Virtual Campus Blog

(Bowling Green, OH) – On Tuesday, April 22nd the Bowling Green State University Virtual Campus in Second Life® held a “Birth/ Earth Day Celebration” in commemoration of the first birthday of the virtual island. The celebration included poetry readings, live DJs, art exhibition openings, and an Earth Day scavenger hunt. During the scavenger hunt, the island was devastated by the effects of global climate change. In the past week, factories emitting black smoke appeared around the island. The sandbox, an open area for building objects, transformed into a paved parking lot full of cars. The island, unable to sustain the polluting effects of these new additions, began to change. The water levels rose and covered 80% of the island flooding the classrooms, Writing Center, Performance Center and Zen Garden. The trees on the island turned brown and died. The grassy areas became an arid wasteland and turned brown. Icebergs carrying stranded polar bears appeared around the island. This catastrophic event complicated the Earth Day scavenger hunt and made it extremely difficult for the participants to find the hidden clues. The scavenger hunt contestants were asked to find 10 items that contained clues on what they could do to prevent global climate change in the real world.

Despite the challenging environment and the difficulty of finding the clues, there emerged a winner. Linda Mandlebaum, BGSU Professor in the Department of Intervention Services, collected the 10 items and answered the five questions correctly. As the participants discovered the various clues on how to save the earth, the environmental damage began to reverse itself. The water receded, the trees turned green, and the parking lot disappeared. Dr. Mandlebaum won 2,000 Linden dollars for being the first to “save the island.” She donated her winnings to Wheelies, a center for disabled residents in Second Life.

The Birth/Earth Day Celebration was simultaneously broadcast on a large projection screen in the lobby of the Bowen Thompson Student Union on the BGSU campus and in Second Life on the virtual campus. Barbara Toth, director of the BGSU Writing Center hosted the poetry readings. The art exhibitions included an installation artwork by Jeff Lovett, a visiting artist from Ohio University, and work by graduate students from the Digital Arts division of the School of Art. The live music was performed by DJ What the Bleep, a TCOM student and VCT student, DJ PsysiX. The event was coordinated by Anthony Fontana and Bonnie Mitchell, both professors in the School of Art, with the help of the Ohio Learning Network Second Life Learning Community members at BGSU and Second Life student assistants.

There were several faculty and students who gathered with Second Life residents to share poetry in the new BGSU Writing Center on Friday April 11th.

The event, which coincided with a writing consultation on the lower level, used voice chat and notecards (text documents) to deliver the poems.

One of the things we learned from this reading, was to keep in mind the distance between events when coordinating multiple events that will use voice or local chat.

There will be another poetry reading and open mic before the end of April. Please refer to the BGSU Second Life calendar or Facebook group for details.

“Wheelies: Under new management” from SLNN.com

Simon Walsh, founder of Wheelies Nightclub, announced Sunday that he was resigning his role as overall manager of Wheelies Nightclub. Wheelies Nightclub has been an important fixture in Second Life for many, one that Mr. Walsh has worked tirelessly to build.

Our very own, Polgara Paine has become the Director of Wheelies.

Ms. Paine has been active in Second Life since May 2005. She is a professor of special education at the School of Intervention Services at Bowling Green State University. During the transition, Wheelies will continue at a temporary location. Moving forward, Ms. Paine intends to establish a board of directors and to raise funds to make Wheelies sustainable on a long-term basis. The first fundraising event is scheduled to take place on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day as part of a grand opening of their new space.

To have your students share locations they find in SL they can do it several different ways:

To save a location (called a landmark):

1. Click on World in the main menu bar
2. Click ‘Create landmark here’
3. A window will open showing the info of the landmark including it’s name (at the top of the window). That landmark can be found under the landmarks folder in your inventory or found by typing the location name into the inventory search bar.

To create a list of landmarks:

1. Open your inventory and click ‘Create’
2. Then select ‘New note’
3. A new notecard window will open. Drag the landmarks you would like to use in your list into the notecard. Textures, snapshots, and other notecards may also be dropped into a notecard.
4. Finally, rename the notecard by right-clicking (or crtl/ cmd+click) on it in your inventory. Select rename.

To create a list of landmarks using the SLURL system (Second Life URL):

1. Open the map by clicking on the map button on your toolbar.
2. Click ‘Save location to clipboard’. This SLURL may be pasted into a notecard (crtl/cmd+V) or entered into a document on your computer or in your internet browser (where you may then save to your bookmarked favorites or del.icio.us account).