ekral’s IPC411 class blog

Today in class I was wondering around looking for more things to figure out. I stumbled upon a place that had 40 free peices of furniture. I took that and added it to my inventory thinking that we could re sell that furniture for our art/furniture store. I was corrected, and after I did some research I was warned that I was not able to resell that free furniture. This building a business task is going to be a lot more complicated than I thought it was going to be.

My group member Nicole and I teleported each other to the locations we were at to find different things and to see what was possible. After some time, we decided that we would make our own art to go into our art and furniture store. This way, we could color code the art our way to match the furniture in which we are going to build. It might take us a little longer than expected to get this going because it is a difficult task to accomplish, but we are certain, that with patience we can do it.

I tried to ask some random people on secondlife how to build, and where to get started, but before I knew it class time was up and I still had some questions that need to be answered. I didnt know that this process was going to take so long,  because there are so many things I need to learn before I actually get started. The phase before actually building is probably the hardest. Preparation for this project takes a while. Its hard because I just want to be able to do it, but I know I have some more research to look up, and questions to ask before we get started. Its important to get all this information correct, and know what I`m doing on secondlife so it makes it easier to accomplish the big task at hand.

Until then,

Elizabeth Kral

Today we did not have a class session, yet went online during our class time on secondlife. I ended up going on at the union during this time frame. My group is doing the art and furniture store. I wanted to explore more and see if there were any more freebies I could find that related to this business. I went and teleported around to several different places and couldnt find a whole lot of freebies so then I went on to discover other places.

I started teleporting to actual neighborhoods to see what they looked like and to get an idea of the different set ups people created for houses. I found that there were a lot of different houses with tons of modern and even antique furniture in them. There were also paintings on the walls. This episode of wondering around to different places gave me some ideas to forward to my group members so that we could get a head start on our business.

I actually chatted with some people on secondlife about how to go about building and setting up such a complicated task. No one really knew how to exactly help me, but I`m sure with the knowledge I have gained in and on secondlife, I will be able to figure it out with my group members in no time. While I was exploring the houses and different neighborhoods, I stumbled upon actual developments where people in secondlife live. It was interesting to see people taking their life on secondlife so seriously. I had no idea that people`s avatars had places to live…I just thought people wondered around like I did going from place to place.

This experience will benefit in many ways. I now know the basics for building and also the route to take to get some ideas.

Until then,

Elizabeth Kral (ekral)

Just a brief comment…I changed/organized around my blog chapter postings to actual pages, and kept my secondlife blogs as postings…so the dates on the pages may not be accurate. Any questions…just ask~

Today in class we went into our groups and decided a starting point for our group projects. My group is going to build an Art and Furniture store. We decided on this because there are so many possibilities to this type of store. The hardest part is going to be actually getting the supplies to build the store with. The instructor assigned us a place to build, but nothing is really free on secondlife that we need. Its going to be really hard to find everything we need without a cost to it.

I was looking and researching around secondlife to see if there were any freebie stores that were giving away free art or furniture. There were a couple places that were giving away similar object for 0 linden dollars so I thought I might jump at that offer. I noticed that the freebie stuff wasnt the best quality or best looking objects, but they are still useful. I kept on searching some other freebie stores, but most of them had things for your hair or cloths.

The entire process is difficult because I still do not understand secondlife in its entirety. Once I get more familiar with secondlife and as this class progresses, it will be easier to handle these tasks at hand.

-Elizabeth Kral-

Today in class we discussed the possibility of actually building a business on Secondlife. 

The 7 topics that we decided on are:

Furniture, Escort Service/Dating, Pool Bar/Swim up bar, Cloths, Drive-thru, Night Club, Art

We then went on to do our own research about our businesses to further elaborate on our picks.

This past week I was on Second Life during class time. This was the time where my group was interviewing different people(avatars) numerous questions. I chose to teleport myself to different places so that I could achieve a wide range of social situations in which I could conduct the research. The diversity of the avatars was important to me because I wanted to get the best answers possible.

At the beginning, I found myself a little hesitant to start conversation with a stranger online. I think it was the initial start of the conversation which I didn’t know exactly how to attempt. When I went to the one freebie shop, I found this one person that I approached to have a conversation with. I started to have some chat dialogue asking them if it was ok that I would talk to them. The first person was very inviting, even though I think their English was a little off because I found out later that they were from Portugal. I began chatting with him, and then eventually asked him the questions that I had noted for the interview process. He answered them as much as he could. I guess I felt a little better after talking with my first encounter because he didnt have a problem with me at all. 

The second person I chatted with, or tried to chat with, didn’t go as well. I repeatedly tried to talk to them , but they didn’t seem to respond or want to respond at all. This was not a great experience.

Finally, after numerous attempts with chatting with people, I had at last recieved enough answers to be sufficient. I went to places all over second life and made sure that the answers I had received were no two alike. 

Until then,

Elizabeth Kral

We talked about many things dealing with the nature of Second Life in the class period today.

Chapter 3 discusses the pros and cons for considering SecondLife as self contained and to study it in its own terms. Focus groups about Second Life in SecondLife in its own environment. Actual events forming in SecondLife. There is a definite connection with actual like. SL references actual life but if we pay attention like we have been in the classroom, we do have the same concepts and ideas of the items…but they are reinvented. It is a reflection of our actual life pertaining to second life. It is how much we invest in it and our own individuality…this is the dependent factor in determining this difficult concept to grasp. 

Some have opinions about Second Life as a waste of time, and how would these people spend so much time and invest on this network …they have lost sense of reality with the real world and humanity. Face to face interaction. The actual experience with human connection is lost. Almost that they are dehumanized. This has a great deal with the world becoming more technological advanced. One student stated that 90% of communication is nonverbal…so how do we experience that without person to person physical interaction?

Masking as an avatar is a main concern of discussion. It was emphasized that how you carry yourself..and mask your true self. Almost as you are anti-social. or trying to be someone you are not.. and by being an avatar and being a different person online.. isnt this lying or faking what we might say second life is …reality? A situated socialization can be negatively portrayed in some aspects. 

Do we really know who is on the other side of the computer? No. These can be murderers and petafiles. Or maybe they just are people with social anxiety…but how does second life really help them? It does not…it is just making them worse by forming their life to this virtual world instead of going out in the real world.

Who knows… this is all personal opinions and individual comments which make for interesting classroom discussion.

Until then,

Elizabeth Kral

Today in class we discussed the extent to which virtual reality and present and past times. Technology has become such an increasing phenomenon in our everyday lives. We went on to talk about how we established these traits from our past…such as playing dress up when I was a little girl. It embodies virtuality. It is now an everyday practice. The real aspects that come into play are time, place, and space. We came up with several examples from the text to express these issues. The Truman Show, a movie that portrays a man that is set up in a fake environment and how he lives in this place not knowing that the real isnt really real. Is this still a real practice? Its not .. not real. Some argue that talking on the telephone is not real.. second life is not real. 

It all depends on how you talk about virtual worlds in different ways. The virtual and the real. Like I said before there are issues: space( created through imagination.. outer-space.. etc) time(synchronous, real time,…) and place( the location in which you choose to be in). These concepts are hard to identify once you sit down and think about them. So where does this fall? It comes back to trying to verify what is real. Evidence is the key to real…once you have evidence and shared meaning…its then when we learn to reach what is real. Which brings us back to the question…

Secondlife- is it real? How do we know whats real? 

I believe it is up to the individual to determine what exactly is real and what is not real. It depends on the social and economic standings of the situation. There are many factors to consider before applying these concepts to this or that. I think it differs from person to person. Its what they feel, what they believe, what they think is real and what is virtual. For myself, anything online is considered virtual… but doesnt contest it to be not real. There are still people on second life.. real people…they may be posed as an avatar..but secondlife needs people in order to work. 

-Elizabeth Kral-

Today in class we explored further into SecondLife. It was a little confusing at first because it is still pretty new to me…but after time I noticed that I could find out through exploration and trial and error. The first task I tried to complete was to find out how to get rid of the skirt that was still on my avatar. I found out after an instructor helped me that these things can be altered through the inventory button. I am still getting use to the fact that you have to press command and hold down the key for things to happen. I then went on to dress my avatar in different clothing styles which I found quite entertaining and interesting.

Then I went on to discover through class discussion that there are stores that one can go to to get “freebies” which is code for free items that do not cost any Linden dollars. I searched freebies and found several places to teleport me to. I then found out that I could “buy”( even though it is priced at $0) new hair, outfits, land, accessories, and many more things for my avatar. Its interesting how you can really customize the avatar to your direct style. Although…I still need more time, and will probably within the next couple days log back on and change my avatars style to look more like mine. Today was just a day of virtual discoveries in which I learned a lot about SecondLife!

-Elizabeth Kral-

I spent a little bit of time in Secondlife exploring what it was all about. I found out many different things that my avatar could do. Once I grasped how to move her around… I went about exploring other worlds and places that had people with same interests as myself. It was interesting to find out that people actually do spend their life on this virtual program. I asked some people that were using Second Life some questions to help me further my experience…they were very helpful.. almost like they were professional second life players. They knew all the answers to what I needed help with. After a couple minutes of screwing around with the controls, and teleporting around to various places, I found myself a half hour later and late to class. Although this second life experience wont be the first, I noticed its important to pay attention to the time, because one can get lost searching and finding new things.

Until next time…