BGSU Virtual Campus Administrators Anthony Fontana and Bonnie Mitchell attended the Second Life Community Conference 2010 this August. Below you can find all 4 of the presentations they gave hosted on Slideshare.net and links to the Google Docs.
UPDATE: Videos of the presentations have been embedded and linked below.
“Second Death”, the MFA exhibit of graduate student Kuang Chen Hsu, is now open to the public on the Bowling Green State University Virtual Campus in Second Life. The exhibit is an exploration of the experience of death in various cultures and religions, and is an interactive, educational setting where the users can walk their avatars through the different ceremonies and traditions. It also examines the impermanence of life in contrast with the fundamentally indestructible nature of the virtual world. “In Second Life, everyone can have another life, and it is an eternal life without dying,” states the introductory sign at the front of the exhibit. “Second Death” offers a new perspective and experience for Second Life users.
Kuang recently gave a presentation of his exhibit at the Pop Culture Association Conference in St. Louis, and his work will also be featured in the MFA Thesis Exhibition at the School of Art from April 10th to the 20th. The MFA exhibition will have an opening reception at the BGSU School or Art in the Dorthy Uber Bryan Gallery from 7-9pm on April 9th.
Second Life expert Mark Bell will discuss “The Future of Research in Virtual Worlds: Developing Virtual Data Collection Interfaces” at 6 p.m. March 16 in 308 Bowen-Thompson Student Union. His talk is part of the Tech Trends Series.
Bell’s research interests are in trust in mediated environments including virtual worlds, mobile networks and augmented reality. He is highly involved in the Second Life research community, managing the SL Researchers mailing list and presenting at several conferences, including NCA and AoIR. He has published on trust, web 2.0, Second Life, graphic novels and technical books. Bell has also developed an innovative virtual data collection interface for use in the virtual world of Second Life.
His talk is sponsored by the BGSU Virtual Campus in Second Life and Tech Trends.
The BGSU Second Life Staff is proud to announce the commencement of a series of blog posts that will highlight the work of different members of the BGSU Second Life Learning Community. On this occasion, the spotlight is on Dr. Montana Miller, who was featured in a Zoom News article about her work in Internet research ethics.
In addition to being a member of the Learning Community, Pedagogy and Scholarship in Second Life, Dr. Miller has also served on BGSU’s Human Subjects Review Board since 2006, and is chair of the Internet Culture area of the Popular Culture Association. Miller’s expertise lies in the emerging field of Internet research ethics, in which she herself is making great strides in promoting a better understanding of the context and ethical dilemmas such research entails. Internet research is growing among social scientists, which in turn creates an area of concern for institutional review boards (IRBs) at universities and funding agencies.
Miller recently spoke on a panel centered on Internet research at the Advancing Ethical Research Conference, addressing these issues. “It’s a huge honor to have this opportunity to educate IRB members around the country about the issues that are so new and confusing to many,” she said. “…The rules and guidelines are only just being written, and it’s a privilege to have a voice in that process.”
The Advancing Ethical Research Conference where Dr. Miller spoke is the annual meeting of the PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) organization, who, after Miller’s dedicated attendance for several years, have invited her to become a member of their faculty. She has also received other invitations to speak and present her research, such as her upcoming appearance at the AERA (American Educational Research Association) conference for their Online Teaching and Learning division, where she will be the keynote speaker.
Dr. Miller’s investigation of Second Life and other virtual worlds informs her research on Internet ethics.
December 4th marks the sixth annual ArtsX at the Fine Arts Center, and the Second Life staff has some exciting events lined up for the evening! Swing by room 1102 between 6-10 PM and see a Fashion Show (6:30), play our “Mondrian Madness” game (7:30), and participate in our Ava-Art Show (8:30). We hope to see you there!
