my Second Life

A couple of weeks ago, I read a blurb in an Educause newsletter about how Harvard now has a course that is completely in Second Life (SL). Now, I'd heard about SL from Boing Boing and digg, but I didn't really know exactly what it was. Well, this gave me a legitimate excuse to look into it since now it's related to educational technology.

Second Life is a 3D virutal world in which users create a virtual appearance for themselves (also known as an avatar) and interact with their surroundings and others. Recently, educators have begun to ponder the possibilities the tool might provide in an educational setting.

So, I logged in with perfectly good intentions; however, I was quickly sucked into the joy of finding free/cheap clothing, hair, jewelry, shoes, etc. for my avatar. Last Friday evening, I attended my first virtual concert! So, now my new habit is to check the events page on the SL site and see what's going on that evening. Needless to say, I'm totally loving this experience.

So, Wednesday night, I logged back in and was immediately taken to the last place I'd visited before logging off previously. Which was a kind of outdoor club area. I get my bearings and am immediately greeted by an avatar named Firefly Nerd. Hmmm. "Are you a Firefly fan?" I ask. "Why yes I am!"

He tells me of a location that has a really nice replica of Serenity, the ship from Firefly/Serenity. I immediately teleport to this location, and there ... virtually right in front of me is Serenity. Below are some snapshots of the ship.
Click on the image to see a larger view.















Click here to see my entire collection of Second Life snapshots.

I promise to take more snapshots of other cool SL locations/events I find myself in.

PS -- If you're not quite ready to download/install Second Life to try it out, you can see what it's like by viewing Harvard's 20-minute Second Life video tutorial.