fincham, F. D. & Bradbury T. N. (1989) . Percieved Responsibility for Marital Events: Egocentric or Partnercentric Bias? University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Franklin, M. E. Huppert, J. Langner, R. Leiberg, S. and Foa, E. B. (2005). Interpretation bias : A comparison of treated social phobics, untreated social phobics, and controls. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29:3 Gladwell, M.(2000) The Tipping Point. Boston: Little Brown. Holmes, E. A., Lang, T. J. and Shah, D. M. (2009). Developing Interpretation Bias Modification as a Cognitive Vaccine for Depressed Mood : Imagining Positive Events Makes You Feel Better Than Thinking About Them Verbally. Kamarck, A. M. (2002). Economics as a social science : an approach to nonautistic theory . Kumar, S. Chhugani, J. Kim, C. Kim, D. Nguyen, A. Dubey, P. Bienia, C. and Kim, Y. (2008, June). Second Life and the New Generation of Virtual Worlds. Computer, 41:9 McGonigal, J. (2010, March). Jane McGonigal: Gaming can
make a better world. In TED . Retrieved March 26, 2010, from http://www.ted.com/talks/ Suler, J. (1996, May). Life at the Palace: A Cyberpsychology Case Study. John Suler's The Psychology of Cyberspace Yee, N. (2007). Motivations of Play in Online Games. Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior, 9, 772-775. Yee, N. Bailenson, J. N. Urbanek, M. Chang, F. and Merget, D. (2007). The Unbearable Likeness of Being Digital: The Persistence of Nonverbal Social Norms in Online Virtual Environments. The Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior. Individuals Of A Different Race. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/0901202047 59. htm IBM Virtual World Guidelines. (n.d.). In IBM. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.ns f/p ges/virtualworlds.ibmvirtualworldguidelines.html In KZero WorldsWide. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://www.kzero.co.uk/# Fetscherinan, M., & Lattemann, C. (2007). User Acceptance of Virtual Worlds An Explorative Study about Second Life. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://www.fetscherin.com/UserAcceptanceVirtualWorlds.ht m Whos the biggest 3D Virtual World Now? (2009, October 24). In Life in the Metaverse. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://virtualunderworld.net/wordpress/?p=1009 Metaverse Assembled. Journal of Virtual Worlds 2(5), Retrieved Jan. 2, 2010, from http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr Stanford Humanities Lab. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://www.stanford.edu/group/shl/cgi-bin/drupal/ (2009, Jun. 15 ). In Report: Virtual Worlds Growth to Skyrocket:. Retrieved Dec. 18, 2010, from http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/06/report-virtualworlds-growth-to-skyrocket-.html Nine Questions on Virtual World Market Research (2008, January 23). In Business Communicators in Virtuality. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://freshtakes.typepad.com/sl_communicators/2008/01/nine -questions.html (2009, Jul. 15 ). In Virtual Worlds Popularity Spikes. Retrieved Dec. 18, 2010, from http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/07/virtual-worldpopularity-spikes.html
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Second Life, Second Morality?

Katleen Gabriels
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, IBBT-SMIT, Centre for Ethics E-mail: katleen.gabriels@vub.ac.be
Joke Bauwens
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, IBBT-SMIT E-mail: jo.bauwens@vub.ac.be
Karl Verstrynge
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, IBBT-SMIT, Centre for Ethics E-mail: karl.verstrynge@vub.ac.be
Abstract This study is an examination of in-world morality of frequent residents of Second Life. Given the lack of systematic research on morality in non-gaming virtual worlds, the authors conducted an explorative small-scale, in-depth qualitative study with regular Second Liferesidents. Drawing on cyber-anthropology, cybersociology and game studies, they explore to what extent ideas and pictures of in-world moral behaviour differ from moral categories and definitions used in real life situations. Research findings show, firstly, that communication and sanction mechanisms (e.g. gossip), known from real life, are important means to create social control and group cohesion in Second Life. Secondly, the technologically mediated context intensifies and provides new tools for social control (e.g. alternative avatar). Thirdly, residents also make use of out-world systems to restrict or punish immoral behaviour (e.g. blogs, discussion forums, web search engines). In general, findings indicate that morality in Second Life is not completely different from morality shown in real life. On the other hand, they also point at distinctiveness in a mediated environment because of specific technological tools.i
Introduction Although today millions of people are spending a considerable amount of time in three-dimensional nongaming virtual worlds, little systematic research has been done regarding the question of morality and its distinctive nature in these particular worlds. The scant attention given to morality in social virtual worlds is in sharp contrast to the extensive studies on morality in virtual games. Also, instead of researching on morality in a profound way, much ink has flowed in popular media discourses about the absence of morality in these social virtual worlds. In those panic waves, the freedom that users have to experiment without restraints is often linked with the upsurge of immoral or amoral behaviour (e.g., Kuipers, 2006). Many journalists and commentators fear that everything seems to be allowed and possible in social virtual environments. As the number of people that have an avatar in one or more social virtual worlds is increasing on a daily basis (e.g., Castronova, 2007) and the public debate on morality in social virtual worlds is heavily framed in moral panicterms, the importance of academic knowledge on the grounds and meanings of moral values and practices in these worlds can hardly be overestimated.
Research Design: Questions and Methodology The research presented here aims to provide a more profound and evidence-based understanding of how people reflect on and construct morality when they are virtually engaging with each other. We focus on the popular and widely known social virtual world Second Life (SL). SL was created in 2003 by Linden Lab and is defined as an immersive, user-created online world (Au, 2008, p. x). Linden Lab does not impose a gameoriented goal on its residents; they are free to choose how to spend their time in-world. Exactly the freedom to act and to experiment in a world that is believed to be a second, different or so-called otherworld (Dibbell, 1993) is the starting point of our investigation. We explore if people who often engage in SL experiment with morality and to what extent they apply a different morality than in real life. Social life has produced different systems to restrict and punish immoral behaviour in real life, so one can ask oneself if these systems also stand in virtual worlds. Or to phrase the question more radically: does it really matter that immoral behaviour is limited or punished in virtual worlds, as these worlds are only virtual and thus not rooted in actuality? Our specific focus in this study is on the dynamics and mechanisms of social control: how they are rooted in offline social conventions people bring along when they dwell in SL, but also how they are shaped and activated through the technological design and tools of SL. In particular, the in-world prevention, exclusion, and punishment of immoral behaviour are discussed here. We conducted a small-scale, in-depth qualitative study in order to examine the in-world morality of frequent residents. Drawing on a multi-method virtual ethnographic research design, we interviewed devoted SL-residents (N=14) and discussed their moral experiences in SL, in order to gain an understanding of the moral nature of social interactions in SL. We conducted two focus group interviews and four individual interviews. Starting from the idea that interview contexts are always affected through the interaction and relation between the interviewer and the respondents (Fontana, & Frey, 2005), all interviews were conducted by the same researcher in order to control the effects of social dynamics as much as possible. The interviews were semi-structured: the interviewer started from an interview guide with a set of
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pre-determined topics, but equally left scope for discussion (in the focus groups) and excursions (in the individual interviews). Except for two electronic interviews through Voice Over IP, all interviews were face-to-face. However, given the availability of audio and visual cues and the synchronous course of communication, the VoIP interview comes close to face-to-face interaction. We used purposive sampling strategy to select the respondents. Considering the importance of language in interpretive research, all respondents in our study were Dutch-speaking (13 Belgian and 1 Dutch participant). Another characteristic important to our study was Table 1. Overview respondents (N=14) Gender Year Education of Birth R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 F M M F M M F M M F F M M M 1984 1946 1979 1943 1947 1965 1953 1985 1985 1972 1959 1966 1974 1944 College High school College High school College College University College High school High school University College College High school
familiarity with SL. All respondents first logged in between January 2005 and June 2007 and were actively engaged in SL since three to five years. The time that they are in-world varies from 4 hours per week (minimum) to 12 hours per day (maximum). Apart from these characteristics, we aimed for a heterogeneous sample in order to explore the diversity and multiplicity of moral practices in SL. Dimensions of variety in the sample were socio-demographics (gender, age, education, SES), and the kind of investments, expectations, and gratifications people show in their SL visits and stays (see table 1 for overview).
Marital status children Single / 0 Married / 3
Selfreported primary motivation Curiosity Curiosity Work Curiosity Leisure Curiosity Curiosity Leisure Curiosity Social contacts Curiosity Curiosity Work Leisure / Because his wife is also active in SL
Main activity in-world
Creation, work Social Work Social Social, SL real estate Social, creation Social Social Social, creation Social Social, creation Social Work Social, creation
Relationship / 0 Widow / 2 Married / 2 Married / 0 Married / 2 Single / 0 Single / 0 Divorced / 5 Married / 2 Married / 1 Cohabitation /2 Married / 2
Explanation of the terms: Creation: the primary motivation to reside in SL is to build virtual SL-objects or to create SL-art (e.g. photography). Leisure: SL is a form of relaxation and enjoyment, without any obligations. Social: the primary motivation consists of meeting friends, looking for a relationship or extending ones social network. Work: the primary motivation is professional; these residents are in SL because of their job and are being paid to be in-world.
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Results and Discussion In agreement with other studies (Markham, 1998; Turkle, 1995; Boellstorff, 2008), the respondents in our study consider their involvement in a virtual world as part of significant life experiences. As regular and mature users who have been in-world since a number of years, they all acknowledge the avatars as representations of human beings and identities and not as soulless objects. SL is a social virtual world to them and for that reason they ascribe high significance to the group and community they belong to. Furthermore, our respondents consider SL not as a noncommittal game, but as a real social world, which entails a serious investment, whether in personal, emotional, psychological or professional terms. In this context, we noticed that our respondents talked about growing up in SL. This process was described in terms of growing avatar attachment, increasing recognition of the commitments, rules and conventions in SL and, especially, stronger settling in social groups. For a comprehensible reflection on our findings, we have inductively demarcated our results in three different fields. First, we discuss the correlation between motivations and main activities on the one hand and perceptions of morally un/acceptable behaviour on the other. Second, we elaborate on the moral consequences of anonymity, traceability, and sociality as experienced by SL-residents. Third, we consider the types of social sanctions the SL-residents we talked to discern and display when dealing with practices they morally disapprove of. The Influence of Motives on Morality The analysis of the interviews showed that motives for participating in SL and main activities displayed inworld regulate personal views on what residents believe is un/acceptable behaviour. Respondents that are in SL because of professional reasons (in table 1 labelled under work and creation) are aware that they are being supervised and, this way, they make no distinction between SL-behaviour and real life behaviour. Throughout the interviews these respondents showed themselves as less emotionally involved, as their ties in SL are mostly work-related and their activities focus on professional gratification to explore the innovative use of SL and develop software. These respondents accept telling untruths about age or gender in SL easier than in real life. However, they do have a problem with illegal issues, such as underage residents, infringement of intellectual property or having sex with a child or animal avatar. Also, telling untruths about profession-related skills and experiences is deemed bad. This professional-detached position contrasts sharply with the approach taken by respondents who are in-world for social reasons, which leads to higher emotional investment. Respondents who are looking for love or friendship, have more problems with lies about age and gender, especially when they are looking for a
partner. Equally they believe that violations of Linden Labs terms and conditions are impermissible. In general, they hold the conviction that playing with someones feelings must be punished. In their stories they suggest that these basic principles influence their in-world behaviour. They also believe that it is permitted to make use of a wide range of technological tools offered and enabled in SL. For instance, they do not denounce spying on someone, whether by creating an alt (i.e. an alternative avatar), asking someone else to do it, saving chatlogs, or making screenshots of disclosing behaviour. What all respondents have in common is the importance they ascribe to SL-seniority: the longer someone is online, the more trustable he or she is. They are suspicious when someone pretends to be a noob, i.e. a new SL-resident, but turns out to be very experienced with the specific tools of SL (e.g. walking around, teleport, scripts, textures). All respondents indicate that when you have built a close relationship with someone and have invested time, emotions, and energy in this person, lies are not accepted. There is also a general belief that cheaters will eventually fail, for instance by betraying themselves or by showing discontinuity in their behaviour. Many respondents also have the tendency to verify the truthfulness of a person on the web, through search engines like Google or on social networking sites like Facebook.
Anonymity, Traceability, and Sociality The sense of anonymity and, related to that, the sense of traceability have an effect on how in-world morality is conceived of. Respondents that have linked their SLprofile to information that makes the real life connection explicit and traceability easier (e.g. name, website), show themselves more conscious about how they present and represent themselves in SL. Conversely, when you do not reveal real life information and leave no traces of personal identity data, it seems easier to disappear and to start again (with an alt, i.e. an alternative avatar) because you have no commitments. Still, the respondents in our research all shared the idea that the tendency to remain anonymous and untraceable was only tempting when making its entry in SL. The ease of openly expressing emotions, flirting, telling lies hence, the appeal of disengaged and uncommitted social interactions clashes at a certain point in time with the socialisation process residents go through. More particularly, respondents that do not share links to real life information experience stricter self-regulation when they become embedded in a network. As they have been in-world for an extensive period, they have invested resources like time, energy, emotions, and money and they do not want to put these at stake. During the years, our respondents have collected a group of friends and connections in-world and many of them have also met in real life. Being embedded in a close network leads to
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social control (group cohesion, group regulation) and regulates behaviour. Therefore, our respondents, who have been in-world for an extensive period, simply represent their actual identity. Other academic research shows that people, who often engage in virtual environments, including digital games, prefer being themselves rather than experiment with new identities and personalities (Yee, 2006, p. 15). Moreover, the respondents in our study explained that they often share personal information in intense conversations and that they are connected to out-world (i.e. not in SL), social networks, both offline (e.g. meetings in real life) and online (connections via Skype, MSN, Facebook, different blogs and forums). For all these reasons, managing and controlling lies, biased truths or fictionalized data about oneself is far from easy. Obviously, residents who work or create in-world are also embedded in a network, albeit a professional or business set of social contacts. To them, it is essential to have and to maintain a good reputation, as a bad name might result in a loss of clients or contacts. When they are accused falsely, they defend themselves, either inworld or on blogs and forums. Especially blogs are important means to restore ones reputation in the group. Respondents also talk about others to learn more about their reputation and to find out if they are trustable to cooperate with. Social Sanctions Finally, the respondents in our study talked about the different mechanisms they know and apply when confronted with morally unacceptable practices. First of all, it is important to note that the residents, and not Linden Lab, seem to regulate these forms of sanctioning. As an everyday, familiar and concrete example of unacceptable behaviour, we discussed with our respondents cheating in the most general sense. In line with other studies on online communities (e.g. teenagers and social networking sites, instant messaging boards), the mechanisms virtual communities use for sanctioning objectionable behaviour are pre-eminently communicative (Reid, 1999; Baym, 2010). First, there is sanction through inflated communication. This means that the deceived person will inform others, often close friends, about what has happened. Although the respondents state that they only do this when the damage is worth mentioning, they equally suggest that it is more accepted in SL to make commotion about less grave harm. Clearly, this form of punishment is closely linked to reputation, i.e. punishing the cheater by gossip to ruin his or her reputation. Respondents point out that this happens on a regular basis and is conventional in SL. Second, punishing unacceptable behaviour also takes place through non-communication. This means that all
contact will be broken in a quiet way, for instance, by ignoring the harm doer or by muting him or her, which is technologically possible in SL. This way, chances are high that the harm doer will eventually become an outcast and disappear. Finally, the respondents in our study agree on the principle that victims of serious harm will exclude the harm doer from his community and banish him from the communicative sphere, i.e. punishment by excommunication. The cheater will be pilloried, not only in-world but also on blogs and forums. Although these three mechanisms recall practices in tribal societies as has been dealt with within anthropology, evolutionary psychology and moral sciences, the communication and information technological tools of SL enable an intensification and stronger coordination of social sanctioning. Compared to real life, it becomes easier for the deceived persons to start an active, almost organized campaign against the cheater. It is striking how much technological tools affect social behaviour, and more specifically forms of punishment. If there are proofs, for instance incriminating (disclosing) screenshots or chatlogs, they are distributed by the deceived ones. It is important to point at the significance of the blogosphere here: the reputation of the harm doer is actively damaged on different blogs, not only to give a clear signal to the cheater, but also to warn others for him or her. There are also forms of group punishment to make clear that the harm doer is no longer allowed in the group, for instance by collectively removing him or her out of the friend list or by banning him or her from sims. Conclusion This research, albeit explorative, local and small-scale, has aimed to contribute to a better understanding of lived experiences and meanings. Our results show that SL is not an isolated world in which no such things as morals exist(Meadows, 2008, p. 78) nor a separated world for which users create a second morality. Following our results, SL can be looked upon as a microcosm of real life, which is in line with other scientific research, as substantial evidence demonstrates that people behave in a similar way in virtual environments as in real life situations (e.g., Yee et al, 2007). Avid users of virtual worlds state that their virtual experiences are not isolated from their real life experiences, and moreover, they state that both worlds affect each other (Yee, 2006). Similar to actual life, activities in virtual worlds include various types of social interaction like hanging out with friends, collaborating in groups, establishing intimate relationships, and starting love affairs. As a consequence, several aspects of human sociality occur in SL, because residents take real life social conventions and conduct with them. However, as social virtual worlds like SL are technologically designed and constructed, the question how moral practices are
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contingent on, activated by or disabled through technology needs also to be taken into consideration when discussing the social and moral meaning of life experiences in social virtual worlds. As mentioned before, the public debate on morality in social virtual worlds is heavily framed in moral panicterms. Many express their worries about these worlds without constraints where people are believed to have the freedom to cross moral boundaries. Interestingly, our data put these panics into perspective, as we see that different kinds of social mechanisms restrict unrestrained immoral behaviour. Being traceable, being embedded in a network, group cohesion, social control, amongst others, lead to both self- and group-regulation. Also, our respondents are normal people as opposed to deviant and pathological. This contrasts with the References Au, W. J. (2008). The making of Second Life. Notes from the New World. New York: HarpinCollins Publishers. Baym, N. K. (2010). Personal connections in the digital age. Cambridge: Polity Press. Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of Age in Second Life. An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton / Oxford: Princeton University Press. Castronova, E. (2007). Exodus to the virtual world: How online fun is changing reality. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Dibbell, J. (1993). A rape in cyberspace How an evil clown, a Haitian trickster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database into a society, in The Village Voice (newspaper article), December 23, 1993, pp.36-42. Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (2005). The interview. From neutral stance to political interview. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 695-728). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Kuipers, G. (2006). The social construction of digital danger: Debating, defusing and inflating the moral dangers of online humor and pornography in the Netherlands and the United States. New Media & Society 8, pp.379-400. Markham, A. N. (1998). Life online: Researching real experience in virtual space. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press. Meadows, M. S. (2008). I, Avatar: The culture and consequences of having a second life. Berkeley: New Riders. Reid, E. (1999). Hierarchy and power: Social control in cyberspace. In A. Marc, & P. K. Smith (Eds.), Communities in cyberspace (pp. 107-133). London: Routledge.
stereotypical portrayal of a frequent user of virtual worlds in various popular media: ugly, isolated, alienated, escapist, failed in his or her first life Obviously, we must point out that we have been dealing with residents who were willing to participate and to open up about experiences that have been heavily stigmatized in various discourses. In the future, the cultural and social diversity of SL-residents, SL-groups, SL-sims will need to be taken more into account in order to reveal similarities and differences. Also, the question of how to study continuity and discontinuity between so-called first life and second life morality keeps bringing with it methodological challenges.
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York: Touchstone. Yee, N. (2006). The psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional investment, motivations, relationship formation, and problematic usage. In R. Schroeder, & A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at work and play: Collaboration and interaction in shared virtual environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag. Yee, N., Bailenson, J. N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., & Merget, D. (2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. CyberPsychology and Behavior 10, pp.115-121. Yee, N., & Bailenson, J. N. (2007). The Proteus Effect: The effect of transformed self-representation on behavior. Human Communication Research 33, pp.271290.
i A longer analysis of this study will be available as a

book chapter: Gabriels, K., Bauwens, J., & Verstrynge, K. (2011, in print). Second Life, Second Morality? In N. Zagalo, L. Morgado, & A. Boa-Ventura (Eds.), Virtual worlds and metaverse platforms: New communication and identity paradigms. USA: IGI Global.
33
Self-Esteem in Second Life: An inWorld Group Intervention for Women with Disabilities*
Margaret A. Nosek, Ph.D. [corresponding author]
Baylor College of Medicine, 1475 West Gray, Suite 165, Houston, Texas, 77019; E-mail: MNosek@BCM.edu
Susan Robinson Whelen, Ph.D.

Baylor College of Medicine, 1475 West Gray, Suite 165, Houston, Texas, 77019; Email: SusanRW@BCM.edu
Rosemary B. Hughes, Ph.D.,

University of Montana Rural Institute on Disabilities, Missoula, MT 59812; Email: rhughes@ruralinstitute.umt.edu
Erin Porcher,
University of Montana Rural Institute on Disabilities, Missoula, MT 59812; Email: eporcher@ruralinstitute.umt.edu
Giselle Davidson, B.S.,

39370 Civic Center, Fremont, CA 94538; Email: giselledavidson@yahoo.com
Thomas M. Nosek, Ph.D.,

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4963; Email: Thomas.Nosek@case.edu disabilities. We are developing and investigating the feasibility of a self-esteem enhancement intervention in Second Life for women with physical disabilities. We adapted the curriculum of a previously tested workshop intervention to include features unique to this environment. Results of the beta test were very positive. Everyone involved showed considerable enthusiasm for exploring the new world of SL. The group leaders were challenged to resolve technical problems on every occasion, but these diminished and were perceived as manageable as the intervention progressed. Beta testers gave positive ratings to the information presented, organization, and usefulness of the intervention and found it very enjoyable although fatigue and stress limited the participation of some. They appreciated the use of Internet technology as an accommodation to their disability, in place of requiring transportation and additional energy expenditure to attend face-to-face meetings. Research issues related to engagement, measurement, and participant safety, as well as future research directions, are discussed. We conclude that SL has great potential for delivering health promotion interventions to women with physical
Background
The current project, in the second of its three years, investigates previously uncharted territory -- the delivery of a psychosocial health promoting intervention in Second Life for women with physical disabilities. As a highly innovative exploration in the megaverse, it is breaking new ground in reaching an isolated and neglected but rapidly growing segment of the population. In our previous research, we have found strong associations between low self-esteem and lack of access to mental health services, abuse, depression, and other health outcomes. The problem for many women is that disability is a stigmatizing phenomenon as shown by the lower levels of self-esteem observed among individuals with disabilities compared to those without disabilities (Craig, Hancock, & Chang, 1994, for example). Women with disabilities face numerous barriers and challenges as a result of both disability and gender biases and must continually cope with assaults to their selfesteem by negative societal attitudes, which would have us believe that individuals with disabilities are fragile, asexual, and incompetent
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(Perduta-Fulginiti, 1996). The disability literature reveals the need for safe, inclusive personal development programs for women with disabilities (Fine & Asch, 1988, for example). Whether Internet-based or faceto-face, self-improvement interventions for women with disabilities can help address the intersection of disability status and gender, which both the women's movement and the disability rights movement have essentially overlooked. Women with disabilities can serve as role models for one another to both enhance visibility and offer empowerment for a population of women described as roleless (Deegan & Brooks, 1985; Fine & Asch, 1988). In such groups, participants may experience a learning climate that prohibits invasion, shaming, humiliation, and trespassing behaviors and gestures (Beattie, 1987) and offers women opportunities to share important information about resources and confront internalized multiple oppressions, including ableism and sexism (Saxton, 1985). With earlier support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), Nosek and Hughes conducted a randomized trial to determine the efficacy of a 6-week self-esteem enhancement group intervention for women with physical disabilities recruited by staff of the centers for independent living (CIL) around the country. (Hughes, Taylor, Robinson-Whelen, Swedlund, & Nosek, 2004). Participants were randomly assigned to CIL services only or CIL services plus a peer-led self-esteem enhancement intervention, with pre- and post-test evaluation (N = 102, 51 per group). Participants in the intervention group showed significantly greater improvement on measures of self-esteem, selfefficacy, and depression. Qualitative evaluation interviews with the participants at postintervention identified group support and goalsetting activities as highly valuable aspects of the intervention. The majority of participants reported learning new skills for improving selfesteem, gaining increased confidence in being assertive, connecting with others, and managing stress and depression. project are to (1) Develop and test the feasibility of an online manual for instructing women with disabilities on how to navigate confidently and safely in SL; and (2) Test the feasibility and efficacy of offering the refined self-esteem enhancement intervention in SL. This paper reports on the adaptation of the intervention for delivery in SL and the results of the beta test.
Methods
Project staff and collaborators at the University of Montana Rural Institute and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine adapted and expanded the original intervention so that it uses unique features of SL to illustrate the content, based on input from focus groups of women with physical disabilities conducted in Missoula, Montana, and Houston, Texas. Collaborator Thomas M. Nosek, Ph.D., developed a secure parcel of land in SL owned by Case Western Reserve University that is dedicated to this project. The site contains venues and rich media resources for each session of the intervention. A Quick Guide (T. M. Nosek, Goe, & Nosek, 2010) was created and tested to be effective in training members of the advisory group and beta testers. Beta testers were selected from among participants in prior studies at the Center, including those who were involved in the initial self-esteem intervention project. To be eligible the women had to (1) have been diagnosed with any physical condition that causes a significant limitation in mobility or self care, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal cord injury, neuromuscular disease, amputation, or inflammatory joint disorder, (2) have had their disability for at least one year, (3) be at least 18 years of age, (4) have access to a computer with a high-speed Internet connection, and (5) be unfamiliar with SL. Two facilitators (women who have personal experience with disability) were trained to deliver the orientation in two sessions using the Quick Guide and to lead the beta testers through the self-esteem curriculum. Everyone was provided with a headset to minimize interference with using the voice function in SL. Beta testers were asked to complete secure and anonymous surveys after the orientation and each group session using SurveyMonkey.com. The surveys asked women to use a Likert scale to rate the usefulness and content of the curriculum, the relative ease of interacting in
Purpose
Encouraged by these findings, we sought and received funding from NIDRR to use SL to deliver this self-esteem intervention to women with physical disabilities who face substantial transportation and health barriers to attending a face-to-face workshop. The objectives of this
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SL, and the perceived amount of support offered by the facilitators and fellow group members. Open ended questions asked participants to describe specific things they liked and disliked about each session and to provide comments and suggestions for improvement. Semistructured interviews were conducted by one of the investigators with each of the facilitators and beta testers. graphics card, broadband speed). Four beta testers completed the orientation in two one-onone online sessions with a facilitator. Attendance was complete for six of the seven sessions of the intervention, with one beta tester missing one of the sessions. Two beta testers had to leave a session early for reasons of fatigue related to fibromyalgia. In the Survey Monkey questionnaire, there was general agreement that the orientation was wellorganized and enjoyable, and the Quick Guide was helpful. Three of the four agreed that the amount of information was just right and all agreed that they liked choosing from avatars that were already created rather than having to create their own. They felt confident in their ability to move around in SL and communicate by both text and voice. When asked if they felt well prepared to participate in the SL workshop, however, one strongly agreed, two agreed, and one disagreed. In the post-session questionnaires, the beta testers gave a mean rating to each session of excellent or good (1.48 on a scale of 1-positive to 4-negative), very to somewhat enjoyable (1.74 on a scale of 1-positive to 5-negative), well-organized (1.33), with information presented very clearly (1.15) that was useful (1.89) and would help them make positive changes in their lives (1.74). Ratings where slightly lower for the stressfulness of the sessions (2.15) and whether they learned new skills (2.26). Out of 28 opportunities (one per session per woman) to participate in a Bud Adventure only 16 were completed; those were rated somewhat fun (2.06). The beta testers reported that it was not difficult to communicate with the leaders (1.78) or other participants (1.78) in the sessions. The level of support they received was high from the leaders (1.19) and other participants (1.41). In describing what they liked best about the program as a whole, three of the four betatesters specifically mentioned SL, commenting on its uniqueness, the new world it opened up to them, and the opportunity to explore. Two women specifically mentioned enjoying their avatar. When asked about advantages to meeting in SL, two women stated that it eliminated barriers to participation, such as the need for childcare and transportation and the physical demands of attending a face-to-face program. One woman, who described herself as shy, stated that SL was less anxiety-provoking and allowed her to hide behind her avatar until she was comfortable with the group. Finally, one beta-tester said that the novelty of it made it more interesting. When asked to choose between a face-to-face or a SL workshop, three
Intervention
The theoretical framework for our online self-esteem intervention is based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997) feminist psychology (Jordan, 1994), and independent living philosophy (M. A. Nosek & Fuhrer, 1992; M. A. Nosek & Hughes, 2004). The approach incorporates self-efficacy, which is a belief in ones ability to influence outcomes for desired goals. Feminist psychology emphasizes the importance of supportive relationships that offer a sense of connectedness and mutuality. Independent living philosophy incorporates personal autonomy, empowerment, and selfadvocacy. Topics addressed in the intervention program include defining self-esteem; discussions of gender and disability role socialization; defining and developing selfempathy and connecting to self; defining healthy and unhealthy connections and boundaries; making healthy connections and improving relationships; defining and demonstrating passive, aggressive, and assertive communication; relaxation skill training, and planning for the future. Sessions also include goal setting and weekly action planning. Participants report on their successes and barriers encountered while implementing the previous weeks action plan for feedback and problem solving by the group. A "Bud Adventure" is assigned at the end of each session, where participants are paired up and given a pre-planned, usually off-island task to complete. Examples include visiting a race track and uncovering treasures in a waterfall. These adventures were designed both to build navigation skills in SL and promote social connectedness and self-confidence.
Findings
Recruitment posed many technical challenges. Although seven women were recruited and showed considerable interest in serving as beta testers, three were unable to do so because they did not have equipment that met the technical requirements of SL (RAM,
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chose SL; the fourth chose SL only when there were strong barriers to attending a program in person. Describing what they liked least about the program, one woman did not like how the bud adventures were structured, one thought more time was needed between sessions, and two described technical challenges. In discussing the disadvantages of the program in SL, all four noted technical difficulties and their impact on the sessions. Two women described the technical challenges as stressful, and a third described feeling overwhelmed in the early sessions. Two beta-testers thought that face-toface programs offered advantages in connecting to others that can not be fully replicated in a virtual world. They thought that rapport developed more slowly in the SL program. A third beta tester echoed this same sentiment in suggesting additional ice-breaker questions be added to the sessions to help participants get to know one another. All four beta-testers complimented the group facilitators ability to put participants at ease. The co-facilitators patience was noted to be a particularly important characteristic. The program is being revised based on the betatesters suggestions. To improve our orientation and training program we are adding a one page summary of key navigational instructions, adding a group training session, and incorporating additional practice before the program. Changes to enhance rapport include adding a get-to-know-you question to the sessions, incorporating more discussion in early sessions, training facilitators to encourage more sharing among reluctant group members, taking bud adventures together as a group, and offering optional between-session adventures and opportunities to meet and share. Finally, we are adding a hard copy of program materials to be mailed to participants. program should explore using body language animations in SL. This was our first experience in using exploration of other locations in SL as part of an intervention and it was only moderately successful. Although these activities were perceived as fun and allowed for the development of camaraderie and social support among the beta testers, more supervision by a group leader will help eliminate some of the confusion, hesitance, and navigational problems the women faced. The parameters for measuring engagement are still under discussion. Although we will be using intent-to-treat analysis of data from the pilot test, whereby data are analyzed from everyone who signs the informed consent form whether they participate in the intervention or not, we would like to create a variable for degree of engagement. This would include the number of sessions attended, number of assignments completed, and number of surveys completed in Survey Monkey. It would be ideal to include time spent in exploring other locations in SL as part of the bud adventures and beyond; however, such a measure would need to rely on self-report or the attachment of a tracking device on the participants' avatars. Several ethical issues arose that may be of concern to an institutional review board for research involving human subjects. Given that this population is characterized by pervasive poverty, what is our obligation as researchers to provide them with upgrades or higher quality computer equipment and Internet connection so that they can participate in this innovative form of research? We are developing our interventions for a future when high-quality access to the Internet is a population norm; however, the current reality poses numerous logistical barriers. Another ethical issue is the somewhat mixed reputation of SL. Although we provided training in the orientation on how to recognize and remove your avatar from intimidating situations, we are tender to our obligation to limit the exposure of participants to sites that may be perceived as threatening. Further testing of our intervention will involve women with a wider variety of disability types, including some cognitive limitations. This will put additional demands on the orientation, expanding the need for accommodations for visual, hearing, attention, and learning limitations, as well as the fatigue, speech impairments, and manual dexterity limitations that were encountered during the beta test. Future research will investigate identity in SL, particularly as it relates to the stigmatizing
Discussion
Results of this beta test were very positive with excellent suggestions for ways to improve the intervention. The biggest challenges were related to technical problems and being able to maintain positive group dynamics and total involvement of each participant without the benefit of facial expressions or body language. We are concerned that stress and disabilityrelated fatigue were issues for two beta testers. It was difficult for the facilitators to gauge their level of attentiveness without traditional body language cues. Further development of the
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versus defining effects of disability, and the dynamics of socialization in a virtual environment. Most importantly, we are very interesting in examining the degree to which health promotion interventions in SL are effective in realizing improvement in sense of self, psychological health, socialization skills, health behaviors, and other outcomes of interest. Nosek, M. A., & Hughes, R. B. (2004). Navigating the road to independent living. In D. R. Atkinson & G. Hackett (Eds.), Counseling diverse populations, 172-193. Nosek, T. M., Goe, R., & Nosek, M. A. (2010). Quick Guide to Second Life. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University. Perduta-Fulginiti, P. S. (1996). Impact of bladder and bowel dysfunction on sexuality and self-esteem. In D. M. Krotoski, M. A. Nosek & M. A. Turk (Eds.), Women with physical disabilities: Achieving and maintaining health and well-being, 287298. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes
Conclusions
Everyone involved in this beta test showed considerable enthusiasm for exploring the new world of SL. The group leaders were challenged to resolve technical problems on every occasion, but these diminished and were perceived as manageable as the intervention progressed. Beta testers appreciated the use of Internet technology as an accommodation to their disability, in place of requiring transportation and additional energy expenditure to attend face-to-face meetings. We conclude that SL has great potential for delivering health promotion interventions to women with physical disabilities.
REFERENCES
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman. Beattie, M. (1987). Codependent no more. New York: Harper/Hazelden. Craig, A. R., Hancock, K., & Chang, E. (1994). The influence of spinal cord injury on coping styles and self-perceptions two years after the injury. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 28, 307-312. Fine, M., & Asch, A. (1988). Women with disabilities: Essays in psychology, culture, and politics. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Hughes, R. B., Taylor, H. B., Robinson-Whelen, S., Swedlund, N., & Nosek, M. A. (2004). Enhancing self-esteem in women with physical disabilities. Rehabilitation Psychology, 19(4), 295-302. Jordan, J. V. (1994). A relational perspective on self esteem: Work in Progress. Wellesley, MA. Nosek, M. A., & Fuhrer, M. J. (1992). Independence among people with disabilities: I. A heuristic model. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 36(1), 6-20.
38
Using Second Life as an Interface for Personalized Search

James Braman
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Towson University. 7800 York Rd, Suite 406. Towson, Maryland 21221. Email: jbraman@towson.edu
Charles Dierbach
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Towson University. 7800 York Rd, Suite 406. Towson, Maryland 21221. Email: cdierbach@towson.edu
Over the past few years, there has been an upsurge of interest in virtual worlds. While much of their utilization has been focused on simulation, communication and other types of interaction, little research has focused on other novel uses of this technology. The research outlined in this paper discusses current work towards using Second Life as an interface for web search. In particular, a personalized search agent is being developed that ranks search results based on inferred user interests, displaying the results in a virtual browser object within the Second Life environment. Through the users avatar and by the use of the inherent visual qualities of virtual worlds, one can browse personalized search results in an immersive fashion. The goal is to develop a system that can learn the specific interest areas of a particular user through the actions of their avatar. As a result, the search agent will be able to perform proactive searches on behalf of the user.
Introduction
With the rapid explosion of technology over the last several decades, we have grown accustom to using computers and relying on digital information as part of our daily routine. As part of this routine, we often rely on all types of digital information in an abundant number of formats. The accessibility of computers and the Internet in the workplace, school and at home, coupled with the rise of web-based applications and the sheer amount of data in which we have access, makes it difficult to utilize this information in its totality. One main reason for this is that there is simply just too much information to sift through, which continues to grow by orders of magnitude. To make sense of all this data, search engines have greatly enhanced our ability to filter through the chaos of irrelevant material. Despite their usefulness, search engines still often list several thousand search results from a single search query. To find the desired information, one must search through many pages and links. Even then, one is not guaranteed to find the information needed. Using other techniques, such as that of meta-search engines, domainspecific search engines, or even web visualization has not provided a universally helpful approach for the general population of Web users. 39
Search engines provide results in most part satisfying the intentions of a general population, and not of specific users (Teevan et al, 2005). From this lack of personalized search arises the fundamental aim of our work. While there have been numerous attempts, with varying degrees of success, to improving search by personalizing results, there is room for improvement. To be truly effective in this regard, search engines must be able to tailor their actions based on knowledge of individual users. In order to provide such personalized search, it follows that search engines should incorporate (a) information about the content searched, (b) the individual users current information needs, and (c) the users general interests. We examine these three points and propose the use of a personalized search agent for achieving these capabilities. In addition, 3D visualization of information is provided by the integration of the search interface into a virtual world. As virtual worlds have gained increased attention over the last several years by researchers, aspects of the technology are starting to be used in new and creative ways. This includes their utilization in computer programming, education, social interactions, prototyping, art and design, general science and visualization, just to name a few topics (Braman et al, 2009; Vincenti & Braman, 2010). As the number of users that depend on alternative interfaces and virtual environments of all kinds grow, the ability to perform web search within these environments will clearly be a desired feature. By leveraging the inherent and advantageous visual aspects of virtual worlds, we have developed a search interface used through a users avatar to enhance how users experience searching for Web content. The main objectives of our work, discussed in this paper, are: 1) to study the effectiveness of a search agent in returning personalized search results based on the use of a specific set of heuristics, 2) to investigate the effectiveness of a 3D virtual environment for the display of search results, and 3), to demonstrate increased effectiveness of search tasks by users of the system.
Virtual World as a Search Interface

3D virtual environments have seen an increase in interest over the last several years. As users have greater access to high-speed internet connections and increased computer power, coupled with a greater usage and acceptance of Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and Massively Multiplayer Online games, the capabilities of these mediums have far extended their original intent. What once was viewed as mere games are beginning to significantly change the way that we interact online. The Web has significantly changed since its beginnings. Originally, the web provided basic web pages of HTML content, often referred to as Web 1.0. Now, Web 2.0, generally accepted as the current mainstream, provides social and user created content from sites like MySpace, Linked-in, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube (Murugesan, 2010). Some see virtual environments as part of Web 2.0, while others see it as a Web 3.0 Technology. For our research we have chosen Second Life to develop and test our personalized search strategy. Second Life was chosen due to its flexibility, popularity, and built-in scripting language allowing for the integration of various technologies. This platform allows for complex forms of interaction and for integration of web content, video, audio and the ability for user added scripting that adds dynamic elements to environment. Users can already view web content in two ways, using the built-in browser feature in the SL client, or by viewing pages embedded in objects in-world. These viewers have the standard functionality of a standard browser and can be useful if one needs to stay in-world, but lookup information on the web at the same time. To begin to investigate the interest in this type of medium for search, a survey was conducted in an undergraduate level computing course at Towson University (70 participants) that used Second Life as part of classroom instruction. When asked about their potential interest in using a 3D browsing object to search the Web, 56% (n=39) reported they would be interested, 21% (n=15) responded possibly interested, and 23% (n=16) responded that they would not be interested. The usual role of the interface of a virtual environment is to provide a graphical representation of the environment in which the user is interacting. In our case, we are extending the interface to represent not simply the environment window itself, but also the graphical representation of our search object and its display of search results. Through the avatar, users can visualize results in various forms. Using the visual and immersive aspects of SL, our goal is to provide users with a search interface that is more effective than the traditional 2D, linear representation provided by most search engines.
Current Work
Through the virtual browsing object, we plan to integrate both search and organization of search results (personalized) within the Second Life environment. The 40
search agent will use a variation on the classic vector space model and term frequency-inverse document frequency model (tf-idf) (Salton, Wong & Yang, 1975). The effectiveness of the heuristics for personalization that will be developed will be experimentally tested once the entire system is completed. The representation of web page information in this project is based on the notation of a vector. Vectors are used to uniformly represent information necessary for our personalized search approach through Page WordVectors and Primary Term-Vectors. These representations allow for simple representations of condensed web content, the users current information need and the users overall interests (long-term interests). Essentially, Page-Word Vectors are a set of values that represents information about the page, such as the words related to the page, their frequency, their distinctiveness within the page, the importance of the word in the page, and how many times the page has been viewed (the click value). To calculate how distinct a word is within a page in comparison to all of the pages the agent has indexed so far, we utilize the log-likelihood ratio or G2 (Leech et al, 2001; Dunning, 1993). The in-page importance value is heuristically derived based on the location of the word in the page, its containment in certain html tags and its usage in the text. To represent aspects of the users interactions in relation to web pages of interest, queries and their avatar positioning while examining a page, the Primary Term Vector is used. This vector also stores values that associate words with information regarding a users long term interest, short term information need, time information and relative avatar interaction regarding pages associated with certain words. Table 1 illustrates the two vectors and the relation to words in a sample index. Short term and Long term values are Boolean values (0 or 1). The Avatar value represents the value (range 0 to 1) that denotes the strength of interest in pages that contain that word which is derived from within Second Life. Qfrequency represents the number of times that word has been part of a query by the user. Qlast notes the last time stamp that the word was used as part of a submitted query. The Boolean value Short Term is set to true if that word is being used for a query within the last 12 hours assuming a short term information need on that topic. The Boolean value for Long Term is set to true if that word has been used in a query, N times, where N denotes some arbitrary threshold value for the user. Given the small sample index in Table 1, if the user submits the query Zebra, the pages associated with that word are returned (page 2 and page 8). The most relevant page to display must then be determined. In many cases, queries will consist of compound words or words with multiple meanings. Personalization in this case is especially useful.
Table 1: Sample Index and Vectors

Term Primary Term Vector Term <Short Term, Long Term, Avatar, qfrequency, qlast> Apple Dog Gorilla Zebra
<0,0,0.08,4, 2010-07-04 11:15:43> <0,0,0.12,1, 2010-07-03 20:15:32> <0,0,0.91,5, 2010-07-04 11:12:28> <0,0,0.03,1,2010-07-05 05:41:16>
Page Word-Vector PageID <wordi, frequency, distinctiveness, in-page importance,click>

P1 (3,2.3,0.3,1) P4(2, 2.9, 0.9,0) P10 (3, 1.2, 0.9,3) P1(6,2.3,0.5,1) P2(5, 1.23, 0.5,1) P2(4, 1.98, 0.62,0) P8(2, 2.5,0.3,1)
Determining Relevance
When the results page is returned, results are displayed along with the title of the page, its URL and document surrogate. The user, based on the rank of the returned URL on the results page (and sometimes in combination with the surrogate description) makes a relevance judgment based on the provided links in order to find the information they are looking for. The methods used to rank the returned pages based on the query are of great importance. Commonly on the Web, a pages rank is determined by its level of relevancy, which is often judged by the similarity of a query compared to content contained within a page (Agichtein et al, 2006; Brin & Page, 1998). There are many other more complex approaches that utilize various statistical analyses along with personalization to rank URLs accordingly. Determining relevance is a crucial component in information retrieval and when attempting to satisfy a users information need. The appearance of a URL in the returned search results can have a great impact on which links are used. Typically A user is less likely to click on a link low in the ranking, independent of how relevant it is (Joachims, 2002, pg3). Observations of user behaviors illustrate that most users click more often on the first page of ranked results. Using the index noted in Table 1, we can examine a sample query. If the user were to submit Apple the index would yield two pages, page 1 and page 4. In this case the Primary Term vector yields little information other than the word used in or as query four times, and that it has not been identified as part of a long term or short term information need. The Avatar value does not signify a potential interest in the topic of Apple either. In this case, we have to rely on the Page-Word Vector where we can see that the word has similar frequency and distinctiveness values. The in-page importance value for page 4 is higher, but page 1 click value is higher. However, lets assume that the query was Gorilla Zebra. Clearly, page 2 would be displayed. If there were multiple matches other than page 2, values contain in both vectors would come into play. Other pages that contained one word and not the other could be displayed in a different format. As not to rely on linear forms of ranking, we are using the values stored within the vectors instead, to help the user make their own judgment on relevance in 41
conjunction with the 3D aspects afforded by the environment. Once the appropriate search results have been determined, pages are then represented by spheres near the main virtual browsing object, that when clicked by the avatar, launch the page in the objects window much like a hyperlink. Figure 1 is a sample example. For illustration purposes, the spheres are numbered. Each sphere (which represents a search result), will yield particular information about the relevance of the page, depending on the values contained in the vectors. For instance, the location of the sphere could indicate the frequency of the query term in the page. The higher the in-page importance value for a word could be represented by the spheres height. Color, sound depth, movement and gravity are all being evaluated as a means to convey information about which pages may be more useful.
Search Agent
As the user interacts with the search agent, the agent will build its index of known pages and also further incorporate the interests of the user. The browsing object can capture data about how the avatar is interacting with the page, such as the avatars positioning, which pages were clicked, and activity metrics about the avatars camera control and various timestamp data.
Figure 1: Sample Browsing Object Using this information, past user queries and data from previously used pages, the agent also operates behind the scenes when not in use by proactively searching adding pages to its index that it determines may be useful to the individual user. These proactively-derived pages are part of the agents autonomous search feature. The Agent is a separate program communicates with the browsing object in SL, also interacting directly with the web. As current queries are submitted, the ranking module sends page information to be displayed to the browsing Object.
More research is needed to further improve and expand the capabilities of the model, as well as establishing a formal method for evaluating the quality of search results. A detailed study on how users interact with the agent through the virtual web browser will be done. As a result, how well the agent is able to determine their interests and provide relevant results for their needs will be studied. The overall goal is to see if there is measureable improvement in user search by use of the virtual search agent and corresponding Second Life environment, in comparison to the use of standard web search interface. As the pervasiveness of 3D virtual worlds grow coupled with the need for easily accessible information in a world of ever increasing data, new innovative strategies will be useful for managing and understanding content. Through this research, we see promising potential in addressing these needs by improving both the efficiency and effectiveness of the users search experience. Figure 2: System Overview
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank Mandy Medusa for her programming assistance in this project.
Experimental Setup
To gain insight into the effectiveness of our virtual browser, we shall address the following points related to user interaction: 1) the agent interface and 2) the personalization algorithm. As part of our initial pilot study, we will gain feedback on user perceptions on both of these points, and later conduct a more in-depth study comparing the usage of the virtual browser with that of traditional web search methods. First, we will experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through user observation, surveys and through post-test interviews. We will ask five to ten participants to use the program over a period of time in order to study how well the agent can identify their overall search interests, how they use the search agent, and how accurately it rates the results. Later observations will involve participants being assessed through task-based searches for comparison. At the conclusion of the study results from user observation, agent data collection, surveys and interview data will be analyzed and compared.
REFERENCES
Agichtein E. Brill, E. Dumais, S. Ragno,R. (2006). Learning User Interaction Models for Predicting Web Search Result Preferences. SIGIR 06. Seattle Washington, USA ACM. Brin, S. Page, L. (1998). The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hyper textual Web Search Engine. In WWW7, 107-117, 1998. Braman, J. Vincenti, G. Arboleda-Diaz, A. Jinman, A. (2009). Learning Computer Science Fundamentals through Virtual Environments. 3rd International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing: HCI International 2009, July 19-24, 2009, San Diego, CA Dunning, T. (1993).Accurate methods for the statistics of surprise and coincidence. Computational Linguistics 19(1): 61-74. Joachims, T. (2002). Optimizing Search Engines Using Clickthrough Data. SIGKDD Alberta, Canada ACM. Leech, G. Rayson, P. Wilson, A. (2001). Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English. Pearson Education Limited. Great Britain. ISBN-10: 0-582-32007-0 Murugesan, S. (2010). Web X.0: A Road Map. Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications. Murugesan (Ed) IGI Global. Salton, G. Wong A., Yang C. S. (1975). A Vector Space Model for Automatic Indexing. Communications of the ACM, vol. 18, nr. 11, pages 613620. Teevan, J. Dumais, S. Horvitz, E. (2005). Beyond the Commons: Investigating the Value of Personalization Web Search. Proceedings of the Workshop on New Technologies for Personalized Information Access. Vincenti, G. Braman, J. (2010). Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments: Applying Dynamic Elements to the Modern Classroom. Information Science Reference. Hershey PA, USA
Future Work and Conclusions

As virtual worlds like Second Life, have potential beyond their intended scope, we foresee many new creative and innovative usages of these technologies in the future. As we begin to see a deeper integration of virtual worlds in multiple facets of computer usage, users will use these spaces in new ways and have high expectations in their available features. Search in particular is a feature that many virtual worlds use to help users find places to visit, other users, and virtual goods and services, but not in a manner to typically search for content outside of the environment itself. In our project we are investigating search in the context of personalization using the visual capabilities afforded by virtual environments to view results. 42
The P.R.O.S.E. (Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments) Project: Conducting In-World Behavioral Research on the Metaverse
Richard L. Gilbert, PhD
Department of Psychology richard.gilbert@lmu.edu University Hall, Suite 4700
Loyola Marymount
Univeristy One LMU Drive Los Angeles, California 90045-2659
The P.R.O.S.E. (Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments) Project was established to investigate the psychology of 3D virtual worlds. Under the auspices of the project, a systematic program of in-world behavioral research is being conducted that addresses three core questions related to the psychology of 3D immersive environments: What are the characteristics of active participants in virtual worlds? Do the principles of psychology that operate in the real world also apply to the virtual world? Do experiences in the virtual world have the capacity to influence behavior and subjective experience in the real world? The current paper describes a series of studies that examine each of these questions and outlines future directions for the project. If projections for a highly populated, ubiquitously accessible (web-based), and seamlessly integrated (interoperable) network of virtual worlds are born out, a new realm of psychological reality and interaction will have been created that will be increasingly important for behavioral scientists to investigate and understand.
Introduction
In recent years, a new phase or iteration of the Internet and World Wide Web, the Immersive Internet (Driver & Driver, 2008) and Web 3-D, has been emerging. In this latest phase of cyberspace, individuals go beyond accessing information via two-dimensional web pages (The Informational Internet and Web 1.0) or interacting via chat rooms, wikis, and social networking sites (The Interactive Internet and Web 2.0) and construct avatars (3-dimensional digital representations of the self) that operate within intricate, increasingly vivid, 3-D online environments which collectively form the metaverse. Discussions of the metaverse most often focus on the computer science that underlies the creation and
operation of 3D virtual platforms, the graphical interface that determines its aesthetic qualities and sense of realism, and the social, educational, and commercial applications that structure the activities of its users. However, there has been growing recognition that the advent of interactive 3D graphical environments, like other radical innovations in media and communications such as radio, telephony, television, and personal computing, etc., is a technical advance with major implications for human psychology, particularly in the areas of social interaction and personality and identity (Gilbert, 2009). In the social domain, the rise of immersive social spaces has produced a significant increase in the power and realism of remote interactions. While text-based remote interactions have been available since the introduction of written letters centuries ago, and telephonic and video-based mediators of distance interaction have been used for years, the introduction of three-dimensional social spaces has added a powerful experience of embodiment and physical presence to remote interactions. For the first time, individuals have a sense of being inside, inhabiting, or residing within the remote environment rather than being outside of it, thus intensifying their psychological experience. While the senses of taste, smell, and touch remain largely exclusive to proximate interaction (without the use of haptic devices), the addition of a compelling bodily sense to remote interaction constitutes a significant narrowing of the distinction between proximate/visceral and distant/virtual human interaction. Ongoing progress in the graphical realism of immersive environments will continue to lessen the experiential divide between real and virtual environments and create a parallel, competing, context for human interaction.
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With respect to personality and identity, users of immersive environments are able to create avatars whose physical and/or psychological qualities are very different from their human form. This new capacity has major implications for the nature of human identity. In real life, an individual's identity is closely linked to physical characteristics such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and health as well as his or her inborn temperament and personality traits. However, the ability for participants in immersive environments to customize their avatar (or avatars) into almost any form of imagined self involves an unprecedented separation between the body, consciousness, and identity. In the future, as individuals spend more time in immersive environments and grow increasingly accustomed to creating and operating digital representations, it is possible that they will experience themselves more as an organization of multiple diverse identities rather than as a more stable, unitary entity. psychologically and socially complex. These intricate immersive environments stand at the border of virtual games and virtual worlds.) In investigating the psychology of virtual worlds, three broad areas of research have been defined within The P.R.O.S.E. Project: 1. What are the characteristics of active participants in virtual worlds (i.e., their demographic, social, personality, behavioral, and mental health characteristics)? 2. Is there cross-realm generality or specificity? -> Do the principles of psychology (i.e., of behavior and subjective experience) that operate in the real world also operate in the virtual world? 3. Is there a capacity for psychological influence? Do experiences in virtual worlds have the capacity to influence behavior and subjective experience in the real world?
The P.R.O.S.E. Project: Mission and Goals

In recognition of the psychological significance of interactive 3D graphical environments, The P.R.O.S.E. (Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments) Project was formed in 2008 to conduct a systematic program of empirical studies on the psychology of virtual worlds. While the definition of what constitutes a virtual world is a subject of controversy, a virtual world can be defined as a digital environment that: Has a 3-D Graphical Interface (an environment with a text interface alone does not constitute a full virtual world.) Supports Massive Multi-User Remote Interactivity (simultaneous interactivity between large numbers of users in remote physical locations.) Is Persistent (the virtual environment continues to operate even when a particular user is not connected.) Is Immersive (the environments level of graphical realism creates an experience of psychological presence. Users have a sense of being inside, inhabiting, or residing within the digital environment rather than being outside of it, thus intensifying their psychological experience.) Emphasizes User-Generated Activities and Goals. (In contrast to immersive games, where goals -such as amassing points, overcoming an enemy, or reaching a destination - are built into the program, virtual worlds provide a more open-ended setting where, similar to real life, users can define their own activities and goals. However, there are some immersive games such as World of WarCraft that include specific goals for the users but are still
Locations and Research Methodology

The P.R.O.S.E. Project has a presence in both the physical and the virtual world. The physical lab is housed within a university psychology department and contains a set of workspaces with computers equipped to efficiently run the graphically intensive programs that operate 3D virtual worlds. The virtual P.R.O.S.E. lab is located in the virtual world of Second Life. It is specifically housed within the Institute of Virtual Studies, one of the major structures within the Psychology Island region of Second Life that was designed and constructed by the P.R.O.S.E. Project. While the P.R.O.S.E. Project is interested in studying the psychology of virtual worlds across the full range of platforms, a decision was made to base it within Second Life because this setting currently offers the most psychologically and culturally rich immersive environment within the metaverse. Hopefully, in the future there will be interoperability between platforms and it will be possible for a lab based in one platform to use avatars from other immersive worlds without having to fund and operate multiple virtual labs. The P.R.O.S.E. lab in Second Life is equipped with 30 computer stations consisting of a virtual computer, desk and chair. Avatars who come to Psychology Island to participate in a research study are prompted (either by an avatar research assistant or a digital notecard) to sit at one of these stations and click on the virtual computer screen. When they do so, a numbered menu of research study topics appears (e.g. addiction, personality, sexuality, relationships, etc.) and they are asked to select the number that corresponds to the study they are currently participating in. A link is then
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activated that takes them to an online survey site (www.qualtrics.com) that contains an IRB approved informed consent followed by a set of measures for them to complete. When the measures are completed, the data can be automatically downloaded from the Qualtrics site to SPSS for statistical analyses. In addition, the Institute of Virtual Studies contains a set of individual interview rooms and group rooms for focus groups in case a particular study calls for obtaining qualitative as well as quantitative data. The project uses a multi-method approach with financial incentives to recruit research participants. Participants are recruited via posted announcements in the Second Life Events Calendar, notices sent out by heads of large groups representing major constituencies in Second Life (e.g. social, business, educational, and artist networks), a CNN Report (www.ireport.com, a website where citizen journalists can post stories), and word-of-mouth communication. Each method of recruitment offers potential participants the opportunity to come to a virtual research lab located within Second Life and earn 1000 Lindens (virtual currency equivalent to slightly less than four U.S. dollars) for completing approximately 30-60 minutes of measures on a topic related to the psychology of Second Life. The decision to pay participants 1000 Lindens per study was based upon pilot data that indicated that this level of reimbursement would constitute a robust inducement in the micro-economy of the virtual environment. Consistent with this finding, acquiring data for a study involving several hundred participants was generally accomplished in a matter of a few days, a length of time that represents a considerable increase in efficiency over the typical process of data collection in a real world setting. The recruitment notices also specify that the participants avatar must have had at least six months residency in Second Life. This minimal residency requirement ensured that all data were derived from at least moderately experienced users as opposed to newcomers with unstable patterns of behavior and use of the virtual environment. This reasoning parallels that of Young (1998), who advised that measures of Internet behavior should be used cautiously with novice users in their first 6 months of exposure to the medium. Essentially, the six-month minimum duration requirement used in the current studies extends Youngs methodological guideline from Internet research conducted within Internet/Web 1.0 to the emerging 3Dimensional Internet and Web. Across multiple studies, employing these recruitment methods tended to produce samples that had more females (percentages in the mid-50s) than males (percentages on the mid to low 40s). A large majority of participants, approximately 90%, were in the age range of18 - 49 and resided in North America or Europe. Most participants had completed at least a high school diploma or equivalent (about 90%), while approximately 40% had either a 2-year or a 4-year college degree, and about 10% held a graduate degree. With regard to the length and extent of their participation in Second Life the samples were usually divided in thirds according to whether they had been in Second Life for 6 months to a year, one to two years, or two to three years. Only a few participants had been inworld residents for over 3 years. Finally, almost all of the participants were active users of the virtual environment, with approximately 90% reporting that they logged on to Second Life on a consistent basis (i.e., daily, almost everyday, or several times a week.) These sample characteristics match previous research regarding the demographics of Second Life users. An internal report by Linden Labs conducted in 2008 found that 60% of Second Life users were between 18 and 34 years of age and a survey by Market Truths in 2009 found that over one half of Second Life users were female, Thus, while the current sampling methods for behavioral research in virtual world settings are subject to the selection biases that affect all forms of on-line studies, there is some support that the current samples are representative and thus generalizable to the larger population of Second Life users. Current Research Studies The information below summarizes the subject matter, methodology, major findings (if available), and current publication status of six studies conducted under the auspices of the P.R.O.S.E Project in the last year, arranged according to which major research area they primarily address. Collectively, they provide an overview of the work being done within the P.R.O.S.E. lab. Detailed considerations of the methods, analyses, and results of the individual studies are contained in the presentations and papers noted in the references. A. What are the Characteristics of Active Participants in Virtual Worlds? Psychological and Social Adjustment of Active Users of Second Life. The introduction of new forms of media and communications is often accompanied by concerns about its negative impact on society and the emotional makeup of its early adopters. This process was evident with the rise popular novels, radio, television, and later
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digital technologies such as social networking. Currently, a similar process seems to be occurring with respect to emerging 3D virtual worlds, where media accounts of the metaverse generally focus on the more prurient and sensational aspects of immersive digital worlds and raise questions about the emotional makeup of participants in these settings. In order to empirically evaluate the later issue, this study administered an extensive battery of mental health and social adjustment measures to 225 active users of Second Life and compared their scores to normative data for these measures obtained on real life (RL) samples. Data collection for this study has been completed and statistical analyses are currently being conducted to evaluate the prediction that no significant differences in mental health or social adjustment will be found between active users of 3D virtual worlds and nonparticipants in immersive digital environments. B. Do the Principles of Behavior and Subjective Experience found in the Real World also Apply to the Virtual World? Addiction to the 3-Dimensional Internet: Estimated Prevalence and Relationship to Real World Addictions Multiple studies using diverse samples indicate that, on average, 3.6% of adolescents and young adults and 1% of older adults demonstrate severe levels of problematic involvement with non-immersive Internet activities (i.e., web surfing, social networking), with problematic involvement defined as usage that cannot be controlled and causes feelings of distress and impairment of daily activities. These studies also indicate that 19.1% of adolescents and young adults and 5% of older adults have moderate or at-risk levels of usage for nonimmersive Internet applications. Moreover, many individuals who exhibit problematic levels of Internet usage show evidence of cross-addictions with various real life addictions (e.g., drug and/or alcohol abuse, compulsive gambling, eating, or shopping, etc.) Some have suggested that because of the assumed power of the immersive experience, the rates of severe and moderate levels of problematic Internet usage would be higher for participants in 3D virtual environments. To test this prediction, 213 participants, all of whom had been residents of Second Life for at least 6 months, were administered the Internet Addiction Test, the most widely used measure of compulsive Internet use (Young, 1998). The results indicated that 4.2% and 29.1% of adults scored in the severe and moderate/at risk range of the measure, respectively. In addition to providing the first estimates of prevalence for problematic usage of 3D virtual settings, the results indicated that the finding of co-morbidity or crossaddiction between Internet addiction and various forms of real world addictions/compulsions also applies to the 3-Dimensional Internet. This research is currently under review for publication by Addiction Research and Theory. Sexuality in the 3-Dimensional Internet and Its Relationship to Real World Sexuality. 217 Subjects completed the Second Life Sexuality Survey (Gonzalez & Gilbert, 2009) to obtain descriptive information about sexuality within the virtual world. They also completed a measure of their current and historical RL sexuality in order to assess the relationship between 3D and real life sexual satisfaction (Is your Second Life sexuality more satisfying than your Real Life sexuality?) and sexual feelings (I feel sexually confident more in Second Life, more in Real Life, or about the same in both realms?) The results indicate a wide range of common and experimental sexual practices in Second Life, with sexual involvement occurring at faster pace and with a larger number of partners than in real life, and in a variety of relationship contexts from casual dating to cohabitation and virtual marriage. Participants were evenly split on which realm was more sexually satisfying, had similar sexual feelings across the real and virtual environments, and tended to view the two domains of sexual experience as largely independent, This research has been presented at the 2010 meeting of the American Psychological Association (Gonzalez, Gilbert, & Murphy, 2010) and is currently under review for publication in Psychology and Sexuality.Intimate Relationships in the 3-Dimensional Internet: Communication Patterns, Satisfaction Levels, and Comparisons to Real Life Relationships. This study investigated 1) similarities and differences between intimate relationships in Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL) with regard to their emotional realism, communication patterns, satisfaction levels, and partner personality characteristics and 2) the impact of Second Life relationships on intimate partners in Real Life. Approximately 200 participants reported that they viewed their Second Life relationships and their feelings in these relationships as just as real as their RL relationships (e.g., Relationships in SL are just as real as relationships in RL; Falling in love in Second Life is the same as falling in live in real life.). They also indicated that there was more constructive communication, higher levels of satisfaction, and more positive personality traits with their Second Life
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partners, indicating that Second Life relationships often have a more idealized quality than Real Life relationships. With respect to the inter-relationship between the two realms, participants reported negative impacts on their real life relationships due to their virtual relationship in about a quarter of the cases (e.g., Ive had problems with my RL partner because of my SL relationship.) and positive feelings toward their Second Life partner that rivaled or exceed those for their real life partner in a quarter to a half of the cases (e.g., I love my SL and RL partners equally; I have a stronger connection with my SL partner). In sum, intimate relationships in Second Life were found to have a both a quality of realism and idealization and, in a meaningful number of cases, serve as a rival to a cooccurring real life relationship. This research has been presented at the 2010 meeting of the American Psychological Association (Murphy, Gilbert, & Avalos, 2010) and is currently under review for publication in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Multiple Personality Order: Physical and Personality Characteristics across Multiple Identities of Self, Primary Avatar, and Alt(s). Throughout history, human beings have demonstrated an interest in modifying aspects of their identity and experimenting with alternative personas. Early expressions of this tendency generally involved brief alterations of identity such as: participating in ceremonial rituals in which participants concealed their true selves behind elaborate masks and costumes, performing roles that were discrepant with ones daily persona following the rise of the formal theater, and attending masquerade balls that were popularized during the Renaissance. In more recent times, examples can be found of elaborate and lengthier efforts to modify core aspects of identity such as gender (De Pauw, 1981; Royster, 2006), race (Griffin, 1961), and social class (Camigliano, 1983; Ehrenreich, 2001; Spurlock, 2005). Now, with the coming of the digital age it has become far easier to experiment with alternative personas and different components of identity. This is especially true in the context of the emerging Immersive Internet and the rise of 3D virtual worlds where individuals can create an avatar or multiple avatars (alts) depicting almost any form of imagined self, including those that have physical and/or psychological traits that depart from their real life self. The current study compared the physical, personality, and social-emotional characteristics of the human driver (real self), primary avatar, and (if applicable) the most used alt of 225 active users of Second Life in order to investigate the dynamics of personality systems composed of multiple, constituent offline and in-world identities. In addition, it explored the motivations and primary practices related to the use of alts. Specifically, participants completed a measure of Physical Characteristics (including sex, age, hair color, eye color, and body type); The Big Five Personality Inventory (John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991); a measure of perceived Social Connectedness (Lee & Robbins, 2001); the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et. al., 1985) and, if applicable, the Alt Usage Questionnaire (Nunnally & Gilbert, 2009). This later measure consists of 13 items that assess the number of alts used by a participant, how frequently participants logged in as an alt, their preferred activities when using an alt, their motivations for a having an alt, and if they ever used an alt to engage in identity experimentations (e.g. varying the age, gender, or racial characteristics of the real self. Data collection has been completed for this study and statistical analyses are currently being finalized. Preliminary findings indicate that the average Second Life user has 2 alts in addition to a primary avatar and is thus managing an identity system composed of 4constituent offline and in-world identities. With respect to the relationship between the real self and the primary avatar, the physical characteristics most often changed are eye color, body type, and age, with the avatar usually slimmer and younger than the real life self. In addition, personality and social -emotional ratings were slightly more positive for the avatar indicating that the primary avatar is often an extension of the RL self, but in a somewhat idealized form. With respect to alts, the primary motivations for their use appear related to a desire for anonymity in the virtual world, interpersonal goals (e.g., spying or cheating on a romantic partner), and as a vehicle for role-playing and identity experimentation including a shift in style of dress, gender, body type, sexual orientation, age, or race. In sum, the online identity system seems to maintain both a degree of constancy with the real life self and, primarily through the use of alts, a tendency to engage in identity variation. A chapter describing this research is currently in press for an edited volume entitled Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds to be published in 2011 by Springer. C. Do Experiences in the Virtual World have the Capacity to influence Behavior and Subjective Experience in the Real World?
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Psychological Effects of Using a Fully-Enabled Avatar on Individuals with Real Life Disabilities. This study seeks to determine whether individuals with significant physical or medical disabilities in real life derive socialemotional benefits from interacting in a threedimensional virtual world with a healthy, fully enabled, avatar. Specifically, do individuals with physical conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, advanced-stage cancer, or fibromyalgia experience a reduction in self-reported anxiety and depression, and an increase in self-esteem and life satisfaction, by employing an avatar that has no physical impairments. Participants in the study are newcomers to Second Life (defined as individuals who have joined Second Life within the past 7 days) who have a significant physical or medical disability. They are recruited from individuals who select Virtual Ability Island (a disability support region) as a gateway or entry point into Second Life when they first join the virtual world. At the conclusion of a one-hour basic orientation to Second Life (where they will learn the essentials of inworld movement and communication) they are offered an opportunity to have their avatars teleport (travel) to the P.R.O.S.E. project virtual research lab and complete a series of pre-test measures assessing the type and severity of their real world disability and various areas of psychological well-being and adjustment including: levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, social connectedness, social support, self-esteem, and overall life satisfaction. Subsequently, after a participant had been in Second Life for 3 months, the battery of measures was re-administered to determine if beneficial outcomes had occurred during their time in-world. At this time, all pre-test batteries have been administered and post-test assessments are ongoing. Data collection for this study is anticipated to conclude in the fall of 2010 at which time statistical analyses will begin. strong elements of idealization present in the virtual setting (e.g., in the physical and psychological characteristics of avatars, and in the communication and satisfaction levels found in virtual relationships.) A. The Next Set of Studies In addition to completing the data collection, analyses, and manuscript preparation for the studies described above, researchers affiliated with the P.R.O.S.E. Project are currently selecting topics and developing designs for a new set of studies with data collection anticipated to begin in early 2011. This new set of studies will most likely concentrate on the general issue begun with the disability study (i.e., can experiences in the virtual world influence behavior and subjective experience in the real world). More specifically, a set of studies entitled Diversity Simulations are under final consideration. These studies all involve having participants create and operate avatars that have a major component of identity that is discrepant with their real life identities. For example, one study might have participants create a race-discrepant avatar; another one might have them create an avatar that is confined to a wheel chair; and another might have them operate an avatar with a different sexual orientation than their real life self, etc. With respect to dependent measures, two types of outcomes would be explored: 1) does operating an identity-discrepant avatar change behavior or attitudes in the virtual environment and 2) does it impact real life attitudes and behavior (e.g., lowering scores on measure of prejudice or discrimination; altering views of real life legislation or public policy issues related to the type of identity variation used in the study). B. Collaboration The Director of the P.R.O.S.E. Project also serves as the co-chair and charter author of the Psychology of Immersive Environments (PIE) Working Group, one of the core groups within the Immersive Education Initiative (http://MediaGrid.org/groups/technology/PIE.TWG.) The PIE working group provides a context for collaborative work on the psychology of 3D immersive environments with nationally and internationally based researchers, mental health practitioners, and experienced users of 3D virtual platforms. Researchers at other institutions who become involved in collaborative research with The P.R.O.S.E. Project through the PIE working group have access to the P.R.O.S.E. virtual lab and its resources for recruiting avatar-participants in the virtual world. Currently, the PIE working group is in the process of collecting examples of psychologically beneficial uses of virtual world platforms in preparation for creating 2D and 3D
Future Directions
Some general conclusions can be gleaned from the studies conducted to date. The graphical sophistication of advanced virtual settings such as Second Life appear sufficient to psychologically engage the user and create a sense of psychological realism that goes beyond a game or idle fantasy. At times this sense of realism rises to a level where the immersive environment serves as a rival for the users involvement and emotional investment in his or her material existence. While the experience and impact of immersive virtual worlds have a realistic quality, there are also
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searchable, expandable applications. repositories of beneficial the establishment of standardized file formats, interoperability between platforms will be possible. If all of these projections are borne out, the vision of a highly populated, ubiquitously available, and seamlessly integrated network of virtual worlds (i.e., a fully- realized metaverse) will have been achieved and a new realm of psychological reality and interaction will have been created. At the same time, while avatars are digital entities, their interactions and relationships are ultimately dictated by the thoughts and feelings of a real life person. Thus, the study of avatar-mediated interaction has the potential not only to illuminate the dynamics of a new kind of digital reality but to address aspects of human psychology that are relevant across multiple realms of identity.
Conclusion
In-world behavioral research on the metaverse is important to social scientists for several reasons. First, a variety of metrics support the view that the rise of 3D virtual platforms represents a new phase in the history of the Internet rather than something ephemeral or faddish. In the past year the number of registered avatars in Second Life has increased from approximately 13 million to 20 million, with proportionate growth in the size of the virtual world and its number of active participants. This reflects dramatic growth from a registration base of approximately one million avatars less than five years ago (Terdiman, 2006). In addition, while Second Life is the most prominent 3D virtual world, there are other immersive worlds currently in existence or in the later stages of development that are, or will be, contributing to further acceleration in the global population of avatars. Consistent with this view, a number of forecasts from major research organizations have predicted that rapid growth of 3D virtual environments will occur in the near future. These include predictions from Gartner Research that, by the end of 2011, 80% of Internet users-- 1.6 billion of out of 2 billion users worldwide will have experimented with a presence in a virtual world such as Second Life (Gartner Research, 2007). If even a fraction of this predicted growth takes place, it is inevitable that the amount of social interaction occurring in 3D virtual environments will significantly expand, and engaging in avatar-mediated social relationships may become as commonplace as having a Facebook page and participating in other Web 2.0 modes of social interaction. However, it not just the raw number of worldwide avatars that make studying the psychology of virtual worlds important to behavioral scientists. With anticipated improvements in browser capabilities, virtual worlds may soon navigate to the web making them almost ubiquitously available. In addition, with http://thinkbalm.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/thinkbal m-immersive-internet-report Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books. Gartner Research (2007). 80 percent of active Internet users will have a "Second Life" in the virtual world by the end of 2011. Presentation during the Gartner
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Symposium/ITxpo 2007 Emerging Trends. Retrieved July 23, 2009 from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503861 Gilbert, R. (2009). The psychology of immersive environments charter. The Immersive Education Initiative. Article posted to http://MediaGrid.org/groups/technology/PIE.TWG
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Gonzalez, M., & Gilbert, R. (2009). The Second Life sexuality survey. Unpublished measure. (Available from Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments [P.R.O.S.E.] c/o Dr. Richard Gilbert, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Suite 4700, Los Angeles, CA, 90045). Griffin, J.H. (1961). Black like me. Houghton Mifflin. John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research. Lee, R. M., & Robbins, S. B. (2001). Social connectedness, dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors, and psychological distress: Testing a mediator model. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48(3), 310-318. Nunnaly, J., & Gilbert, R. (2009). Alt Usage Questionnaire. Unpublished measure. (Available from the Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments [P.R.O.S.E.] Project, c/o Dr. Richard Gilbert, Loyola Marymount University, One LMU Drive, Suite 4700, Los Angeles, CA. 90045). Royster, P. (2006). The life and surprising adventures of Mary Ann Talbot in the name of John Taylor (1809). Retrieved April 11, 2010, from University of NebraskaLincoln, Library Science Web site: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/32/ Second Life. (2009). Market Truths Limited. Retrieved May 3, 2009, from http://sl.markettruths.com/ Spurlock, M. (Producer). (2005). 30 Days: Living on Minimum Wage [Television series]. USA: FX Network. Terdiman, D. (2006). Second Life tops 1 million. CNET News Blog. Retrieved July 23, 2009 from http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6127230-7.html Young, K. (1998). Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 1, 237-244.
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Second Life as a research environment: Avatar-to-Avatar interviews.

Eman Gadalla
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB, UK. Thanks to the Internet nearly a billion individuals worldwide have the possibility to communicate in various ways (Ondrejka, 2005), making possible the rapid increase in use of spatial three-dimensional interfaces for multiplayer games, groupware systems, and multi-user chat systems(Gerhard, Moore and Hobbs, 2004). Online virtual worlds (VWs) is a rapidly developing set of technologies which may grow to be the standard interface to the informational universe of the Web, and extremely change the way humans communicate with information constructs and with each other (Djorgovski et al., 2009). Generally, virtual environments like Second Life where people can work and interact in a somewhat realistic manner are becoming important tools for social networking, entertainment. Moreover, there has been an increasing interest in nongame applications of virtual world technology. There has been progress on customer adoption, simulation, training, brand building, and numerous new start ups that could potentially take virtual world technology into the mainstream. Early investments in virtual world technology from customers started to be successful, providing the much-needed success stories and reference accounts for the industry. Major consumer brands, educators, corporations and governments all took notice of virtual worlds and began evaluating the potential of the technology for their own uses (Renaud and Kane, 2008). Just as the Web and the browser technology have altered the world, and almost every aspect of modern society, including scientific research, education, immersive virtual environments create some intriguing novel possibilities for research (Djorgovski et al, 2009). Particularly, these environments have great potential as sites for research in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences, as well as in human-centred computer science as they provide researchers in different fields a unique opportunity to construct an environment similar to real world (Bainbridge et al, 2007; Bloomfield, 2007). Due to the virtual worlds ability to stimulate the realism of physical places and the existing high level social interactions within them, it is currently attracting the attention of scholars from different disciplines, such as legal (Grimmelmann 2004), psychology (Gorini, Gaggioli and Riva 2007), sociology (Bainbridge 2007), economics (Chesney Chuah and Hoffmann 2007), and communication (Yee et al. 2007). The aim of the paper is to discuss the nature and the potential virtual interviews in Second Life as a research tool, describing some of its characteristics, advantages, and limitations concluding with some suggestions on how to improve the interviewing process in Second Life. The prime objective is to investigate the nature of 51 conducting virtual interviews in Second Life and identify the main characteristics that distinguish virtual interviews from face to face; this can be achieved through answering the following questions: 1- What are the advantages of using Second Life as a method for collecting data through interviews (if any)? 2- What are the disadvantages of using Second Life as a method for collecting data through interviews (if any)? 3- How to improve the interviewing process in Second Life?
Collaborative virtual environments: Second Life.

A collaborative virtual environment (CVE) is a computer-generated, multi-user, three-dimensional interface in which users can also experience other participants as being present in the environment (Schroeder 2002). Each user interacts freely with the simulated environment through his or her individual avatar, defined as a representation of the users identity within the computer environment (Gerhard et al., 2004). Collaborative Virtual Environment technologies allow people to come together virtually and engage with each other, either for work-related purposes or social interaction and play. Benford et al. (1995) suggests that CVEs have a number of characteristics: navigation, embodiment, communication, and interaction. Similarly, Churchill et al (1998) argues that CVEs support shared context, awareness of others, negotiation and communication, and flexible and multiple viewpoints. Through these features, CVEs have the potential to address the practical collaborative needs of geographically dispersed users (Garau 2003). Due to these distinctive features CVEs have successfully been used in a number of application areas such as conferencing, meetings, education, simulation and training, shared visualisation and collaborative design, social communities, entertainment (e.g., multiplayer games) and therapy (Garau, 2003; Schroeder, 2002). Generally, Rossney (1996) emphasized that one of the main aspects that distinguishes collaborative virtual environments from other social spaces is providing a tangible representative form of the user; the avatar. The avatar as a bodily presence in virtual space provides a focus for conversation and social interaction (Slater et al., 2000). Moreover, Donath (1998) advocated that avatars used as a communication tool between users can have the equivalent effect of a face-to-face communication given the fact that avatars can talk to each other. Avatars do not necessarily have to be a true representation of the user; it might be an entirely abstract shape, a cartoon character or a humanlike representation. Additionally, Gerhard et al., (2004) pointed out the various useful properties such as

identity, presence, subordination, authority, and social facilitation, gained from using avatars in CVEs. Since each avatar is both part of the perceived environment and represents the user to others, CVEs potentially offer a high level of mutual awareness (Slater and Wilbur 1997). Second Life (www.secondlife.com) is a 3D virtual world founded in 2003 and managed by the San Franciscobased company Linden Research Inc. As mentioned by Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO of Linden Lab, Second Life offers a truly collaborative, immersive, and open-ended entertainment experience. Besides doing everything that is possible and not possible in real life, Second life gives users the opportunity to create content (e.g., to design virtual clothing, furniture items, buildingsetc). Second Life is the largest adult freeform virtual world, home to 12 million avatars (IOWA State University, 2008). It is addressed by Wagner 2008 that the reason behind Second Life success is its simple usercentred philosophy. Instead of attempting to control the users activities the creators of Second Life turned them loose. Everything found in SLs landscape, including stores, businesses, houses, office buildings, campuses, island villas, night clubs, and jewellery, are all constructed by users themselves (Cross, ODriscoll, & Trondsen, 2007). Moreover, users are given intellectual rights to their creations and are able to sell them to others in exchange for Linden Dollars, a virtual currency traded against the U.S. Dollar on the Second Life Exchange. Some users are very successful in gaining profits which can be transformed to real money to complement their real life income. Thus, these 3 transactions can create a strong economic connection between the virtual and the real world. When Second Life was launched, it had nothing inside; there was nothing to see. However, SL now is considered the most prominent example of virtual worlds and the largest virtual world for the adult age group and the most well-known of the freeform virtual worlds (KZero, 2008). Currently in Second Life, there are more than 100 real-life brands in different fields of industries, including automative, professional services and consumer goods and travel (KZero, 2007; New Business Horizons, 2009). In conclusion, because of the relative novelty of such environments, both marketing and academic research related to Second Life is in its nascent stages and is just beginning to fully articulate the theories, models and tools for conducting research and reaching understanding. More evidence is necessary to investigate the applicability of using Second Life as a research environment and to shed greater light on how to make the most of this opportunity. Bloomfield (2007) advocated that the ability of virtual worlds to simulate both the laws of physics as well as economic systems allows virtual worlds to provide a good basis for business research. Currently, substantial research has concluded that social, psycho-physical and economic behaviours enacted in virtual worlds are consistent with real life behaviours (e.g. Miller 2007; Chesney et al. 2007; Yee et al. 2007). Particularly, Massara et al, (2009) pointed out that virtual worlds are externally valid contexts for marketing research. They based their research on the social response theory of consumer behaviour, which predicts that the use of social cues in human-computer interaction (i.e., language, human voice, interactivity, social role and etc.), elicit more sincere responses (Moon 2000; Moon 2003) and promotes behavior which commonly take place in human-human interactions (Wang et al. 2007). They found preliminary evidence indicating that research conducted in virtual worlds can produce similar pattern of results to research conducted in real world but with the advantage of increased efficiency and control. Due to this consistency across real and virtual environments, virtual worlds can serve as laboratory environments for furthering consumer knowledge (Hemp 2006; Novak 2007; 2008) and more generally can serve as a platform for scientific research (Bainbridge 2007, Djorgovski et al 2009, Miller 2007). Furthermore, Virtual worlds such as Second Life support internal economies with convertible currencies, intellectual property and free market exchange (Massara and Novak 2008). The main effect of this characteristic is increased realism and higher and justified motivation to play (Ondrejka 2007). Earning a salary in the virtual world, for example through research incentives, gives the player purchasing power within it. On the other hand, the tremendous research potential of virtual worlds cannot obscure the fact that there are problems as well. There is a danger that virtual worlds will encourage the profession of the survey responder (Sparrow 2007). Unfortunately this problem has hindered traditional online attitudinal research, and can considerably delay the development of this type of research in virtual worlds. To deal with such a problem it will be necessary to continuously check for participants motivation, controlling for the accuracy of their answers. Finally, Research conducted in virtual worlds can provide researchers with more advantages over both traditional studies (cost advantages) and pure web-based studies (control advantages). Generally, research in virtual worlds overcomes the trade-off between the efficiency of online surveys and the effectiveness of traditional research, qualifying as a possible innovation in the social sciences (Bainbridge 2007). Virtual worlds as research settings are much richer than the traditional online websites (Massara and Novak 2008), owing to their specific characteristics. This is due to their ability to facilitate higher level of presence and more perceptual and psychological immersion which in return will increase the individuals engagement with the environment (Grigrovici, 2003; Grigrovici and 52
Second Life as a research tool:

Second Life is arguably considered the best current example of a virtual world due to the complexity and sophistication of its virtual social and economic environment. Although the rise of virtual worlds presents unique opportunities for innovative research methods (Hemp 2006, Novak 2007), little research has focused on virtual worlds like Second Life as a data collection tool.

Constantin, 2004). Likewise, Yee (2007) argued that immersion, social and achievement are considered the main reasons for user motivations to play in massively multiplayer online games like virtual worlds. Immersion relates to curiosity and escapism, social to behaving altruistically by helping others, and achievement to the desire to gain power and for the accumulation of wealth symbols and status (Yee 2007). Given these characteristics, virtual worlds are developing into complex social systems which now go well beyond a chat environment. Thus, virtual worlds empower humancomputer interaction with a visual technology which permits an immersive experience in an absolutely new way compared to the text-based cyberspace (Massara and Novak 2008). can imitate the conditions of real world (Bloomfield 2007), allowing for psycho-physical, economic and social behaviours which mimic real life behaviours (Bailenson et al. 2006; Miller 2006; Chesney, Chuah and Hoffmann 2007; Gorini, Gaggioli and Riva 2007; Yee et al. 2007). Therefore, since social rules apply to general human-computer interaction, and since virtual worlds provide such a vivid representation of real world, it is expected that behaviour in virtual world is truthful reflecting real behaviour. Accordingly, opinions provided in the context of a virtual world should not be different compared to those provided offline making virtual worlds appropriate settings for marketing research (Massara et al, 2009).
Research Design:
An exploratory study will be conducted using semistructured interviews; both face-to face and in-world. As with any method, in-depth interviews has their pros and cons. For face-to-face interviews, one of the main advantages is the free exchange of information achieved through the flexibility in addressing the research questions (Cassell and Symon, 2004) and the direct responses (Malhotra, 2004). However, a lot of time and costs are associated with this technique (Cassell and Symon, 2004). Although, Face-to-face interviews have long been the dominant interview technique in the field of qualitative research, using Second Life as a research tool to conduct interviews can also provide the researcher with numerous advantages. In undertaking in-world interviews, there is no concern about data recording (Oconnor and Madge, 2003) and transcribing (Kazmer and Xie, 2008). However, there are also a number of challenges. Responses are sometimes very short without any correct structure and this will require the researcher to spend a lot of effort and time in terms of cleaning and organizing the data (Kazmer and Xie, 2008). A purposive sample of 20 participants will be recruited for the study. One justifiable use of a purposive sample is for exploratory purposes, that is, to get different views on the dimensions of a phenomenon, to probe for possible explanations or hypotheses, and to explore constructs for dealing with particular phenomenon. Half of the interviews will be conducted online within the SL environment and the other half face-to-face, with the number of male and female participants kept consistent across the two groups. The sample composition will reflect the gender and age characteristics of the Second Life population. All participants will be active users of SL within the age group 20-50 years and had experience shopping with some brand. in that virtual environment. In addition, respondents are sought from the USA, the UK and Germany, as these three represent over 50% of SL users.
Expected Results
We argue that there might not be any evident difference between the results of online and face-to-face interviews. This expectation is based on the idea that virtual worlds 53
User Involvement in the Design of Educational Virtual Worlds

Ahmer Iqbal
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland. Email: ahmer.a.iqbal@jyu.fi.
Tuula Nousiainen
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland. Email: tuula.nousiainen@jyu.fi.
Marja Kankaanranta
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland. Email: marja.kankaanranta@jyu.fi. There have been many attempts to create virtual worlds for education;however, rarely the input from end users that is, students, teachers and principals is taken into consideration while designing these educational virtual worlds. This paper presents the initial phases of a study in which the students, teachers and principals take active part and design educational virtual worlds by themselves with the help of researchers. The paper presents the results of an online survey which was conducted to gather background information about the participants and learn about their preferences for different subjects. They were also inquired about the skills that might be useful during the design process. Keywords: Virtual worlds; user-centered design; educational technology; design. In this paper we report on the progress of the project. In the first phase, in order to better understand the participant teachers and students in this project, we conducted an online survey. Results from this survey and outcomes from one workshop with students are presented in this paper. The future phases of the project will be composed of participatory teamwork in order to build the virtual world.
User Involvement in Educational Design

Norman and Spohrer (1996) characterise instruction in terms of three dimensions: engagement, effectiveness, and viability. According to them, engagement is related to motivation and is thus a crucial factor in determining the success or failure of accomplishing the desired learning outcomes. Effectiveness refers to how much the user learns with the aid of a certain method of instruction, while viability emphasizes the requirement that instructional tools (be they technological applications or other types of teaching methods) need to accommodate different kinds of conditions and boundaries set by the real world. Our goal is to build an educational virtual world for classroom use and to define and examine its design process. To be able to address the aforementioned requirements, the design process has to involve students, teachers, principals, and educational authorities alike. Each viewpoint weighs in the use and development of educational tools and interventions to ensure such solutions that are educationally valid, bring added value to current teaching practices, are feasible and efficient in the schools everyday lives, and motivate the students (cf. Norman & Spohrer, 1996).
Teachers, who carry out instruction in practice, are naturally key players: the solutions should provide them with novel practices that are versatile yet not complicated to adopt, and they must not increase their workload. Also, as
Introduction
Virtual worlds have gained attention of educationists as a platform to foster education in formal and informal settings. Many attempts have been made to use already existing Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) virtual worlds in educational settings while others have tried to construct holistic educational virtual worlds, for example Quest Atlantis and RiverCity. Both approaches of using virtual worlds in education have shown promising results.
The end users of such environments are mostly teachers and students, but their active participation in the design process is often not ensured. In this project, we are attempting to create a holistic educational virtual world with active participation from principals, teachers and students.
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course schedules are often very tight, firm curriculum focus is necessary and the solutions should be able to convince teachers that they can achieve curricular goals by using them (e.g. Good & Robertson, 2006; Rode et al., 2003). Students, on the other hand, are the experts to say what engages and interests them. The capability to respond to the needs of different learners, to match a vast range of learning styles, and to actively engage the learners is becoming all the more important in school instruction (e.g. Dunn & Dunn, 1993; Kolb, 1984; Norman & Spohrer, 1996). In addition to students and teachers who directly use the solutions, the involvement of the principals is vital in order to ensure commitment on the school level. On an even more general level, educational authorities set their boundaries and contribute to determining the foci of any educational design efforts. The generalisability and eventual distributability of any instructional tool or intervention is tightly related to the extent to which the solution is able to address the curriculum as a whole (e.g. Good & Robertson, 2006; Norman & Spohrer, 1996; Rode et al., 2003).
What is especially difficult to reach is the design participants feeling of ownership over the outcome. This is particularly true when it comes to children, as children need a more concrete, hands-on experience of their own contribution (Nousiainen, 2008). Hence, it is worth applying some ideas from certain disciplines with a specific focus on empowerment (Figure 1), such as childhood sociology (e.g. Francis & Lorenzo, 2002; Kiili, 2006), child-centred pedagogy (e.g. Chung & Walsh, 2000), and the growing phenomenon of user-created content particularly in games and social media (e.g. Kafai, 2006; OECD, 2007; Robertson & Nicholson, 2007). In these views the emphasis is, respectively, on the involvement of children and young people in decision-making; seeing children as involved actors in their own learning, directing their own activities; and allowing the users to create something concrete to be shared with others. Our goal is not only to make the final outcome of the project (i.e. an educational virtual world) meet all the aforementioned requirements of educational tools, but also to build its development process in such a way that it serves as a versatile learning experience in itself. Previous research has suggested that participation in a technology design project can be a valuable learning process, teaching not only content area issues but also e.g. general learning skills, design skills, and social skills (Druin, 1999; Nousiainen, 2008). We aim to support design-related learning by allowing the participants to work in a variety of ways to contribute to the outcome. The teams will focus on different themes which will allow them to use and develop their verbal, visual and technological skills alike. There are also plans to tie this project together, to some extent, with another project which deals with developing tools for mobile learning. The aim is to explore the ways in which virtual worlds and mobile devices or applications might support and complement each other, and how their potential interplay (e.g. through augmented reality) could be experimented with in educational contexts. On the whole, the design activities of the project will be structured as an iterative process. On a general level, it follows the basic idea of the human-centred design cycle (ISO 13407, 1999), where both the requirements and the design outcomes become more and more refined with each iteration. However, it has been pointed out that, in practice, user-centred design often places users in a position in which they are merely reactors to suggested solutions (e.g. Scaife et al., 1997). To address this problem, we have adopted a view which allows the users to concretely create something new in the course of the process. Currently we are in the early phases of the first iteration. The survey results presented in this paper intend to provide us with information on the context of use and the contentrelated requirements on the most general level.
Framework for User Involvement in Educational Technology Design

Due to the multifaceted nature of educational design and the various stakeholder groups whose requirements need to be equally attended to, in our approach we employ a multidisciplinary framework of involving users in the process of developing educational technology (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The multidisciplinary view to user involvement (adapted from Nousiainen 2008, 168)
As the figure illustrates, there are several complementary views to bringing users input into the process. From the viewpoint of technology design, on the one hand, these include the different dimensions of user involvement (e.g. Kujala, 2003), the concept of child-computer interaction (e.g. Read, 2005), and the learner-centred design approach (Good & Robertson, 2006; Rode et al., 2003). These views represent the fields of human-computer interaction, developmental psychology (i.e. taking into account the attention spans and cognitive skills of children of a certain age), and educational sciences (to ensure the pedagogical feasibility of the products and the design process alike).
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Methods
In the first phase of the project, an online survey was conducted at participating schools to gather general data about skills, interests and use of computers from teachers and students. The survey results were intended to inform us about the themes and topics that would be suitable starting points for the development of the virtual world and to provide background information for building teams for the design activities. The survey was filled in the computer labs of the schools under the supervision of teachers. The students were asked about their liking for different subjects taught at school. Participants were also inquired about different skills that will be necessary in the design and development phase of the project, such as story writing, drawing on paper and on computer, animating, 3D modeling, programming and making videos. They were also asked about their free-time activities: movies, games, web surfing and blogging. The survey comprised of personal questions as well: name, age, school and grade. Moreover, as the first step in the mobile perspective, we conducted a mobile learning workshop where a class of 13to-14-year-old students from one of the participant schools brainstormed ideas for the use of mobile technology in different school subjects. The aim was to find out two things: firstly, which school subjects the students saw as particularly suitable for mobile learning, and secondly, in what types of ways they were interested in using mobile devices and applications in said subjects. Figure 2: Most liked subjects (percentage) The skills that participants had tried and they felt they were good at were storytelling and story writing (43 %), drawing on paper (42%) and photography and photo editing (34%). Storytelling is crucial for the design of virtual worlds because it is related to the creation of several elements of virtual worlds, such as setting, structure, theme, characters and dialogue (Hardnett 2010). These elements can be present to varying degrees, depending on the type of the virtual world and the activities within it (e.g. heavy focus on quests or tasks vs. more unstructured exploration). Drawing is a basic element in design activities in general. Besides being directly related to the sketching of the visual aspects of the virtual world, drawing also possesses other qualities that make it a useful technique especially with children: it is a familiar activity, generally considered fun, and easy and inexpensive to carry out (e.g. Hart, 1997). Similarly, photography and photo editing are related to the visual design of the different elements of the virtual world. An interesting advantage of photography, as opposed to drawing, is also the notion that children are aware that photographs are often valued in the everyday of the adult world (e.g. in newspapers, books etc.), which may enhance their feeling of their ideas being taken seriously in the design process (Clark & Moss, 2001).
On the other hand, fewer students felt that they possessed skills related to the implementation of virtual worlds. Two percent stated being good in 3D modeling and four percent in programming. However, as the project will at first mainly deal with the design phase of a virtual world, the design-related skills and interests are of greater significance.
Results and their Implications

The online survey was completed by 281 respondents of two schools in Central Finland. Out of those, 56 were higher secondary students and 225 were lower secondary students. Most of the students (268 participants) were between 13 and 16 years of age. The students were asked about their liking for different subjects (Figure 2). The subjects that were most liked were physical education / sports (69% liked it), home economics (58%), history (51%), visual arts (41%), music (41%), and crafts (41%). However, the subjects that were disliked most were Swedish (secondary language) (45% disliked it), physics (30%), religion (28%), chemistry (24%) and mathematics (22%). The participants were also asked about different skills that might be useful during the design and development phase of the project. The skills that they were inquired about included story writing and storytelling, drawing (on paper and on the computer), animating, making and editing videos, making 3D models, photography, programming, making websites, blogging, and making music. Each of these skills or interests is relevant to the project either in the design phase or in the implementation phase.
The mobile perspective already had its first workshop (due to being related also to another project). The themes of the workshop dealt with preferred school subjects to be enhanced with mobile solutions and the ways of using mobile devices in these subjects.
In terms of the preferred school subjects, the mobile workshop suggested similar things as the online survey. The class worked in six groups, and history was the only subject mentioned by all groups. Sport, geography, and music were
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each mentioned by all groups but one. In terms of technological ideas, the use of location-aware applications in various subjects was mentioned several times, as well as using and making user-created content (e.g. in the form of wikis).
The results provided the essential background information for taking decisions about the subjects for which the virtual world shall be designed and it helped in forming different working teams for the design process. It was decided, in consultations with the principals, teachers and researchers that in the initial phase of the project one course from history, foreign language (English) and physical education / sports each will be implemented. Physical education / sports and history were among the most liked subjects whereas the English teacher already has some experience in using Second Life for education. It was also decided to find ways for student counseling using virtual worlds.
Good, J. & Robertson, J. (2006). CARSS: A framework for learner-centred design with children. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 16 (4), 381-413. Hardnett, C.R. 2010. Virtual World Design and Creation for Teens. Boston: Course Technology. Hart, R.A. 1997. Childrens participation: the theory and practice of involving young citizens in community development and environmental care. London: Earthscan Publications. ISO 13407. (1999). Human-centred design processes for interactive systems. Geneve: International Organization for Standardization. Kafai, Y. B. (2006). Playing and making games for learning: instructionist and constructionist perspectives for game studies. Games and Culture 1 (1), 36-40. Kiili, J. (2006). Lasten osallistumisen voimavarat. Tutkimus Ipanoiden osallistumisesta. (Resources for childrens participation.) Jyvskyl Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Research 283.
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Currently we are in the process of making teams for the design phase which will be based on the results about the skills of the participants.
Future Directions
In the next phase, the designing of the educational virtual world in Second Life will occur in which principals, teachers, students and researchers will participate. In later phases, the designed virtual worlds will be developed and tested in school context. Moreover, in the subsequent mobile workshops we will further elaborate on the ideas related to ways of linking mobile applications and activities to the use of virtual worlds. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the schools and their students for taking part in the study. The mobile perspective is related to the project Personal Mobile Space, funded by Tekes (The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). REFERENCES
Chung, S. & Walsh, D.J. (2000). Unpacking child-centredness: a history of meanings. Journal of Curriculum Studies 32z(2), 215 234.
Clark, A. & Moss, P. 2001. Listening to young children: the
Prentice Hall. Kujala, S. (2003). User involvement: a review of the benefits and challenges. Behaviour & Information Technology 22 (1), 1-16. Norman, D.A. & Spohrer, J.C. (1996). Learner-centered education. Communications of the ACM 39 (4), 24-27. Nousiainen, T. (2008). Children's Involvement in the Design of Game-Based Learning Environments. Jyvskyl Studies in Computing 95, Jyvskyl: University of Jyvskyl. OECD. (2007). Participative web: user-created content. DSTI/ICCP/IE(2006)7/ FINAL. Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/14/38393115.pdf. Read, J. (2005). The ABC of CCI (Child Computer Interaction). Interfaces Nr. 62, 8-9. Robertson, J. & Nicholson, K. (2007). Adventure Author: a learning environment to support creative design. In T. Bekker, J. Robertson & M. B. Skov (Eds.) Proceedings of the 6th international Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Aalborg, Denmark. ACM: New York, 37-44. Rode, J.A., Stringer, M., Toye, E.F., Simpson, A.R. & Blackwell, A.F. (2003). Curriculum-focused design. In S. MacFarlane, T. Nicol, J. Read & L. Snape (Eds.) Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Interaction design and children, Preston, UK. New York: ACM, 119-126. Scaife, M., Rogers, Y., Aldrich, F. & Davies, M. (1997). Designing for or designing with? Informant design for interactive learning environments. In S. Pemberton (Ed.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 97 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. New York: ACM, 343-350.
Mosaic approach. London: National Childrens Bureau. Druin, A. (1999). Cooperative inquiry: developing new technologies for children with children. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. New York: ACM, 592599. Dunn, R. & Dunn, K. (1993). Teaching secondary students through their individual learning styles: Practical approaches for grades 7-12. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Francis, M. & Lorenzo, R. (2002). Seven realms of childrens participation. Journal of Environmental Psychology 22 (1-2), 157169.
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Affordances for Childrens Participation in Virtual Worlds

Terhi Tuukkanen
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland Email: terhi.j.tuukkanen@jyu.fi.
Ahmer Iqbal
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland Email: ahmer.a.iqbal@jyu.fi.
Marja Kankaanranta
University of Jyvskyl, P.O Box 35, 40014 University of Jyvskyl, Finland Email: marja.kankaanranta@jyu.fi.
Participation in virtual worlds is not a new phenomenon but recent virtual worlds are very different from their predecessors. This study aims to look into: the affordances for participation; participatory practices of the children; and develop a framework for childrens participation in virtual worlds. The study is still in progress and the results are not complete and definitive. In this paper, the results of interviews of those children are presented who were using virtual worlds at the time of the study. The preliminary analysis of the interviews suggests that virtual worlds provide at least three affordances for childrens participation. These affordances are related to social nature of virtual worlds, identity construction and practicing in virtual worlds. Keywords: Virtual worlds; participation; affordances.
distinguished three notions of participation in virtual worlds, based on the viewpoints of earlier researches (Tuukkanen, Iqbal & Kankaanranta, 2010). First of all, virtual worlds can be seen as social communities: they provide people with the opportunity to explore new social arenas, to gather and see and be seen by peers (Kafai, 2010; Boyd, 2006). Secondly, virtual worlds have been seen as civil societies which provide people with public spheres (Adrian, 2009; Gordon & Koo, 2008). In virtual worlds, it is possible for interest groups and activists, for example, to organize meetings and events to engender public debate and to direct toward accomplishing something together (Noveck, 2006). Thirdly, virtual worlds can be seen as arenas for civic education. People may learn new concepts and ways of thinking about identity and civic life by using the virtual worlds (Bers, 2008). In this study, we consider the opportunities of virtual worlds for participation from the viewpoint of affordances. The concept of affordance refers to intrinsic feature of a technology that supports actions people intend to take with the technology (Gibson, 1986; Nardi & ODay, 1999). Affordances may be intentional or they may emerge during use, unintentionally (Nardi & ODay, 1999). Furthermore, affordances can be classified according to their perceptivity. Gaver (1991) has talked about perceptible and hidden affordances which is an important classification when considering virtual worlds as well. The research field of virtual participation in general is quite young (Pessala, 2009) and more research is made on web-based participation than on virtual worlds. The affordances of virtual worlds have not been well studied from the viewpoint of childrens participation. The aim of catching childrens perspective is challenging as participation does not have exactly the same meaning in
Introduction
Virtual worlds attract people of all ages though the use of virtual worlds has increased mostly among children (KZero, 2009). Researchers from different disciplines have tried to find reasons that motivate people to play, consume, decorate their spaces and chat with others in virtual worlds. Noveck (2006) has suggested that virtual worlds are inherently social environments which motivate people to go there and seek sociability, interact with others, and participate in common activities as members of a virtual community. Due to their social nature, virtual worlds have been seen as arenas for participation too. In our previous article, we
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childrens case as in adults case. Children for on e do not have the same rights which mean that children are not citizens in a constitutional sense (Roche, 1999). Childrens ability to participate has, however, been actively brought out in childhood studies during the last couple of decades and children are nowadays seen as active agents who have competence to be involved in the construction of their own social lives as well as societies in which they live (Alanen, 2009; James & Prout, 1997; Smart, Neale & Wade, 2001). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child also entitles every child to participate in their own culture and in all matters affecting the child. The paper is part of a larger study which has two aims. The first aim of the study is to develop a framework for participation in virtual worlds. The second aim of the research is to explore current participatory practices in virtual worlds. In the initial phase a survey was conducted at two Finnish schools in which 124 11-18-year-old students answered questions about free-time activities as well as use of computers, games and virtual worlds. The main aim of the survey was to consider participatory practices in virtual worlds. Based on the survey and the analysis of the research literature of participation, we created the first version of the framework for virtual participation. In the framework, virtual participation was considered from two viewpoints: as a social activity and as a process of influencing.
Social Nature of Virtual Worlds

The most explicit way of socializing in virtual worlds is, according to our data, discussing with others. All the children that we interviewed told that it is possible to discuss with others in the virtual worlds that they use and they have also done that. Many children also told that discussing is the best thing in the virtual worlds. They said that they like to discuss with their friends but with strangers as well. These strangers may have the same hobby or interests. Socializing has been seen as one of the most important driving forces of virtual worlds previously as well. According to Kafai (2010), virtual worlds offer opportunities that allow users to participate in simulated experiences. On the other hand, forms and ways of participating and socializing are not limited to conversations in virtual worlds. According to Noveck (2006), users of the virtual worlds also participate through taking on a task aimed at achieving the groups goal. The children that we interviewed also brought out social practices which aim at acting as a group and achieving a common goal. Some children had founded a club or participated in clubs founded by others, participated in competitions or organized competitions by themselves. The meaning of friends seems to be essential in these group activities as well as in virtual worlds in general. Girls who are members of a club in goSupermodel told that their club is purposely small because they do not allow strangers to join their club. Many children also told that they would like to use the virtual world where there are a lot of friends. In addition to the opportunity to socialize with likeminded people, virtual worlds offer children a safe space to participate in social activities. Several children told in our interviews that in virtual worlds they can do things that they would never do in real life, for example visiting in fashion shows and dyeing their hair with some glaring colour: of course it is totally different kind of environment than real life it is fun because there you dont have to do things that you have to do in real life so you can be like different person than you really are. Some children also sai d that it is easier to act in virtual worlds as there are no schedules or people watching them as in real life. Valentine and Holloway (2002) have argued that it is possible for individuals to position themselves differently in online space than offline space. This means that virtual worlds can be conceptualized as a space of an escape from the social and bodily constrains of the real world. For some children, this may be very important and even open new possibilities for participation. Loners, for example, is one of the Habbo user groups to whom internet is important in fulfilling their social needs as they are otherwise passive, insecure and shy in real life (Global Habbo Youth Survey, 2006). Social nature of virtual worlds is one of the intentional affordances on virtual worlds but sociability also has its
Methods
In this paper, we focus on examining the affordances for participation in virtual worlds. The study is being carried out as a mixed method study using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In this second phase of the study, we interviewed those participants who indicated current use of virtual worlds in the survey. The aim of the interviews was to get a more detailed description of the answers given in survey and to get deeper understanding of the nature of activities performed in virtual worlds. The interviews were semi-structured and they were conducted at two Finnish schools in groups of two to three participants. The interviews had three themes: free-time activities, participation in virtual worlds and relation between real life and virtual world.
Preliminary Results and Discussion

The preliminary analysis of our interviews suggests that virtual worlds provide at least three affordances for childrens participation. These affordances are related to social nature of virtual worlds, identity construction and practicing in virtual worlds. All affordances came up frequently during the interviews and also in different contexts.
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reverse side. Many children told that they have seen bullying, lying, swearing, stealing, teasing or harassing in virtual worlds: there are some crazy people (--) s ome people steal avatars from others. In virtual world s, there are some methods for preventing these kinds of negative phenomena. Children told that there are administrators who can punish users for swearing or bullying for example by restricting their access to the discussion forums. On the other hand, the children that we interviewed were very aware of how to prevent malpractices also by themselves: many children told that they are careful with giving their personal information in virtual worlds and that they do not use their whole names in virtual worlds. In this respect, the interviews showed that virtual worlds contain also some unintentional affordances. Richard Bartle (2006) has considered the rules of virtual worlds in a very felicitous way. He says that designers or administrators can set rules which are embodied in the code and limit peoples behavior. However, they cannot prevent people from swearing, for example, because unwritten rules are embodied only in the expectations of the users. That is why also unintentional and negative affordances always exist in virtual worlds.
appearance of their avatars and in the way they behave in virtual worlds. Some children described their avatar as cool or tough guy and had made their avatar funny-look ing with mustache or blue hair while some children told that they try to be themselves or otherwise unexceptional in virtual worlds: I am quite normal I dont do anyth ing extraordinary there or present anything. For some girls, it was important that their avatars look pretty and the girls told that they also discuss about the appearance of their avatars in virtual worlds. The interesting thing in creating an avatar is, according to children, freedom and possibility to look like they want. Children said that in virtual worlds it is possible to do things that they would not do in real life, for example wear clothes that they would not wear in real life. In virtual worlds, children can thus be freed from constrains of real life that may impede some activities, for example participation (Noveck, 2006). The way that children describe their avatars reflect both their real-world identity and their virtual identity. Related to identity construction and learning in virtual worlds, Gee (2003) has talked about projective identity which refers to the interface between ones real-world identity and the virtual identity. This means that in virtual worlds, people proactively build a virtual person as certain kind of person and project their own hopes and desires onto that person. As children act in virtual worlds and build their projective identities, new values and new ways of being in the world can be learnt. (Gee, 2003.) In this respect, virtual worlds can be seen as safe spaces for children to test different kind of identities and to search for their own identity also as participants or as members of a virtual community.
Constructing identity in virtual worlds

The preliminary analysis of the data suggests that virtual worlds are spaces for constructing identity as well. The most obvious way of constructing identity is, according to our data, creating and acting through ones avatar. Nearly all children told that it is possible to create an avatar and to change appearance of it and they do it quite frequently. The significance and the role of the avatar vary with the virtual world. In some virtual worlds, such as Powerplaymanager, the avatar is created automatically by the game and thus the avatar is not important. Many virtual worlds for one are based on the action of an avatar. The aim of goSupermodel and Pamfu, for example, is to play and to take tasks to get virtual money for the avatar which can buy things, for example clothes: there is almost nothing cool in b eginners clothes but when you have earned money you can buy clothes from Superstore it is a clothing store. In many respects, virtual worlds are second lives for children: they have their own avatars, spaces or rooms and even pets in virtual worlds. The notion of virtual worlds as second lives for children is supported by Noveck (2006) who have argued that the avatar is the simulacrum of self in the virtual space: by acting through avatars children take on a role distinct from and yet related to their own identity. Creating an own avatar is important to children and some of them mentioned that it is also the best thing in virtual worlds. Children told that the avatar and its name should be according to their wishes. In the interviews, children also had possibility to describe their own avatar. In general, there were some differences between children in the
Practicing in virtual worlds

The preliminary analysis of the interviews shows that virtual worlds offer a space for practicing many useful skills too. Some of these skills are perceived by children themselves. Some children told for example that they have learnt to express their opinions and to speak English in virtual worlds. We suggest, however, that children practice many other skills as well in virtual worlds though they did not mention the skills as benefits of using virtual worlds. One of these unobserved skills is collecting and spending money which was brought out by many children several times during the interviews. Children told that in virtual world that they use, virtual money is used for buying different things, clothes or pets for example. Purchasing things, for one, helps children to proceed and get to the next level. The action in virtual worlds is actually based on collecting and spending money which thus provides children with a model of the real world and a space for practicing the skill of deliberate consuming. In Powerplaymanager, for example, children have to consider and plan their spending because using money for wrong things may lead their team to go bankrupt. A good manager
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doesnt fool around or anything but tries his best all the time. Collecting money and consuming it, founding a club or organizing group activities, voting or just being in social interaction with other people are, for example, activities that teach children important skills which they need as participants and citizens also in a real society. Virtual worlds provide children with safe space to practice these skills because the consequences of ones action are not so extensive in virtual worlds than they are in real life. Children who use Powerplaymanager told, for example, that bankruptcy is not such a bad thing in a virtual world than in real life because it is always possible to create a new team in the virtual world. Bers (2008) has also noticed the potential of virtual worlds for civic education. She argues that virtual worlds have potential for providing skills and knowledge that might be useful for both living in a civil way and contributing to civil society. In Zora which is a three-dimensional multiuser environment, for example, children have the role of producers, instead of consumers: they can create a virtual city themselves and populate it with their most cherished objects, characters and personal and moral values. (Bers, 2008.) Virtual worlds provide children also with possibility to practice professions which they perhaps cannot practice in real life. One boy told, for example, that it is f un in the virtual world to be a manager because I may never be a manager in real life. Considering childrens parti cipation, this notion of uniqueness of virtual worlds may open new possibilities related to virtual worlds as spaces for realizing ones dreams and perhaps for practicing and testing different professions as well.
Bers, M.U. (2008). Civic Identities, Online Technologies: From Designing Civics Curriculum to Supporting Civic Expriences. In W. Lance Bennett (Ed.) Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth (pp. 139-160). The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Boyd, D. (2006). Identity productions in a networked culture: Why youth heart MySpace. American Association for the Advancement of Science, St. Louis, MO. Retrieved July 1, 2010 from http://www.danah.org/papers/AAAS2006.html. Gaver, W.W. (1991). Technology Affordances. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Reaching through technology (pp. 79-84). New York: ACM Press. Gee, J.P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Gibson, J.J. (1986). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Global Habbo Youth Survey. (2006). Helsinki, Finland: Sulake. James, A., & Prout, A. (1997). Introduction. In A. James & A. Prout (Eds.) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood (pp. 1-6). UK: Routledge. Gordon, E., & Koo, G. (2008). Placeworlds: Using Virtual Worlds to Foster Civic Engagement. Space and Culture, 11, 204-221. Kafai, Y.B. (2010). World of Whyville: An Introduction to Tween Virtual Life. Games and Culture, 5, 3-22. KZero. (2009). Virtual Worlds: Industry and User data. Universe and Radar Charts for Q4 2009. Available on request from http://www.kzero.co.uk. Nardi, B.A., & ODay, V.L. (1999). Information Ecologies. Using Technology with Heart. Cambridge, UK: The MIT Press. Noveck, B.S. (2006). Democracy The Video Game. Vi rtual Worlds and the Future of Collective Action. In J.M. Balkin & B.S. Noveck (Eds.), The State of Play: Law and Virtual Worlds (pp. 257-282). New York, NY, USA: NYU Press. Pessala, H. (2009). Shkisi kohtaamisia: Suomalai sten yhteiskunnallinen osallistuminen internetiss. In T . Kankainen, H. Pessala, M. Siisiinen, L. Stranius, H. Wass & N . Wilhelmsson (Eds.), Suomalaiset osallistujina. Katsaus suomalaisen kansalaisvaikuttamisen tilaan ja tutkimukseen (pp. 170-204). Oikeusministerin julkaisuja 2009:5.
Roche, J. (1999). Children: Rights, Participation and Citizenship.
Future Direction
In the next phases of this study it is planned to conduct face-to-face interviews with participants who have abandoned virtual worlds. It is also planned to recruit the interviewees directly from virtual worlds and look in to participation practices in different virtual worlds. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the schools and their students for taking part in the study. We would also like to thank TerhiAnna Wilska for her contribution to the study. REFERENCES
Adrian, A. (2009). Civil society in Second Life. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23, 231-235. Alanen, L. (2009). Johdatus lapsuudentutkimukseen. In L. Alanen, & K. Karila (Eds.), Lapsuus, lapsuuden instituutiot ja lasten toiminta (pp. 9-30). Tampere: Vastapaino. Bartle, R.A. (2006). Virtual Worldliness. In J.M. Balkin & B.S. Noveck (Eds.), The State of Play: Law and Virtual Worlds (pp. 31-54). New York, NY, USA: NYU Press.
Childhood, 6, 475-493. Smart, C., Neale, B., & Wade, A. (2001). The Changing Experience of Childhood. Families and Divorce. UK: Polity Press. Tuukkanen, T., Iqbal, A., & Kankaanranta, M. (2010). A Framework for Building Virtual Spaces for Childrens Participation. Paper manuscript. Valentine, G., & Holloway, S.L. (2002). Cyberkids? Exploring Childrens Identities and Social Networks in On-line and Offline Worlds. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92, 302-319.
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The importance of using devices designed for achieving specific objectives in Virtual Worlds. Exemplification by introducing tools which can be applied for improving three issues involved in the teaching/learning process of a language.
Gloria Gmez-Diago (SL name: gloriagdiagoGalicia)
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sciences of Communication (II) at the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid).
Akemi Mochizuki (SL name: Draceina Pinion)

Graduated at Math at Kyoto University and Manager of a Cram School three tools designed for being used in Second Life, for enhancing the teaching/learning process of different skills involved in the learning of a language: grammar, vocabulary and use of the language in context. Virtual Worlds: devices and contexts for the learning process of a language Virtual environments, understood as spaces, are very adequate contexts for learning and working from a collaborative approach. Therefore, are pretty suitable for learning languages because of the easiness which offer for being in touch with native speakers and, thus, can be applied as a device for enhancing communication skills (Berriolo, 2009). Proof of the suitability of using this Virtual World as context for teaching and learning a language is the school DriveThrough ELF, set in Second Life, and where students pay for attending classes since 2008 (Giovanni Tweak, 2009) By considering these environments as space and as a flow of communication (Gmez-Diago, 2010), we are aware of the fact that several cultures are represented on Virtual Worlds. Therefore, when trying to seek elements which give utterance to the Galician culture in Second Life, four type of places were identified (Casas Agun, 2009): places for holding meetings, buildings which offer courses and conferences organised by Galician Universities, places managed by Galician companies and simulations of monuments with tourist interest. The performance of meetings in Virtual Environments is one of their best applications because allow us to gather in the same space people who live in different parts of the world and also people who, even when living near to us, is difficult to join with, because of possible difficulties for scheduling a meeting. By taking into account the features of Virtual Environments, Herver, El Kamel, and Rigaux-Bricmont (2010) highlight the suitability of using Second Life for undertaking social research by performing group discussions. 62
Abstract
Virtual Worlds are pretty adequate environments for sharing information and for creating contents in team not just because allow us to gather in the same space people from different places around the world but because of the sense of belonging to a collective activity which is experimented when collaborating by using avatars. The failures that can cause the absence of the physical presence when managing one activity at Virtual Environments, can be avoided by using tools intended to facilitate the achievement of specific objectives and therefore, by taking advantage of these environments not just as devices, but as contexts where specific actions can be performed. For illustrating our statement, and after briefly introducing some of the characteristics of Virtual Worlds, we describe three tools which can be used in the context of the teaching/learning process of a language: Word Puzzle Balls, Dracy Crossword (type 5 and making panel) and Brainflowing. Keywords: language,teaching/ learning process, tools, virtual worlds
Introduction
Mainstream approaches used when researching into/about Virtual Worlds are mainly intended on indentifying the links between virtual and physical world, on sharing educational and business experiences, on introducing tools and on finding applications of these environments (Gmez-Diago, Serrano Garca and Hughes, 2009). Even when Virtual Worlds can be approached as tools, is suitable to go further, by considering them as contexts where many devices can be used to meet specific objectives involved in the development of one activity like teaching and or learning a language. This text embraces perspectives referred in order to illustrate the suitability of applying devices in Virtual Worlds for achieving specific purposes. We do this by describing
Despite the advantages that virtual teams have, this way of working implies, according to Walther & Bunz (2005:829) dealing with circumstances as the fact that members remain unaware of the situational and contextual factors that impact other team members, leading to misunderstandings and inappropriate attributions for behaviours that appear normal to local actors, but personality-based and disruptive to remote partners. We posit the importance of identifying activities and tasks we can develop or undertake in Virtual Worlds in order to achieve easily objectives with will be more difficult to obtain in physical world. The use of tools will help us when trying to achieve specific objectives because the absence of physical presence can provokes that users feel a bit lost, causing that the time runs more quickly than it does at physical world. Devices for facilitating different issues involved in the learning process of a language at Virtual Worlds. It is mainstream taking advantage of the easiness that we experiment at Virtual Environments for designing and creating intelligent tools oriented to achieve specific objectives. Understanding Second Life as an extension of ourselves through the identification of five characteristics of this virtual environment (GmezDiago 2009), is an introductory work which identifies the mainstream factors that, following the idea of McLuhan (1996: 29), lead us to consider Second Life as an extension of ourselves:1. High level of detail in the representation of the things, 2. Intelligent objects, 3. Tools for displaying content, 4. Social environment, 5. Linked to the real world. Devices intended on facilitating the achievement of different purposes in Virtual environments are usually based on the four characteristics proposed. Thus, tools have a representation as objects at the Virtual World, are intelligent, permitting users to develop a wide range of actions, are social, being most of them thought for being used in group and are usually linked to physical world because allow users to transfer the outcomes obtained during activity or because the objectives that the devices are intended to facilitate to achieve, are related to activities developed at physical world. As we have mentioned, for illustrating our statement, we will be introducing three tools focused on improving three main issues involved in the learning process of a
language: Grammar, vocabulary and use in context. Word Puzzle Balls
Figure 1: Draceina Pinion avatar testing Word Puzzle Balls.
This tool was designed by Mochizuki for facilitating the teaching/learning process oriented to improve the knowledge of the grammar of any language which can be used in Second Life. Simply explained, the device allows us to save many sentences on it and each word will be displayed over a ball but not in the correct order for having an adequate grammar structure. Thus, users must touch the balls and put them in the right place for building a sentence accurately written. Word Puzzle Balls automatically reports to the users whether the sentence is right or wrong, and tells them the correct one. Therefore, it is possible to have saved seventy eight sentences conformed by twenty or less words. Dracy Crossword (type 5 and Making Panel) Dracy Crossword can be applied for learning and teaching vocabulary of English, German, Spanish, French and Italian. Furthermore, the author has created a special version which allows to use this device for learning Hirigana, the first of all the writing systems taught to Japanese children. Not only words but also phrasal verbs can be handled by this device which is based on the crosswords we do at physical world. The game proposed by the tool consists on completing the panel with the required words or expressions which must be guessed by the users thanks to the clues which will be provided to them when touching the panel.
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metaverse. Brainflowing gives utterance to the ideas of the participants by displaying in a board the text written by users in notecards. Words are automatically adapted to the free space in the board without being separated and; therefore, avoiding possible errors of interpretation.
Figure 2: Crossword at Drive Through ELF school
The crossword making panel can be used more effectively with a database which allows their owners to write both the clues and the answers they desire. Thus, even when this tool was conceived for training language vocabulary, could be applied for developing crosswords focused on promoting the memorization of specific concepts or ideas from any field of knowledge. This device allows users to play while they learn without being frustrated when they do not know the correct answers. Thus, the tool notifies them when the answer is correct. Visualization elements are incorporated to the device in order to enhance its usability. Therefore, when the crossword is completed, it will automatically change of colour.
Figure 4: gloriagdiagoGalicia avatar and Draceina Pinion avatar testing Brainflowing.
Apart from containing the characters needed for brainstorming in German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, this device allows users to brainstorm by anonymity, without knowing the name of the avatars who added each idea to the board. Thus, participants will be not afraid of committing mistakes.
Figure 3: Draceina SLACTIONS 2010.
Pinion
avatar
explaining
crossword
at
Figure 5: gloriagdiago avatar and Draceina Pinion avatar performing a brainstorming with Brainflowing at ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education.
Brainflowing Brainflowing, created by Gomez-Diago and Mochizuki, is a tool designed to brainstorm in virtual environments and to transfer the outcomes obtained outside the 64
Finally, by using this tool, it is possible to transfer the contents generated outside the Metaverse, by sending the information collected via email. Brainstorming data can be also displayed and easily copied from local chat.
For letting readers to understand how the devices explained can be used in order to achieve objectives set in the context of the learning process of a language, we explain where and how these devices are being used, and we also include two testimonies written by language teachers who have experience with the tools. Therefore, by sharing these experiences we allow readers not just to imagine how these devices are being applied but also to guess different applications oriented to achieve the same or other objectives. How the tools are being used. Testimonies of users of the tools Word Puzzle Balls and Dracy Crossword (type 5 and Making Panel) are used in places set in Second Life and focused in teaching languages, as Drive-Through ELF, a language school founded in 2008 and owned by Giovanni Tweek. These tools were also used in the school that SHS Foundation had in Saarlouis virtuell, and where Ursula Marbach (SL name: Uma Robonaught), taught German to several students. Brainflowing, apart for being used to discuss and to facilitate virtual meetings like the celebrated in February 2010 by the lead teacher at Cornwall College, Rebecca Ferriday (SL name: Hebask Falconer) and her group, when developing an introductory teacher education course, or like the focus groups celebrated by GRIPASL (Groupe de Recherche Informel sur le Potentiel Acadmique de Second Life), animated by Professor Benny Rigaux-Bricmont (SL name: Twilight Rhode), was used by Ursula Marbach, during the lessons of German she conducts in Second Life. Alianaluz Rivera, teacher at Drive-Through ELF, explains how Dracy Crossword Panel works and how she takes advantage of it for teaching English at Second Life. The Dracy Crossword Making Panel is an excellent and versatile tool for introducing, teaching, and reinforcing concepts to students of English. The teacher creates a puzzle, using the tool, by placing words or phrases on a crossword puzzle grid. The teacher also develops the clues for the puzzle. When a student or the teacher clicks on a square on the puzzle, a clue pops up. The student/player then types in the word. When the puzzle is completed, it flashes a different color and Congratulations! appears across the screen. My ADULT students cheer when this happens! The Dracy Crossword Making Panel is motivating and fun, and can be used with individual students or as a cooperative group activity. It can not only be used to give students an opportunity to practice their skills in writing but also, 65
in listening, speaking, and reading. Rather than (or in addition to) having students answer multiple choice reading comprehension questions, after reading a text, you can have students solve a crossword puzzle whose content has been taken from the text. The puzzle can easily be adapted for classes of mixedlevel students. Students can also work on teams to solve the puzzle. The content of the puzzle can be modified for students at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, and can be used as a pre and post assessment tool for your students. Students especially enjoy theme puzzles. We created a Halloween puzzle that was particularly popular. You can also create puzzles that address particularly difficult aspects of English (e.g., phrasal verbs and prepositions), and you can adjust the difficulty level so that students are challenged, yet not bored or frustrated by content that is too easy or too difficult. I use this very useful tool in a class that I teach at the Drive-Through ESL school in Second Life. I highly recommend this crosswordmaker tool! Ursula Marbach (SL name: Uma Robonaught), from Saarlouis virtuell by SHS Foundation explains how she used Brainflowing when he was teaching German at Second Life. It's great in a group lessons to encourage the students to write little stories on a notecard and put it into the Brainflowing without identify the writer (and his small mistakes ;) ). Another using is for a game: the students must describe the teacher and put this on the Brainflowing and the other students have to guess, who the writer of the des description is and of course its also a good tool to give the students the possibility to say what they like or dislike during the German lesson. Conclusions This article aimed to illustrate the suitability of using devices intended to achieve different objectives at Virtual Environments as Second Life. Virtual worlds allow users to design and create not just objects but devices whereby is possible to meet several purposes, allowing users to apply them for achieving objectives which are less easy to fulfil at physical world. By taking advantage of the characteristics of Virtual Worlds and by using specific tools oriented to help us in the performance of the activities we are interested on, we can forge links between physical and virtual world and therefore, we can use these Virtual Environments not just as a tool but as a virtual context where, with the help of devices we can give utterance to the content produced by users and to the learning, researching or business activities they conduct.
References
Berriolo, Antonella (2009) Using Second Life to stimulate learners oral production. Proceedings of the IV Congress of Cibersociety. Held Online. November, 2009, http://www.cibersociedad.net/congres2009/actes/html/com_se cond-life-una-herramienta-para-estimular-la-expresionoral_652.html Accessed 24 January 2011. Cass Agun, Zaixega (2009) La Huella de Galicia en Second Life/ The footprint of Galicia in Second Life. Proceedings of the IV Congress of Cibersociety. Held Online. November, 2009, http://www.cibersociedad.net/congres2009/actes/html/com_lahuella-de-galicia-en-second-life_895.html Accessed 24 January 2011. Gmez-Diago, G. (2010), Brainflowing, virtual/physical space and the flow of communication: An explanatory approach to the metaverse through a tool designed for brainstorming, Metaverse Creativity,1:1, pp. 4965 http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/vieJournal,id=179/ Accessed 24 January 2011. Gmez-Diago, G and Mochizuki, A. (2010), Brainflowing: For Brainstorming at Virtual Environments and transfer the outcomes to physical world. Social event held in Second Life, October 2010, at ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education, http://secondlife.iste.wikispaces.net/events Accessed 24 January 2011 Gmez-Diago, G., Serrano Garca, R. and Hughes, M. (2009), Conclusions of the work group Metaverses and 3D environments, Proceedings of the IV Congress of Cibersociety. Held Online. November, 2009,,
http://blogs.cibersociedad.net/blog/2010/03/01/metaversesand-3d-environments/#more-109 Accessed 24 January 2011. Gmez-Diago, G. (2009) Understanding Second Life as an extension of ourselves through the Identification of 5 characteristics of this Virtual Environment, Proceedings of the IV Congress of Cibersociety. Held Online. November, 2009, http://www.cibersociedad.net/congres2009/en/coms/understan ding-second-life-as-an-extension-of-ourselves-through--theidentification-of-5-characteristics-of-this-virtualenvironment/669/. Accessed 24 January 2011. Herver, G., El Kamel, L. and Rigaux-Bricmont, B. (2010) Entretien de groupe dans Second Life/ Discussions Group in Second Life, Recherches Qualitative, 29: 1, Spring, http://www.recherchequalitative.qc.ca/numero29(1)/RQ_Hervet_al.pdf Accessed 24 January 2011. Tweak, G. (2009) Story of Drive Through ELF. Proceedings of the IV Congress of Cibersociety. Held Online. November, 2009, http://www.cibersociedad.net/congres2009/actes/html/com_in gles-como-segundo-idioma-esl--un-ejemplo-de-negocio-ensecond-life_633.html Accessed 24 January 2011. Walter J. B and Bunz, U. (2005). The Rules of Virtual Groups. Trust, Linking and Performance in Computer Mediated Communication. International Communication Association, http://bunz.comm.fsu.edu/JoC2005_55_4_virtual.pdf. Accessed 24 August 2010. Accessed 24 January 2011.
66
Students attitudes and experience: A case of Second Life

Amal Alrayes
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB, UK. amal.alrayes@postgrad.mbs.ac.uk
Alistair Sutcliffe
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB, UK. a.g.sutcliffe@mbc.ac.uk
The benefits of collaborative work have been widely discussed and supported by educational theories such as constructivism and social learning. This paper investigates the process of the collaborative work in university class room. Also, this paper presents the students experience and attitudes towards using SecondLife in their learning activities. Questionnaire, interviews and observation methods have been used to assess the students experience and attitudes. The study results indicate that students had enjoyed the experience of using SecondLife though some negative attitudes and experience such as systems usability and familiarity has been reported. Background The shortcomings of some existing collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) such as a poor sense of presence, and limited non verbal communication has been pointed out by several authors such as Irani et al 2008. However CVEs are clearly successful for multiplayer games (such as World of Warcraft (Ducheneaut et al, 2007) which has led educators to explore the potential of SecondLife as a CVE that might motivate collaborative learning (Hew and Cheung, 2010; Salmon, 2009). Some studies of collaboration in CVEs have suggested that presence and user experience can be augmented in comparison to conventional 2D interfaces since avatars can provide improved awareness of others and shared tasks. SecondLife can facilitate sharing experience and personal information, although Neustaedter and Fedorovskaya (2009) qualitative study suggests that SL complements real life experiences rather than being an effective substitute for them. This paper presents a study done using SecondLife as a metaverse platform. Nowadays, it is possible for the students to follow their courses online using the various Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools. Academic institutes are using different types of CMCs, hoping to help and improve the teaching and learning process. Several studies discussed the benefits of using such systems in the learning process (Liaw, Huang, & Chen, 2007; Bouhnik & Marcus, 2006; Raab et al., 2002; Capper, 2001; Shotsberger, 2000) such as: anytime, anywhere feature, and the multiple ways of communication. 67
Recently, there have been concerns about the potential of using metaverse platforms in education. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of collaboration using SecondLife by gathering data about the students general experience and attitudes. Previous studies contradicted about the effectiveness of CMC tools on learning between a positive to a negative impact. However, a third group of studies found that there were no significant differences between traditional way of teaching (face-to-face) and using CMCs (Johnson et. al., 2000; Botsch and Botsch, 2001; Sankaran, Sankaran, and Bui, 2000; Hensley, 2005). Lester and King (2009) indicate that online students using CMC tools such as Blackboard and SecondLife systems learned just as much and enjoyed the teaching experience just as well as their traditional counterparts using face-to-face.) Shelley, Swartz, and Cole (2006) found no significant differences between the two formats with regard to student satisfaction and student learning. SecondLife is differentiated from other CMCs by both the richness of the 3D graphical which makes it immersive tool and by the ability of individuals to customize their appearance and behavior to interact with this world. Thus, SecondLife may be both more fun, and more engaging than other online environments. It is certainly suited to developing a sense of immediacy, shared experience and emotional closeness. By using SecondLife, it is possible to make the learning and teaching experience more real for online students than with the other tools such as Blackboard. SecondLife has the ability to create rich immersive environments. Furthermore, using such tools enable the students to repeat the learning experiment as many time as they want with less or maybe no cost. Also, SecondLife has the potential to replicate expensive and potentially dangerous activities (Dede, 2004; Foss, 2009) and virtual role playing may help students to overcome worries of getting it wrong in real life groups (Broadribb and Carter, 2009). The use of avatars in SecondLife may also empower marginalised people for their looks or physical abilities. Kemp and Haycock (2008) reported high level of students engagement and motivation when using SecondLife. However, they argued that the use of SecondLife only is not enough for reflection and deep learning but should be blended with the use of content
management systems as Blackboard for sharing document and asynchronous threaded messages. The use of SecondLife argued to have a positive impact on students interaction (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003; Mantovani, 2003), confident (Pham et. al., 2008), immersion (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003; Sherman & Craig, 2003; Taxen & Naeve, 2002), imagination (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003), motivation (Nicholson et al., 2006; Shim et al., 2003), problem solving capabilities (Brenton et al., 2007; Holmes, 2007) and collaborative learning (Pan et al., 2006; Sherman & Craig, 2003; Taxen & Naeve, 2002) Methods The investigation of second year undergraduate students of Business Team Project module was chosen because it involved groupwork and used of a collaborative technology (SecondLife). One of the modules main learning objective was to practice collaborative work. The module instructor asked the students to form the self selecting seven groups. Thirty eight students were divided into seven groups of five or six. The groupwork task was to create a virtual world environment where students, prospective employers, school teachers and university academics could meet for purposeful activity. The deliverable was to identify stakeholders and requirements, design a virtual environment and organize a virtual world event. As Manchester Business School had a presence in SecondLife, the students had access to a wide range of rooms and facilities available on the Manchester Business School island. Each group had to identify the needs of ITMB stakeholders e.g. students, employers, and tutors and organize an event in SecondLife to address some of their requirements. The taught part of the Business Team Project involved a one-hour lecture and a two-hour tutorial session each week throughout the academic year (20 weeks of teaching). Discussion boards on Blackboard were set up in the second semester to provide technical support for the design phase. The lectures covered a range of topics including project management, research methodologies, stakeholder analysis, facilitation techniques, business report writing, organization of events and presentation skills. Guest lectures with speakers from companies on topics such as groupworking skills were arranged. The aim of the tutorials was to enable students to acquire technical skills (administration of virtual spaces) and facilitate their groupwork. During the first semester students met with tutors during the tutorial hours to discuss ideas, define the scope of the project, identify requirements, and set up a plan. In the second semester, students undertook SecondLife tutorials to familiarize themselves with the environment and design suitable areas for their event. Most of the groups invited employers and organized mock events. All of them used specialized software (Fraps) to video their actual events. 68 Figure1. Screen dumps of two groups events organized in SecondLife The researcher observed the students in the second term, while they were in the practical sessions trying to achieve their groupwork goals. The students had nine weeks of practical sessions to organize their event in SecondLife. After that, the groups had been assessed by the modules tutors and the employers. Questionnaire was administrated to measure the students attitudes and opinions towards their groupwork experience. The questionnaire contained two parts. First part collected general data about the students experience and use of collaborative technologies, specifically Blackboard and SecondLife. Second part used to capture students rating of their experience (6 items), the use of virtual identity (1item), communication methods (3 items), participation (1 item) and presence and immersion (6 items) on 7 point scales, based on Whitmeyer & Singers scale for presence and immersion in virtual environments. Interviews were used to investigate the students point of views and experience in more detail. Open coding schema used to analyze the interviews data. Results This section of the report articulates and discusses the analysis of the data collected through observation, interviews and questionnaire.
Observation
Mainly the observation took place in the practical sessions while the groupwork is running. There were slight variations in the actual number of students attending the groupwork; for example, Group 7 members were less consistent, whereas the other groups
attendance fluctuated. The groups members were distributed between two labs and students were using computers to communicate, practice and interact with their group members though they were located in one lab. However, using the computers to do the groupwork did not prevent the group members occasionally interacting face-to-face. Generally, subgroups were not formed during the observed sessions. The Researcher had assumed that the group members had pre-existing relationships as they were working together in the previous term on the same project. In each session, the group members were free to organize their work as they wished. Therefore, some of the group members preferred not to attend the tutorial sessions and try to connect to the group members remotely or meet later on face-to-face. In the first two sessions, most of the students explored the virtual environment. Later, the students started to collaboratively take decisions upon what kind of event to organize, whom to invite, when to run the mock event and when will be the actual event, and which is/are the most suitable room/s in MBS Island to book, etc. The number of students attending the class slightly decreased towards the end of the term. It has been assumed that the students already started their implementation and some had already run their mock event, therefore they did not need further practical sessions. All groups had frequent discussion with the tutors about the technical issues related to the virtual environment. Their issues related to: virtual rooms bookings, ability to modify rooms and to what extent, ability to non-ITMB students to have access to the island, ability to provide web space, and how to shape objects. Most of the technical queries sorted out by the lab demonstrator as she provided the help all over the term. The group members were well motivated to design their event in the virtual world. It was noticed by the lab demonstrator that the students had intrinsic motivation to learn the scripting language of SecondLife script their event objects. The technical limitations challenged the students to learn more about designing and scripting in Secondlife. For example, the lab demonstrator observed some group members puzzled by the problem of shaping and scripting objects, and they continued asking for information, help and advice by the lab tutor even after the lab time through Blackboard. However, they succeeded to reach the solutions in a week and were enthusiastic challenged for future.
Table 1 shows the students point of views in using different web-based technologies for learning. Averages show that most of the students learned through using different types of technologies in a medium rate. Table 1. Learning through different technologies Mean Text-based conversations over e-mail, IM, and text messaging Programs I can control, such as video games, simulations, etc. Contributing to websites, blogs, wikis, etc. Virtual Learning Environments (e.g. Blackboard, Moodle) Running Internet searches Creating or listening to podcasts or webcasts 4.29 Std. Deviation 1.605
4.18 4.06 5.50 5.74 3.26
1.642 1.324 1.212 1.601 1.675
The university uses Blackboard as learning virtual environment. The questionnaire collected data about the use of Blackboard in order to compare it with SecondLife. Table 2 shows the means of the students opinions about the use of Blackboard for the learning activities. Table 2. General students' opinions about the use of Blackboard in a course Mean I get more actively involved in courses that use it. The use of Blackboard in my courses improves my learning. The use of Blackboard enables me learn when/where ever I was. I get more motivated in courses that use it. I skip classes when materials from course lectures are available on it. 4.88 5.71 Std. Deviation 1.572 1.360
5.39 2.56 4.35
1.676 1.481 1.721
Questionnaire
A questionnaire was used to collect feedback on the use of SecondLife, to establish the attitudes of the students towards the virtual world environment, and rate their overall experience. The scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) used to measure the students opinions. A total of 34 responses were received from all groups.
It is obvious from the SDs that the students responses varied, however overall the responses are slightly agree, when the students assert the use of Blackboard enable them to learn when/where ever they were. Secondly, the students slightly agree 1) that they get more actively involved in courses that use Blackboard, and 2) that the use of Blackboard in the course improves their learning. However, the students disagree that they 69
get more motivated in courses that use Blackboard. The responses indicate that the students involvement and performance during the course can be affected by the use of technology such as Blackboard. Thirdly, they marginally agree that they skip classes when materials from course lectures are available on online for the students to download anytime. Table 3 shows the means of the students opinions about the use of SecondLife for the learning activities in the class room. Similar scale used to measure the students opinions. Table 3. General students' opinions about the use of SecondLife in a course Mean I get more actively involved in courses that use it. The use of SecondLife in my courses improves my learning. The use of SecondLife makes me learn when/where ever I was. The use of SecondLife makes me communicate with my group members anytime/anywhere. I get more motivated in courses that use it. I skip classes when materials from course lectures are available on it. 2.12 2.12 Std. Deviation 1.122 1.200
Deviation Learning Brainstorming Entertainment Communication Social 26% 06% 47% 50% 38% .448 .239 .507 .508 .493
The students' opinions about the use of SecondLife in class are shown in table 5. Students were not too motivated and interested in using SecondLife, but they felt that its use is one of the module requirements (supported by interview data). Students varied in their experience, but the majority rated the effectiveness of using SecondLife for learning poorly. However, the students were better motivated towards groupwork in SecondLife. Table 5. Students' opinions about the use of SecondLife in class Mean How would you describe you in class experience of learning in SecondLife? How would you rate the effectiveness of using SecondLife for learning? How would rate your motivation for using SecondLife in groupwork? Std. Deviation 1.334
2.29
1.404
3.88
3.32
1.996
3.15
1.409
2.00 2.06
1.348 1.413
4.29
.866
Comparing the results of the students opinions toward the use of Blackboard and SecondLife. From table 2 and 3 SecondLife received worse ratings than using Blackboard for learning. This may be due to the nature of the application, where students are more familiar with Blackboard and was suitable for academic use. In contrast, the SecondLife considered as a game oriented technology used mostly for entertainment or social communication (supported by the students views from the interviews). Results from the ANOVA test show that there is no significance difference between the seven groups opinions across the technologies. The next section of the questionnaire gathered information about the use of SecondLife. From table 4 we can see that the students responses varied on the purpose of SecondLife. They use SecondLife for entertainment and communication purposes but rarely to share learning resources or as a brainstorming tool for their groupwork. Table 4. Reasons for using SecondLife Mean Std. 70
Table 6 shows the students preferences about their identity in SeconLife. The students preferred to stick to their real identity in virtual world. Although there were some cases when students preferred not to use their real name or appearance. Table 6. Students' preferences about their virtual identity Mean Prefer using your real name Prefer using a different name Prefer using similar appearance to yourself Prefer using appearance a different 4.27 3.78 4.91 3.32 Std. Deviation 1.957 1.560 1.485 1.492
Table 7 gives details of the students experience in the SecondLife compared to their real (face-to-face) experiences. Students interactions were not too natural, which may be a consequence of their limited experience
with the environment. The students felt moderate immersion in the environment, however they could contact each other face-to-face and this may have interrupted their immersion into the environment. The results show moderate responses about how compelling was the sense of moving around inside the SL environment and effective was the sense of perspective. Table 7. Students' responses about Presence Mean How natural did your interactions with the SL environment seem? How aware were you of events occurring in the real world around you? How much did your experiences in the SL seem consistent with your real world experiences? How compelling was your sense of moving around inside the SL environment? How involved were you in the SL experience? How effective was the sense of perspective (depth of field)? Std. Deviation 1.244
Table 9. level of participation in SL as compared to face to face teaching-learning sessions Mean Yourself Other members of your group Your instructor 3.06 3.32 3.29 Std. Deviation 1.476 1.342 1.360
3.29
This was followed by two questions for a deeper understanding about how the students perceived the use of SecondLife for their learning. Table 10. students opinion regarding the following SecondLife aspects Mean Std. Deviation 1.547 1.495 1.709 1.496 1.426 1.515 1.377 1.706
4.97
1.381
2.82
1.623
Realistic Interactive Fun Arouse interest Effective in gaining knowledge Updates course information Improves collaboration Improves communication related
2.97 4.65 4.44 3.94 3.29 2.65 4.26 3.62
3.71 4.38 4.00
1.467 1.792 1.576
Table 8. Students' responses about Communication Mean Did you find the chat tool suitable for communication? How important to you to open the Chat History Box to catch up with a conversation? Did you chat with other students in SL while the tutorials were running? Std. Deviation 1.600 1.987
4.47 4.41
Table 10 demonstrates that students think SecondLife is not realistic to assist their learning and that it is poor in updating course related information. Students rate SecondLife as slightly negative on effectiveness in gaining knowledge, they also think that it does not help in improving communication. However, they were positive that SecondLife can improve collaboration as they rated SecondLife as good for interactivity, motivating to arouse interest, and members can have fun even if they are involving in groupwork. Table 11. students' opinions about using SL as a learning environment (Yes/No answers) Mean Casual discussion interactions Formal university lessons Tutorials Presenting work for others to see and .82 .18 .41 .53 Std. Deviation .387 .459 .557 .563
4.68
1.718
The results in table 8 show that the students found the chat tool quite suitable for communication, when also members had opened the chat history box in between to keep in track with the group members. Table 9 demonstrates that the use of SecondLife for the groupwork can either lead to the same level of participation or even less. This may have been caused by usability problems in SecondLife, where students had problems access and communication method with their group members. Also, the nature of the groupwork, having blended method of using both face-to-face meeting and the SecondLife, limits the students to totally benefit from the provided tool and just leave it to happen with their regular and richer way of communication (face-to-face). 71
Although, the students were positively motivated toward their groupwork and most of the groups performed very well at the end of the term, they still did not recommend the use of SecondLife in any learning activity (see table 11).
Interviews
Four interviews were conducted at the end of the term to deeply investigate the process of the groupwork by finding more details and the problems faced. Some of the students concerns regarding the use of SecondLife in the classroom are highlighted in the following statements: I think we still prefer more face-to-face meeting than doing it in SL. Because in SL, people who are SL active users might tend to be distracted from participating and less interested people are not keen to do anything in SL People do not take meetings seriously in SL it is treated like a game People are unsure of its uses, so dont know how creative they can be All the interviews agreed that they had a great chance through this groupwork to know, explore and use SecondLife effectively. They shared similar opinions about the use of SecondLife, basically all of them commented that it was fun to use SecondLife. However, it was game oriented and chaotic to be used in classroom. All preferred the use of face-to-face groupwork and commented that face-to-face communication is more effective than the use of computer mediated communication. However, they have been motivated to use SecondLife to achieve their groupwork requirements and for the following reasons: it challenged and motivated to learn how to create objects and script them, motivated to use SecondLife formally, for example, Student 3 was motivated to win the groupwork prize. The students did not understand the actual potential of SecondLife from the beginning, they all thought or felt like a virtual game.. I wanted to become interested in Second Life was to get a good understanding of it and to create a good idea, and to carry out a good event, and therefore we would get the money Student 4 considered SecondLife was innovative as a communication channel. He appreciated in meeting up with employers easily and frequently. I think its quite innovative in the way that it allows people in different locations to talk to each other. I know that with our project, when it involved employers on the actual course itself, the only real time we got to meet employers was at specific events or presentation evenings. I think on some occasions we met with the same employer about 4 times in the space of a week, whereas you probably wouldnt even see them 4 times in the space of a year, so I think its, its quite clever the way it allows people all over the country to come together. I think its quite clever how you can exchange different information, like presentations and construct objects. I think its quite innovative and exciting to use. 72
The students opinions about what they considered as an advantage of SecondLife were: cost effective, enhance creativity, virtual interaction but still not good as the real interaction, virtual presentation, see people virtually and talk to them, create and share a creation of an object and synchronous if all the members presented. While the disadvantages are: people misuse the environment, uncontrolled environment, no direct supervision over students, coordination harder than in real life, unserious, un-trusted as you cannot make sure of the other party situation and unfamiliarity. SecondLife motivated students who were interested in technical topics to learn its scripting language and to create different shapes for their events. Additionally, business oriented students benefited from this experience by learning skills to organize events, coordinate groupwork and deliver presentations. Synchronous technologies preferred because the students wanted to share information instantly and exchange ideas at the same time to produce documents for their groupwork. SecondLife has partially the synchronous benefits if all the members avatars available in the virtual world. Most of the groups used the chat tool to interact because not all the members had headsets to use the audio feature. The students found the chat history useful to track the conversations and to keep a record of the group meetings. Student 1 reported that taking the role of the leadership easier in SecondLife than in reality because people act freely using their avatars. I think it is easier to stand up and make a proposal on Second Life and sort of try to direct the group into a different direction because people dont relate it directly to you. While student 3 commented that leadership differs in the virtual world, where in a virtual environment it was more equal and there was no need for someone to lead as the technology can report and update members with what is going on and what each members needs to do after each virtual meeting, while in real face-to-face meetings there is an important need for a leader to update the other group members with the work.
Discussion and Conclusion

Although the literature asserts that students can benefit from the use of CMC in class to enhance their level of group participation, motivation and engagment. Students did not feel formality in using the environment for their groupwork, most of the students perceive SecondLife as an entertainment environment but not for formal groupwork. The students suggestions for improvements: Take it more seriously by restricting the behaviors. a formal sort of way where avatars are dressed appropriately because that sets the atmosphere and then
restricting the behaviours, but obviously allowing group work and collaboration Enhance the graphics to make it look more real and by adding facial expressions. Merge the other collaborative technology benefits to second life, such as Google documents. Enhance the audio quality and expand the browser abilities. Stop the flying feature for academic use, as it does not look formal at all. Add voice recognition feature. Include more categories of gestures for different usage. maybe if they had a category of business gestures or presentation gestures then it could be a lot easier for the user to control F5 to raise your hand or whatever All the students suggested having the ability to point to enhance the interaction with the objects in SecondLife especially for the presentation purpose. This study assesses the students attitudes towards SecondLife. Results show positive students motivation using SecondLife, but they did not prefer it over the traditional ways of groupwork. This might because of poor usability and that SecondLife was not familiar and they were more familiar with other web-based technologies such as Blackboard. In sum, from the students comments we can conclude that Blackboard is better for longer term collaboration while SecondLife may be better for specific tasks but needs to use the affordances of 3D and interaction. Academics can make the best of virtual collaborative technologies such as Blackboard and SecondLife by merging them. Blackboard can be useful for feedback on the learning progress and SecondLife for immediate task based learning and for constructive learning. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the participating students at Manchester Business School, who aided the researcher in collecting the needed data. REFERENCES
Botsch, C., and Botsch, R. (2001). Audiences and outcomes in online and traditional American government classes: A comparative two-year study. PSOnline, pp. 135141. Bouhnik, D., and Marcus, T. (2006). Interaction in distancelearning courses. Journal of the American Society Information Science and Technology, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 299305. Brenton, H., Hernandez, J., Bello, F., Strutton, P., Purkayastha, S., Firth, T., and Darzi, A. (2007). Using multimedia and Web3D to enhance anatomy teaching. Computers & Education, Vol. 49, pp. 3253. Broadribb, S. and Carter, C. (2009) Using Second Life in human resource development, British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 547-550 Burdea, C., and Coiffet, P. (2003). Virtual reality technology (2nd ed.). , New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Capper, J. (2001). E-learning growth and promise for the developing world. TechKnowLogia, May/June. <http://www.techknowlogia.org>. Retrieved August 23, 2010. Dede, C. (2004). If designed based research is the answer, what is the question? The Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 105114. Ducheneaut Nicolas ,Nicholas Yee, Eric Nickell and Robert J. Moore, The life and death of online gaming communities: a look at guilds in world of warcraft In Proceedings of CHI2007, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Pages: 839 - 848 Year of Publication: 2007 Foss, J. (2009) Lessons from learning in virtual environments, British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 556-560 Hensley, G. (2005). Creating a hybrid college course: Instructional design notes and recommendations for beginners. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. Retrieved August 23, 2010. from <http://jolt.merlot.org/vol1_no2_hensley.htm> Hew and Wing Sum Cheung, Use of three-dimensional (3-D) immersive virtual worlds in K-12 and higher education settings: A review of the research British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 3355 Holmes, J. (2007). Designing agents to support learning by explaining. Computers & Education, Vol. 48, pp. 523547. Irani, Situated Practices of Looking: Visual Practice in an Online World Lilly Irani, Gillian R. Hayes, and Paul Dourish In Proceedings CSCW 2008 187-197, ACM Press Johnson, S., Aragon, S., Shaik, N., and Palma-Rivas, N. (2000). Comparative analysis of learner satisfaction, and learning outcomes in online, and face-to-face learning environments. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 29-49. Kemp, J. and Haycock, K. (2008) Immersive Learning Environemtns in Parallel Universes: Learning through SecondLife, School Librarries Worldwide, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 89-97 Lester, P. and King, C. (2009) Analog vs. Digital Instruction and Learning: Teaching Within First and Second Life Environments, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 14, pp. 457483 Liaw, S., Huang, H., and Chen, G. (2007). An activitytheoretical approach to investigate learners factors toward elearning systems. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 23, pp. 19061920. Mantovani, F. (2003). VR learning: potential and challenges for the use of 3D environments in education and training. In G. Riva, & C. Galimberti (Eds.), Towards cyberpsychology: Mind, cognitions and society in the internet age (pp. 208 225). Amsterdam: IOS Press. Neustaedter, C. and Fedorovskaya, E. (2009) Capturing and Sharing Memories in a Virtual World, 2009 In CHI 2009, pp. 1161- 170 Nicholson, D., Chalk, C., Funnell, W., and Daniel, S. (2006). Can virtual reality improve anatomy education? A randomized controlled study of a computer-generated three-dimensional anatomical ear model. Medical Education, Vol. 40, pp. 1081 1087.
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Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms Pan, Z., Cheok, A., Yang, H., Zhu, J., and Shi, J. (2006). Virtual reality and mixed reality for virtual learning environments. Computers & Graphics, Vol. 30, pp. 2028. Pham, B., Kodama, Y., Hino, Y., Kobayashi, H., Yana, K., Tokiwa, Y. (2008) Second Life as a Cyber Learning Environemnt for Higher Education and Research Collaboration, presented in the Distance Learning and the Internet Conference, pp. 89-93 Raab, R., Ellis, W., and Abdon, B. (2002). Multisectoral partnerships in e-learning A potential force for improved human capital development in the Asia Pacific. Internet and Higher Education, Vol. 4, pp. 217229. Salmon, G. (2009) The future for (second) life and learning BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Volume 40, Issue 3, May 2009, Pages: 526538 Sankaran, S., Sankaran, D., and Bui, T. (2000). Effect of student attitude to course format on learning performance: An empirical study in web vs. lecture instruction. Journal of Instructional Technology, Vol. 27, pp. 6673. Sherman, W., and Craig, A. (2003). Understanding virtual reality. New York: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Shotsberger, P. (2000). The human touch: Synchronous communication in web-based learning. Educational Technology, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 5356. Shelley, D., Swartz, L., and Cole, M. (2006). A comparative analysis of online and traditional undergraduate business law courses. Retrieved August 23, 2010 from <http://www.actapress.com/PaperInfo.aspx?PaperID=28526&re ason=500> Shim, K., Park, J., Kim, H., Kim, J., Park, Y., and Ryu, H. (2003). Application of virtual reality technology in biology education. Journal of Biological Education, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 7174. Taxen, G., and Naeve, A. (2002). A system for exploring open issues in VR-based education. Computers & Graphics, Vol. 26, pp. 593598.
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Using games to promote student integration in universities through the use of virtual worlds Work in Progress
Andr Cruz
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto. cruz@dotlink.pt
Armando Sousa
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto - DEEC/INESCPorto. asousa@fe.up.pt
Antnio Coelho
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto - DEI/INESCPorto. acoelho@fe.up.pt
This paper presents the design of a work in progress project where the primary goal is to develop a set of collaborative game levels on a virtual campus, in order to help the integration process of newcomer students to University, particularly to the large courses of Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal. The global activities that can be performed by the students were designed for a group approach in a controlled virtual environment. The present work selects Second Life for the implementation of these collaborative games. Future work will include presenting the proposed platform to FEUPs newcomers.
Keywords Student integration, virtual worlds, second life, game development, game design, collaborative games, group dynamics, problem solving.
Introduction
The integration of newcomer students to the university can be an overwhelming experience, especially for individuals with a more introverted personality in large courses which, in extreme cases, can even lead to abandonment of the course. In an attempt to help students integration processes, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), at Portugal has provided several activities organised in a preliminary mandatory course named Projecto FEUP with 2 ECTS (for additional information, please see ProjFEUP Curricular Unit web page). Having in consideration the huge impact and constant evolution of online communities, social networks and virtual worlds for collaborative activities, the use of these
realities in the context of student integration seems like an interesting option. Although several technologies have been analysed for this project, like for instance Unity, UDK, Torque and XNA, the Second Life metaverse appears to be a more flexible and steadfast way to implement our needs in the context of virtual simulations and simple multiplayer games. Recently, with creation of a virtual place of Porto University in Second Life, an additional opportunity to reinforce this multitude of approaches has emerged. The new objective is to design and implement, in a parcel of the private region (island), a virtual space for students to meet and interact with each others, through a set of specific digital game levels that need to be played in team. Another important goal is to promote common experiences between newcomer students and promote their communication and collaboration. To achieve that, each student should create their own avatar with a name and personal characteristics and complete a series of challenges latter, these challenges may even be beneficial to the final grade (as a reward mechanism). With all this in mind, the core task of this work evolves the development of several collaborative game levels with very simple and specific objectives. The best approach to implement a suitable interaction design and adequate game mechanics in this work are not obvious, but a survey on some works that are related with the area of team integration and collaborative game design helped to shape structural concepts.
Related Work
The project eScape (2005) studied and analysed the adequate implementation of puzzle games in a virtual multiplayer environment. The experiment was applied to a
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total of six groups of four players, where each one was in an isolated room. It also collected the interaction player data trough the use of several methods. The conclusions that resulted from this work provided a better perception and knowledge in multiplayer puzzle design and collaborative gaming in general. EduTeams (2004) was initially developed as a case study, becoming afterwards a commercial product. The main goal was to broaden the core skills of students in elementary and secondary schools. That includes teamwork, communication, planning, problem solving and logical thinking. The result was a multiplayer system with several team based activities. During the evaluation of the case study, professors reported some benefits in classroom. They perceived that some students were more motivated, more extroverted and better aware of the importance of teamwork.
requirement. The proposed solution is to separate classes of a maximum of thirty two students and divide that class in four teams (that could comprise a total of eight users per team at best). A competition between teams is used to reinforce the focus on the tasks ahead, where a classification system is implemented and rewards are available accordingly with the results. In similar projects, some analysis report that users tend to loose focus and just wander around when there is no reward or competition involved (eScape 2005). The mentioned project is named FEUP Adventure and is composed by a game with three different levels. Each level needs to be played by two teams (acting team and opposite team), and the three different levels are played with distinct teams, assuring that all teams will face each other (as depicted in table 1). Table 1: Team distribution by level
Game Development in Second Life

Although Second Life is not a game, it can be used as a platform for game development. Some private regions are completely dedicated to work as a game, like for instance the DarkLife (2003) role playing game or The Pot Healer Adventure (2005) exploration/puzzle game. The fact that Second Life offers a prebuilt engine with a solid networking system and a multi-platform web client were key factors for its selection in this present work. Of course, Second Life platform may present limitations for game development, like the use of a non-object-oriented scripting language and a somewhat rigid interaction model, but those are minor drawbacks for the purpose of this project, as the mechanics need to be simple and straightforward for an inexperienced user target. The technical implementation is being developed in a parcel of the University of Portos island with the use of custom assets (models, textures and scripts) for the construction of the game and its levels. Other aspects also need to be taken into account, like the adaptation of the student to the Second Life client interface and in-world interaction controls and the overall performance. As stated in The Developers Guide to Pwning Second Life (2006), its not recommended that the game possess complex mechanics and it shouldnt rely heavily on numerous prims and high frame rate scripts. Usually, attempts of that kind resulted in a poor user experience and presented high latency problems.
Level 1 Level 2
Level 3
Team A vs. Team B Team C vs. Team D Team A vs. Team C Team B vs. Team D
Team A vs. Team D Team B vs. Team C
The proposed virtual space has three game rooms and a free practice area. The levels are based in physics, moving objects and orienting the avatar of the player's character. There will no flying available in the parcel due the nature of the levels, and therefore, the practice area will allow the students to become more aware of the interaction with the avatar and objects in the new virtual space.
Proposed Game Levels

Each level is composed by a specific set of rules and objectives, designed to promote the creation of collaborative and adversarial experiences. Levels are to be simple but allow different strategies, still demanding human communication, thus promoting interaction among colleagues. The game at Level 1 is called Crate Carrier (see figure 1) and is a 6 vs. 6 player level, where the objective is to score the most points possible during a limited time (e.g. 5 minutes). Each team will score points by carrying crates over their ramp and dropping them into a moving platform. To ensure a balanced game for each team, the position of the objects is symmetrical and in the beginning all team members will start on the top of their ramp.
Game Concept - Requirements

One of the first conceptual problems of the project was the high number of students that should be integrated under the virtual platform. Each year FEUP has more than 800 newcomer students, so coping with these numbers is a
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Level 3 is Jumping Platforms (see figure 3) and consists in a large room with several objects that work as platforms and obstacles. Each team will be represented by four players and the objective is to reach the finish line by the same four players the soon as possible. In this case there are no points, only time. The timer will stop only when the last team member reach the finish line. Meanwhile, the opposite team will try to render difficult the task. The obstacles can be controlled by the interaction of players and at the same time players of the acting team can pick up power-ups to slower the obstacles devices, enabling more options to the tactical approach, because ever time a player fall from the platforms, he or she must restart all over again. Due to the nature of the game, it will be needed one session by team, in opposition to the other games where one session abridge the results for two teams Figure 1: Map for level 1 of the FEUP Adventure Level 2 is called Sliding Spheres (see figure 2) and it is proposed that four players of a team play and the objective is to score the points during a short limited time (e.g. two and a half minutes). Each team will score points by direct falling spheres trough a ramp into a large target. Each time a sphere hit the target the team will be rewarded with one point, but there will be two members of the opposite team that will try to catch the spheres with a block. The block wall can only be moved along the sideway of the ramp, in this case, only to the right or left. If any spheres touch the block wall, it will disappear. The spheres will appear in intervals of five seconds and the two teams will be present in the same room, with four players in the respective team ramp and two players on the other ramp trying to catch the enemy spheres.
Figure 3: Map for level 3 of the FEUP Adventure There are also reports (Revolution 2004) that some students tend to use some disruptive behaviour during gameplay. Its necessary to consider that students may use the game mechanics to completely counter the active team tasks. For example, a single player could be on the top of the moving platform in the crate carrier level, preventing the team of scoring any point. To avoid this, students avatars can not cross adversary ramps or platforms. The game has to be well balanced in order to prevent frustration on the teams.
Conclusion and Future Work

This work proposes virtual games as a helper tool for engineering students integration at FEUP. Requirements were listed and the choice of the Second Life platform was discussed. The presented game called FEUP Adventure will hopefully promote student integration in an amicable virtual environment and construct real experiences in a controlled environment that can provide a starting point for other integration activities. Future work includes evaluation procedures to gather information about the students experience and final results, like structured interviews, in-game video capturing, etc. these techniques will be proposed for gathering feedback of the proposed approaches. If the results show indications that the use of virtual worlds and collaborative games can somewhat help the integration of students, it is foreseen that, in future years, levels are refined and new levels added.
Figure 2: Map for level 2 of the FEUP Adventure
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REFERENCES
ProjFEUP (2010) - Curricular Unit formal web page http://www.fe.up.pt/si_uk/DISCIPLINAS_GERAL.FORMVIE W?P_ANO_LECTIVO=2010/2011&P_CAD_CODIGO=FEUP 002&P_PERIODO=1S - visited August 2010 -
Manninen, T., & Korva, T. (2005). Designing Puzzles for Collaborative Gaming Experience. University of Oulu. Manninen, T. (2002). Towards Communicative, Collaborative and Constructive Multi-player Games. Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference. Tampere, Finland. EduTeams (2004). TPLD. Dundee, Scotland. http://www.eduteams.com/ - visited august 2010. Wadley, G., Gibbs, M., Hew, K., & Graham, C. (2003). Computer Supported Cooperative Play, Third Places and Online Videogames. University of Melbourne. Rouse, R. (2005) . Game Design Theory & Practice. Wordware Publishing, Inc. Iuppa, N., & Borst, T. (2010). End-to-End Game Development. Focal Press. Trefay, G. (2010). Casual Game Design. Morgan Kaufmann. Heatton, J. (2007). Introduction to Linden Scripting Language for Second Life. Heaton Research. Moore, D., Thome, M., & Haigh, K. (2008). Scripting Your
World. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Reason, R., Terenzini, P., & Domingo, R. (2007). Developing Social and Personal Competence in the First Year of College. The Review of Higher Education - Volume 30, Number 3. Hayek, J., & Khu, G. (2004). Principles for Assessing Student Engagement in the First Year of College. Assessment Update Volume 16, Number 2. Ellis, J., Luther, K., Bessiere, K., & Kellogg, W. (2008). Games for Virtual Team Building. ACM DIS08 Cape Town, South Africa. Revolution (2004). http://www.educationarcade.org/node/357 visited august 2010.
DarkLife(2003). http://slurl.com/secondlife/Navora/23/46/22/?img=http%3A//far m1.static.flickr.com/210/550701432_c6df7e2569_m .jpg&title= DarkLife%20Navora&msg=DarkLife%20Navora - visited august 2010.
The Pot Healer Adventure (2005). http://slurl.com/secondlife/Numbakulla/214/17/2 - visited august 2010. The Developers Guide to Pwning Second Life (2006). http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/07/the_game_develo.html visited august 2010.
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Puzzles as a creative form of play in metaverse

Cristiano Natal Tonis
Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas FMU So Paulo, Brazil. Email: cristoneis@hotmail.com that can assist in the construction of such structures and unusual combinations. The creativity in terms of new and original ideas and new perceptions of the world can not be understood as a "gift" or something mystic, but as cognitive structure that could be stimulated, challenged. The form as we get into in the digital universe and our intentions, reveal a form to experience this world and which access we offer it, in the same way it the digital universe offers to us. Thus, if we wish to constitute a creative form to play we need new structures that evidence this goal, such as, the puzzles in the metaverses. Beyond the constitution of logical- mathematical reasoning, form a pleasure way to encourage new forms of thinking lateral thinking stimulate the creativity. Merleau-Ponty observes that the world enters inside us and we enter inside the world, so our experience in the metaverses lead to a process of construction and reconstruction of the meanings in the lebenswelt (living world) within us. Therefore, Petry (2010) summons us to a deep reflection a respect of metaverses, when affirms that world is everything what it is the case... but the world does not have an ontological foundation it only will can reckon on that to any mind have not any sense. The oncologic foundation of the metaverse, in the form of a Mathema able to transmissibility and reasonableness are necessary and urgent. With that, establish a light house to the navigators, the metaverses are an extension of our living world and such as need a foundation, a return of original things the first things according Merleau-Ponty. And what will we find? This is the adventure that we start in the metaverses, left the shelter to discovery hidden new worlds in this ocean.
Abstract: The present study invites us for an ontological reflection about the close relationship between the logical-mathematical reasoning developed through the existence and experience in the puzzles into metaverse and creativity or creative thinking. For that reason, we seek to focus on the epistemological character of the puzzles in the metaverse and intrinsic creativity of metaverse as a natural process to be developed and not a privilege of few persons. Encourage creative processes through the digital universe - metaverse - and the use of heuristic construction for problem solving and openness to lateral thinking. Encourage creativity, creative and original thinking, which lead us to a new way of playing, the way of puzzles.
Introduction
The cognitives potentialities offered in the in metaverses experiences according to Tonis & Petry (2010), exceed the immediate reaching characteristics of sum importance to development of ways of thinks. We can affirm that the "epistemic subject" main role character of Piagetian model, therefore its major inquietude is in disclose the processes mechanisms of thinking, since childhood until adult age. In this meaning, the comprehension of the constitution mechanisms of knowledge, in the Piaget conception, is equivalent to the comprehension the mechanisms involved in the formation of logical-mathematical reasoning. The development of logical-mathematical thinking by means of adventures and puzzles in the digital universe opens a space to consider about new and relevant ways of the constitution form of creative and reflective thinking. Certainly that the development of logical-mathematical thinking not supply all the solutions to process of solving problems, however it supplies a new way of look to values as activities the involved mathematic, not something to fear as been exclusive to few and brilliants individuals, but to those who dispose and expose to cognitives experiences in solve the puzzles in the metaverses. We could discuss if brilliants minds were different of ordinary minds in a special way. Minsky (1985, p.1) believes that there is not anything basically different in a genius, except to exist an unusual combination of abilities, nothing unique only. But for what reason not all obtain such combination? Minsky (1985, p.2) helps us to find the answers, he affirms that some possess the innate ability to look the things in the different way and others still could present such ability with difference nuance, many times this capacity develops unconsciously as a inside organization form cognitive - of events with such as an individual was involved or was exposed. In spite of that we want to show that everybody have a unique "look" and singular
From aesthetic experience in the metaverse to creativityIn the journey of our existence we confront
every moment with personal world experience believing this is changed dynamically by our participation, however in a phenomenological understanding of this meeting, that aesthetic experience, we not only can change or alter the world around us, but we were changed and modified with it, rebuild it our inside and been rebuilt with it. Realize the digital universe as an extension of this living world fall in with virtual reality, show by the games, all the immersive power and all the feeling of agency, therefore tine sensation experienced when interact, we observe that our significant action is the result of one decision or choice (Murray, 1997, p. 126). The agency in other words, is avail oneself of this meeting and indicate the occurred aesthetic experience in the sensorial immersion, be it the most possible variable, "as much as resolved the immersion environment (surrounding), more actives we wish to be inside it" (Murray, 2003, p. 127), so there is diversity of
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experiences due to the spectrum of aesthetic experience. When the immersive surrounding offers countless sensorial attractive such as a film production, the spectator should wish to be in the history, abandon the outside attitude to assume an inside attitude, interacted with the environment, with the surround with the plot of the history. Murray designates as agency this reward capacity of accomplish significant actions and see the results of our decisions and choices" (Murray, 2003, p. 127) and elucidate that due to the vague use and diffused of the term "interactivity," the pleasure of agency in the electronic surrounding is often confused with the simple ability to move the joystick or click with the mouse, but the activity by itself is not agency. Agency exceeds the participation and the activity, i.e. with aesthetic pleasure, an experience to be taste in itself, it is offered in a limited way of forms of traditional arts, but it is more common found in the framing activities that we call games. Herewith, we understand that the agency - as the spectrum of aesthetic experience follow forward the action and reaction. We do not dialog with only one form of reaction to action predetermined, however to a cognitive problem - to find the way - and a symbolic emotional standard to confront what is scared and unknown respecting that immersed in an attractive history we left our outside attitude to accept into the plot itself, really we are like it, we live this meeting and we enjoyed it. It is exactly in the context of digital games that we focus our work and this form offer one alternative to taste the knowledge (logical-mathematical) hidden into a complex game and be able to offer a filmic experience. We focus in this case the universe opened by Myst and consequently all its series - due to its characteristics so great immersive, narrative and playfully. Miles (1999) concludes that in Myst, we are more than spectators; we are protagonist of the history and our intervention move the narrative. Myst also represents a paradigm in form of play, where the puzzles present in all the games represent connections with the narrative at the same time stimulate, elucidate and build it. From this we have in Myst a model of the human creativity to serve the awake of the creative think by the form of play. By means of it we glimmer the potentiality of metaverses to awake the creative thinking or creativity. Winnicott (1975) teaches us that in the play, the person, whether adult or child can be creative and use all entire personality (self) to be creative we discover and know ourselves. Then the game is change itself in a space of self-knowledge. In this way, the game, as affirmed Huizinga (1990) beyond be former of the culture, because produce, offer freedom to settle ways to utilize this game. In the metaverses, we can find this possibility by means of construction a narrative that offer overture to the player to explore, to know, to discuss, to mistake and to get right. The puzzles as form of play embody exactly these aspects and indicate a creative attitude inside that exceeds its own resolution. We understand of this form a first meaning of creativity, as to process of disclose of self. This phenomenological attitude, learning to know, show the essence of merleau-pontyan thinking, as a
return to the same things, so the truth not live in only inside the man, or before, there is not inside the man, because the man is in the world, and is in the world that he knows himself. When I return to myself to the point of dogmatism of common sense or the dogmatism of science, discover not a focus of the intrinsic truth, but an individual devoted to the world"(Merleau-Ponty, 2006, p.6). The creative thinking cross and is crossed by disclosed world to find out, and discover yourself and this way pointing the disclosed of self. The creativity or creative insight provides an overture of the world, and here with a necessary overture to new experiences. So occur with an aesthetic experience inside the metaverses, in this world such as result of our actions, decisions or choices reflect temporally evident consequences, so planned actions, conception of the hypothesis are easily notice in the results in a period of time reasonable short compared with the outside time the world of outside the metaverses. However, the constitution of time and the consequences cause by deliberated actions or not, they are essential to construction and constitution of the thinking as form to organize and build knowledge. The logical thought, ontologic the mathematic itself (Tonis & Petry, 2010) constitute not only one ontological aspect to this, but also propitiate the construction of forms not traditional (algorithms) to resolve the inside problems of a metaverse - lateral thinking.
The game between the creativity and the logicalmathematical reasoning: The Puzzle
Then we have the first creativity conception encounter in the living world and herewith the self. As Socrates said Nosce te ipsum - know thyself - this the Socratic utmost thought became the base of maieutic that can be understand here as the reversibility of aesthetic experience, i.e., when we return the same things - the living world we return to ourselves and transform the meaning of the world, reconstructed it and been rebuild by itself. However, otherwise considers the creativity a potential inherent to the human being, and the realization of these potential one his necessities. This way, the realization of the self encounter on a creative being. Thus, we can ask:: in which way can a puzzle contribute to creativity or creative thinking? Obviously that our answer for that question not exhaust the possibilities of using of the digital puzzles engendered in a game - metaverse - but we point out to the ontologics urgent aspects (Petry, 2010) and epistemologics of the puzzles in the metaverses (Tonis, 2010). To understand the close relationship that emerges between the logical-mathematical thinking and creative thinking, original, we present some puzzle definitions that will be useful to our epistemological reflection in the utilization of these structures - puzzles. In the puzzles museum (a site2 that ably documents physical puzzles), there is a classification of mechanical puzzles by James Dalgety & Edward Hordern that
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includes a broader definition: a puzzle is a problem having one or more specific objectives, contrived for the principle purpose of exercising ones ingenuity and/or patience. Scott Kim, presents an interesting definition of "puzzle", he affirms that a puzzle needs two fundamental elements: be fun and have a right answer ever. If puzzle is fun so this is a form to play and has a right answer distinguishes of other ways to play, such as games and toys. A puzzle has an intentionality, "to be fun". We dont resolve a puzzle as mathematics exercise, to practice some concepts. The intrinsic process to the puzzle is exactly the opposite, solving the puzzle, we reach some kind or level of logical concept and / or mathematic. Because of this is fun, not requires previous knowledge, the puzzle challenges us, solve it if you can! when we accept the challenge we are able to apprehend its heuristic or methodology. We think as epistemologist, and we approach of Greek ideia of the mathema. Montford (2003) affirms that a puzzle has a purpose and that its resolution can not be obvious. Although of refers to interactive fiction, Montford shows us an excellent path to tread. We can put together the expressions of the definitions presented with the word goal. What is the goal of the game? If it presents an opportunity of aesthetic experience front its puzzles then its goal is to amuse and simultaneously to provide a space to form yourself. This way, to understand that a puzzle constitutes in an organized logical structure and that expose that lead a reflective process that culminates in the comprehension of a specific problem. The path of the research and the experience of a puzzle culminates in an overture of the world, i.e. an extension of aesthetic experience in the phenomenological sense. The history of mathematic shows us that sometimes we should "think different", look for a new prism to resolve same problem. Certainly, the puzzle offers a valuable spectrum in possibilities. However, a puzzle does not constitute as an isolated object but as an object able to impulse and provoke huge discoveries. Remember what Polya (1995) teaches us to affirm that a huge discovery solves a big problem, but there is always a bit of discovery in the solving any problem. Herewith, we verify that the internal motivation to solve puzzles in metaverses tends to be very big due to the intense virtual synesthesia elapsing of the immersion in the game. Therefore, the creativity transport us a new possibilities and attempts, by means of this overture of the world we become more flexible to the changes and suitable so, so we are able to change our approach by relearn our living world. A creative look opens the horizon of possibilities in the metaverses and contemplates the immensely that can be develop such this creative impulse is necessary to a healthy life and full of meanings. Gardner, in an occasion, an interview3, said that the puzzles are an important object of study, as in a model sense, represents what the scientists are doing, in the permanent research, of answers and the formulation of
new questions. They are trying to solve the puzzles about the nature of the universe, over and over, the puzzle is leading to mathematical concepts. When we solve a puzzle we are involved in an activity naturally creative in the play, we play with the possibilities, with the ingenuity, with the creativity, where re-organize our goals and assumptions to create new heuristics (Tonis, 2010). Perkins (2001) searches to organize the modus operandi of the innovator and creative thinking, inspired by great names of the human history like Archimedes, Darwin, Newton, Edison, among others. Briefly listed these features: [1] Protracted search: reflection; [2] Little apparent progress: hypotheses and speculations; [3] Precipitate event: suffered experience circumstantial; [4] Cognitive state (Insight): part fits and this fact cause the comprehension of others; [5] Transformation: re-signification of the living world. Obviously, some findings require time because its potentials, as the example of the Darwins theory of evolution, or the Thomas Edisons filament lamp. Every discovery, every creative thought reveals a potential transformer re-signifying the living world and the same form the self. In the development of logical-mathematical thinking, discussed widely in Tonis (2010), we verify the importance of this cognitive structure as a key to solving problems and thus for creating personal heuristics, forming what we call "epistemologist", i.e., individuals capable of thinking in forms of think. With that we send our flexion to forms of think not-linear or not algorithmic. That also can be contemplated in the resolution of the puzzles in the metaverses. De Bono (1970) uses a very interesting term to distinguish different forms of thinking. He interprets the algorithmic forms with fixes rules or mathematical rules, the formal logic, like constituted the form of vertical thinking, and calls of lateral thinking the kind of thinking that escape from the formal logic or another pre-defined rule to solve a problem. Therefore, he investigates the parameters that establish some comparison among these forms of thinking, i.e., vertical thinking in comparison with lateral thinking. The formal techniques of lateral thinking include: provocation and movement; challenge; concept fans and concept triangles; random entry, etc. At any moment these forms of thinking are in conflict, on the contrary, in develop both forms of thinking we will be change the form like our brain processes information, as relate information linearly and others forms, randomly. A puzzle into metaverse, if well designed, can support and give rise to both. Immersed in a history, creating a narrative - vertical but not linear - the puzzles change the form of connection structures vertical and lateral (links). Everything collaborate to the puzzle resolution, all our ingenuity, desire, motivation (style of gameplay) constituted what we call the creative
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thinking. When we are challenged, we assume the consequences of our actions immersed in the metaverse, hope to overcome the obstacles, contributed so to increase the self-esteem, motivation, competences, inferences, and cognitive links favored the awakening of self-knowledge or the spontaneous development (Piaget, 2002). Brolezzi (2008) remembers that exist several courses to solve problem forgot to focus the importance of the creative thinking, however in any course about creativity will be use numerous problems. Moreover, presents an interesting form to encourage the creativity, through the synectcs4, a method that involves both types of thought vertical and lateral - in form of contrast between concentration and distraction. In other words, trust in what is stranger and strange what is trustful. In this process will be favor the emotional and "irrational elements that we have about a puzzle to feel free to make mistake to can get right.
Now, becomes important to our proposal to analysis, but is not in total, a puzzle of Myst - Uru live. Our intention is not to exhaust the possibilities, but to illuminate them under the perspective to the solving problem and creative thinking. In this point of our work we will take a puzzle found in Kadish Tolesa called Moon Room the Kadish Tolesa puzzles are among the most difficult in Uru. We do not only imagine how to resolve them, as well to imagine how to interpret the clues. All indications are in this gallery - Tolesa Kadish them the question is to study the panels, make notes and sketches or make a detail an examination of possible relations between them.
Creativity in the contrasts

We mentioned as an exemplary metaverse the game Myst and its issues, actually Myst Uru Live, where the game assumes the form of multiplayer, more challenges herewith the puzzles and mystery. It is not any apology or advertisement to this specific metaverse, but considering that the Myst be a paradigm as form to play puzzle as a form to play so the game itself presents like a puzzle and according to we advance in the series we formed and understood the history5 and the characters6 of Myst. Myst inaugurates a new way of storytelling. As well observed Jon Carroll (1993, p.1), Myst was the "first interactive artifact to suggest that a new form of art can be plausible, such as puzzle box types contained within a novel inside a picture added the music, or something else. One aspect the same time amusing and frustrating in Myst consisted in the intertwinement between the history and the game. To read the history you need to solve the game: both of them are concomitants. To those who wish to become Myst as a multimedia novel, the puzzles are singular parts that help the reader continue reading. But if you want it like a game, the history will help you allowed the player to complete the puzzle and reach the end of the game. The time of this history is duplicated, we have the immediate history in which us, as a reader / player, try to solve the game and on the other hand, we have the Atrus story, which occurred in the past and, anyway, we are working in the present with it. The way of the narrative shows up as visual and acoustics introspection. Online Myst, Uru Live, is a multiplayer game in which the explorers, as in other kinds of games, have the possibility to create its on avatars, choosing their features that confirm a digital presence. (Digital Anwesenheit ). When, by the side of yours digital partnerships, the Argonaut game enters in the great council D'nis Restoration so the plot of this episode invite us, among others adventures, to rediscover, to restore and rebuild the D'nis ancient civilization and learn the history of this civilization.
Figure 1: Kadish Tolesa Gallery In the right the stained glass to solve the puzzle in the Moon Room The moon room is the puzzle that follows to the telescopes puzzle, solved in Tonis & Petry (2009). To enter into a large cylindrical room with an elaborate handing sculpture, observe the floor of the room; note that it is composed by spirals. In the background, we will see an area with six balconies, five of them with blue buttons. Pressing each button causes different patterns of light to illuminate the floor of the room. Hopefully, this reminds us of a stained glass window in Kadish Gallery. The panel gives us the pattern of light and dark that we need to create using the five buttons. Numbering the buttons to 1-5, as shows the figure below, the appropriate light pattern is displayed when we use the buttons 2, 3 and 5. This information is found in the stained glass is a clue that it was in the gallery what we visited. Note that there are five blue buttons in the stained glass windows, three (3) bright blue and 2 (two) dark blue.
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Figure 2: Stained glass to solve the puzzle in the Moon Room When the correct path to lit, we walk down the stairs to the floor. Without stepping out on the floor, we look around and see a door at the end of the path was lighted. The logic would imply that you should walk the lit path over to the door open it and proceed. However, we remember that the key to progress in Kadish is to find what is unseen or not obvious. In the stained glass to this puzzle in the gallery, we see a small red dot immediately opposite the blue circles that representing the buttons (like shown the figure above). We should walk around the room on the perimeter, without stepping onto the floor, until the position directly across the buttons. If we are in the right spot, we will see a prominent dark path leading to the center of the floor. To find the room exit, we should walk on the dark path without touching any part of the lighted area. Once we reach the center of the room, the exit is revealed as the floor lead us to a staircase and an exit, like shown the figure below. The door previously saw under the lit path, would pass like a false hood to mislead the visitor.
Figure 3: Moon Room. To the left the stained glass solution. To the right there is to red dot of the room, see the staircase and the exit.
In this puzzle, the integration between the visitors will be essential to help to remember the details or observe some specific spot. The habitual practice of the Myst players is the custom to make notes, to make small diagrams to the possible clues that they find in the way. Therefore, we confront the collective intelligence in action, since to solve the puzzle alone would be complicated. The dialogue, exchange of information, all while competing and collaborating, as they are playing. Each and every one have something offers to solve the puzzle. The logical point of view, we hade a problem witch offers complementary values, the dark and light. Remember the archetypes which ones we were "marked" at the moment to solve this puzzle should we follow the light or follow the shadows? The puzzle induces to the error purposely invited the visitor to see again its heuristic in solve the problems. Not always the obvious is the correct like not always what appears an error sustain so that. We have a point of reflection and also an optical illusion because our attention was focused on light and thus we can not even imagine the staircase that appears in the dark. Point of view, mutability, flexibility, these are the key words in this puzzle in its many means. The solution to it, however, was in the great Kadish Tolesa gallery that is enough to interpret it and in this task, we rely on the solutions tests and the possibility to share hypotheses or conjectures with journey friends. We do not know how many passed us or how many will come next, however, as accumulate "knowledge", there is a progress of learning, there is a cooperative process. The moon room is designate by the contrast. It's room of contrasts, where the opposites find itself, co-habit, coexist. Moreover, overcome the obstacle witch success is in change the routine of the thought itself. The rational and "irrational", which we believe must be right and the feeling be correct. In many situations, the first step to solve a problem is to step out the routine, thinking different (utilizing lateral thinking). We would have to explore the geometric question of the room, its circular shape, its floor layout with spiral like a mandala, is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". The psychoanalyst Carl Jung7 saw the mandala as a representation of the unconscious self, and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality. In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective. If we observe the changes of light and dark offered in the room we will see that the floor shows the moon phases. Moreover, as the phase of the moon "change" our frame is changeable. This is the puzzle purpose, conceive with the purpose of practice our ingenuity and patience and with that re-build our knowledge and awareness of self in a movement (transformation). Returned to the logical mathematical reasoning we find possible solutions to solve a puzzle. Represented in binary digits will have 25 combinations that it will result
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in 32 different combinations, i.e., if the visitor count only with luck the possibilities will be against him so the explorer will have one chance of success in 32 possibilities, that result in 3,12% of probability of success. Besides the statistic analysis we would cite the constitution of different numeric systems, this will be a binary sequence to the condition of success, i.e. to turn on the buttons 2, 3 and 5, in the sequence given of five buttons, and use the value 1 to turn on and 0 to turn off, we will have a binary number 01101. This binary number in its decimal representation is equivalent8 to the number 13. One curiosity in this number is its representation in Uru live. When in Tonis & Petry (2009) previous puzzle from this was solved and analyzed, the value 13 was predominant (the telescope puzzle combinations). The number thirteen mysteriously was considered to be sacred to the inhabitant of D'ni and this information will be evident to explore Uru Live.
Finals Considerations
Dont be the first to speak, but expect that the opus interpellate us (Schopenhauer), thereby to know the world, the opus, we also develop the self-knowledge. When these digital alchemists the programmers open the gates to new worlds, we glimpse the endless possibilities that arise from this interaction. The creativity, thought like new ideas and new perceptions, are not a mystical gift but a learnable skill. To this, we need to stop to feel, to hear, to be touched by the workmanship, that is, to suffer the aesthetic experience in the metaverses. The formal and deliberate processes of lateral thinking, said De Bono (1970) are all based on a consideration of the behaviour of information in a self-organizing system, such as the nerve networks of the human brain - for which we should be most grateful. They also form asymmetric patterns: the route from A to B is not the same as the route from B to A. The good innovative thinking (creative) can to "jump" systematically tracks of sequential thought assumed the lateral thinking as an alternative way to solve some challenges. This inquisitor spirit contributes to the global education of the individual formation, determined different forms of thinking, to think creatively. "Creative thinking is an art and a craftsmanship" (Perkins, 2001, p.67). In the answer of a problem, activities which allow formulate hypotheses, test them, observe the results, reformulate the hypotheses - reversibility are known to be heuristics activities. The freedom to "walk" around the problems - puzzles - conjectured is necessary to the "freedom to mistake". To learn with the mistakes is parts of the heuristic, this is positive, known the puzzles have a correct answer is evident that stimulated the explorer for search the solution, inquire informations, collecting data, conjecturing, speculating, and sharing hypothesis with other explorers. Restructuring, cognitively the connections between that information. It is the logic of creative variations, when we use opportunities to break up with a form of inertial mindset, i.e., resisted a new experiences and challenges. Like said Sir Conan Doyle,
the creator of Sherlock Homes, when we eliminated the impossible, what remains must be true, further impossible it look like. The path to creative thinking is open to follow the way in the solution of the puzzle, even that it does not make sense sometimes It is very difficult to recreate an experience previous that occurred in a time of great discovery, like Archimedes with the fluids theory or Darwin's theory of natural selection of species, because we can not feel what they felt, we need our own experiences and challenges the our delay and slowness and the our personal time. Thus, we rely with the experience in the puzzles into the metaverse as small moments to stimulate the creative thinking. Remember that Polya (1995) teaches us that a great discovery can solve a great problem, but it always will be a "pinch of discovery" in the resolution of any problem, even so the problem is modest, once it challenges the curiosity and set up our inventive faculties, when we solve by ourselves, we experiment the feeling of confidence and we enjoy the triumph of discovery. It is noteworthy that this crescent cognitive development and significance of the lived world contribute to abilities of analyze and criticism. Thus we have the greatest reward of this game is in the discovery and reconstruction of meaning, create and re-create forms of thinking so broaden the neural connections and ways of organize and use the informations. "A good puzzle, like the virtue, is the reward itself" (Dudeney, 2008).
References
Berger, A.A. (2009). Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon. 3 ed. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, pp. 73-83, Bonda, L.J. (2002). Notas sobre a experincia e o saber de experincia. Revista Brasileira de Educao, 20-28. Boyer, C.B. (1974). Histria da Matemtica. Traduo de Elza F. Gomide. So Paulo, Edgard Blcher. Brolezzi, A.C. (2008). Problemas e Criatividade: Uma breve introduo. So Paulo, Factash Editora. Carroll, J. (1994, August). Guerrillas in the Myst: From garage start-up to the first CD-ROM super-stars. Wired, 70-73. Carroll, J. (1997, September)."(D)Riven". Wired digital, retrieved June 15, 1009, from http://wwww.wired.com/wired/5.09/riven.html Davidson, D. (2008). Stories in between: narratives and mediums @ play. ETC Press. De Bono, E. (1968). New think; the use of lateral thinking in the generation of new ideas. New York: Basic Books. De Bono, E. (1970). Lateral thinking : creativity step by step. New York: Harper & Row. Dudeney, H.E. (2008). Os Enigmas de Canterbury. Espanha: RBA editora. Edward de Bono's Authorised Website. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from http://www.edwdebono.com/index.html Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. (2005). Beyond Edutainment: Exploring the Educational Potential of Computer Games. Frasca, G. (1999) Ludology meets narratology: similitude and differences between (video)games and narrative. From http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm
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Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms Gadamer, H. (1999). Verdade e mtodo: traos fundamentais de uma hermenutica filosfica. Traduo de Flvio Paulo Meurer. 3. ed. Petrpolis: Vozes. Gardner, M. (2008). Ah! Apanhei-te: Paradoxos de pensar e chorar por mais. Traduo Jorge Lima. Espanha: RBA editora. Huizinga, J. (1990). Homo Ludens: o jogo como elemento da cultura. Traduo Joo Paulo Monteiro. 2. ed. So Paulo: Perspectiva. Jung, C.G. (1972). O desenvolvimento da personalidade. Petrpolis: Editora Vozes. Kim, S. Scott Kim Puzzle Master. Retrieved July 3, 2010 from http://www.scottkim.com Laurel, B. (1991). Computers as Theatre. Reading: AddisonWesley Machado, A. (2002). Regimes de Imerso e Modos de Agenciamento. INTERCOM Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicao. XXV Congresso Brasileiro de Cincias da Comunicao, Salvador-BA. Manovich, L.(2005). Espao Navegvel. Revista Comunicao e Linguagens, Lisboa Universidade Livre de Lisboa, 34. pp. 109-141. Mayer, P. (1996). Representation and action in the reception of Myst: a social semiotic approach to computer media, Nordicon Review of Nordic Popular Culture, 1(1), pp. 237254. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). A Prosa do Mundo. Editora Cosac & Naify: So Paulo, pp. 147-161. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2006). Fenomenologia da percepo. Traduo de Carlos Alberto Ribeiro de Moura. So Paulo: Martins Fontes, 3. ed. Miles, D. (1999). The CD-ROM Novel Myst and McLuhans Fourth Law of Media: Myst and its Retrievals. In: Mayer, Paul (org.). Computer Media and Communication: a Reader. Oxford (NY): Oxford University Press, pp. 307-319 Minsky, M. (1985). Why People Think Computers Can't. First published in AI Magazine, vol. 3 n. 4, 1982. Reprinted in Technology Review, Nov/Dec 1983, and in The Computer Culture, (Donnelly Ed.), Cranbury NJ: Associated University Presses. Montford, N. (2003). Toward a Theory of Interactive Fiction. In If Theory. From http://nickm.com/if/toward.html Murray, J.H. (2003). Hamlet no Holodeck: o futuro da narrativa no ciberespao. Traduo Elissa Khoury Daher, Marcelo Fernandez Cuzziol. So Paulo: Itau Cultural: UNESP. Ostrower, F. (1977). Criatividade e Processos de Criao. Editora Vozes RJ. Perkins, D. (2001). A Banheira de Arquimedes: como os grandes cientistas usaram a criatividade e como voc pode desenvolver a sua. Traduo de Beatriz Sidou. Rio de Janeiro: Ediouro. Petry, L.C. (2010). Some Remarks on Ontological-Cognitive Structures in the Metaverse. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. The Metaverse Assembled v. 2, n. 5. From https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/770/713 Piaget, J. (1972). To Understand Is To Invent . New York: The Viking Press Inc. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1976). Da Lgica da Criana a Lgica do Adolescente. So Paulo: Pioneira. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1975). Gnese das Estruturas Lgicas Elementares. Traduo lvaro Cabral. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores. Piaget, J. (1977). A tomada de conscincia. Traduo de Edson Braga de Souza. So Paulo: Melhoramentos, Ed. Da Universidade de So Paulo. Piaget, J. (2002) A Noo de tempo na criana. Traduo de Rubens Fiza. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Record. Polya, G. (1995). A arte de resolver problemas: Um novo aspecto do mtodo matemtico. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Intercincia. Prensky, M. (2004). The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it. Ryan, M.L. (2001). Beyond Myth and Metaphor-The Case of Narrative in Digital Media. Game Studies the international journal of computer game research. V.1. issue 1. From http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/ryan/ Schoenfeld, A. (1992). Learning to think mathematically: Problem solving, metacognition, and sense-making in mathematics. In D. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook for research on mathematics teaching and learning. New York, NY: Macmillan, pp. 334-370. Schoenfeld, A. (1996). Por que toda esta agitao acerca da resoluo de problemas? In P. Abrantes, L. C. Leal, & J. P. Ponte (Eds.), Investigar para aprender matemtica. Lisboa: APM e Projecto MPT, pp. 61-72. Singer, D.G. & Singer, J.L. (2007). Imaginao e jogos na era eletrnica. Traduo de Gisele Klein. Porto alegre: Artmed. Stewart, I. (2008). Jogos, Conjuntos e Matemtica. Espanha: RBA editora. Tonis, C. N. & Petry. L.C. (2008). Experincias matemticas no contexto de jogos eletrnicos. Cincias & Cognio, v. 13 (3): pp. 300-317. From http://www.cienciasecognicao.org/pdf/v13_3/m318317.pdf Tonis, C.N. & Petry, L.C. (2010). The Ontological Aspects of Puzzles into Metaverses. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. The Metaverse Assembled v. 2, n. 5. From http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/767 Tonis, C.N. (2010). A lgica da descoberta nos jogos digitais. Dissertao de Mestrado no publicada. Pontifcia Universidade Catlica, So Paulo. Winnicott, D.W. (1975). O Brincar e a Realidade. Rio de Janeiro: Imago Editora.
Notes
1. Degree in mathematic and Master in Technology of Intelligence and Digital Design PUCSP Brazil, orientated by Lus Carlos Petry. He also work as researcher in NuPHG: The Research Center on Hypermedia and Games at the Pontifcia Universidade Catlica and professor of math application in games in the Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas de So Paulo FMU Brazil 2. In: http://puzzlemuseum.com/class/pzcla99a.htm 3. In: http://alexbellos.com/?tag=martin-gardner 4. Synectics: synecticos, as syn means add and ectos means diversity. Then Synecticos is connection of several things (Brolezzi, 2008, p.43). Synectics is based on a simple concept for problem solving and creative thinking - you need to generate ideas, and you need to evaluate ideas. Whilst this may be stating the obvious, the methods used to perform these two tasks are extremely powerful. 5. Murray (2003, p.174) calls it "finalization to exhaustion and not finish up, in other words, the lock electronically happens when the structure of a work is understood, though not its plot. This closure assumes a more specifically cognitive activity than the usual pleasure of hearing a story. The story itself is not really resolved. It still is not deemed satisfactory or consistent, but their map in the reader's head is already clear.
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6. The book of Atrus, The book of Ti'ana, and The book of D'ni. Each novel is a step back in time in regards to the story of the narrative. Therefore, the book of Atrus, ends at the start of Myst, The book of Ti'ana ends at the start of the book of Atrus and so on. In the novels, two of the narrative aspects shift. The story remains the same. You are now learning more about Atrus' tale and the history behind the game. In fact, the novels serve as a backstory to Myst. 7. See Jung, C.G.; Aniela J. (1965). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Random House, pp.186-197. 8. To make the conversion between binary and decimal system may use a scientific calculator. We offer online in <http://mistupid.com/computers/binaryconv.htm>.
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Design Education Towards the Second Life Platform

Newman Lau
Motion and Interactivity Lab, Multimedia Innovation Centre, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Email: newman.lau@polyu.edu.hk
Mickey Zhang
Motion and Interactivity Lab, Multimedia Innovation Centre, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Email: mar2005fall@hotmail.com Distinguished from traditional unilateral learning methods, e-learning was procedural in itself and aimed to construct knowledge with reference to individual experience, practice and background of learners. It comprised all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching which enabled information and communication systems to serve various types of media in order to complement a learning process. While outcomes of case studies and researches were often conducted in this area, holistic process in developing the student from the very beginning until having the higher level of understanding on design project via the online platform was seldomly carried out. This paper proposed and illustrated a teaching and learning process in a series of design classes held in Second Life (SL), one of the most influential virtual platform implemented worldwide. software application for administration, documentation, content management, tracking, reporting of training progress, e-learning programs, classroom and online events. A robust LMS should be able to centralize and automate administration, allow usage of self-service and self-guided services, assemble and deliver learning content rapidly, consolidate training initiatives on a scalable web-based platform, support portability and standards, personalize content and enable knowledge reuse. LMSs ranged from systems for managing training and educational records, to software for distributing courses over the Internet with features for online collaboration. The main function of it was to provide online services for sharing course materials and carrying out assessments, as well as offering basic interaction services like email, discussion broad and chat room, but they were commonly just used as document repositories. However, lack of multimedia and social content stopped the system from enhancing learning initiation, motivation and lack of situation in LMS also depressed educators who intended to integrate e-learning with situated learning. Multi-Virtual User Environment (MUVE) on the other hand had the advantages of easy to use, easy to access, systematic resources management and one paramount benefit of interaction. When many users logged into the environment, it activated the capability to communicate, interact and exchange information and this would go on by itself. In Dieterle Clarke's research at Harvard University, he said that they enabled users to access virtual contexts, interact with digital artifacts, use avatars to represent themselves, communicate with other avatars, and to participate in situations that replicate the situations from experiences in the real world. (Jody Clarke, Chris Dedeand Ed Dieterle Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA.) What educators needed were to use the tools provided by MUVE developer and to design their courses or to create their teaching materials, but without much concerns on system support, update and hosting. This greatly reduced the replication of development, building 87
Introduction
E-learning as a method of transferring skills and knowledge through computer and network became generally a must in tertiary education. Thanks to the advancement of technology, a class of students could communicate with other classes of students, without boundary of geographical limitation, sitting in a same virtual classroom simultaneously under the same educational domain. More and more academic institutions and departments proposed to develop central strategies for e-learning (OECD, 2005). On-line courses, seminars and conferences increased learning flexibility and offered more content to raise the motivation of students. E-learning covered wide range of disciplines and students could access it with great ease by means of individual account for conducting most types of learning activities online. E-learning was commonly adopted in postgraduate level education (OECD, 2005). Due to the investment on development and consistency of e-learning services in an institution, large portion of the services was provided by a Learning Management Systems (LMS). LMS was a
cost of new learning system and the time to create ecourses. The open-ended content creation and global community also attracted educators to choose MUVEs as new e-learning platform. In order to gain advantages from both traditional LMS and MUVEs, recent approaches tried to combine the both. Application includes Active Worlds, Croquet Project, Edusim, Active Worlds, Croquet Project, Neverwinter Nights, OpenSimulator, Project Wonderland, Quest Atlantis, Second Life, etc.
Design and Technology under the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The programme focused on core knowledge and practical skills in multimedia production. Students were expected to have creativity within design disciplines, develop awareness of multimedia technology practices and acquire techniques in identifying, analyzing and solving multimedia design problems. Particularly in the subject of Digital Media, students were required to acquire various computer skills in media representation, identify the implication of multimedia work in design and technical aspects, apply technical knowledge in criteria-based projects, and compose pieces of multimedia work by organizing and manipulating media elements.
Second Life
Second Life (SL) was a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on 23 June 2003. It was accessible over the Internet. One of the most excellent features in the Second Life was that it enabled users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents could explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade virtual properties, or travel around the virtual world. Users could also buy virtual region (island) from Linden Lab and had full control of their islands. In Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOGaming), players accessed to virtual world by proprietary client that allowed interactions with virtual contents. In most cases, players were allowed to create and customize their own avatar, design their own appearance, launch businesses, collaborate and perform entertainment activities. Unlike thematic games, such as World of Warcraft, SL users were completely free to create their own objects, mount interactions to the environment, and establish rules on their own lands. The outstanding features of the Second Life had attracted various kinds of users from all parts of the world. While it was not limited only to general game players, but also extended to companies, businessmen and educators. More enchanting possibilities in the virtual world were still being discovered by those SL residents. For instance, IBM held a Virtual World Conference and Annual Meeting in the SL, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used SL as a marketing channel to reach new audiences, and many global organizations like Walt Disney, Intel, World Bank had their own island or shop in the SL. On educational side, the New Media Consortium (NMC), a non-profit consortium of learning, launched one of the largest education projects in the SL to encourage the use of technologies in supporting teaching, learning, research and creative expressions, while over 150 institutions, including MIT, Harvard and Yale Princeton, built their virtual campus or held virtual class in the SL to promote their school and provided opportunity for distance learning (Linden Lab, 2003).
Approaches
In order to achieve the aim of facilitating education on top of the SL platform, structure on material preparation was divided into several level of complexity. This would benefit both the students and teachers in devoting their efforts under a smooth transition between traditional teaching and learning methodology and multi-user virtual environment. Their capabilities were structured into different stages: Control, Customization, Integration, Manipulation and Production. Each of which had their own learning objectives and marking criteria. Tasks offered at each stage were based on situated learning concept in SL session. They aimed to teach several artistic representation skills by making use of environment and resources provided by the HKPolyU Campus and elsewhere in a way of giving situations for their participation and practice. One hundred and thirty five students were divided into two groups. Within a two week period, each student needed to complete two out of the four tasks inside of the virtual campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University developed and deployed. Each of the tasks was structured as a three hour session. Assignment results and student comments were collected for qualitative analysis. Later in the subsequence semester, there was another subject named Summer Project that allowed students to have in-depth production experience based on defined project scope under the SL platform.
Control
The objectives of the control stage required students to be familiar with SL interfaces by navigation and exploration in the world of SL. Handouts of guidance and brief instructions were prepared and provided for this phase of work. Since this was one of the very first tasks they performed under the environment of SL, the students were expected to get themselves familiar with the interfaces and navigate around the space to explore different virtual elements. Tasks like, travelling inside SL, going across islands, and knowing how to use map and search for new and unknown islands, were introduced. Manipulation of avatar in order to move, fly or land was covered. Personalization and modification on the appearance of 88
Target Group
The study in this paper focused on curriculum development in experimenting and analyzing the effects of learning towards design education in virtual environment for a specific group of students studying under a programme of high diploma in the Multimedia
avatar was guided to develop a sense of belonging and immersion in SL. Using camera in third person view (behind and above your avatar), including zoom / focus view, and other combination of mouse and keyboard control allowed designated angles to be prepared, for taking snapshots and storing them. Purchasing, going shopping, buying or getting clothes, accessories, toys etc. were also be taught.
Customization
The learning objectives of the customization stage were to experiment costume design through built-in design elements and mix-n-match character outfit inside the virtual world. Figure 2: Students and Editing task work from Photography
Integration
The objectives of the integration stage were to acquire footages on topic, and then retouch and manipulate in other graphics software. Students were asked to design posters based on a selected SL gallery. They were expected to practice on post-editing skills in other multimedia software, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Then they needed to arrange the footages to create a design showcasing the selected gallery and art pieces inside. Students needed to possess the ability of post-editing skills, figure out the concept in arranging graphical elements and the set of skills of design presentation.
Figure 1: Students work from Outfit Design task Students were asked to design their avatars with a theme they came up. References for free items were provided to assist students in locating external resources in customizing their avatars. Finally, the students needed to setup a few camera angles to take snapshots on the avatars showcasing their outfit design. The expected outcomes of this task were to allow students to experiment the basic object interactions and to manipulate two dimensional media graphics in design. One of their outputs is shown in Figure 1. They demonstrated their ability in manipulating multimedia elements successfully under the virtual environment, of which the students had just learnt to use this interface for a very short period of time. Another task setup at this stage was about framing and photography. Students needed to try out the camera control inside virtual world, together with practices on post-editing skills in other multimedia software. Part of the results from this task was shown in Figure 2. From the results, students showed their techniques in constructing a frame to setup the mood and atmosphere together with taking certain photographic angle to accomplish their theme. Particularly, students also made use of the environmental control function in creating the scene, which could extend the possibility of scenario design. 89
Figure 3: Students on SL Gallery task
work
from
Poster
Design
Manipulation
The learning objectives of the manipulation stage were to design and build students own components in SL and manipulate controls of virtual setup. The 3D character construction task was prepared to experiment monster or character design by using basic primitives in another way of manipulation in modeling control. By working on this task, the students were expected to apply their skills and knowledge in tackling
design problems under a different three dimensional virtual space. The final design was assessed by creativity of the idea, manipulation in 3D and consistency of overall theme. Figure 4 showed one of the students works. Students also showed their creativity on setting basic color and texture to create and match their own combination of forms for designing their character models.
experiment through production process from idea and research analysis to creative solution and execution. Students were expected to apply their multimedia knowledge and to make the final prototype based on one of the two defined topics: dream library design and virtual hospital design.
Figure 4: Students work from 3D Character Design task On the other hand, a virtual studio was prepared for this stage. Students were asked to design and create mood and atmosphere for shooting an object with desirable photographic framing. The studio was built to further enhance their skills and techniques in taking control of interactive objects. The final design was assessed by the use of visual effects in creating the mood and atmosphere together with the framing of snapshots. Figure 5 demonstrated the stage settings by students working in this task. It showed the skills student learnt in combining various visual effects, and integrating different lighting with character motion set for taking photo at desired angles.
Figure 5: Students work from Dream Library Design project
Figure 6: Students Hospital Design project
work
from
Virtual
In conclusion, the works handed by students demonstrate satisfactory quality. Students showed their ability in learning the manipulation and control of objects and interaction under the virtual environment. Although the time was limited, they demonstrated the skills through their final design. Everything happened and finished just within a short period of time. At the same time, they showed positive attitude, enjoyable experience and active exploration in using SL as a learning environment. Figure 5: Design task Students work from Visual Effects
Discussion and Analysis

Regarding the feedback, students showed great interests in the learning process under SL. They commonly enjoyed it and appreciated that the works they did could be showed around the world. SL was definitely a good
Production
The learning objectives of this production stage were to design and produce project in multimedia and to 90
environment for conducting design experiments and training technical skills on multimedia manipulation. As a learning platform, it was important to have features that motivated students to learn, to experience, to experiment, and to explore further. SL had some kinds of features that were comparable to the students gaming experience. This was definitely a plus for the student to get actively participated and motivated in this learning process by adapting to the new environment in a much quicker way. Some students expressed that I can go somewhere that really exists in reality and I can take photos with my friends. They commonly felt that the world of SL was attractive in turning them to explore some new places. While SL had its own disadvantages and limitations, some students felt that there were difficulties in searching for free stuff to dress up the avatars. Some also expressed that the user interface was too complicated and they often needed a long time to search for a certain function button. The most frustrating experience was the relatively slow response on SL, which was also pointed out by other studies like James & Mark (2007), Stenio et al. (2007) and Varvello et al. (2008) that SL produced much larger network traffic compared to other common Networked Virtual Environment (NVE), especially in area where there was high density of avatars and objects.
Apply technical knowledge in tasks Compose multimedia works by organizing and arranging media elements Conceptualize design ideas and provide visualizations Identify and analyze the needs and desires of project Formulate a set of creative solutions to address the requirements identified Execute a project professional manner in a
Present design concepts and convince the audience
Conclusions and Improvements

The original goal of the class was to teach students how to represent concepts and ideas through artistic skills and leverage virtual multimedia resources to assist their design. SL was a situation for their participation, exploration, experiment and practice. The case study proved that using virtual environment of SL on a group of students under multimedia discipline was an innovative, stimulating and effective idea. After observation, we found that virtual world provided advantages and special attractiveness to the group of students. Furthermore, interactive learning platform could help students to conduct multimedia experiment and exploration in obtaining experience of design manipulation. The assessment was not only a means of measuring the works of students, but it should also provide them a learning opportunity to make sure the focus of different stages could be achieved. Each stage was equally weighted with point scale which could be added up to reflect the performance according to the assessment criteria and marking schemes. Task outcomes and feedback showed that students made improvements.
The result showed that multimedia students felt more confident in using the game-like environment on learning after the courses. Distraction from conducting the required task cannot be observed. In conclusion, SL could be said to be an effective and efficient learning system with respect to our target students in this case study. At this moment, we could only conclude the fact that teaching and learning under our designated stages is effective and efficient to students of design discipline. The study presented might further extend to draw a relationship between students from different disciplines and how favorable was learning in virtual environment like SL by performing more comparative case studies under the perspective of effectiveness and efficiency analysis. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The current research work is a part of a collaboration project across different departments as a whole supported by a grant from the e-Learning Development and Support Section under the university. The authors gratefully acknowledge all the research project team members for supporting the said teaching and learning activities in using SL as the platform. Acknowledgement should also be given to teaching staff and students of the subject Digital Media and Summer Project in participating the teaching and learning process. REFERENCES
Active Worlds. (1997). Active Worlds. http://www.activeworld.com (Accessed March, 2009) Brown, J.S., Collins, A. & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18 (1), 32-41. Collins, A., Brown, J.S., & Newman, S.E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Feldman, L. (2006). Case study: camp global kids: A case study of bringing a global youth development model into Teen Second Life. Proceedings of the Second Life Education
Customization
Articulate computer skills in media representation Manipulate the implication on multimedia work

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Production
Integration
Control
The Assessment of Outcomes Based on Different Stages
Manipulation
Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2010 International Conference Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms Workshop at the Second Life Community Convention (pp. 11). UK: The University of Paisley. Gee, J.P. (2003). What videogames have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. James, K., & Mark, C. (2008). Traffic analysis of avatars in Second Life. In Proc. of Nossdav, Braunschweig, Germany. Johnson, H.M., & Johnson, M.M. (2006). Multidisciplinary experimental education in Second Life: A global approach. Proceedings of the Second Life Education Workshop at the Second Life Community Convention (pp. 30-34). UK: The University of Paisley. Kemp, J., & Livingstone, D. (2006). Putting a Second Life Metaverse skin on learning management systems. Proceedings of the Second Life Education Workshop at the Second Life Community Convention (pp. 13-18). UK: The University of Paisley. Laurillard, D. (1997). Learning formal representations through multimedia. In F. Marton, D. Hounsell & N. Entwistle (Eds), Experience of Learning (2nd Edition). Scottish Academic Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press. Linden Lab. (2003). Second Life. http://secondlife.com, http://www.secondlifegrid.net/casestudies (Accessed August, 2010) Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD). (2005). E-learning in tertiary education. Retrieved August, 2010 from http://www.oecd.org/. Rex, F. (1997). LambdaMOO: An introduction. http://www.lambdamoo.info (Accessed March, 2009) Steinkuehler, C.A. (2004). Learning in massively multiplayer online games. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Santa Monica, CA. Stenio, F., Carlos, K., Djamel, S., Josilene, M., & Rafael, A. (2007). Traffic analysis beyond this world: the case of Second Life. In Proc. of Nossdav, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. Varvello, M., Picconi, F., Diot, C., & Biersack, E. (2008). Is there life in Second Life?. Technical Report. Retrieved March, 2009 from Paris Research Lab (http://www.thlab.net/Publications%20&%20Reports/). Wah, C.G.S., & Gwee, J.Y.Y. (2008). The secret second life of education - a case study. Distance Learning and the Internet Conference (pp. 139-142). Wright, M. (2007). Virtual Worlds Project. http://otis.edu/life_otis/faculty_life/faculty_development/gran tee_reports/michaelwright_virtual_worlds.html (Accessed August, 2010)
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The Literary Theory applied to Creation Process of Second Life residents: A Case Study of Liberato Lindman resident and its development.
Louro, Luciana C.
Pontifcia Universidade Catlica de So Paulo PUCSP
Louro, Donizetti
Pontifcia Universidade Catlica de So Paulo - PUCSP Abstract This paper intends to investigate the importance to study the creation process of a character through literary theory from Mikhail Backhtin (2003). According to Backhtin (2003), any character must be examined as a whole finished, regardless of consciousness of the author. Therefore, these characters once are "created, they are turned off the process that created them, and they begin to live independently in the world. (Backhtin, 2003:6). On the other hand, opposite to this theory, a resident of Second Life is a virtual representation of the consciousness of his author, modifying itself according to his experience, imagination and inference from other characters and situations, beyond his control. In this context, the complex system notion from Mario Bunge (1979, 2001) can help us in study of creation process of a resident in the Second Life, as well as in the literary influences analysis in its composition (Genette, 1986). Finally, to try to validate this hypothesis, this research will do a case study, by analyzing the resident Liberato Lindman and its author Jean Liberato, who maintain it since 1998. Introduction The study of the characters creation process has been a constant concern of literary critics and writers as well as game developers and designers of immersive environments (McCloud, 1993, Smith, 2006). This paper aims to investigate the possible emergence of a complex systemic process present in the Second Life (SL) 1 Residents 2 characters creation. However, before addressing the creation process, it is important to distinguish the character of its characterization. Thus it will be necessary to define those two different terms. For Blair (1995), a character is a concept, not its graphical representation. You can, then, define a character as "a fictional realitys inhabitant whos matter that it is done and the space it is inhabit, is different from matter and space of human beings" (Brait, 1997 p: 11). This study will analyze the conceptual and fictional basis above mentioned; as well it aims to investigate the possible literary theory applications in the characterization in immersive virtual environments. Characterization, by contrast, is all that can be seen by looking at a character: its appearance, movements, attitudes, behavior, dressing, voice, gesture, life history, strengths, weaknesses and so on (Blair, 1995). It can be, therefore, made before or after the establishment of a screenplay. Some authors describe minutely the creative process, based on specific situations, faced by each development characters team. Yet, they did not propose a general definition for the process in question. (Rollings and Adams 2003, Meretzky 2001, McLoud, 1993). Thus this work suggests, based on the conceptual and fictional characters qualities (Blair, 1995, Brait, 1997), to define the characterization as a creation characters process from a concept, established by a pre-existent screenplay or not, that defines the characters visual and aesthetics aspects as its particular narrative, inserted in the main plot, in order to illustrate graphically, its personality, giving to him a appearance. Once defined the characterization type to be studied, it is necessary to select the literary theory to guide its analysis. The literature has several ongoing investigations of literary creation, in particular the character creation process. It was thought, for the first time, in order to investigate the literature references presents in the SL residents creation process, to study the Grard Genette (1982) transtextuality concept. Then we choose, as a character creation process analysis guide the Bakhtin Theory (Bhakthin, 2006) over this subject. This author was chose because his theory lay on the character aesthetic analysis. In other words he defends that a character must be studied from his final product. However, the difficulty with the bhakhtinian analysis lays on the fact that the creation process of those avatars never ends. They are born in SL and their authors start, gradually, to create, their
1
Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003, and is accessible on the Internet. A free client program called the Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars (Rymaszewski, 2007). 2 Avatars (for definition of avatar, see item 3) which simulate real life in a world created by computer. This paper will refer to these avatars as residents to establish a consistency with the nomenclature used in Second Life (Rymaszwski, 2007).
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own narratives, with no prediction of when or how their story will end. So, this work pretends to explore the possibility to expand the Bakhtin Theory (Bhakthin, 2006) with the Mario Bunges (1979) Complex System Notion. To suggest this hypothesis is necessary, at first, to establish the character creation under the bakhtinian vision (2006)(1). Then it will be explained the complex system concepts, in light of the Mario Bunges reflections (1979) (2). After that it will be necessary to expose the Genette (1982) Transtextuality theory (3). Finally we will present a case study about the SL character designer, Jean Liberato, who has an avatar 3 in the environment since 2003, named Liberato Lindman. This case study intends to investigate the applicability of Bakhtinian Theory, extended by the Bunges (1979) complex systemic notion, as well the existence of the transtextuality (Genette, 1982) in the residents building process.(4). 1 - The theory of Bakhtin: finished character in its entirety. According to Bakhtin (2006), the development of a character is an axiological process which part of the answers that an author infers to his character. As an answer we understand, in effect, all choices related to traits, profile, events in life, emotional ties and the whole features set that makes a complete character. So, the bakhtinian theory has as a creation precondition one story with a complete cycle. Thus, the creative process must be a posterior study because, for the author, "we can not study this process immediately as a psychological law (...) Whatever is its temporal causes, its psychological flow, about this theme we can only guess, because it does not concern the aesthetics." 4 (Bakhtin 2006: 5). Bakhtin also believes that this study should take into account the characters evolution which once "set off theirs creation process, they begin to lead an independent life in the world, the same thing happens with its creator-author 5. (Bakhtin, 2006:6) Thus, the philosopher argues that the starting point to explore the creation process is not the author personal characteristics. The study should focus on "event treatment form, the form of its experience in all aspects of life and the world." In other words, how the authors cognitive repository (Louro, Fraga e Pontuska, 2009), composed by their experiences, research and imagination, influenced the character creation. However, for this, Bakhtin (2006) emphasizes the need to report to a completed and independent character. But, as it has been pointed in the introduction, the applicability of bakhtinian theory in the open characters 6 analysis, as is the SLs residents case, may presents a difficulty because its complete and finished character concept. Therefore, we consider the possibility of extending the Bakhtinian theory (Bakhtin, 2006) with a complex systemic view (Bunge, 1979) in order to study the open character development process. Thus, it is necessary to explain the Mario Bunges complex
system notion (1979, 2001)(2). 2- Mario Bunges complex system notion For Bunge (2001:196) a system is "an object whose parts or components relate to at least one other component." 7 The author also gives great emphasis to the role of the environment, defining the complex systems concept with the ordered triple 8: environment, components and relation, as it can be seen in the following formula, published in his book "The World of Systems", (A world of systems), (Bunge, 1979:8). SA (, t) = <CA (, t) EA (, t), SA (, t)> Where: SA (O, t) = system. CA (O, t) = a set of anything. EA (O, t) = environment SA (O, t) = relation () = sets indication <> = Indication that the internal elements of the set is an ordered list, i.e. the elements of a complex system (set of anything, environment and relationship) should always remain in the same order (see note number 6 for an ordered list explanation). Thus a complex system consists of a set of anything that must be relate to "at least one other component (Bunge 2001:196) and is also related to the environment that
3
Avatar, from the sanskrit Aval, which means That who descends from God, or just Encarnation (Dasgupta, 1992). The meaning of the expression expanded to beyond the restrictely religious in 1859, in book The Life of John Milton from John Donne (Britt, 2008). The term as a user virtual identity has appeared, for the first time, in 1992 in the romance Snow Crash from Neal Stephensson (2000). Its proliferation, however, may be attributed to the Second Life, a online multiplayer virtual world (Britt, 2008). 4 Free translation of: no podemos estudar imediatamente esse processo como lei psicolgica; (...) Sejam quais forem suas causas temporais, seu fluxo psicolgico, sobre esse tema podemos apenas conjeturar, porque no diz respeito esttica. (Bakhtin 2006: 5) 5 Free translation of: criadas se desligam do processo que as criou e comeam a levar uma vida autnoma no mundo, e de igual maneira o mesmo se d com o seu real criador-autor. (Bakhtin, 2006:6) 6 The open characters are those wihch are created with the intention to be modified through user interaction. Thus, they do not have predefined characteristics, not a cyclical story of life, like have the traditional characters. 7 Free translation of (Bunge, 2001: 196). un objeto cuyas partes o componentes se relacionam com al menos otro componente. 8 Ordered triple or ordered lists can be defined recursively from the ordered pair definition: an ordered triple (a, b, c) can be defined as (a, (b, c)) or as ((a, b), c). So, it is an ordered pair that contains another ordered pair as an element. On the other hand, an ordered pair is, intuitively, two elements, for example, a and b where one is designated as the first element and the other as second element. Thus, an ordered pair is called (a, b). Two ordered pairs (a, b) and (c, d) are equal only if a = c and b = d. Thus an ordered pair (1,3) isnt equal to (3,1). In addition to that, an ordered triple (1 (2,3)) isnt equal to an ordered triple (2 (1,3)).
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surrounds it. Is important to remark that this research aims only use the complex system Bunges ideas in order to conjecture an extension of the Bakhtins character notion (Bakhtin 2006) for analyze the open characters. Thus, the formula presented here will be used only as a guide. It was not considered necessary, therefore, an algebraic demonstration of the hypothesis in this monograph. We decided, finally, to simplify the Bunges triple ordered definition (1979), as follows: S= <(m), A, R> Where: S = system (M) = set of anything A = Environment R = Value () = a set < > = Indication that the internal elements of the set is an ordered list (see note 6). Bunge (2001) states, also, that the systems can be divided into natural, "whose components as well the links between them belong to nature, it isnt a man works (Bunge, 2001:199)" 9 and artificial, that is the "union of all non-natural systems" (Bunge, 2001:199)." This study considers a character concept (Blair, 195) and a creation of man. To sum up, the focus of interest here is the analysis of artificial systems that are divided into: conceptual, material, semiotic and technicians. The first system type seems to be the most interesting for this work because, like the character (Blair, 1995), it is composed by concepts (Bunge, 2001:199). Once the definition and type of system are chosen, it must be defined the complexity concept that will be adopted to guide this work. According to Vieira (2006), there isnt a complexity ontological definition. But even according to the author (Vieira, 2006) is possible to find a path to find possible definitions through the analysis of systemic parameters proposed by Mario Bunge (1977,1979). In order to examine this question, we chose to complement the Bunges Parameters with those proposed by Kenneth George Denbigh (1975), Humberto Maturana (1991.1997) and Edgar Morin (1986), namely: Composition (Bunge, 1979); Integrality (Denbigh, 1975); Structure (Bunge, 1979); Completeness (Denbigh, 1975, Maturana, 1991); Functionality (Maturana, 1996); Organization (Morin, 1986). It is possible to admit a hierarchy in these parameters which would work as follows: whole system consists of
a set of elements, in others words, has a composition. Those elements establish connectivity among themselves, forming a network of relationships, or structure. This structure, in its turn, is open, generating, therefore, subsystems which leading the integrality; then the functionality, which implies the organization, emerge from these collective properties. For Vieira (2006) diversity, information and entropy are present in all systemic parameters, and "that the root and the bearer of complexity" (Vieira 2006:15). Taking into account the hierarchy described above and the statement of Vieira (2006), we may assume that the complexity would be associated with diversity, information and entropy of each parameter. However, "ontologically the most fundamental aspect is the diversity" (Vieira, 2006:15), which is ultimately "a strong indication of complexity" (Vieira, 2006:15). Finally, we chose to consider one complex system every system that presents diversity in it parameters. On the other hand, if an open character may overflow the boundaries delineated by the bakhtionian theory (Bakhtin, 2006), it appears to fit easily in palimpsests of Genette (1989, 2006). However, the possible existence of a constant renewal in the personality of this type of creation, coming from various cultural and literary sources, requires, firstly, the establishment transtextuality concept (Genette, 1982, 2006) (3). 3 - Grard Genette transtextuality teory The author of Palimpsestes 10 (Genette, 1982) clarifies that your concept of transtextuality reaches "everything that places for (a text), expressive or secret, with other texts" (Genette, 1982, p.7) 11. For the author, we have five types of transtextual relations: - Intertextuality: the presence of a text inside another text: citation, plagiarism, allusion. The studing of intertextuality would be the analysis of the elements that take place inside the text (inter) - Paratextuality: represented by the title, subtitle, preface, marginal notes, epigraphes, illustrations This relations field is quite wide and includes the marginal notes, footnotes, final notes, warnings, so many others signals that enclose the text, as the word formation itself indicates. Metatextuality: seem as the critical relation, by excellency. Its the commentary relation which links a text to another one. Arquitextuality: it establishes a taxonomic relation of the text, including it in its respective statute turning it unique. Here are found the types of speech, the enunciation modes, the literary gender, etc. Hipertextuality: its every relation that links a text (text B hipertext) to another one (text A hipotext). ____________________________________
9
Free translation of (Bunge, 2001:199): cujos componentes as como los vnculos entre ellos pertencen a la natureza-esto es no son obra del hombre.
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Finally to investigate the applicability of these concepts in the open characters analysis in the metaverses 12, itll be made, following, a case study of a SL resident through the analysis of an interview (refer to attachment 2) as the SL consulter Jean Liberato, SL resident since 1998, under the name of Liberato Lindman. 4 - The case study of Liberato Lindman: the applicability of literary theory in the process of creating an open character in metaverse. Firstly, there will be an explanation of the data collection methodology. Then we will proceed to the analysis of responses from the questionnaire. 4.1-Methodology used to questionnaires design and implementation. This questionnaire was designed in order to carry out a qualitative research 13. The first part is a set of questions relating to the work of character designer in immersion environments. The second part is related to the creation process and evolution of the Avatar chosen by the SL designer, Jean Liberato, the vampire Liberato Lindman. At this point, we chose to be based on the theories of game designer Steve Meretzky (2001). He prepared a questions script about the projected character profile for the author to respond. This part of the questionnaire was, thus, formed from the questions arising from this script, with the aim of describe the personality of the character studied. He was also asked to answer the second round questions in two ways: first according to the initial planning and then, according to current story of his SL avatar (since he began his life in Second Life until today). Having established the methodological foundations of data collection for this case study, it is necessary to examine the questionnaire in light to the theories of Bakhtin (2006), Bunge (2001, 1979) and Genette (1989) aiming to investigate the applicability of the literature theory in the Metaverse open characters creation process (4.2). 4.2- The aplicabilty of literature theory in the Metaverse open characters creation process. For Bakhtin (2006) developing a character is an axiological process that ends in a finished character. Another point of this theory is the recommendation of to study the creative process posteori (Bakhtin, 2006). In others words, for the Russian author (Bhaktin, 2006) the character must be analysed once it is already independent of its creator, having its own autonomous existence. However, the bakhtinian theory, with its posteriori analysis recommendation, presents a difficulty to be applied in the SL resident evolution, because it is an ongoing creative process without a predetermined end. At this point, it is conjectured to apply the Bunges complex system theory (1979, 2001) as a way to examining this new type of creative process. In parallel, there is always the possibility to find the
transtextualitys presence (Genette 1986) in the choices made by the author during his creation process. Thus we will proceed to the aesthetics description of this cases study character, the vampire Liberato Lindman. Then, a SL characters developing analysis will be done in light of the theories of Bakhtin (2006) and Bunge (1979, 2001). Finally, the possible literary influences, and the consequent transtextuality (Genette, 1982), existing in the preparation of this resident will be investigated. The Resident Liberato Lindman is tall, bald, has silver eyes, white skin and an athletic aspect (see Figure 1). The consultant explains that his SL avatar was created with the intention of becoming a great entrepreneur in the metaverse, inspired by the history of Chinese Unshe Chung 14 who win more than one million dollars through the virtual land administration. Thus, at first, Liberato Lindman had a preference for social clothes, opting for suits brand and its main recreation was sponsoring parties with renowned DJs. The figure below illustrates the aesthetics of the original Resident studied here.
Image 1: Liberato Lindman as an entrepreneur
10
The title of Grard Genette book, Palimpsestes, already sugests the french author opnion, that defends the theory of all texts, oral or written, presents relations links between them. The scroll write habit made of leather, used for write, was, many times, recycled, erasing the old scriptures, for, over them, write new scriptures. Was an palimpsest, which the new scripture overwriting the old text lets hide in parts the first one. Thus the name palimpsest comes to the texts written on top of others, returning them and showing them in this return. 11 Free translation of tout ce que le met em relation, manifeste ou secrte, avec dautres textes (Genette, 1992, p. 7). 12 The metaverse term has arosed, for the first time, in the Snow Crash novel by Neal Stephenson published in 1992 to describe a threedimensional virtual world where humans interact through avatars and software agents, which are computer programs designed to get intelligent answers to the users actions. Currently, it is the terminology used to indicate a type of virtual world that tries to replicate reality through digital devices. 13 Since the main objective of this study to investigate the applicability of Bakhtin's literary theory (2006), expanded by the Bunges complex system notion, and Genette transtextuality (1989) in the SL s resident creation process, we opted for this type of scientific research, because in qualitative research "[...] the biggest concern is not to generalize the results obtained in a show, but the characterization, understanding and interpretation of a phenomena in a specific group [...]" (MOURA, FERREIRA, 2005, p. 50).
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Liberato (2010) explains that the initial creative process of one avatar is, in general, quite simple. In fact people can use pre-customized avatars. After that, they can purchase appearance and clothing accessories (...) in the virtual market "(Liberato, 2010, issue 1). You can see below an example of an avatar beginners creation.
personal characteristics defined. However, one resident is made to trace their own history, changing their appearance and write an oral narrative on the go. So, even if it was born with defined features, the resident doesnt have a complete history. That permanent character evolution is where lay the difficulty to apply the character creation process Bakhtin Theory in this case. Therefore, the second part of Jean Liberato interview (2010), the author of the Resident Liberato Lindman, shows the SL residents evolution since 2003, when it was created until 2010. The follows mind map 16 shows this evolution 17.
14
Image 2: beginner avatar edition (Figure 2).
Thus, in a first step, the birth 15 of a resident in SL is, partly, an aesthetic event as described by Bakhtin (2006), because it is created with physical features and
Anshe Chung is a Chinese women, based in Germy, her real name is Ailin Graef. She is a SLs mega entrepreneur who amassed afortune that surpasses the mark of one million dollars. She devoted since 2004 to the construction of virtual lands, homes and even commercial buildings (Assisi, 2006). 15 People who create avatars in Second Life refer to the process of creating this world as "birth", because they feel they are being born to a new world with a virtual life parallel (Rymaszewski,2007).
__________________________________________________________________________________________ 16
Image 3: Mind Map of the Liberato Lindman evolution from 2003 until 2010. 18
For Tony Buzan (2005) the structure of mental maps facilitate the cognitive understanding of a complex issue, because it allowsthe visualization as a whole. Thus, we chose to approach the Buzans mental maps (2005) in order to organize the information and concepts about the Liberato Lindmans character evolution. 17 The initial situation of Avatar will be in blue and the current situation in green. 18 To view this larger map, see Annex 1
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Observing this map its possible to acknowledge that the character evolved, staying dependent of its creator conscience. To Bakhtin (2006), the author created all the situations of changes in the characters life, previewed all the facts and later disentangled himself from it, allowing it to have an independent life in the world; the additional lifetime after its creation would depend of the readers imaginary and not from the new circumstances and choices from its creator. In the SL the author becomes a user, making choices following the other users choices (or author, or actors) and agreeing with the environment in which he is inserted. By this way, the relations between the user Resident Liberato Lindman with the other SL habitants assemblage and the environment of this metaverse, create a triple ordinate which, among other things, defines its new characteristics. Consequently, if we consider: S= system = creation process of an open character in the Metaverse; (m)= set of anything = set of Metaverse users; A= Environment = Metaverse; R= Relation = Relations between the Users and
Relations between Users and Metaverse, so S= <(m), A, R> Starting from this hypothetic application of the Bunges systems equation (1979), we may suggest that: S= creation process of the resident Liberato Lindman; (m) = set of SL residents; A = SL R= Relations between Liberato Lindman, so, it would emerge the same equation once again: S= <(m), A, R>
It may be, therefore, thought that the creation process of an open character in a Metaverse, so as the case of Liberato Lindman, object of this study, is systemic. But we might consider it complex? The visualization of the mental map in next page helps the analysis of this question.
Figure 1: Application map of the Complex Systems 19
Studying this map its possible to acknowledge that the diversity is found in all parameters of the creative process system of Liberato Lindman, demonstrating, so, a strong evidence of complexity in this system. At last, its interesting observe other important characteristic in the creative process of a Resident, the permanency: the narrative of Liberato Lindman does not end, unless he
dies in SL. Actually, this seek for permanency is according to Vieira (2006) one of standard behavior of the complex systems. Suppose, thus, that the creation process of an open character, so as the example of Liberato Lindman, works in model of a complex system. In front of this context, would it be possible to analyze such process through the theory of Bakhtin (2006)?
19
to view this larger map, see Annex 2
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Just as it has been exposed in the item 2, the Russian author, used to defend that the characters analysis should start from its whole finished and, as consequence, independent of the authors conscience. However, its not applicable when the character is a virtual representation of the authors conscience, modifying itself in accordance with its experiences, its imaginary and, mainly, the inference of other characters and situations foreign to its will. By this way, it is proposed in this study a review of the Bakhtinians thought of character, increasing it with the complex system concept (Bunge, 1979) and opening a possibility to study its creative process in a dynamical form. To this matter, the study of an open character, so as the avatar Liberato Lindman, needs to start from its initial creation until its present (the present whole finished). In closure, to apply this concept, the present monograph will proceed with the analysis of the transtextuality (Genette, 1986) in the creative process of the avatar Liberato Lindman, investigating the existence of the literary influences in the composition of this character from its initial situation in 1998 until today. Studying the mental map 1, about the characters evolution, it is evidenced that its is an hybrid of werewolf and vampire, merging since the beginning, myths that refers to the greek folklore. This fusion already existed in the figure of the Vrikolakas, myth which aroused in Greece in the century VI that merged the Mormos 20, mythical creatures of ancient Greece, with the Slavic tradition in which the priests used to use a wolf skin in their magic rituals. In accordance with the Slavic, the Vrikolakas were dead werewolves that came back to life. Who is attacked by this kind of vampire, becomes, inevitably, in one of them. They may have children that will become Vrikolakas or hunters of these creatures (Melton, 1994). Nevertheless, the avatar Liberato Lindman, which was born with the perseverance quality (map 1), aquired, only, vampire powers through the years, have not been mentioned on the interview any ability of a licantrophe 21 . It began to feed itself with blood and souls from its victims, a characteristic inspired from the modern vampires (Laycok, 2009). The literary creatures of ancient Greece, analogous to these monsters, as the Lamias 22, the Empuses 23, and the Mormos so as the Dracula from Bram Stocker, derived from the Victorian literature from century XIX, feed exclusively of blood. However, there is a modern vampirism 24 stream, based in a religion of the ancient Egypt that revered the goddess Aset (Isis in Greek), the goddess of magic and the Egyptian funeral protector. About the vestments, the character Liberato Lindman used to, first of all, wear social costumes, once its main objective has always been become a great businessman of SL (map 1). Today, in accordance to its creator, its costumes were inspired in the gothic-vampire 25, having, also, elements of the SteamPunk 26 culture. But, it may adapt itself to the situation and dress itself as a businessman, with suits and tie, varying, so, its
clothes with the occasion (Liberato, 2010, question 7). It is possible to observe, below, the styles cited and the reading of them made by the characters author so as its present appearance in social suits (figures 3, 4 and 5).
Figure 2: reading of the merge between the gothic-vampire and steampunk styles made by Liberato Lindmans creator.
Figure 3: Liberato Lindman today in social costume.
20
In Greek mythology, the Mormo was an evil spirit, and Hecate goddess companion, which terrorize the children, biting them and even leaving them lame. (Aristophanes, trans. Duarte, 2005) Note: Aristfones, (c. 447 BC - c. 385 BC) was a Greek playwright. It is considered the most representative of Old Comedy. 21 Lycanthropes are men who turn into wolves. It may also be the case for a psychiatric illness of someone who thinks turn into a wolf. Lycanthrope may well be a synonym for werewolf. 22 In Greek mythology, Lamia was a queen of Libya, seduced by Zeus, who, because of Heras revenge, the Zeus wife, became demon-eating children (Grimal, 2000). 23 In Greek mythology, the Empusas were one type of the Hecates spectra(Grimal, 2000). 24 We speak here of vampirism as a hidden spiritual philosophy, linked to black magic and based on Egyptian mythology (Laycok, 2009). 25 The Gothic vampire appeared in the eighteenth century through the classic Bram Stoker's Dracula (....), first published in 1897. Stoker opened the image of an immortal vampire, elegant, seductive, mysterious and dressed in clothes of an English Lord (Punter, 1996). In the 1960 post-modernism took the recipe to serve Gothic strategies such as the fantastic and imaginary excessive, the sublime, terror, horror and sexual symbolism to produce novels transgressors of bourgeois values (Botting, 1999). Since the style has received modern touches, mixing the eighteenth centurys Victorian style with the fashion of the twentieth and twentieth one centuries (for an example see figure 5.) 26 Steampunk is a subgenre of alternative-historie science fiction, typically set in a pseudo-victorian culture. The aesthetic divulged by steampunk is essentially retro futuristic since the time zone it portrays is not he future as w might imagine today but rather the future as imagined by the technovisionaires of past epochs (Cavallaro, p. 183).
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Observing the figures above it is possible to acknowledge that the physical appearance of the analyzed character has also changed: it has acquired beard, its skin is suntanned (which denotes that it has not sun related issues, so as the Greek Vrykolakas) and uses, in informal occasions, a Mohican haircut to compose its visual gothic-vampire-steampunk. He has, also, acquired, along of his SL life, a mini-dragon, red with medieval aesthetic aspects (Shuker, 1995), as a pet (figure 9), so it is possible to see in the next figure.
Adriane da S. Duas comdias: Lisstrata e As tesmoforiantes. Martins Fontes. So Paulo. Bakhtin, Mikahil. (2006). Esttica da Criao Verbal. Martins Fontes. So Paulo. Benjamin, Walter (1993). Trad. Srgio Paulo Rouanet. Brasiliense. Experincia e pobreza em Magia e Tcnica, Arte e Poltica. So Paulo. Pg.116. Blair, Preston (1995). Cartoon Animation. Walter Foster Publishing. U.S.A Botting, Fred (1999). Gothic. Routledge. London. Brait, Bethy (1987). A personagem. So Paulo. Editora tica. _____________ (2005). Conceitos Chave. Editora Contexto. So Paulo. Bryant, Edwin (2007). Krishna: a Sourcebook. Oxford University Press. E.U.A Bunge, Mario (1979) A World of Systems. D. Reidel Publishing Company. Holland. ___________(2001) Dicionario de Filosofa. Siglo Veinturo editores. Mxico.
Figure 4: mini-dragon pet of Liberato Lindman
Buzan, Tony (2005) The ultimate book of mind maps: unlock your creativity, boost your memory, change your life. HarperThorsons. London. Cavallaro, Dani (2009). Anime and memory: aesthetic, cultural and thematic perspectives. Jefferson, N.C. U.S.A Damiani, Edgard B. (2007). Second Life: guia de viagem. Novatec Editora. So Paulo. Damer, Bruce (1998). Avatars! Peachpit Press. Berkeley. EUA Day, Peter (2006). Vampires : mithys and metaphors of enduring evil. Amsterdan Rodopi. EUA. Denbigh, Kenetth G (1975). An inventive Universe. New York Diodoro, Sculo (1984). Trad. Geer, Mortiner Russel. Library of History. Havard Un. Pr, Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge. Genette, Grard (1982). Palimpsestes. La littrature au second degr, ditions du Seuil, rd. coll. Points . Paris. Grimal, Pierre (2000). Dicionrio da Mitologia Grega e Romana. Bertrand Brasil, 4 Edio. Rio de Janeiro, pg. 134 Laycok, Joseph (2009). Vampires Today: the truth moderm vampirism. Conn Praeger . Westport. EUA Leo, Lucia (2004). Derivas: Cartografias do Ciberespao. Annablume. So Paulo. Marques, Luz (2007). Asetian Bible, public version Aset-Ka. Barnesandnoble. EUA Maturana, Humberto (1997). A ontologia da realidade. Ed. UFMG. Belo Horizonte
Finally, all this cultural and literary kaleidoscope demonstrates the transtextuality (Genette, 1982) inherent to the creative process of the Liberato Lindmans character. Final Considerations The creative process analysis of the avatar Liberato Lindman allowed to conjecture the great diversity of cultural, philosophical and literary influences which composes the elaboration of this character, proving, in parallel, the presence of the transtextuality in the authors choices (Genette, 1982). Such diversity constituted a strong evidence of complexity in this process (Vieira, 2006). The presence of a systemic characteristic is, equally, provable, once all the parameters of a complex system are present in the creation and evolution of the character (mental map 2) . Then, this character may be considered open, in opposition to the traditional romances which are, in accordance with Bakhtin (2003), finished in its whole.Finalizing, it may be accepted as provable the hypothesis that the creative process of an open character in a metaverse is systemic and complex. By this way, the proposal of analyze it dynamically, considering its initial and final situation seems to be appropriated. Bibliography
Assis, Diego (2006). Empresria Chinesa a Primeira Milionria de "Second Life" http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/PopArte/0,,AA13677167084,00.html, 03/07/2010. Aristfanaes, (2005). Trad. Duarte,
_________________(1991). "The origin of the theory of autopoietic systems," Ed. In Fischer, h. r. Frankfurt. McNally, Raymond T. (1994). In Search of Dracula and Vampires. U.A Mifflin publisher. Boston. Melton (1994) The Vampire Book: the encyclopedia of the
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Undead. Visible Ink Press. Detroit Meretzky, Steve (2001). Building Character: An Analysis of Character Creation. Article disponvel no GamaSutra Website: www.gamasutra.com, 06/04/2005. Morin, Edgard (1986). La connaissance et la connaisance: antropologie de La connaisance. ditions Seuil. Paris Vieira, Albuquerque Jorge (2006). Complexidade e Conhecimento Cientfico. Artigo consultado no endereo eletrnico: http://www.unicamp.br/fea/ortega/NEO/JorgeVieiraComplexidade-Conhecimento.pdf (02/04/2010 s .
18h00). Punter, David (1996). The Literature of Terror: A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the Present Day. Longman. London. Rymaszewski, Michael (2007). Second Life: the official guide. Jhon Wiley. So Francisco. Shuker, Karl (1995). Dragons: a natural history. Simon & Schuster. New York. Stoker, Bram (1999). Dracula. N.Y collection: scholastics classics. New York Scholastic,
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Networked Education: The importance of testing the pedagogical design in teacher training in virtual worlds
Ascensin Robles Melgarejo
Docente externa. Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM). Av. Guelatao No. 66 Col. Ejrcito de Oriente, Iztapalapa, C.P. 09230 Mxico D.F. Email ascenrm@gmail.com:
Lidia del Carmen Andrade Corts
Docente externa. Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM). Av. Guelatao No. 66 Col. Ejrcito de Oriente, Iztapalapa, C.P. 09230 Mxico D.F. Email: lidiadelcarmenan@gmail.coom
Jos Antonio Jernimo Montes
Profesor Titular. Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM). Av. Guelatao No. 66 Col. Ejrcito de Oriente, Iztapalapa, C.P. 09230 Mxico D.F. Email: jajm@unam.mx
Nick Kearney
Independent education consultant. Andamio Education and Technology S.L. Avenida Europa 10, 46190 Ribarroja de Turia,Valencia, Spain. Email: nkandamio@gmail.com
Teresa C. Rodrguez Garca
Profesor Visitante Doctor. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicacin. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Camino del Molino, s/n Fuenlabrada - Madrid (Espaa) 28963. Email: teresa.rodriguez@urjc.es
The experience presented involved teacher training in Higher Education, using a Learning Management System (Moodle) and a virtual world (Second Life). It was developed as a test module for the implementation of a Diploma (240 hours) in Immersive Education at the Universidad Autnoma de Mxico (Autonomous University of Mexico). The title of the course was Introduction to Moodle and Virtual Worlds (Pilot Course)i. The experience we describe demonstrates the potential of immersive activity in which the individual learns by doing and the importance and relevance of the inclusion of this kind of activity in educational processes. Introduction In current higher education teaching practice it is vital to explore the affordances and potential of the new work spaces provided by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). An example is the case of educational
resources mediated by immersive environments, also known as virtual worlds, and sometimes metaverses. The increasing daily use by students of online social networks and other platforms that characterize Web 2.0 not just as training environments but also for communication and relations with their peers affects their expectations with regard to learning and online activity, and creates a need to adapt to their changing competences and communication habits. These virtual platforms and 3D environments offer interesting potentials and possibilities for improvements in the design of appropriate interaction processes and didactic strategies in university educational contexts, though at the same time they create new demands. In this experience we explore these potentials in the context of teacher training involving learning activities (including both conventional educational , and playful or game-like activities) located in virtual (immersive) worlds, and supported by the use of online virtual teaching platforms. As Twining points out Open virtual worlds like Second Life offer opportunities for people to have radically different lived experiences of educational systems and they thus appear to be the ideal
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vehicle for exploring education . (Twining, 2009:496).
alternative
models
of
The Pilot course Introduction to Moodle and Virtual Worlds which we present here forms part of the overall design of the Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Immersive Worlds, and is designed for teachers who have no previous experience of either Moodle or Second Life. In the virtual world the participant has a sense of immersion in a physical 3D environment created with computer graphics. (Salmon,2009) Within this environment she participates in a series of learning activities with the support of a team of tutors and advisors. The immersive character of the experience promotes active participation and the pedagogical design of the course is therefore based on learning by doing . The teacher and immersive educational activity Virtual worlds such as Second Life offer a new environment for teaching and learning, and it is vital to facilitate the adaptation of the teacher to the new environment, providing opportunities to adjust skills and teaching competencies through training and experiences of the new teaching and learning context. Special emphasis is needed on the skills that are related to online learning, and the use of digital tools, online learning platforms and immersive worlds. A significant aspect of learning in 3D virtual worlds is the opportunity for the student to learn together with other students, carrying out group activities. The appropriate design of these activities can also open up opportunities for critical reflection during the activity, and this reflection can then form part of the immersive experience and potentially facilitate the collaborative co-construction of knowledge in an innovative educational context. Through this process of interaction and sharing with other teachers and learners during the educational process, it is possible to envisage the emergence of new approaches to learning, Furthermore, the freedom afforded by virtual worlds such as Second Life, in which literally anything the imagination can conceive can be built, allows the pedagogical designer to let her imagination run free. Research into educational activity in immersive worlds has shown that a strong sense of belonging and involvement is generated. This has reduced student attrition levels in online (Mount, Chambers, Weaver and Priestnall, 2009; Coffman and Klinger, 2007), but also, more importantly, it is an element that may facilitate learning in online education programmes. Rourke, Anderson and Garrison (2001) point out that the formation of a community of learners requires a shared sense of social presence among the participants. Without this sense of presence,
participants, faced with the challenges of online learning processes, frequently exhibit anxiety, disorientation or defensive postures and overall a lack of willingness to accept the risks involved in learning. The sense of involvement identified in virtual worlds appears to reinforce the sense of social presence in virtual activities and the resulting sense of social cohesion appears to favour learning. In addition to this the element of social presence highlights the importance of the interaction around the information flow that makes collaborative activity possible. The problem of motivation In our view the the definition of the role of the tutor has to address the need for pedagogical support and attention to motivational issues. Our pedagogical approach is based on the idea that the sociocultural perspective should be a key element of the new learning culture, which is a challenge that teachers in this new millenium have to face. Activity in immersive virtual environments such as Second Life recovers this element through the interaction between figures (the avatars) that represent the individual herself, and this makes the involvement in the three dimensional environment significant, specifically due to the characteristics of the multimedia context. The motivation afforded by the immersive experience is an essential element in the progress of learning and it is intrinsically linked to the meaning and significance of knowledge for the individual. Without motivation the learner will not work appropriately, not only with respect to the learning of a concept, but also with respect to the use of strategies that will allow her to solve problems similar to those proposed in the learning process. There is a close relationship between the efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching and learning process and motivational aspects of human behavior. Involving the learner in learning activities (face to face or immersive online activities) in which technology-mediated individual and group products are created, can contribute to the achievement of educational objectives, and to the construction of a digital learning network. The term motivation can be extremely ambiguous both in day to day contexts and in research. All humans tend to satisfy our needs:(Bryndum, 2005) Power: when our aim is to control the behavior of others, Affiliation: when we have a sense of belonging to a particular group Achievement: when our aim is to obtain material or other assets.
Teachers know that the motivation of a learner can vary with the situation of the group in which they are involved. The sense of achievement in an immersive virtual world
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reinforces the tendency of the individual to act in order to learn and will depend on the following aspects, which should be taken into account in the pedagogical design:. The intensity of their motivation. Their expectations with regard to the achievement of the aims. The intensity or quantity of reward that they hope to obtain.
platforms (Google docs, Google groups, Picasa and others) and the Second Life immersive environment (Fig. 1).
In traditional online learning approaches, maintaining the interest and engagement of the learner can prove to be a challenge. Virtual worlds, which provide a richer, more vivid multimedia environment, also contribute the immediacy of interaction though an avatar with others. This allows for the creation of a context in which the personality and identity of the individual are constructed through interaction with others. This element corresponds to the need of the individual for affiliation and reduces the level of attrition within the group. The development of the activities The creation of this immersive distance learning experience involved two stages: the first of these centred on the pedagogical design of the course using a specific approach that involved a multidisciplinary team carrying out activities in the virtual world Second Life; and the second consisted of the implementation of the pilot course with university professors in the areas of Humanities and Health Sciences. First Stage The principal objective of this stage of the project was the specific pedagogical design of the pilot course Introduction to Moodle and Virtual Worlds . The aim of this educational experience was to test the basic principles of a Training Programme in Immersive Education designed for university teachers and developed by a team of researchers and teachers who were all members of RITUAL (Ibero-american Network for Research and Innovation in Technology Uses Applied to Learning). The working group is represented by academics affiliated to universities in Mxico and Spain, and independent consultants in the fields of education and new media. The design of an experience of this nature involves two principal actions: on the one hand the design and development of the content and teaching strategies and on the other the construction of the virtual space in which the learning is to take place. This work was carried out under the same conditions as those intended for the course, in other words, all the activities of the tutorial group that was designing and creating the course were carried out online using Web 2.0
Figure 1. Working meeting of the design team in Second Life The academic team that participated in the development of the pilot course adopted a collaborative learning approach, implementing a collection of instructional methods that is used in small groups to promote the development of a range of capacities (learning and personal and social development) in which each member of the group is responsible not only for her own learning but also for that of the rest of the members of the group (Johnson y Johnson, 1989 in Tancredi, 2006). The interdisciplinary nature of the activity permitted the enrichment of each participant and of the group as a whole. In this way, a teaching team with precise assignment of roles was organized. This is outlined in the following table. Table 1. Interdisciplinary team of the Introduction to Moodle and Virtual Worlds Pilot Course Participant Jos Antonio Jernimo Montes Doctor of Pedagogy Ascensin Robles Melgarejo Diploma in Business Science three dimensional objects and spaces in the Second Life environment Lidia del Carmen Andrade Corts Master in Pedagogy Psychological and Pedagogical advisor Tutor Role Coordinator
Creator and designer of
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The actions carried out during this first stage can be summarized as: Academic meetings involving the working group of researchers and teachers took place in-world (within Second Life). These meetings included dialogue, discussion and the achievement of consensus regarding the pedagogical design Design of teacher support content. Creation of the course in Moodle. Construction of the virtual space within Second Life 2.
the student to review and extend the information already provided. Participation in the forums of the course, which were created with the specific objective of the emergence of a learning community.. Support from the tutor and the advisor in tutorial sessions in order to monitor the learners progress and promote their participation.
Second Stage: The pedagogical design of this experience was based on the learning by doing approach. The activities proposed , which use as their starting point the didactic material developed by the tutors for this purpose, promote the use of, and practice with, the different resources available for articulating and supporting academic activity in the two environments used (the Moodle educational platform and the Second Life virtual world). The practical methodology of the pilot course was based on the idea that a group of learners can construct new understandings and develop new skills through collaboration, and participation in activities that promote positive co-dependence. The pilot course therefore included a range of activities in which the participants were able to experiment with and explore different ICT tools and resources, with a clear focus on the Second Life immersive environment. The general plan of activity involved the following points: The material used in each unit was accompanied by a guide to provide support to the learner in which the objectives and the activities to be done were specified. In this way it was possible for the learner to adopt a critical and reflexive approach to the material. All the material was available in the course platform (Fig.2). Central and complementary activities. The complementary activities are optional and the objective is to enrich the process. An example of an optional activity is for the learner to contribute individually documents or other content to the course digital library Support documents and videos. The videos complement the written material provided in the course, and in the virtual world were especially important as an aid to learning how to use the tools, functioning as tutorials, and as complements to specific activities. A space called To find out more in which a series of materials for consultation were provided in order for Figure 2. Resources in the Moodle space In the pedagogical design, it was considered important to take into account the need for the teaching and learning strategies and activities to provide spaces for discussion the need to teach the learner how to debate and the need for the group to become responsible for the shared construction of knowledge. This was done by using the Moodle platform where the forums played a double role, as a organising tool (participants could post information there and this meant it was systematised and easily accessible) and as a space for dialogue in which personal and group experiences based around the content provided could be shared. This approach was based on the idea that implementing activities based on collaborative work stimulates the development in the participants of critical thinking and reflection (Dickey, 2003). This collaboration can be reinforced by the communicational characteristics of an immersive environment. In this sense the tutor plays a fundamental role as the orchestrator of the immersive activity, and it is important that this role is clear in online contexts. Hands-on interventionist direction of the activity can be necessary at the start, in order to construct the scaffolding that the learners will use, and it is important to provide timely and appropriate feedback in order to ensure that the ongoing educational process facilitates the co-dependence of the participants. It implies promoting divergence but also processes of convergence, between differing points of view and perspectives, and in order to do this effectively it is
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necessary that the activities and the interactions involved be very carefully planned. The Pilot Course in Second Life The course was designed to make the most of the potentials of virtual worlds, such as the opportunity to motvate the learning through the implementation of activities that are stimulating, feasible and enjoyable for the learner, and promote active commitment to individual and group tasks, whether these involved creation of content, taking decisions with regard to their own learning itinerary (3D learning circles were created), or reflection on the tasks carried out. These elements, and others taken from problem-.solving and project-based learning approaches were taken into account in the design process. This course in Second Life was designed to create learning situations for teachers interested in incorporating innovative training actions based on this approach into their own teaching practice. The course structure involved a series of activities divided into three stages: first, an introduction to the asynchronous learning environment, which was the Moodle platform; second, a series of hybrid activities that took place across Moodle and the Second Life virtual world and a third stage in which the activities focused on the virtual world. These last activities progressed from simple to more complex experiences. The participants started by learning the aspects of the use and manipulation of the environment, such as the creation of the participants own virtual identity, (the avatar). |Later activities included an introduction to the creation of objects that could later serve as their own content to be used within the virtual world. A virtual world such as Second Life consists of a graphic environment that is viewed on the screen of the user who is logged in to the world. The user needs to have registered previously on the platform, and using a specific application known as the viewer which the user downloads and installs on her own computer, the user enters the virtual world and can move around within in it, interact with other users, build objects in it, in short, inhabit it, through a graphical representation of the user which is called the avatar and which is, in the case of Second Life, completely configurable. Second Life was chosen as the immersive environment to be used in teaching for two basic reasons; firstly, it is a current environment that has been growing since 2003 with an important amount of cultural resources created by the residents themselves and in general shared with the community of users; and secondly, registering, and basic use of the platform is free and simple, and the users have the capacity to create three dimensional objects and spaces free in spaces set aside for this purpose (sandboxes) and to configure and modify their avatars.
The freedom that the user has to explore cultural and educational virtual spaces that have already been created by other users, to construct identities, or to create objects that could support their own educational activity provides an enormous potential for improvements in learning processes. Cory Ondrejka, technological director of Linden Lab (the makers of Second Life), illustrates this idea in an interview with the magazine The Escapist: In the real world, building tends to be kind of hard, you have to work with atoms and chemistry and physics before we get anything interesting. In a virtual world, you actually can work with atoms. We can basically give you smart Legos to make anything. And that's why you can use the same tools to build a chair, or your house, to games, to guns - anything.., all the tools are sitting right there, and you can go to classes, and talk to the people who are good creators. It's the ultimate learning environment; people can just show you how to make things right then and there." In this context simulations can provide a sense of immersion that intensifies the learning experience, as well as providing opportunities for collaborative learning.. The activity within Second Life has two essential objectives: That the student learns to recognize the teaching applications of the tools available through learning experiences in the virtual world. That the student discovers the potential learning benefits of individual and group activities in virtual worlds. Due to the specific characteristics of usage and induction into Second Life, in addition to information about the technical requirements we included in the experience a series of tutorials and video tutorials with aim of facilitating the process of registration in the platform and orienting the learners during their first steps in the immersive Environment, which included training in the basic skills of movement and communication.. For this purpose, and in addition to the video support tutorials, we created a Learning Curve tool within the virtual terrain of the course where the participants were able to start using the interface in the company of tutors (Fig. 3).
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both in virtual worlds and forums. Other insights included the need for the pedagogical design to bear in mind the needs of the participants and the resources available and offer clear indications of the level of participation expected and the assessment criteria and methods in order to guide the learner in the activities. With regard to pedagogical and psychological support, it is necessary to provide a timetable for online support, ensure that the learner is accompanied and monitored and to be a guide who is close by. These insights into the nature of teaching and learning in virtual worlds have produced important adjustments to the pedagogical design of the diploma course. From the point of view of the participants the experience was highly significant. Their presence in the virtual world was characterized by a strong affective component, which became a valuable element in the learning itself, and there was a significant difference in comparison to the activities that took place in Moodle in this respect,. (Fig. 4).These affective aspects were accompanied by mutual support between learners in the group, this message from one of the participants illustrates these different elements: My immersion in SL was simply sensational, first to be able to enter (I tried a year ago but didnt manage) with the help of the avatar Nestorin Code (another participant), then you (the tutor) appeared and showed me the first steps (like a good mother), I felt very insecure but persevered, then I flew, which something I have always dreamed of doing, and got lost. And that led to the most human and real part, I had the sense of being lost and alone as I couldnt see you and didnt know where you were, and I felt anxious exactly as I have felt sometimes in real life. It is really incredible to take on the personality of the avatar These elements indicate that the nature of the virtual world experience may facilitate the emergence of strongly coherent groups and even learning communities. This is borne out by the strength of the relationships that have emerged in the design team through of working together in the virtual world.
Figure 3. Learning Curve tool The previous images show this tutorial tool in the virtual world. It served as a reference and orientation in the process of creation of the learners presence in the virtual world and in learning how to manipulate different objects and move within a 3D space which is designed to promote the persistence of identity and immersion. Furthermore it was designed to contribute to the development of skills and competences that make it possible to work with cultural artifacts that make socialization possible in these complex spaces. Through the avatar (the learners virtual representation in the digital space) the learners can inhabit the space together, make friends with their peers, join common interest groups and get involved in a variety of social activities. It is therefore important to bear these elements in mind in the creation of a digital identity. The pilot courseii was implemented in the spring of 2010 with the objective of exploring the feasibility of the different pedagogical design elements prior to the implementation of the full diploma course. Of particular importance was the induction process and the pilot course therefore focused on first steps in the use of SL and Moodle, as described. There were 13 participants, all of whom were teachers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the fields of psychology and health sciences with little experience of Second Life, or Moodle. The results of the experience The pilot course fulfilled its objectives from the point of view of the development team, since it generated a range of insights including details relating to the design, construction and organization of educational objects in SL, for example in relation to the design of the Learning Curve tool and the pacing of activities in that space. There were also insights into the ongoing need to ensure tutor skills in the management and facilitation of online debate and dialogue,
Figure 4. Forums
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The educational design proposed focused on learning by doing coupled with a strong tutorial presence and there are indications from this pilot experience that this approach contributes positively to the achievement of significant immersive learning, and that the nature of the interactions, both with peers and tutors, in this pedagogical context allows the learner to move freely between practical skills (and the tacit knowledge located within to active experience) and more explicit (theoretical) knowledge, as well as providing the opportunity to view the experience through different lenses, such as those of the learner and at other times those of the tutor. The messages in the forums also provided a range of insights that can be considered significant within the process of online training for teachers who aim to work in immersive virtual environments. Some of the teachers participating in the course mentioned the importance of constructing a virtual experience that involves (immersive) activities that go beyond the mere reading of documents or flicking through presentation slides, and are closer to the actual activity of the community of practice. It was emphasized that within this teaching and learning strategy the social group gradually constructs a shared history through its activity, which creates a sense of belonging. Other contributions linked the experience of the individual who makes use of the word and at the same time gives a voice to those who do not have one, the future students of this mode of learning. These are aspects that the team intends to explore further within the activity of the diploma course. As an example of these kinds of interaction we provide here two examples of messages in the forum that indicate the strength of the experience of the educational activity in the virtual world accompanied by tutors and other participants, as well as providing other insights into aspects such as the ongoing issues of the difficulties some students in the target group face with respect to fulfilling technical requirements and complications (for some more than others) involved in the process of learning to use the virtual world, which remain challenges. Message 1. It was a pleasure to start using SL, literally in your hands. You have been very patient and kind, taking me step by step and furthermore you have shared and encouraged my small advances which made me very happy. The fact is that these immersive worlds are more fascinating than I had imagined. You have really been my fairy godmother iiiiv, giving me powers that helped me to control my immersive virtual world. My difficulties, they were to a great extent due to the fact that my computer didnt fully meet the technical
requirements, as I was able to see last night when I was with a group of avatars participating in the course Uan, Virzam, Jarfa, Lilicita, Ada y Lula Message 2: Thinking about the educational possibilities, which there obviously must be, one can design and create teaching and learning activities, using the interaction and communication tools and implement them in this virtual environment, as one does in reality... I can see a detail which is perhaps minimal, but in the context of my own limited experience worries me a little: the need to control the SL tool. My concern may be due to the difficulty I have in managing my character (avatar) in this environment and not adapting to it. I understand some are quicker than others. These messages also indicate other challenges distance learners face in immersive contexts and the need for both tutor and learner when participating in activities in this context to make a commitment to acquiring strategies in relation to two areas: one is in relation to learning itself, (for example in relation to participation in, and facilitation of learning conversations) and the other relates to the organization of time, since the learner in this context is often an adult who has chosen this mode because they are unable to attend traditional face to face learning, due to other work or study commitments. Conclusions and future work In addition to the range of insights the course afforded, mentioned in the results section, this pilot experience has produced a series of more general findings in relation to the education use of virtual worlds which we outline here: A pedagogical design that focuses on learning by doing appears to be an especially effective way of making the most of the affordances of virtual worlds to produce rich immersive learning experiences. The affective aspects we saw emerging through the interaction within the immersive activities proposed provided indications that the creation, identification with and use of an avatar in group work may facilitate intrinsic motivation, and that the pedagogical design should bear this in mind. The design should cater to different modes of learning and make the most of the possibilities of the environment and support both group and individual learning. The mere reproduction of face to face contexts within the virtual world, according to the experience of the participants in the pilot, is not appropriate. An important issue that should in our view be highlighted is motivation. The fact that the participants in this context
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are adults makes a more experiential learning approach appropriate in order to promote the sense that what is being learned is relevant and that the theoretical knowledge will be applicable in daily or working life. In this sense the role of motivation as a key element in the design of sociocultural pedagogical activity in virtual worlds, should not be underestimated. Furthermore it is necessary to test the extent to which a particular pedagogical design and the activities it involves, facilitate motivation or not within the specific target groups of the course. The insights afforded in this respect constitute some of the more important findings of the experience. For future online tutors, another important element is the selection of an online environment that contributes to the emergence of learning communities, and which can provide participants with digital communication tools that will facilitate the vital processes of dialogue and interaction and it in this sense that it becomes especially relevant to train academics in the use of this new learning context which is part of the emerging educational panorama It is important to contribute to the construction of a tutorial and an expert presence in response to the needs of a new learning culture. Another element to consider is the nature of the infrastructure. Although information was provided about technical requirements and a diagnostic questionnaire was used to obtain an overall picture of the group of students, as mentioned previously some still stated that they had had difficulties connecting and learning to use the tools. This is an aspect of special interest in the virtual world in question, since this real time connection and the effective use of the tools is what permits the emergence of the sense of presence . In four cases these issues led to frustration and abandonment of the course. In the context of educational use of this tool this is an important variable to bear in mind, since otherwise there is a risk of not catering to, or discriminating against a particular segment of the educational population. It is therefore advisable to include these considerations in the pedagogical design in order to that the digital tools chosen are appropriate for the educational activity with the target group in question. The pilot course provided significant data with respect to this aspect, and this has led the team to consider alternative plans to address both the needs of faster and more advanced learners (who require more complementary and additional activities) and those of the learners who may be left behind due to technical or access issues. As a final conclusion, it is important to recognize that we
i The Introduction to Moodle and Virtual Worlds (Pilot Course) is online at www.cerv.biz/diplomado ii The course space in Second Life is at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mujigae/166/99/3347
face an emerging new educational paradigm conformed by the needs and behaviors of a new generation of learners who interact daily with videogames, serious games, social networks and diverse virtual worlds. In this context the use of virtual world may come to constitute a necessary step. REFERENCES Bryndum S. y Jernimo, J.A.. (2005) La Motivacin en los entornos telemticos. RED. Revista de Educacin a Distancia. Ao V. 13, 24. Retrieved June, 15, 2010 from http://www.um.es/ead/red/13/bryndum.pdf Coffman, T. and Klinger, M.B.(2007). Utilizing Virtual Worlds in Education: The Implications for Practice. International Journal of Social Sciences 2:1, 29-33. Retrieved June, 13, 2010 from http://www.waset.org/journals/ijss/v2/v2-1-5.pdf Dickey, M. (2003). Teaching in 3D: Pedagogical Affordances and Constraints of 3D Virtual Worlds for Synchronous Distance Learning. Distance Education, 24 (1), 105-121. Retrieved July, 12, 2010 from http://mchel.com/Papers/Dickey_TeachingIN3D.pdf. Miller,P (2006). Balancing your second life. Escapist.[on line http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/31 /4 ] The at:
Mount, N.J., Chambers, C., Weaver, D. and Priestnall, G. (2009). Learner immersion engagement in the 3D virtual world: principles emerging from the DELVE project. Italics. 3 (8), 40-55. Retrieved May, 20, 2010 from http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol8iss3/pdf/Italics Vol8Is s3Nov2009Paper03.pdf Rourke I., Anderson T., Garrison A. y Archer W. (2001). Assessing Social Presence In Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing. Journal of Distance Education. Retrieved May, 23, 2010 from http://hdl.handle.net/2149/732. Salmon G. (2009) The future for (second) life and learning. British Journal of Educational Technology 40 (3), 526538 Tancredi, B. (2006). La comunicacin sncrona en elearning: cmo gestionar el chat. Universidad Nacional Abierta. En Carlos Marcelo, Prcticas de e-learning (137162), Barcelona: Octaedro. Twining, P. (2009). Exploring the educational potential of virtual worldsSome reflections from the SPP. British Journal of Educational Technology. 40 (3), 496-514.
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Translators note: In Spanish Fairy godmother is Hada madrina , there is a play on words with the name of the tutor.
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Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond

Ms. Nettrice R. Gaskins
Georgia Institute of Technology nettrice@gmail.com Abstract Post-conceptual digital artist and theoretician Joseph Nechvatal coined the term viractual to describe a political-spiritual realms in which new forms of creative expression are temporary and provisional. Within viractual creation all signs are subject to boundless semiosis and may include resonances, or affinities between formal and conceptual opposites. Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond, is an interactive, immersive 3D art experience in Second Life that explores viractuality, as an emerging semiotic awareness of inter-spatiality in perceptually immersive 3D space, forged from the meeting of the virtual and the actual, material, or natural aspects of our world. The exhibition is primarily concerned with educating visitors about Afrofuturism, an artistic, literary, and cultural aesthetic that combines elements of science fiction, art, science, fantasy and magical realism with non-Western concepts in order to investigate contemporary issues of people of color. Several of the installations re-examine linkages to historical events of the past and overlay art with a socio-political dichotomy that presupposes a sustained black culture past, present, and future. The exhibition contained virtual fragments of imagery, 3D objects, and sound that were cosmic, utopian, and dystopian. Nechvatal to describe a semiotic awareness of interspatiality in contemporary art.1 This awareness is forged from the meeting of the virtual and the actual, material, mythological and natural aspects of the African Diaspora, also called the Black Atlantic by scholar Paul Gilroy.2 Postmodernist critic Mark Dery coined the term Afrofuturism which describes a speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th-century technoculture and, more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future.3 In Second Life I created an Afrofuturistic simulation, some of which can be experienced during this convening, that re-examines linkages to cultural, historical and mythological events of the past. This new kind of visual methodology and discourse takes place in a virtual 3D environment where sociopolitical dichotomies presuppose a sustained black culture past, present, and future. Regarding visual methodology and the meaning of images generated from such cultural production: 1) Images can denote certain apparent truths through documentary evidence of objective circumstances, or 2) Images can connote more culturally specific meanings.4 Connotative meanings rely on cultural and historical context and its viewers' lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances. This is otherwise known as mythology. Myths refer to cultural values and beliefs that are expressed at the level of connotation. Myths are created through a hidden set of rules and conventions through which meanings, which are in reality specific to certain groups, are made to seem universal and given for a whole group or society. Myths allow the connotative meaning of a particular thing or image to be denotative, hence literal or natural.5 We have been addressing the question of how we relate to the earth and the cosmos since the beginning of our existence, thus myths represent our attempts to construct spaces to make sense of our environment.7 This is no different for Black Atlantic cultural movement that has spanned the planet and maintained specific resonances and connections in multiple dimensions and realms. Scholars of Afrofuturism have recognized elements of the project in the work of novelist Ralph Ellison and bandleader Sun Ra as early as the 1950s (Eshun 1998; Weheliye 2003; Yaszek 2005; Zuberi 2004). This vein of artistic production continued through the 1970s with the prose and stage works of Ishmael Reed
Nettrice Gaskins. Time Portal, 2010. Photo by mabmacmoragh. All rights reserved. Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond Ms. Nettrice R. Gaskins, Georgia Institute of Technology Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses and Beyond is an immersive 3D art experience in Second Life which explores virtactuality, a term coined by poststructuralist, conceptual artist and theorist Joseph
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and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) and the disco-funk of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic up through the 1980s with the street art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the raps of the Ultramagnetic MCs. Today, the most notable examples of Afrofuturist activity continue to be found in the world of hip hop, where artists like Cee-Lo, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and Kool Keith-formerly of the Ultramagnetic MCs--have laid claim to the supersonic identities, interplanetary alter egos, and robotic surrealities of the Afrofuturist legacy.6 I was invited by IBM Exhibition Space to construct a virtual 3D simulation that merged historical, mythological, and contemporary texts (as images and objects) in Second Life. I wanted the installation to appear as if an alien civilization had crashed landed and then invite visitors to explore the remains, leading to the investigation of discourse concerned with re-visioning racial identity through the tropes of science fiction and fantasy narrative or aesthetics. The Myth: In the early 1960s a scientist transcribed microscopic hieroglyphics from mysterious, ancient stones discovered in the Himalayas. The messages on the stones were written by called the Dropa who had recorded their cultural myths, or ceremonies 12,000 years before. The Dropa disks tell the story of a space probe from a distant planet that crash-landed. Unable to repair their damaged spacecraft or return home they left us a record of their existence on stones and in mountain cave carvings. The Historical: Scientists speculate that their descendants were the Dogon, an ancient African people well known by their cosmology, esotericism, myths and legends. Scientists have made a direct correlation between Dogon symbols and themes and known scientific facts relating to the formation of the universe, matter, and biological reproduction.7 The Contemporary: Scientists have found similarities between Dogon and ancient Egyptian symbolism that has made a significant impact on black American culture, e.g., jazz pioneer Sun Ra, funk band Parliament/ Funkadelic, hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, the rap duo Outkast, Erykah Badu, and ArchAndroid Janelle Mone. Mone performs as Cindi Mayweather, a messianic android sent back in time to free the citizens of Metropolis from The Great Divide.8 In an interview for the Chicago Tribune, Mone said that she was inspired by this quote: The mediator between the hand and the mind is always the heart.9 Background: Continuum The Virtual Art Time Space
images of Stone Age man in his elemental environment, his world. Before it became synonymous with the digital realm, virtual meant existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination. Virtual can refer to things that mimic their real equivalents and it denotes work that is realized or carried out chiefly in an electronic medium. Virtual art goes beyond these definitions in Second Life. Second Life, or SL, is an online, virtual world where the use of 3D objects called prims creates the illusion of the third dimension on the two-dimensional surface of the computers screen. Observers become immersed, as 3D avatars that can freely move within a world that transcends physical constraints and traditional concepts of time and space. Virtual 3D art exists beyond the surface upon which its created, or the screen on which its displayed. Virtual 3D art exists in a world that is inhabited and where the viewer, embodied as an avatar, becomes immersed.10 Musicians Sun Ra and Miles Davis manifested virtuality, as alternate states (or spaces) of being well before these alternate realities (or Afrofuturism) became a part of our collective intelligence. Philosopher Gilles Deleuze (known for his notion of the virtual) writes about the laying out of a common plane of immanence on which all minds, all bodies and all individuals are situated.11 This explains the nature (and the aim) of my research of Afrofuturism, especially for new levels of technological innovation (game worlds and virtual environments). Alternate Futures explores how this work relates to Deleuzes concept of practices such as jazz (and later hip-hop) which has had a tremendous impact on Afrofuturistic cultural production, both in material and virtual environments, across the planet. This work is explicated by cultural ontology that responds to difference in ways that can be carried into social life and doesnt repeat classic eighteenth-century paradoxes of shared culture and knowledge.12 The task of the contemporary artist and cultural practitioner is to show that realms in their present shapes are not the only possibilities. In creating a simulation I was able to tap into a broad range of what I refer to as the virtualviractual-relational facets of Afrofuturism that explicate socializing processes of becoming and representation, even if these aspects are difficult things to grasp and demonstrate as concepts (in traditional, academic settings).13 Deleuzes notion of a concept is defined by its intersections with other concepts, both in its field and in surrounding fields.14 Thus, the concept of practices exists as a point on a field or plane which is logical, political, aesthetic and cultural. The references
Virtual art had its debut in a cave at Twin Rivers near Lusaka, Zambia, about 35,000 years ago, with two dimensional
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you see here are concepts that clearly outline a plane for a Black Atlantic cultural movement (Afrofuturism) that intersects with art, science and technology. This is a plane of immanence, or a discursive practice that ties into other activities and practices external to it (ontology of difference).15 Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond addresses these notions and merges biological, philosophical, and universal themes from the past (history); from the mythical Dropa to the ancient Dogon and Egyptians; to 21st century representations as an immersive 3D record of Afrofuturism in Second Life. Themes such as cosmology and astroglogy, steampunk, time travel, genetics and the digital body, incarceration, Pop Art, Gothic Futurism, graffiti, and surveillance are also investigated. These themes can be compared to resonances in physics even small periodic driving forces can produce much larger oscillations, because the system stores vibrational energy (a vibe). More Research: Make My Funk the V-Funk Wassup yall. Do not attempt to refresh your web page, there is nothing wrong. We have taken control as to bring you this special show. We will return it to you as soon as you are grooving. Welcome to station V-Funk, better known as Virtual-Funk, Or deeper still, Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond. Home of the virtual 3D space invaders, Dealers of funky Afrofuturistic art. V-Funk, immersive 3D funk, The ISH. Coming to you directly from the IBM Simulator Top of the Second Life Milky Way, several servers of V-Funk-power. So kick back, click, while your avatar takes you on a journey. And me? Im known as Afro.Steampunk Netty, alias the Afro-Haired Funk Spelunker. My motto is: Make my funk the V-Funk I want my funk uncut (make mine the V) Make my funk the V-Funk I wants to get funked up. (wants to get funked up) I want the bomb, I want the V-Funk (yeah) Dont want my funk stepped on Make my funk the V-Funk Before I take it home. YA DIG?! Part of my challenge was how to create a certain vibe for the exhibition: What exactly is an Afrofuturist
cultural production? How could I represent all of the different aspects of Afrofuturism where viewers see images, hear music, and experience virtual 3D spaces in a constant state of alteration? What would be the main point of entry? I decided to embed a variety of textual and textural information into hundeds of virtual 3D objects. I wrote poems and narratives to base my installation work on. My plan consisted of several constructed spaces, mini-installations, sites of an excavation, or entrances into alternate realms. To help visitors navigate the exhibition I created maps with teleporter objects to each of the main installation on the simulation (sim). Each installation also had a similar map with a Second Life notecard describing the installation. In many cases these notecards contained stories. For example, visitors were offered the following notecard in My Steampunk Dream: According to legend, my ancestors were fascinated with the flying; therefore they created increasingly sophisticated ways of creating material, spiritual, and virtual worlds in which flight (i.e. transcendence) was possible. It became a dream of mine to fly so I became an avatar able to defy gravity, and teleport to distant locations at the edges of my imagination. In my dream I am an afrofuturistic, steampunk traveler on an airship traveling back through time. Like a character in an Octavia Butler novel I am transported from a future urban city to early twentieth century Maryland, the state where I was born. I meet my ancestors and learn more about my heritage, what was forgotten over time and waiting to be brought into the present for future generations. Other notecards provided supplemental information and URLs to external websites that were obtained during initial research. For example, Kevin Walbys How closed-circuit television surveillance organizes the social: an institutional ethnography presented findings of a study that suggested the gravity of racialized profiling in everyday surveillance and complicated Michel Foucaults panopticon metaphor.16 I was interested in exploring how to simulate surveillance in virtual 3D space and, along with other scenarios, address pressing social issues. Visitors were immersed in conceptual and confessional art installations (Louise Bourgeois) that simulated urban realities as the result of social marginalization (mainly in but not limited to the United States). During the research and planning phases I learned how to simulate experiences and create virtual art with new meanings by merging historical, mythological, and speculative texts all part of the cultural aesthetic called Afrofuturism. Experience has a connotation of passivity; the word suggests what a
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person has undergone or suffered. An experienced man or woman is one whom much has happened Experience thus implies the ability to learn from what one has undergone. To experience is to learn; it means acting on the given and creating out of the given.17 Revisiting (and re-visioning) Joseph Nechvatals notion of viractual creation signs that are subject to boundless semiosis and include resonances, or affinities between formal and conceptual opposites inspired the creation of a virtual 3D simulation were visitors, as avatars, become immersed in Afrofuturist cultural production, some of which counters classic (Western) ideas about art and life. For example, Black Americans have sustained themselves through the translation of experience into many forms of art.18 The Alternate Futures sim invites exploration of art through the emerging semiosis of culture and inter-spatiality in perceptually immersive 3D space, forged from the meeting of the virtual, actual, material, or natural aspects of alternate dimensions and realities. Installation: Simulating Afrofuturist Episteme The major things black art has to have are these: it must have the ability to use found objects, the appearance of using found things, and it must look effortless. It must look cool and easy. If it makes you sweat, you havent done the work. -Toni Morrison19 Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverses & Beyond is a virtual 3D simulation that consists of several smaller installations that combine fragments of imagery, built objects, YouTube videos and sounds that represented the notion of alternate futures altogether cosmic, utopian, dystopian, and urban. Extensive research and virtual 3D production culminated in the presentation of eight installations, each based on a different aspect or theme related to Afrofuturism. The process of installing this work reveals new ways to link texts and create experiences that, perhaps, has never existed in a virtual 3D environment. Alternate Futures transports visitors (as avatars) into a perceptually immersive 3D realm called Second Life. Subsequently, visitors are invited to consider the future of Afrofuturistic cultural production after piecing together the virtual fragments of history, culture, and myth in their own way. As I created this virtual exhibition my sense of space and time changed. I became more conscious of direct connections between the technology and new meanings from existing forms of representation. This simulation merges the virtual, viractual and relational aspects of the perceptually immersive 3D environment. The sim blends the cultural-historical aspects of the Afrofuturism with popular culture and simulates real life experiences.The IBM-sponsored version of this project was a collection
of various aspects of Afrofuturism that, through the use of in-world tools, enabled a more extensive presentation of objects that were textured and assembled to simulate modern semiotics. Built into the SL software is a threedimensional modeling tool based around simple geometric shapes that allows artists to build virtual objects. There is also a procedural scripting language, Linden Scripting Language, which can be used to add interactivity to objects. Users/avatars navigated this perceptually immersive 3D sim by virtually walking on, through, or around the objects, some of which were scripted to provide information such as links to external web sites and note cards with text that could be stored in an inventory. Extruding two-dimensional images and incorporating interactive elements reveals new ways to decode specialized forms of representation that break set rules and establish new practices that extend viewer/user participation. To create a sense of being constantly monitored or tracked I created a 21st century revision of philosopher/theorist Jeremy Bentham's panopticon using virtual 3D objects and spaces and online social media. A wall of virtual 3D eyes represented a state of constant visibility. As the visitor/avatar approached the entrance to the installation several eyes turn to watch and follow the avatar's movements. This was accomplished by embedding a sensor script in the content of each eye object. An object displaying a live Twitter feed represented a new type of surveillance (online social monitoring). Another section required visitors to fly their avatars upwards and use their inworld cameras to look through the bars of a prison cell window to view the Presidio Modelo, a model prison of panopticon design, built on Isla de Pinos (now the Isla de la Juventud) in Cuba.20 In an adjacent space visitors encountered cages or cells (as observers) that they were not allowed to enter unless as prisoners. The cells represented a state of containment or a restriction of progression. I created a variety of textured, colored, and scripted virtual 3D structures to act as devices, symbolically and metaphorically, of entrapment by the external world. I discovered that collage in immersive 3D space was entirely unique. Collage, from the French word coller, or to glue, is a work of visual art made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. In Second Life the art of collage integrates two, three, and four-dimensional forms in immersive 3D space. In the exhibit visitors experienced an overlapping of visual elements with sound, animation and video in new and exciting ways. They were able to link Second Life content to external media sources such as web sites, YouTube (online video), and streaming media (live radio). Visitors could click on an image or 3D object to launch a notecard, or web browser and view content such as LaLees Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, a documentary that draws the connection between poverty and the lack of education opportunity for black people living in the Mississippi Delta, over 150 years after the abolition of slavery.21 This was another way of looking
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at Afrofuturism by making reference to how a real family tries to end a cycle through self-actualization. Younger family members imagine a future where they are no longer tied to their reality. In the IBM exhibit I made several references to literature such as Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and a novel by Ralph Ellison in which the narrator, a black man, introduces himself as an invisible man. In Ellison's story invisibility owes not to some accident but rather to the unwillingness of people to notice others because of race (and class). Being invisible made the narrator doubt whether he really existed.22 Visitors could ponder how they might transcend their own understanding of invisibility. Alternate Futures is an exploration in how to make visible the alternate worlds, realities, or experiences of people who are considered marginalized and bring to light ancient cultures and histories existing in the margins of the mainstream, by creating new forms of art and technology. Alternate Futures simulates a public record of my research and art making in Second Life. Visitors, as avatars, become immersed in a virtual 3D environment that presents interwoven, flexible strands of digital imagery. Joseph Nechvatal also devised another theory called cybism, a sub-division of viractuality that describes a "new sensibility emerging in art that respects the integration of certain aspects of science, technology and consciousness a consciousness struggling to attend to the prevailing current spirit of our age.23 Here, a Second Life cybistic zeitgeist attracts a particular group of artists, practitioners, and researchers who are exploring where cultural space is developing in the virtual 3D environment. The blending of the computational virtual with the analog cultural and historical references indicates the subsequent emergence of a new space of connection between the computed virtual and the uncomputed corporeal (material) world which merge in cybism.24 The process and production of this exhibition creates more questions and possibilities for investigation. Nechvatal noted the realization that every new technology disrupts the previous rhythms of consciousness. This work expands discourse and explores what artistic and cognitive visions might emerge as a result of this perceptually immersive 3D form of art exhibition. Blog post, comments, and SL notes from the IBM Exhibition Mab MacMoragh Blank.Bare.Clean: Her very existence in the field of Art + Technology inspires me to no end. I find her blog, her art, and most recently her June 09 IBM Exhibit A Alternate Futures: Afrofuturist Multiverse & Beyond to be another reminder that black art is moving far beyond the street vendor, the conventional art gallery, or framed fixtures in humble abodes. The notion of black art being futuristic is no longer just a reminent of the funk-
crazed, pro-black, free-love, 70s era... The future is indeed NOW! Gaskins work is one of many very obvious examples of this. Some of the most intriguing musical artists are completely enthralled with this theme. A few that come to mind, uh... Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, B.O.B. etc... Arahan Claveau (aka Steve Millar) Wagner James Au Pixel Reanimator: I came to the opening of your AfroFuturistMultiverse work at IBM and enjoyed it immensely, I thought it looked great and I took plenty of pics ;) I was at a meeting about the Push sim going/not going and some one mentioned your work at AfroFuturistMultiverse had been changed... so I went back... and it had...it seemed many of the images had gone... this (visual) area being (for me) a very significant area within the work... (and I know the show does go way beyond the visual) I have been back more than once and have gone to your web page, and, while hearing a very interesting radio broadcast, I thought of you and your work... it may be of some interest to you...the podcast can be downloaded from http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ta/ta_ 20100811-1659a.mp3. Other Relevant Links YouTube Teaser Trailer Flickr Images IBM Exhibition Grand Opening Blog Virtual Artists' Immersive Discoveries in a Virtual 3D World References Cited 1. Joseph Nechvatal. Emergence of the New Paradigm: Viractuality, cole Suprieure d'AudioVisuel, http://www.eyewithwings.net/nechvatal/Viractuality/Vir actualism.html, 2010. 2. Paul Gilroy. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (Harvard University Press, 1993) 1-40. 3. Mark Dery. Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture: Black to the Future (Duke University Press, 1997) 180. 4. Marita Sturken & Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) 19. 5. Ibid.
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6. J. Griffith Rollefson. The "Robot Voodoo Power" Thesis: Afrofuturism and Anti-Anti-Essentialism from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_019910955776/The-robot-voodoo-power-thesis.html, 2008. 7. Robert Temple. The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago (Destiny Books, 1998) 215. 8. G. Kot. Janelle Monae's android power, Rising R&B star talks about her futuristic inspiration, Chicago Tribune, May 2010, 150, 30-33. Retrieved 11/20/10. 9. Ibid. 10. Nettrice Gaskins. Virtual Artists Immersive Discoveries in a Virtual 3D Frontier, PBS Art21, http://blog.art21.org/2009/11/30/virtual-artistsimmersive-discoveries-in-a-virtual-3d-frontier, 2009. 11. Todd May. Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2005) 169. 12. Brad Shore. Culture in Mind: Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning (Oxford University Press, 1998) 8. 13. Keith Ansell-Pearson. Deleuze and Philosophy: The Difference Engineer (Warwick Studies in European Philosophy. Publication: London; New York Routledge, 2002) 4. 14. May, 170. 15. Ibid. 16. Kevin Walby. How Closed-Circuit Television Surveillance Organizes the Social: An Institutional Ethnography, The Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 30, Number 2 (Spring 2005): 189-214. 17. Yi-Fu Tuan. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (University of Minnesota Press, 1977) 9. 18. Gilroy, 78. 19. Ibid. 20. Dpr-barcelona. Presidio Modelo in Cuba and the panopticon idea, http://dprbcn.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/presidiomodelo-in-cuba-and-the-panopticon-idea, 2009. 21. HBO. Lalees Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, http://insidehboshop.hbo.com/tag/lalee-kin, 2006. Retrieved October 2010. 22. Lisa Yasek. An Afrofuturist Reading of Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man. Rethinking History: The
Sun Ra to Kool Keith, Black Music Research Journal, Journal of Theory and Practice 9.2/3 (June/September 2005): 297-313. 23. Joseph Nechvatal, Cybism ECAM 2008 Mexico City, http://www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka.19.nechvatal. htm, 2008. 24. Ibid.
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Journalism in Virtual Worlds

Ricardo Cruz
University of Porto, Praa Coronel Pacheco, 8, 4050-453, Porto, Portugal. Email: ricardocruz@me.com
Ricardo Fernandes
University of Porto, Praa Coronel Pacheco, 8, 4050-453, Porto, Portugal. Email: ricardonoronhafernandes@gmail.com
This article is based on the idea that immersive journalism in virtual worlds, specifically in Second Life, has similarities with online journalism. To sustain this premise, the literature reviewed will follow the debate about journalism on the Internet, writing and reporting across new media and speculate on the idea that a new concept of journalism in virtual world is growing, as an example of a new trend in journalistic practice. Questions such as the legitimacy of new forms of journalism, and specially of the pertinence of new environments, where it may be put to practice, will be addressed. So, the focus on this paper is journalism in 3D environments. Some interviews will be analyzed as one of the methods chosen to find evidence on this matter. Dough Thompson, Jena Ball and Marty Keltz will provide some visions about the immersive journalism situation in Second Life. Their views will help to focus the debate on the essential aspects of the subject. The discussion will provide ideas of new trends on an old business. Keywords: virtual worlds, journalism, Second Life, gate-keeping, digital immigration.
Introduction The online virtual world Second Life has enjoyed a steady growth, throughout its existence. It has never become mainstream, but its economy is, today, powerful, and generates a significant amount of revenue. Its many uses include education and e-commerce. This paper explores some practices within this virtual world that can be classified as journalism or some sort of news-making. Participatory, grassroots journalism has exploded with the development, dissemination, and usability of Web publishing software (Kolodzy 2006: 217). Similarly, as citizen journalists have been gaining their stand in the real world, the possibility that the same may be happening in
Second Life, a world entirely built upon user-generated content, seems significant. Its users design contents: new islands, housing, wilderness, gadgets, designer clothing, and events. Residents are interested in knowing what goes on in this immersive environment (Howard, 2006). This is where journalism and news making enters. Some models of journalism are already established in Second Life. Virtual bureaus, Web sites, blogs and even in-world newspapers are dedicated to covering the daily routines of avatars and events generated by users. This paper focuses on some examples: Metanomics, Treet TV, The Alphaville Herald, Metaverse Journal, CNN iReport, New World Notes, Metaverse Tribune and Metaverse TV. To support this trend, a group interview with some specialists on immersive journalism in Second Life will be the source for some of the ideas drawn in the following sections, together with some literature on online journalism. Interactiveness, a feature of Web journalism (Stovall, 2004: 2) is also an important trait of journalism in virtual worlds. However, another trend is also observable, as individuals are likely to become sources of information and provide valuable perspective to journalists who are new to a story and not part of the community they cover (Stovall, 2004: 15). Ultimately, in the examples enumerated above, news values such as impact, currency, prominence or proximity (Stovall, 2004: 37) are identifiable in the information that is treated as news, in a journalistic sense. Online journalism from Web to virtual worlds: trends and perspective Nowadays, journalistic content is dealing with major changes due to the new, technological interactive platforms being introduced that make media content available continually, everywhere (Latar and Nordfors, 2009: 5). Second Life is a role model of these major changes that are occurring, not only on technological interactive platforms, but also in what immersive journalism represents. That is because this virtual world () is going to be a very important platform for the creating of new content which will be a hybrid based on what the affordances are of the
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new technology, the needs of the audience and what the format looked like in old media (Thompson et al., 2010). These occurring changes are also supported by the fact that technology and its influence on the society have fueled the charge to transform the current media model (Friend and Singer 2007: 13). This innovative view of the journalistic practice implies a return to the fundaments of online journalism predicates. The news website is the major form of the practice of web journalism. Furthermore, some new media industries developed from the Internet. Companies like Twitter, Facebook or Google are not focused on producing content. but rather on disseminating it. This stage attests the separation between journalism and media. The fact is that the latest generation of producers of journalism is no longer involved in the processes or infrastructures of mass communication (Latar and Nordfors, 2009: 5). Journalism, in this digital age, has made a long way to get to the stage of immersive journalism, in virtual worlds. Web 1.0 spread the one- to-many communication possibility beyond the media. Everybody could publish. Web 2.0 introduces many-to-many communication. Now the crowd can publish together (Latar and Nordfors 2009: 22). Today, journalism, and the wide field of communication, are in the era of social media. Second Life, as an immersive environment, could be compared to a small town of 18 million people (Thompson, Ball et al. 2010) where local news are the dominant paradigm. In spite of the structural changes from Web 1.0 to Web 3.0 and virtual environments, in order to maintain practices and identities, the essence of journalism remains to be described in principles of journalism, such as those suggested by the Pew Research Centers Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) and the Committee of Concerned ( http://www. journalism . org/resources/ principles ) : Journalisms first obligation is to the truth; Its first loyalty is to the citizens; Its essence is a discipline of verification; Its practitioners must maintain independence monitor of power; It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise; It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant; It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional; Its practitioners must be allowed to practice their personal conscience.
A new definition of journalism, separated from the media, exemplified by the pioneer example of Second Life, but also by Facebook, Google and Twitter, () should connect to the principles of journalism, and be based on the relation between journalism and its audience, rather than on its relation to the medium it uses for communicating with the audience (Latar and Nordfors 2009: 23). News and journalistic practices in virtual worlds It is obvious that the development of the Web has little to do with journalism, but much to do with news and information (Stovall, 2004: 2). An extension of this line of thought implies that the control of the information fluxes is in the hands of the end-user, the reader, the citizen, rather than in the hands of the news outlet, be it the newspaper, TV station or radio. However, in virtual worlds, it is possible to find instances comparable with traditional journalistic practices of one source aimed at many users. This section aims at illustrating some examples of traditional forms of journalism and new forms of news making in this environment. They all convey original content and, in some cases, original reporting, representing the top level in the news content scale (Stovall, 2004: 1620). Metanomics Metanomics is a web-based show organized by Remedy Communications, a Canadian marketing agency based in Toronto. It is focused on immersive media as it believes that this platform provides a state-of-the-art collaborative environment. The company is a leading developer of immersive media technology which it uses for training, education, and collaboration. Metanomics broadcasts a mixed reality show with interviews, from a physical location, with a synchronous presence in Second Life and an on-line live stream to the Web, allowing, at the same time, for any individual attending the show to ask questions to the host or the anchor. As Keltz stated () you have these two thousand people who see it synchronously. Theyre actually there, in the audience. And you have also thousands of people that might watch it live and in real time. (Thompson et al., 2010). This way, a completely synchronous experience is provided with full interactivity with the audience. The virtual talk show is focused on the immersive and social media, and it often links participants in conferences in physical locations with avatars in the virtual world of Second Life. The show is hosted by Cornell University Professor Robert Bloomfield, and it is broadcasted in partnership with Treet.tv (see below). It has been running for almost four years. This show takes advantage of the qualities of the Web (Stovall, 2004: 10): Capacity, meaning that it is possible to host a quasi-infinite amount of information on a site, immediacy, flexibility, permanence, but, most of all, interactivity. Ultimately, this show is a good example of narrowcasting at a much lower cost (Thompson et al., 2010). Besides, it includes the possibility of positive feedback, by broadcasting thebackchat after having filtered it. This is also a good example of the process of curating content by the journalist. According to Marty Keltz () Metanomics has it is
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becomes the seminal form of what journalism will look like in the 21st century, because it provides for a completely synchronous experience. (Thompson et al., 2010).
Figure 1: Metanomics show (Web interface on the left and Second Life interface on the right). Figure 2: Treet.tv and Metaverse TV web sites. Treet. TV and Metaverse TV Treet TV is a company that works since 2007 to provide content to virtual worlds viewers. It uses a collaborative production model allowing shows to be broadcasted into Second Life and the Web (http://treet.tv). Shows include fashion, sports, music, news and special live broadcasts. These shows are then archived and published as podcasts on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/pt/podcast/rezzed-tv-allpodcast-feed-mp3/id285174896). The selection of content is based on editorial decisions that have to do with the perspective of good ratings or with the quality of the items themselves (Thompson et al., 2010). The Metaverse TV is part of the Metaverse Broadcasting Company, dedicated to using virtual worlds to build and engage a global audience. This company includes the Metaverse Tribune - http://metaversetribune.com/ - an online newspaper dedicated to virtual worlds. Immersive Journalism Immersive journalism is an innovative form of journalism, or rather news making, allowing the extension of news media reports in traditional media. It allows for watchers to put themselves in the role of the participants in a certain event, by replicating events in virtual reality. This provides an opportunity for a spatial narrative based on the concept of immersive reporting. The idea is based on the possibility of the user to role-play and acting out a particular story, acquiring a different perspective, from a participatory point of view. It allows the rethinking of a story beyond a linear narrative (Stovall, 2004: 64). The need to find new information flows by new audiences (Kolodzy, 2006) is visible by the existence of an audience interested in this immersive narrative. The first person experience of the event or situation allows the participant to enter a virtually built scenario that represents the news story allowing for the viewing of the report in a first-person perspective. Images and sounds from the original story are used to keep the participant in mind that the experience is a nonfiction story. The story may be experienced in different points, but
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it doesn't shift. An example of immersive journalism is the video of John F. Kennedy assassination under the perspective of the killer, available at Immersive Journalism website (http://www.immersivejournalism.com/?p=44) :
Another example of immersive journalism is the reproduction of the environment in the Guantanamo Bay prison. Both examples allow for the experience of the event according to the perspective of a different agent.
Figure 3: John F. Kennedy assassination clip (source: http:// www.jfkhistory.com)
Figure 5: Guantanamo Bay photographs (prisoner and cell).
Figure 4: Example of immersive journalism: the assassination of President Kennedy through the perspective of the shooter.
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Participatory Journalism in Second Life CNN, through the iReport model, allows the participation of virtual citizens in the making of the news. They created citizen journalism in Second Life (Thompson et al., 2010). News audiences are seeking and demanding news from different outlets and in different channels, including new and innovative technological channels (Kolodzy, 2006: 217). It is important to note that news are not journalism (Thompson et al., 2010) and this participation does not imply that the information is treated according to journalistic standards. Nonetheless, the news inflow is noticeable, and as of June 18, 2010, the site includes 74 different entries, starting in February 11, 2008 until June 17, 2010. The latest "stories from Second Life", as referred in the project (it is noticeable the absence of the word news or reports) include the 2010 football world cup, and news related to the oil leak in the Mexican Gulf.
Figure 6: Virtual representation of Guantanamo Bay, through a self-narrative process. It is possible to reproduce the environment of Guantanamo Bay through a first-person narrative, in a virtual environment. The experience includes sounds and photos embedded in the virtual simulation, keeping the user in touch with the real situation. Online Web-bases newspapers and blogs The blog New Worlds Notes, by Wagner James, is a landmark in the blogosphere of virtual worlds. Wagner James was hired by Linden Labs, the company that has created Second Life, from 2003 to 2006, as an embedded journalist, covering Second Life, and its society along with their controversies, innovations and trends. Weblogs, though, for many, are not journalism. They do not include in many cases the traditional editing process. Nonetheless, they are a good example of the interactiveness of the Web (Stovall, 2004: 33). The Metaverse Journal (http://metaversetv.com/) is a Web-based newspaper-style Australian blog focused on the coverage of events about business, education, health and general news related to virtual worlds. Similarly, The Metaverse Tribune or the Virtual Worlds News report events or facts that have a direct relation to virtual worlds. Their focus is somewhat different from Metaverse, since they are mainly aimed at technological advances within virtual environments.
Figure 8: CNN iReport example. The control of the information uploaded by the user if of his or her full responsibility. There is no gatekeeping process, as stories are not edited, screened or factchecked. Participatory, grassroots journalism has exploded with the dissemination, and usability of the Web publishing software (Kolodzy, 2006). This also true in the Web 2.0 paradigm. The most important news, that have a significant impact, will be cleared by CNN and made part of CNN's news coverage. This attitude of curating content is a form of validating the information, and it significantly improves user generated content as the CNN brand suggests a high level standard in the news content, making it a desirable brand to be associated to. Now you have the curator, the gatekeeper in a circle with the community (Thompson et al., 2010). iReport allows this association.
Figure 7: The Metaverse Tribune, an online newspaper about virtual worlds.
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Conclusion Journalistic culture is adapting to new technologies, but also to new organizational structures, including user expectations of input (Friend and Singer, 2007: 35). This paper exemplifies manifestations of such expectations of input, regardless of the interface used. In Second Life, journalism can be seen from the perspective of how information is collected, from a variety of news media and how news is been created as people interact with those platforms (Thompson et al., 2010). At in virtual worlds, there are several practices of journalism, as was explained in this article. CNN went to Second Life with the concept of citizen journalism: iReport. Traditional forms of journalism are represented with agencies like Metaverse Tribune; an innovating way to do journalism as introduced by Metanomics, with a talk show that mixes reality with the virtual Second Life, as well as with the real world in different locations, giving the opportunity to stream the show not only inworld, but also through web based platforms like Ustream, not connected directly with the immersive virtual reality. It has been stated that the real news, in Second Life, are the interactiveness and the immersive and educational experiences. But it is not always like that. With immersive journalism it is also about real facts, and their repercussion on the virtual environment. As Marty Kelts explains, the role of the journalist is just changing media. Journalists dont go away. Nobody is saying that journalists should go away. He could take a photo of a burning building or Tiananmen Square or the uprising in Iran and that is news. But news is not the same as journalism. But the ownership of the news is no longer exclusive to journalists. REFERENCES Friend, C. & Singer, J.B., 2007. Online journalism ethics : traditions and transitions Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. Howard, B., 2006. Journalism In Its 'Second Life' [online]. http:// w w w. n e w a s s i g n m e n t . n e t / b l o g / b r i a n c h o w a r d / dec2006/06/journalism_in_it [Accessed on June, 2010].
Latar, N. and D. Nordfors (2009). "Digital Identities and Journalism Content: How Artificial Intelligence and Journalism May Co-Develop and Why Society Should Care." The Innovation Journalism Publication Series 6 (7). Kolodzy, J., 2006. Convergence Journalism: Writing and Reporting Across the News Media: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Stovall, J.G., 2004. Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Thompson, D., Ball, J. & Keltz, M., 2010. Metanomics and Journalism in Virtual Worlds. Toronto. Webgraghy: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/nonnydlp/201005/1854/ [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www.metaversejournal.com/ [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://alphavilleherald.com/ [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www.immersivejournalism.com/?page_id=2 [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/ [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www.jfkhistory.com/nix/nix.mov June, 2010]. [Accessed on
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=DguBcLpWBS0&feature=related [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www.immersivejournalism.com/?p=44 [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www. ireport.com/ir-topicstories.jspa?topicId=1307 [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://metaversetribune.com/ [Accessed on June, 2010]. http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles [Accessed on June, 2010]
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BAUHAUS SCHOOL OF CREATIVITY KARURA MUSEUM ART CENTRE, (MKAC)

MKAC, MUSEUM KARURA ART CENTRE PROJECT
Yolanda Arana Lpez (avatar name: Ina Karura)

MKACs Director. Email: karuramuseo@hotmail.com
Eva Bonastre (avatar name: Noke Yuitza)

Director and MKACs Coordinator of Technologies, Email: cienciaoberta@yahoo.es http://www.cienciaoberta.tk January 27, 2010 - April 30, 2010 The Museum Karura Art Centre (MKAC) was born in 17th September 2008 with the ambitious pretension to promote art in Second Life. According this premise, all the MKAC activities will pursue the following targets: a) To expand knowledge about real and virtual artists and their works b) To present less known works of universal artists c) To reveal and spread through the virtual world the creations of real painters usually hidden for most of the public Although Museum Karura Art Centre opens its doors as a painting gallery, its board assumes that art covers a wide range of techniques and approaches. Therefore its facilities will host all kind of artistic expressions, covering both visual arts (painting, sculpture, photographs...) and the so-called minor arts (fashion, ceramics, jewellery) In their line to respect and to fulfill the legality effective, all the works and exhibitions shown in the Karura Museum Art Centre, will respect the intellectual property of creative and artists
HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE SCHOOL OF THE BAUHAUS In the world of art, the Bauhaus has left its mark in the areas of design and architecture, with certainty, not only to create a new aesthetic form but also to adjust it to the historical reality in was founded and represent a new vision of art and the strong influence their aesthetic and functional principles had in subsequent generations of artists. In the year of its founding, 1919, by Walter Gropius, Europe had just emerged from the Great War (19141918), and the devastating effects of it were felt in society, especially in Europe, and more specifically,
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in the economic area of the continent. From this circumstance arises the Bauhaus concept of design objects that have functionality and adapted also to the small size of the homes of those moments. Thus arises the idea that the art is not only to contemplate but also can serve for use and such use does not have to diminish the aesthetics and design objects created. In regard to the historical reality in which the school is born, it affects their development and stability and strengthens the view of the functionality of art. Schools budget was argued that received subsidies from the governments of the cities that had their headquarters, (Weimar, Dessau and Berlin), that due to current economic conditions were not the fluidity with which should occur and led to the decision that the school had to sell their products to help their finance, which causes occasional difference of opinion among teachers. This poor economic situation worsened as the Nazi party was occupying the governments of the host cities of the Bauhaus, to be termed revolutionary and communist pressure that led the various transfers and its closure in 1933. Finally, with the final closing of the school, teachers and students began its spread through Europe and mainly the United States, engaging in private projects or teaching at prestigious American universities. In this way, philosophy and art are getting spread to create the New Bauhaus and obtaining, directly or indirectly, the opposite of what the Nazis sought to eradicate in Germany after the war: the expansion and dissemination of art and design of those revolutionaries and communists.
pedagogical and philosophical cornerstones were sustained and the Bauhaus: - BAUHAUS because, just read it, we associate this term of art and an art movement that revolutionized the architecture and design. SCHOOL: because it was also a meeting point for artists and creators, a broadcast center of art and teaching skills and mechanisms to ensure that their students could translate into concrete her artistic creations. - CREATIVITY: for inventiveness and imagination overflowed channeling it to the functionality and adapting it to the daily lives of people. GENESIS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE EXHIBITION BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVITY planned gathering witnesses of the presentations made by the BAUHAUS Foundation, (Berlin), and The Museum of Modern Art, MOMA (New York) in 2009 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the school. After contacting the BAUHAUS Foundation, to request permission for the use of images and receive the approval of this institution, the Directorate of Museum Karura Art Centre in Second Life organized monographic exhibition pursuing the following objectives: - Spreading the art in general. - Bringing the public the artistic and educational work of its founder Walter Gropius. - Disclose the creations and artistic approaches of all those who supported the initiative of its founder (Paul Klee, George Muche, Otti Berger ...). - Transmit the educational foundation of the Bauhaus. - Propagate the path lesser known artists who collaborated on this project. - To convey the basic design principles of the Bauhaus, (break with tradition and established styles, aesthetically pleasing, predominantly of the function over form, the union of the artisan and fine arts ...). - Demonstrate the potential of media and software and technology in the dissemination of educational, training and creative. - To verify the importance and the impact that Information Communication Technologies and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have on the transmission of knowledge. - Make clear the relationship between the not virtual world and virtual. - Check the objective feedback between the two spheres of life. - To reaffirm the benefits of mutual intersection between the TICS, the virtual world and not virtual.
BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVITY BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVITYis the name chosen by the Directorate of Museum Karura Art Centre (MKAC) for this exhibition, which commemorates the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, bringing together three concepts that encompass the philosophy of the same art, (BAUHAUS), training and education (school) and Genesis (creativity). The title brings together the artistic concepts,
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PLANNING AND STRUCTURING In terms of achieving the above objectives, the Directorate of planning and program MKAC exposure in two exhibitions. The first, based in Second Life recreation of the famous building of the Bauhaus in Dessau, is the nerve center of this exhibition. It is characterized by providing information about theoretical concepts, documentaries, illustrative images, video broadcast... that shows visitors the political, social, geographical, of the School, its history and different periods, its inner workings, its relations with the environment , paths and artistic creations from the creators of the BAUHAUS ... The second, Comparative Exhibition: BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE , located in the MKAC Schumann Building. CONTENT In its aim of bringing the Bauhaus to the public, the Directorate of MKAC made furniture and objects and also simple and readable text for visitors to the exhibition on each of the aspects that governed its operation and development of everyday life, all texts are made in three languages: English, Spanish and German. The content displayed can be divided into the following categories or groups: - Knowledge of city-centers: Wieman, Dessau and Berlin, yesterday and today, (which allow for comparison between the two periods). - Knowledge of the environment and historical and future projection: contextualization of the life and art of the School, (History and eras; BAUHAUS and Nazism; BAUHAUS: World Heritage Site, the Bauhaus in America. The New Bauhaus and Bauhaus Foundation). - Understanding the inner workings of the School: organization and development of everyday life and artistic (Manifesto of the Bauhaus, W. Gopius, 1919, Fundamental Principles of the BAUHAUS, Directors, Teachers, Women of the Bauhaus preliminary course; The parties). -Knowledge of outreach: the dissemination of his image as a training center and artistic (Logo, Seal and Fonts). -Knowledge of art, design and architecture of the Bauhaus: personal and artistic development of artists and designers, (workshops: ceramics, wall painting, advertising, theater, bookbinding, woodworking, sculpture and carving, photography, printing, textiles, metal; The Architecture of the Bauhaus. Buildings; The Painting BAUHAUS ...)
METHODOLOGY The presentation and structuring of the exhibition is planned to the public so that he understands what you see and read, to awaken their curiosity for further discussion and analysis of the content (images and text), and be motivated to delve into other information channels. The arrangement of panels and images are presented sequentially, from general to specific and from the internal to external, which enables to input, gradually, to visitors in the world and concepts of the Bauhaus. To achieve this goal, on the ground floor show, by way of introduction, logos and information on the three exhibitions held in this 90th anniversary of the founding of the school, (Foundation BAUHAUS, The Museum Modern Art and Museum Karura Art Centre ), advertising posters designed at the Bauhaus and a conference room and screening of videos, transparencies and slides.
On the first floor presents the documentation relating to the geographical, social and political context in which it is founded the School panels over yesterday and today the host cities, at different times of the Bauhaus and the basis on which it sits and, therefore, this exhibition: the basic principles of his art and design. The second floor positions the visitor into the inner workings of the school through the Manifesto of Walter Gropius, the teachers, the teaching process, organizational and artistic directors, the introductory course ... In the last and third floors, explains the productive, creative and artistic Bauhaus through biographies and detailing the career of painters, (Lyonel Feiniger, Johannes Itten, Georg Muche, Paul Klee, Oskar Scheemmer, Wassily Kandinsky ...), architects, (L. Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, W, Gropius ...), and information on the various workshops. The central area of the building brings together the literature on the Bauhaus and its surroundings showing the resources of the School to disseminate and publicize its image (logo, stamps, typography ...), their relationships and their international extramural (New BAUHAUS The Foundation ...).
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The tour of the exhibition ends by offering a condensed bibliography of 10 books on the School, which interrelates the virtual world with no virtual. The methodology includes the development of all texts in three languages (English, Spanish and German), and the production and recreation, this exhibition of objects and furniture designed in the Bauhaus to the visitor can interact. For example, it can sit in the chair, or even in one of the famous banks of L. M. van der Rohe or a couch W. Gropius, take a book from a shelf of Marcel Breuer, relax on one of the tapestries, used as a carpet, Gunta Schlzl, Benita Koch-Otte ... all actions that make clear the principles of the Bauhaus: the functionality of their objects and creations. The Supplementary Statement: BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE , located in Building Schumanns MKAC complements this approach by allowing a direct comparison between the building of the Bauhaus and the objects created in it and prepared for this exhibition in Second Life through the sample comparative panels, allowing the public conduct an analysis leading to their own particular conclusions.
Conferences: - BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE held by the Director of MKAC (January 27, 2010). - Women of the Bauhaus in Noke Yuitza (April 25, 2010). c) Gatherings: artistic events are scheduled in May as the conversation revolves around life at the Bauhaus, its international, its relationship with the environment and its history and the career of its painters, sculptors and architects. d) Recreational events: the party is done, Night at the Bauhaus in Berlin with a concert by Karma Auer, aiming to emulate those in the School and to convey the importance that these parties had in it, the Directorate MKAC of apparel offers Berlin attendees of the 20 and 30 decades. e) Bauhaus Scurlture Art Contest f) Multimedia: - Video broadcast: along the long exposure time, 9 videos are broadcast on various aspects of the BAUHAUS, (painting, architecture ...). Its emission is simultaneous, and rotating in the three buildings of the Museum Karura Art Centre: the Bauhaus in Dessau (home of the exhibition), Schumann Building, (home of the exposure comparison), and the principal building. - Making videos: video recording of the statement, carried by Ketkar Petrov, BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE KARURA MUSEUM ART CENTRE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcE7F2fcTs).
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AROUND THE EXHIBITION With the aim of promoting and disseminating the philosophy, design and art of the Bauhaus, are scheduled and organized the following activities and Evens: a) Guided tours: individual (1-2 persons), small group (3-6 people) Large groups (7 people or more). Are scheduled and conducted 13 hearings, to which we must add those made spontaneously.
DISSEMINATION OF EXPOSURE The dissemination and publicity of the exhibition Bauhaus. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE is done through the following channels: a) Forum: http://mkac.wordpress.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/museo_karura/ h t t p : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / h o m e . p h p ? # / home.php?ref=home http://foros.secondspain.es/compo n e n t / option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,100/func,showcat/ catid,27/ http://www.irenemuni.com/foro/museo-karura-artcentre-eventos-y-actividades-vt1582.html
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b) Second Life internal warnings. c) Press releases to media, virtual and non virtual (newspapers, magazines, radio ...) INCIDENCE AND REALVIRTUAL INTERACTION On feedback and comments received, we can say that BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE, has caused a great impact among users from various social strata of the community of Second Life. Because of its organization, presentation and development and its content, the host of the exhibition was very positive and favorable, exceeding the estimates on the consequences provided for the Directorate of Museum Karura Art Centre. However, while comforting these reactions, the address of the museum always evaluates its projects for the sake of objective information free from any affection, sympathy and subjective assessments of others. In this sense, assessing the requests, from outside Second Life, information on literature or other sources on the Bauhaus, developing the exhibition and the request for permission to use information contained in it, all at through the 67 e-mails received in the email MKAC. One of the data shows that interest, is the request to postpone the closure of the exhibition, scheduled for 31 March (request is accepted the closure postponed until 30 April), and the number of visits : 3254. Another objective factor is the selection and recommendation by individuals and managers of websites, unrelated and unknown to the Directorate of MKAC of the monograph BAUHAUS. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE , shown in the museum WordPress. Another reference that supports this, is the relationship established and maintained between the BAUHAUS Foundation, (Berlin) and the Museum Karura Art Centre, (Second Life), through e-mails and sending information on the planning, development and evaluation and the final report. This verifies also that the sphere virtual and virtual field are intrinsically related and involves a positive feedback for the implementation, development and dissemination of projects and initiatives of various kinds and that is reflected in an editorial project on BAUHAUS has already launched the Directorate of MKAC.
EVALUATION The analysis, synthesis, and the final evaluation conducted by the Directorate of MKAC is largely positive as they find the arguments set out in paragraph number 8, knowing that further capacity improvement projects must not only persist but also care and feeding. The objectives, both general and specific, defined in the programming of the exhibition Bauhaus. SCHOOL OF CREATIVE , are considered fully achieved if not surpassed. CONCLUSION The establishment, for example, channels of communication between an entity of the size of the Foundation and the Museum Karura BAUHAUS ART CENTRE, shows that both realities, virtual and non virtual, can and should interact and leave feedback and clearly signal the importance of new ways of communication and information technology in scientific, educational, artistic, educational and social.
MKAC, 2010
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I SUMMIT LATIN AMERICAN ART by KARURA MUSEUM ARTS CENTRE EXHIBITION: SHARING ART
MKAC, MUSEUM KARURA ART CENTRE PROJECTYolanda Arana Lpez (avatar name: Ina Karura)
MKACs Director. Email: karuramuseo@hotmail.com
The Museum Karura Art Centre (MKAC) was born in 17th September 2008 with the ambitious pretension to promote art in Second Life. According this premise, all the MKAC activities will pursue the following targets: a) To expand knowledge about real and virtual artists and their works b) To present less known works of universal artists c) To reveal and spread through the virtual world the creations of real painters usually hidden for most of the public In their line to respect and to fulfill the legality effective, all the works and exhibitions shown in the Karura Museum Art Centre, will respect the intellectual property of creative and artists
1. GENESIS The decision to organize the I SUMMIT LATIN AMERICAN ART by KARURA MUSEUM ARTS CENTRE born from the questions that makes the management of the Museum, like how many people know the Latin American artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Joaquin Torres Garcia, or Tarsilia of Amaral and are, without doubt, the same level as Picasso, Magritte Pascin Dali, Gaugin, European painters of all we have ever heard. For people who are related to art world, these names are known to us and we know of his biography, his career and his work, for moving in the periphery of the art world, they are a bit, but largely the general public is unaware. Latin American art is a great unknown to the general public and this reality has been the origin or starting point for the MKACs management will organized for Da de la Hispanidad, (October 12th), the exhibition SHARING ART and trying to soften, as far as possible, this large lagoon.
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2. PRESENTATION SHARING ART brings together artists from across Latin America which term includes, obviously, the Spanish artists, as well as author of the Spanish artist exhibition poster. A total of 44 artists, representing Latin America (22 countries), with two works by artist, (a total of 88 works), and the exhibition poster by Xavier Magahlaes Spanish painter, whose selection had into account several variables, led by quality, which gave exposure to educational overtones, multidisciplinary educational and exhibition will allow the full a picture as possible of Latin American art. Have been selected as emerging artists, who bring their fresh, new techniques and new views on painting, and artists with an established career to give their maturity and experience. Another variable in the selection, attends to the variety and diversity of artistic styles to demonstrate, to those visiting the exhibition, Latin America is so rich like other continents. With the same objective is taken into account in the selection procedure, the variable of the art (oil, watercolor, etching, illustration, acrylic ...) so that they were all represented in the exhibition. Finally, another variable to consider was the theme of the works, like its predecessors, should be different and plural to see that Latin American painting goes beyond realism and colorful showy led to an exuberant vegetation and which transcends the clichs of the folkloric and localism.
3 . OBJECTIVES. 3.1 . General - Commemorating the Da de la Hispanidad - Promote and raise awareness of Latin American art. - To highlight the independence, singularity and identity of Latin American art in relation to the adoption of models and stereotypes about the artistic heritage of Europe. - To promote art and Latin American culture. - Establishing links between culture and art and Spanish. - Connections painting with other art forms (cinema, music ...) - Show the importance of new information technologies and communication in projects of this nature. - To demonstrate the significance and relevance of new platforms and software in art. 3.2 . Specific - Inform the public about the different and diverse styles, techniques, themes and artistic resources of Latin American art. - Enhance and promote Latin American artists, his work and his career. - Establish professional ties between the participating artists in the exhibition regardless of country or continent to which they belong. - Promote and disseminate the art of all the artists through new technologies. - Show to the artists the importance of TICS in the dissemination and expansion of their careers and works.
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4. PLANNING AND TIMING Planning and timing of the exhibition SHARING ART are made according to the objectives set and the day has to be opened: the October 12th, 2009. The exhibition starts preparing for the month of February and the first contact, e-mail, with an artist comes on April 22th, 2009. The sequence and guidelines are prepared in the manner specified below: a) Research, search and information on Latin American art and artists in encyclopedias, monographs, new technologies and other resources. b) Selection of artists: Based on the diversity and range programmed by the MKACs management (techniques, styles, themes and resources). c) Contact: by e-mails with artists and, failing that, to embassies, consulates, culture and education ministries and other official bodies and public and private associations. d) Presentation: Depending on the content, methodology and objectives of exposure. d) Selected works: First, are selected according to quality and then, depending on the variables mentioned above. e) Preparation of texts: biography, reviews, curriculum ... each of the 44 artists and technical data with data from each of the 88 works presented (title, author, date, dimensions, technique, style, and location-century .) 5. DEVELOPMENT AND METHODOLOGY 5.1. LOCATION The exhibition occupies all the facilities of the Museum Karura Art Centre: Main Building, AULARIUM and Schumann building. In the first two are located the name, photograph, resume and biography of each of the artists works with technical data and the flag and name of the country with the same general data (capital, language, size, governance, population, currency, population density and gentile). In the AULARIUM is located, in order to bring the exhibition in a geographical context, political, social, and inform visitors, an exhibition on Latin America and Spain with panels and informative texts on general aspects: general, etymology, education, economy, population, religion, sports, health, literature, music, advocacy, cinema, theater, painting, science and technology
5.2 . INTRODUCTION The submission and opening of the exhibition SHARING ART takes place in the Alegret Hall in MKAC, on October, 12th at 23.30 (Spanish time). The museum management is a small sketch on the preparation and objectives of the exhibition and ended by thanking all the artists and organizations with which she contacted; behind it presents to the person who will deliver the lecture: WM Schumann.
The conference hinges on the importance of the new software, specifically Second Life, in the connection between virtual and non-virtual world and the lines where the two merge, citing the I SUMMIT LATIN AMERICAN ART by KARURA MUSEUM ARTS CENTRE , to then make a brief tour of the history of Latin American art and various artists. Upon completion of setting up a debate on the initiative of the Museum Karura Art Centre and the possibilities of Second Life projects in scientific, educational, cultural ... and then visit the exhibition attendees. 5.2.1 ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS In the two months during which showcases the group exhibition SHARING ART, scheduled, and conducted the following activities around it: a) Guided tours: Guided tours are conducted in July, conveniently scheduled for groups (small and large), and individual and 5 visits to arise spontaneously out of 12 visits. b) Day of Artist means the activity to dedicate a day to highlight the history, works, reviews, comments, blogs and personal web sites and highlight a particular artist on others through messages in forums, Second Life groups, specific planks in the Velazquez board in MKAC. This activity takes place during 44 consecutive days and lasts from 22 October until December 3, 2009. c) Panels: Three round tables in the gardens of the museum, on the following topics: Projection Art World Latin America, American Painting and Film, Symbiosis and Influence of European Art in the Latin American Art . d) Music: With the aim of combining music and painting are performed two concerts in MKAC-(by Abso Zlatkis, November 24th, Kama and Auer, 19th December).
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e) Chat: Puerto Rican artist, Orlando Castro Ortiz gives two lectures in the Alegret hall in MKAC, one on his career and another examining the two works presented at the exhibition. f) Videos: Two videos about the exhibition. A video featuring the inaugural exhibition poster and artists I SUMMIT LATIN AMERICAN ART by KARURA MUSEUM ARTS CENTRE: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Ra3qe5V2EY&hl=es) and another with contents, (Latin Show at the Museum Karura Art Centre : http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6cb0t_kBSY). Both videos are made by Ketkar Petrov. g) Communication: the management of the Museum Karura Art Centre provides a list of the 44 participating artists by email. Disclosure: We present the exhibition in different SIM and Second Life groups, forums, websites and h) blogs and press releases to newspapers, radio and television stations not virtuals.
c) Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTStxfm6U4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R - MqvoChVXM&NR=1 d) Cine Latino h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=QDLxhKQflYI&feature=related h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=pYyx_o1imro&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8r-RaC3Q-I e) Sculpture h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=ohg1HGNX8D8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ukA2pbihbE f) Painting h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=iimjJD2ct1w&feature=related h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=cN3R2W2guHo&feature=related h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=cN3R2W2guHo&feature=related h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=vuAMqKtbKzU&feature=related On the screen in the museum garden are issued, takes 70 days of the exhibition SHARING ART, the videos made by Ketk Petrov.
6 . MULTIMEDIA They complement the above activities around the exhibition SHARING ART with the issuance of videos on various aspects of Latin America, which are broadcast on screens in the Main Building and Schumann Building. a) Latin America (topography, hydrography, history, culture, art ....) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6 J - yl9Ba7zw&feature=fvw b) Population h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=Es0RAo5kyng&feature=channel The settlement of America (II): h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=NEUpjanPqCo&feature=channel h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / watch?v=db36E0UMHgU&feature=related 7. SHARING ART IN NUMBERS General information: Artists No.: 44 Works No. 89, (two per artist and exhibition poster) Countries No.: 22 Duration of exposure: 70 days (10 weeks) No e-mails sent: 3,089 No e-mails received: 547
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a) Visits: - At the museum: Main Building: 3014 Schumann Building: 2911 AULARIUM: 581 c) Forums: Forum Secondspain: 4,816 visits. Irene Nurmi Forum: 2351 visits. Forum mundosl.com: 628 times.
8. DISCLOSURE AND PUBLICITY a) Forum: http://mkac.wordpress.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/museo_karura/ http://www.facebook.com/home.php? # / home.php? ref = home http://foros.secondspain.es/component/option, com_joomlaboard / Itemid, 100/func, showcat / catid, 27 / http://www.irenemuni.com/foro/museo-karura-artcentre-eventos-y-actividades-vt1582.html b) internal warnings Second Life. c) Press releases: a virtual media and virtual (newspapers, magazines, radio ...). d) Web sites and personal blogs of the participating artists.
9. VIRTUAL INTERACTION AND 10. EVALUATION IMPACT - NO VIRTUAL The objective effect of the First Summit of Latin American Art in Second Life is reflected by the number of visits that users made to the facilities of the museum to see the exhibition SHARING ART, and in various forums used to disclose and announce the various events scheduled. In the virtual world has had a strong impact, especially among the artists participating in the summit, which is reflected in a fair and impartial in the following examples: many of the artists put into their websites information about the exhibition, the same occurred with managers from other websites (of artists, clubs...), completely unrelated and outside the museum recommended and publicized, by choice, exposure, six of the participating artists were Second Life users, some of the artists contact between them and now keep in contact through emails, some have known personally and have attended exhibitions of his fellow real exposure, the Spanish artist author of the poster, Xavier Magahlaes, made a presentation in the city Buenos Aires, (June 2010), and invites the artists of this country, and Mercedes Naveiro Mariela Montes, to the inauguration. Corroborating this, highlights the fact that the Directorate of Museum Karura Art Centre maintains regular contact today, with 91% of the 44 participating artists via e -mail and has met personally with five of them or the that several of them have made, from this group show, solo exhibitions at the MKAC and others are yet to be achieved. It is, moreover, evident with the discussion in the preceding paragraphs the importance of new technologies in areas of education, science ... and the personal relationships that can develop through them in a feedback process between the world virtual and not virtual. Coordinate 44 artists from 22 different countries to organize the exhibition SHARING ART has been a task so complicated, arduous, painstaking and laborious as productive and satisfying. This project has required a meticulous and scrupulous planning, with objectives, content and methodology very clear and well defined, a priori, that would prevent leaving any detail to chance. Evaluative analysis of the importance and significance of the I Summit of Latin American Art is done by the direction of the museum through subjective facts, but above all, objective and, therefore, measurable collected.
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Based on the first, this evaluation is done for the sake of congratulations received, both by people nearby and outside the museum, and with which the Management does not have any relationship; by e-mails received in the MKAC email of participating artists and organizations and institutions or the offer of artists who did not participate in this summit, to participate in the following made by the museum.
However, although these positive reactions is encouraged to keep organizing events of this magnitude, it is customary for the management of the museum pay more attention to data verifiable, quantifiable and objective, such as the number of email received, the number of visits made to exposure and number of visits to the various forums and more.
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HELPMI - A virtual helpdesk for virtual worlds and beyond

Leonel Morgado
GECAD/UTAD University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, ECT, Vila Real, Portugal. Email: leonelm@utad.pt.
Tiago Ribeiro
UTAD University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, ECT, Vila Real, Portugal. Email: ribtiago@gmail.com.
Pedro Mestre
UTAD University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, ECT, Vila Real, Portugal. Email: pmestre@utad.pt.
Carlos Serdio
UTAD University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, ECT, Vila Real, Portugal. Email: cserodio@utad.pt.
Paulo Reis
Portugal Telecom Inovao, Aveiro, Portugal. Email: paulo-j-reis@ptinovacao.pt.
Fausto de Carvalho
Portugal Telecom Inovao, Aveiro, Portugal. Email: cfausto@ptinovacao.pt.
Companies managing multiple locations on virtual worlds or other online spaces may have difficulty staffing them adequately in terms of helpdesk services with efficient use of human resources. This paper expands a previous one, presenting in more detail a technological architecture that allows a team of people to staff several online locations simultaneously, providing customers or users with the indication of human presence to attend them. We also present details on a first prototype implementation of this architecture.
however, small/ medium organizations have global reach via online presence. And the range of places where an organization, large or small, is present is enlarging: traditional institutional Web sites; multiple social web presences (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.); virtual worlds (Second Life). Employees have instant messaging and VoIP contacts, either at the institutional or personal levels, in well-known networks and technologies such as Skype or Microsoft Live Messenger. People are now reachable as a default by this myriad of possibilities, and an evolving aspect is that we can know whether they are present or not: instant messaging applications display by default the online state of contacts; most social web sites such as Facebook let us know who amongst our friends is online, and contact them directly. In virtual worlds not only can we see who is online, but actually meet in common locations and spaces. In this context, having to phone an organizations call center is irksome. If the organization is local, OK, but if not, why have to call long distance or internationally? Even if the organization is local, we may be travelling and enduring roaming charges so even for local organizations, entirely depending on phone calls is not adequate. And e-mail & web forms are not heartcomforting when there is pressing need for contact. And not just to solve urgent problems, of course: perhaps just to obviate the awkward situations where text e-mails and forms require several exchanges to clarify intent, whereas 133
Introduction
This paper significantly expands a previous, summarized, presentation of this architecture (Morgado et al., 2010). When trying to contact an organization in situations where someone is experiencing trouble and pressing for immediate resolution, automated contact systems may be source of frustration and irritation of callers, with humanstaffed contact centers being the most well-known approach used by large organizations to minimize this undesirable customer/user experience. For small and medium businesses and organizations, the option of choice possibly will be a direct phone call to a generic contact number. Therefore, helpdesk quality is very important for costumer satisfaction (Wang et al., 2010). In fact, it is more important than user manuals or reference guides (van Velsen et al., 2007). These days,
a simple conversation might achieve the same in minutes. Some organizations provide chatrooms for such a purpose, allowing customers to see if staff is present and interact directly. While providing better service, they need to be staffed, and beg the question: why not reach people through Facebook page of the organization? Or find them in their virtual world office? Or reach them via a Skype/Messenger contact? Shouldnt an organization provide a level of presence and be approachable via the same channels as individuals are? This paper presents the most obvious challenges behind this, and a technological proposal for enabling it.
resources. For instance, an individual staffer needs to keep open and be attentive to various applications: the chatroom Web page or chat application; a Facebook page or a supporting application; Microsoft Messenger & Skype or yet other instant messaging applications; and virtual world clients (and this is not considering the possibility of having to staff multiple locations of each type). Aggregators such as Digsby exist (Mock, 2010), which minimize the need to keep different applications or browser windows/tabs open. This allows staffers to attend to several locations at the same time. However, what if a staffer is busy with a particular customer/client? Possibly a different staffer will need to be available too, with the associated need for coordination of efforts, schedules, and processes. Part of the problem is thus solved by aggregators, but only for the basic approach to staffing various alternatives for contacting an organization. The problem remains that if a staffer is busy, other people at the organization should be able to attend to a user/customer. This is particularly noticeable in multi-user scenarios such as chatrooms and virtual worlds. A user trying to contact an organization through a chatroom, where only the staffer and the user are present, will probably not realize that the staffer is busy with a Facebook or Skype contact, for instance.
Empty desks, empty pages

There is a basic consequence of multiplying contact options for customers/users: while more users can be reached, the likelihood is that there will be a smaller number of users through each individual contact option. As a consequence, often most contact options are understaffed, infrequently, or even not at all. This creates a common situation where often no-one from the organization seems to be online: empty chatrooms, social web spaces where no staff members are present, empty virtual world offices. To avert this awkward status of unmanned locations, a clear challenge is raised in order to staff locations where a human presence is desired or expected. This challenge lies in the efficient use and allocation of human CP User PB Operations server PB
CC CB Staffer CC Staffer CB
CP User
CP User
PB
Decider
CC
Staffer presence.
Figure 1. Architecture for transparent helpdesk system with multimodal CP Contact point; PB Presence bot; CB Communication bot; CC Communication contact We have tackled this problem at a limited level in a previous work (Valrio et al., 2009), which focused specifically on staffing an information desk in Second Life with an automated avatar, and routing contacts with that avatar through a central system which selected a staff member from a list of available staffers. The communication between virtual world users and the 134
automated avatar was routed to the selected staff member using instant messaging. This way, staff could attend to different tasks, without having virtual world viewer software open, simply receiving messages and replying via Microsoft Messenger. If a staff member became busy, the central system would simply select a different staff member, so that virtual world users would benefit from a
constant presence of a human staffer available. This approach, while rendering the staffers team transparent to the users of the virtual world helpdesk system, and thus enabling constant availability, did not tackle the problem of having a single staffer to attend to multiple contact options and technologies. So a staffer could still be busy with some other messaging and receive extra instant messages from the virtual world help system, but not be able to reply promptly. In this paper, we combine our previous ideas (Valrio et al., 2009) with aggregators, presenting an architecture that purports to support both presence of staff at multiple locations (social web sites, instant messaging networks, virtual world locations) and transparency of contact, enabling two features: communication is routed to staff members that are actually available, and all staff members can attend to all contact options.
organizational contact in networks such as Skype, GTalk or Microsoft Live Messenger, or even a virtual world three-dimensional booth in Second Life or another virtual world. Specifically, a contact point is any technology or virtual location which enables a user to: Find out if there is a human-attended helpdesk available; Let the helpdesk system know the user is present; Request a contact with the helpdesk staff; and Maintain a communication channel with the system. In the above examples, for the Web-based locations, the CP is a URL, which the users will open with their browsers; for instant messaging (IM) networks, the CP is the organizations IM contact, which users must register in their matching client software; and for virtual worlds, a CP is a virtual location within the virtual world (where an actual representation of an helpdesk or other aesthetic element will probably be present, although it could also be an empty space with an avatar representing the organization), to where users must travel using matching viewer client software.
The architecture and its features

The overall architecture is presented in Fig. 1. It is based on three major kinds of elements: a central Operations Server, a set of Presence Bots (PB) for user contact, and a set of Communications Bots (CB), to contact staff members. Minor elements are also three-fold: the Decider, for assisting the Operations Server in selecting which staff member should attend a communication request/attempt by a user; a set of Contact Points (CP) where users can request/attempt contact with the organizations helpdesk staff; and a set of Communication Contacts (CC), which can be any technologies actually used by staff members to maintain an online presence and provide communications. This architecture, as will be explained in the coming sections, enables the following features: 1) Presents users of the helpdesk system with the indication of presence of staff at any of the CP, based on a team of staffers which only needs to be online at a CC, not at a specific CP; 2) Routes communications bidirectionally between users at a CP and staffers at different CC; 3) Allows multiple technologies at CPs; 4) Allows multiple technologies at CCs; 5) Enables dropped communications to be re-routed to a new online staffer, providing a log of the conversation with the previous staffer, if so desired; 6) Allows staffers to issue commands to the system, since all communications go through the Operations Server, not directly to the users.
Presence Bots (PB)

The PBs are automated software elements, matching contact points one-on-one. They are in contact with the Operations Server to know whether helpdesk staffers are online, and if so, generate signals and data to ensure that users at the matching CPs are able to use the helpdesk system. They also inform the Operations Server of a contact attempt/request by a user, and route communications between that user and the Operations Server (which will in turn ultimately route them to a helpdesk staffer). For instance, in the case of a virtual world CP, a PB would be a process running on a server at the organization. Whenever the helpdesk team is staffed, that process would login into the virtual worlds as an automated client (also known as automated avatar or simply bot avatar), visible and approachable by virtual worlds users the basic concept implemented earlier (Valrio et al., 2009), albeit restricted o a single location in the Second Life virtual world (the architecture presented above supports multiple locations in multiple virtual worlds or in a single virtual world). In the case of Web pages, a PB can be implemented using a wide choice of technologies. For instance, it could be an applet in Flash or Java, if the CP wishes to allow the user to communicate by voice chat or provide advanced graphics and animations; or simply AJAX techniques, if allowing the user to communicate with text and some graphics suffices. For instant messaging CPs, a PB is an automated IM client, which behaves vis--vis the IM network much like the virtual world bot described above. Other technologies would operate in similar
Description of elements Contact Points (CP)

The CPs are heterogeneous technological elements, representing the various online locations where users can try and reach out a staffer of an organizations helpdesk. For instance, a CP could be a common Web page, a page in a social Web site such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube or others, an instant messaging 135
fashion possibly even connecting the system to physical CP such as physical booths and videophones.
Communication Contacts (CC)

The CCs are the staffers counterparts of the users CPs. They can also be heterogeneous technological elements. While for the prototype we assume them to be IM client software in various IM technologies, they could also be cell phones, avatars in virtual worlds, or even simply chat applications logged into a chat room. The essential difference between a CP and a CC is that a CC is a piece of technology associated with an individual (the staffer), while a CP is a piece of technology available by itself, which one or more users can use to contact the organization. Specifically, a CC is any piece of technology that enables a staffer to: Tell the Operations Server know he/she is present; Identify himself/herself to the Operations Server; Maintain a communication channel with the system.
must be set up and sustain a login to the various communication networks employed by the system, and routing decisions made. The central nature of the Operations Server allows systems based on this architecture to implement various possible behaviors, such as logging communications data, for instance, or keeping session records. These, in turn, enable a more fluid and transparent conversation between helpdesk users and helpdesk staffers, in case a communication channel with a staffer fails and the system routes communications to a new staffer, because given its central nature in communication routing, the server can in such a case provide the new staffer with the log or record of the conversation up to that moment. Specifically, the Operations Server is in charge of: Letting users know that staffers are available, using PBs to present that information at the CPs; When a user requests/attempts a contact, the Operations Server will ask the Decider module which staffer should attend to it, and depending on the Deciders response will use the CBs to warn the staffer of an impending communication with a user; Maintaining communication between a user and a staffer, routing their messages using the matching PBs and CBs; Reacting to loss of contact with a staffer during an ongoing communication, when an absence is reported by the matching CB, by asking the Decider module to select a new staffer to pursue the communication, providing this staffer with an history of the communication between the user and the previous staffer, and henceforth routing communications between the user and the new staffer (possibly switching CB, if the new staffer employs a different technology from the previous one); Responding to commands issued by staffers using their CCs and matching CBs (for instance, for requesting a communications report, or for echoing a generic message at a specific CP).
Communication Bots (CB)

The CBs are automated elements, matching not the CCs, but the diversity of technologies used by CCs. They are controlled by the Operations Server, and are responsible for detecting and verifying the presence of the CCs used by individual staffers. When they detect a specific CC, they let the Operations Server know about that presence, and similarly when they detect the absence of a CC that was previously present. Finally, they route communications between a staffer and the Operations Server. Typically, these are responses to a user-initiated contact which the Operations Server routed to the staffer; but they can also be requests by the staffer to be echoed at a specific CP to all users present or even some command for the Operations Server only. For instance, in the case of IM networks, a CB would be an automated IM client, which the staffers would have to register as a contact in their CC (Microsoft Live Messenger, GTalk, Skype, etc.). This CB would be controlled by the Operations Server, to route communication to and from the various staffers. Since different IM networks may use different protocols for messaging and presence detection, there is the need or a different CB for each network (one for Skype and another for GTalk, for instance). If staffers CCs avatars in a virtual world, their CB would be an automated avatar at that virtual world; for CC at a chatroom, a CB would be an automated chatroom client logged on to that chatroom; etc.
Decider
This architectural piece is basically a supporting element of the Operations Server functioning. Its purpose is to select staffers to attend specific users, given parameters and context provided by the Operations Server in decision-making requests. The actual methods for selecting staffers are implementation-specific, and not a feature of this architecture. For instance, it could be a simple random selection, a round-robin list, a load balancing method, or yet other, more complex systems based on helpdesk history, availability, staffer performance or other metrics.
Operations Server
As the descriptions of the other architectural elements keep referring, the Operations Server is the central piece of the architecture, with a central task of routing communications. In order to create viable systems based on this architecture, however, the Operations Server needs to do much more, since presence and absence of users and staffers needs to be detected, the various bots 136
Operation
So, the overall operation of a system based on this architecture would start when a user accesses a CP. In doing so, he/she becomes aware of an available helpdesk team. For instance, if the CP is a Web page, the user sees
an indication of staffer presence, such as a name and a green icon in a chat applet, or a softphone button with a textual indication of a staffer online to answer it; if the CP is a video chat network, the user sees the virtually rendered image of person and a call button; for a IM network, a contact will be rendered as being online; in the case of a virtual world location, there will be an avatar present. All of these indicators of presence are being provided by PBs associated with each CP (the PBs are controlled by the Operations Server). Using the communication methods of the particular CP he/she accessed, the user can then initiate communications with the PB. For instance, typing a text
message in the chat applet, making a softphone call, a videocall, an IM text or voice chat, or a virtual world message of public chat, by text or voice. Regardless of the method use, the PB will react to this communication event by routing it to the Operations Server. There are two possible situations: 1) Private helpdesk conversation, which is a one-toone conversation between a user and a staffer; 2) Public helpdesk conversation, when several users are co-present at a location (CP) and all communication is routed between those users and a staffer.
Figure 2. Prototype implementation of the architecture. In the first case, the Operations Server will simply need to ask the Decider which staffer should be assigned, when a user initiates contact or when a previouslyassigned staffer goes offline in mid-conversation. From those moments on, the Operations Server simply routes communications from the PB to the assigned staffer, by means of his/her matching CB and CC; and conversely, from the staffer to the user. In the second case (public chat) when a user initiates a conversation, the Operations Server needs to check whether any staffer was already assigned to the public chat of that specific CP. If so, there is no need to assign a new staffer to the new user, who is simply added to the existing conversation. If not, the process is similar to a private conversation: a staffer needs to be assigned to monitor the public chat (and assess whether users are collectively trying to contact the organization or simply idly chatting at the CP). From the moment a conversation is established, the system will need to monitor it. For instance, if a user ceases to be present at a CP, the PB can detect that event and report it to the Operations Server, which can remove 137 that user from the ongoing conversation or (if he/she was the single user in the conversation) close it entirely and register that the assigned staffer is now available. Similarly, a staffer may go offline or issue a command to remove himself/herself from the conversation. In such a case, to maintain the transparency of helpdesk service between the user and the organization, the Operations Server needs to ask the Decider for a choice of replacement staffer, provide that staffer with a history of the ongoing conversation via his/her matching CB and CC, and route subsequent messages in the conversation to the new staffer, until the conversation ends.
Prototype
We have developed a prototype system implementing this architecture, in order to clarify some of the details described above, and establish its feasibility. Fig. 2 presents the technological options take for this prototype.
CPs and PBs: web pages and virtual worlds

For CPs, we selected two different Web pages: a traditional Web page, under our full control (Fig. 3), and a personal page in a social Web site (MySpace). For each
case, we created a widget to allow text communication between users arriving at the page and the helpdesk staffers. In the case of the traditional Web page, that widget automatically assigns a 2D avatar to each visiting user, and has two tabs, visible in Fig. 3, enabling both public chat between visitors (which is routed to a staffer, monitoring it), and private helpdesk requests. We also selected, as an alternative CP, a virtual booth at the virtual world of Second Life (Fig. 4). In this case, we created as PB an automated Second Life client or SL bot, using readily-available public libraries (Valrio et al., 2009), so users can visibly see that the booth is staffed.
sometimes need to devote some attention to a specific task, independent of helpdesk events, but remain online in their IM clients, since they would use them for other communication also, not just helpdesk. The same might be true of cell phones or indeed any other CC. Also possible was the case where conversation with a user has ended, but the user chooses to remain at the CP location for some reason. In this case, the staffer needs to report to the system that he/she is now available and that the conversation has ended, even though the PB still detects the presence of the user at the CP. The testing and development process is ongoing, and has now been deemed by the funding entity, Portugal Telecom Inovao, as having reached a level which enables its use in a real world field test. The actual field test scenario is at the moment being established, and will certainly provide relevant feedback about aspects that could not be completely assessed on the limited testing environments used up to now, thus hinting about key features to be included in the foreseen solutions.
CCs and CBs: instant messaging clients

For our prototype, staffers used three different CC technologies: Windows Messenger clients, Google GTalk clients, and SMS-enabled cell phones (which were deemed an always online CC). Three CB were developed, one per technology, and messages would be routed from the users to the CB and finally to an available staffer. The staffers replies would follow the inverse route, as demonstrated in Fig. 4 using Windows Messenger.
Operations Server and Decider

For this prototype, we implemented the Operations Server with a database for recording existing staffers, ongoing conversations and their content, and overall system status data. The operations server also hosted the executable code for the PBs and CBs. The decider was implemented as a simple priority queue of staffers, and a Web administration interface was created to allow a system manager to setup data: a list of staffers and their individual priority and contact data (cellphone numbers and IM contacts), plus login data to be used for the various PBs and CBs.
Tests and results

The purpose of the prototype was to establish the feasibility of the architecture and clarify its implementation details. The major results of this process are already included in the description of the architecture, in the previous sections, which benefited from the overall development process. For instance, an initial approach used a CB to each staffer. However, this meant that a large number of login credentials would have to be acquired before staffers could be added to the system (at least one per staffer times the number of different contact technologies), and consequently render it more complex to maintain and less flexible. Reducing the number of CBs to one per technology resulted in the need for fullpath conversation management (user to staffer) to be supported by the Operations Server, rather than a simpler PB-to-CB routing as originally envisaged. Another consequence of the development process was the awareness of the need of allowing staffers to issue commands to the Operations Server, as the architecture now mentions. This awareness was born of several different circumstances. For instance, staffers could 138
Figure 3. Web page CP and PB (bottom right), with users avatars along the bottom.
Figure 4. Helpdesk booth in Second Life, staffed by a PB. A user is chatting with the PB, a staffer receives the chat in his/her Messenger, and responds via the same route.
Final thoughts
While further data and insights from field tests are necessary, we believe that this architecture has the potential to be employed in more complex, blended physical and online helpdesk contexts. In fact, we can think of physical PCs for which PBs could be implemented. A videophone that would present a computer-generated video could be such a PC, for instance. As could a simple phone extension with lights to report the presence of staffers at the other end, or a wall button with a microphone and a light to indicate the availability of staffers. Similarly, we believe that physical CCs and their matching CBs can be included in such a system, potentially enabling such blended situations as a user reaching a Second Life booth (CP) for help and being answered by a staffer at a physical desk that simply picks up the phone (CC) and answers a call, forwarded by the Operations Server. Text-to-voice and voice-to-text technologies could even be used at the CB connected to the phone in order for the staffer to be able to respond both to text-based and voice-based helpdesk contacts. If such scenarios become real, we believe that staffing of helpdesks in multiple technological locations or indeed, other user contact situations could be within the reach not only of large or medium-sized organizations able to establish contact centers, but also to small-sized organizations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was jointly developed by UTAD and Portugal Telecom Inovao, S.A. (PTIn), under a grant by PTIn in the scope of Plano de Inovao do Grupo PT. REFERENCES
Mock, K. (2010). e-Learning Tools for Computer Science Educators and Students, eLearn, 2010 (6), doi:10.1145/1821982.1833510. Morgado, L.; Reis, P.; Carvalho, F.; Ribeiro, T.; Mestre, P.; Serdio, C. (2010). Architecture for Transparent Helpdesk System with Multimodal Presence. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing and Applications (SOCA'10), Perth Australia, Dec 12-15, 2010. Washington, DC, USA: IEEE Computer Society. Valrio, S.; Pereira, J.; Morgado, L.; Mestre, P.; Serdio, C.; & Carvalho, F. (2009). Second Life Information Desk System using Instant Messaging and Short Messaging Service Technologies. In Rebolledo-Mendez, G.; Liarokapis, F.; Freitas, S. (Eds.) "IEEE First International Conference Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, Coventry, UK, 23-24 March 2009", pp. 125-132. Los Alamitos, CA, USA: IEEE Computer Society. doi:10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.13. van Velsen, L.; Steehouder, M.; & de Jong, M. (2007). Evaluation of user support: factors that affect user satisfaction with helpdesks and helplines. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 50 (3), 219-231. Wang, D.; Li, T.; Zhu, S.; & Gong, Y. (2010). ihelp: An intelligent online helpdesk system. IEEE Transations on
Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, 99. 110.
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Committees
Program Commitee
Ana Boa-Ventura, University of Texas-Austin, USA Andrew Wilson, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK Benjamim Fonseca, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Carola Jones, Universidad Nacional de Crdoba, Argentina Daniel Gonalves, Instituto Superior Tcnico, Portugal David Herold, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Debbie Keeling, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK Donizetti Louro, Pontificia Universidade Catlica de So Paulo, Brazil Gigi Ay, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Hugo Paredes, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Joo Varajo, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Joo Mattar, Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, Brazil Kathleen Keeling, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK Leonel Morgado, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Marco Antonio Chvez-Aguayo, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain Nelson Zagalo, Universidade do Minho, Portugal Paulo Martins, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Peter Duffy, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Peter Lythgoe, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK Pilar Lacasa, Universidad de Alcal, Spain Ramiro Gonalves, Universidade de Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Steve Warburton, King's College London, UK Theng Yin Leng, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Vincent Ng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Yesha Sivan, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, and Metaverse Labs. Israel
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Virtual societies, virtual economies: An analysis of Second Lifes economic development

Virtual lives, virtual economies

Second Life: the emergence of a new moneyscape

LindeX, gambling prohibition, Xsreet

Economic stability and the emergence of a new moneyscape

50.000 0 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 200

8 2008 2008 200 8

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1s t 2nd 3rd 4th

2nd 3rd 4th

< $10 USD Profit

2009 2009 200 9 2009 2010 2010

$10 to $50 USD Profit

Data retrieved from http://secondlife.com/statistics/economydata.php. Average registered in 2009.

Procedural Modeling for Realistic Virtual Worlds Development

The PG3D Solution

The PG3D Modeler

Use of Spatial Databases

Conditional and Characteristic Development

Transforming, Reading and Accessing Real Data and Geometries

PG3D Graphical Interpretation for Real-Time Virtual Applications

PG3D Structure as a Key Feature

Figure 6: PG3D Client Interface

Figure 5: 10km urban area, featured by PG3D

Capacity, Quality and Level of Detail

Data Visualization and Export

Implementation and Technologies

Visual Resemblance and Accuracy

Definition of modeling processes

Figure 9: Aliados Avenue in Porto, Portugal

Integration with Virtual World Applications

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

http://www.xna.com/ http://levelgrindonline.com/ http://www.unrealtournament.com/

http://www.collada.org http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax http://www.opencobalt.org/ http://www.opencroquet.org/

Interactive System Generation.

Donizetti Louro1, Mauricio Pontuschka2, Srgio Roberto Pellegrino3

Figure 2 - Diagram of Petri has more than one appointment.

Figure 3 - Diagram of Petri for the case of the dining philosophers.

Figure 4 - Diagram of a petri net describing a airport behavior

Probing Cognitive Biases in Virtual Worlds: Second Life As a Case Study

Temmuz Sreyya Grbz

Second Life, Second Morality?

Marital status children Single / 0 Married / 3

Main activity in-world

i A longer analysis of this study will be available as a

Susan Robinson Whelen, Ph.D.

Rosemary B. Hughes, Ph.D.,

Giselle Davidson, B.S.,

Thomas M. Nosek, Ph.D.,

Using Second Life as an Interface for Personalized Search

Virtual World as a Search Interface

Table 1: Sample Index and Vectors

Page Word-Vector PageID <wordi, frequency, distinctiveness, in-page importance,click>

Future Work and Conclusions

The P.R.O.S.E. Project: Mission and Goals

Locations and Research Methodology

Second Life as a research environment: Avatar-to-Avatar interviews.

Collaborative virtual environments: Second Life.

Second Life as a research tool:

User Involvement in the Design of Educational Virtual Worlds

User Involvement in Educational Design

Framework for User Involvement in Educational Technology Design

Results and their Implications