Maya and PolkaDot interview

Maya and PolkaDot were invited to join AuntFun Ellison (the administrator) on her island at DeVry GSP 240-219-22. Her friend Aliea Ember (she is the developer of the island) joined us later. We met AuntFun after a presentation we attended on ISTE island, "Providing leadership and service to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in education. ISTE represents more than 85,000 professionals worldwide. We support our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education."

 

Here is an excerpt of our conversation:

 

[19:19] AuntFun Ellison: I think there are so many compelling reasons why virtual worlds are an idea whose time has come

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison: our Earth cannot support our commuting model

[19:20] PolkaDot Pechmann: That is for sure.

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison: the economy can't afford to fly people all over the place for meetings

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison: a dispersed workforce is a safer, happy workforce

[19:20] You: but do you think it's productive?

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison: what's productuve?

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison gave you DeVry GSP Welcome Gift.

[19:20] PolkaDot Pechmann: Well, look at the recent AA grounding.

[19:20] AuntFun Ellison: a dispersed workforce?

[19:21] AuntFun Ellison: totally!

[19:21] AuntFun Ellison: I work MORE hours than if I were in an office

[19:21] PolkaDot Pechmann: Where everyone had to get rerouted etc.

[19:21] AuntFun Ellison: you are so right, PD!

[19:21] You: how can I sell this to my boss -- library director?

[19:21] PolkaDot Pechmann: Can you imagine if you were supposed to be at a meeting?

[19:22] AuntFun Ellison: there are a TON of librarians here in SL!

[19:22] AuntFun Ellison: librarians MUST stay on the leading edge of technology to stay relevant

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[19:23] AuntFun Ellison: Maya - if you can remove the barrier of proximity, staffing gets easier

[19:23] AuntFun Ellison: resources = money is tough

[19:23] AuntFun Ellison: but with SL, you are not bound by walls

[19:23] PolkaDot Pechmann: Do you mind if we take some picutres as we chat? We are required to post pics in Flickr for the class.

[19:24] AuntFun Ellison: you'll find that many people work for less in SL than they would in RL because they like being remote

[19:24] AuntFun Ellison: go right ahead!

[19:24] PolkaDot Pechmann: Thanks.

[19:24] AuntFun Ellison: and if you are interested, I can introduce you to the developer of this island, Aliea Ember

[19:24] AuntFun Ellison: but I think she is off line just now

[19:24] You: yes, I would like to meet her

[19:24] You: do you rent the land?

[19:25] You: how much is the upkeep?

[19:25] PolkaDot Pechmann: My sister-in-law was just de-activated after being active for 5 years. When she returned to her job, she was told she could work at home if she wanted.

[19:25] AuntFun Ellison: I just IM'd her

[19:25] AuntFun Ellison: she'll stop by if she can

[19:25] PolkaDot Pechmann: The company would pay for some things like her computer, Internet connection and a second phone line.

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: nice

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: and it's cheaper for the company than to bring her in to an office

[19:26] PolkaDot Pechmann: And, it would save them 10s of thousands of dollars on cubicle space.

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: all the major corporations are doing it

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: Intel, IBM, Xerox...

[19:26] You: I was also thinking that most workers have to commute

[19:26] You: and with the price of gas these days

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: maya - these are round numbers - the latest numbers can be found on SecondLife.com

[19:26] AuntFun Ellison: but it costs about $1500 for an island

[19:27] You: it would make sense if you could work from home

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: and monthly fees are about $300

[19:27] You: dollars or Linden dollars?

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: to hire a developer, depending on what you want, costs around $1500

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: plus expenses

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: those are real dollars

[19:27] You: wow

[19:27] You: do you have any revenue?

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: but think about what you save...

[19:27] PolkaDot Pechmann: I'm trying to get a better camera angle, not working real well.

[19:27] AuntFun Ellison: we don't have revenue here

[19:28] AuntFun Ellison: and many of the companies that I have read about did not do well with revenue producing islands

[19:28] You: that's good, in a way because the islands that are revenue driven really turn me off

[19:28] AuntFun Ellison: those who have made big money in SL have done it through buying land and subdividing it

[19:28] You: I have heard that you could make money in SL, but didn't know how

[19:29] AuntFun Ellison: silverandgoldie.com/linden_congress.htm

[19:29] PolkaDot Pechmann: How do you feel about the avatars perhaps mis-representing people? Is that good or bad?

[19:29] AuntFun Ellison: check that out when you have the chance

[19:29] You: thank you for the link.

[19:29] AuntFun Ellison: in it, the founder of SL shows what the University of Illinois School of Public Health has done

[19:29] You: I copied it to my notes and will look at it later

[19:29] AuntFun Ellison: they replicated some Chicago city streets and get to role play disasters

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: what happens if there is a sniper?

[19:30] You: that's interesting

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: what happens if there is a toxic spill?

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: think of how much real $$ that saves them

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: they can role play and learn

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: and spend nothing replicating spaces in RL

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: or blocking off city streets for training

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: and it is all replicatable

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: they can do it again and again and again

[19:30] You: yes, we tried building some basic shapes earlier

[19:30] AuntFun Ellison: for no additional development costs

[19:31] AuntFun Ellison: there are myriad ways a company can save money using SL

[19:31] AuntFun Ellison: most professionals need some sort of continuing education credit every year

[19:31] You: you would have to be very tech-savvy though

[19:31] AuntFun Ellison: if you use SL, you don't have to fly anywhere

[19:32] AuntFun Ellison: well, most people can learn how to use SL, although it takes some skills - like Aliea's - to be a developer

[19:32] Aliea Ember: Hi

[19:32] AuntFun Ellison: Hi ALiea!

[19:32] You: I just thought of a webinar that I attended

[19:32] AuntFun Ellison: this is Maya and PolkaDot

[19:32] You: but it didn't have visuals, only audio

[19:32] PolkaDot Pechmann: Hello Aliea.

[19:32] AuntFun Ellison: I met them in an Immersive Education session

[19:32] Aliea Ember: Nice to meet you

[19:32] You: Hello Aliea

 

888

[19:33] AuntFun Ellison: Aliea is a friend of a friend

[19:33] AuntFun Ellison: and she did the development of this island

[19:33] You: actually, we are writing a paper together

[19:33] You: collaborating on our final project

[19:33] AuntFun Ellison: she is incredibly skilled

[19:33] PolkaDot Pechmann: Our class is in SL and alternative worlds.

[19:34] AuntFun Ellison: what is your final project?

[19:34] Aliea Ember: Thank you, AF, I appreciate that

[19:34] PolkaDot Pechmann: Virtual worlds.

[19:34] PolkaDot Pechmann: Our paper is on meetings.

[19:34] AuntFun Ellison: cool

[19:34] PolkaDot Pechmann: That is very general.

[19:34] Aliea Ember: What other worlds have you worked with?

[19:34] You: are there other worlds?

[19:34] Aliea Ember: virtual worlds

[19:34] You: I did not know about SL until I took this class

[19:35] Aliea Ember: Ah ok

[19:35] Aliea Ember: I've been in SL for 2 yrs now

[19:35] You: At first I wasn't interested because I thought it was like a game

[19:35] PolkaDot Pechmann: Chosen topic: Holding Meetings in Second Life This will include (but not limited to): What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? How does one arrange the meeting? Get the word out? Can you make them private? And so on....

[19:35] Aliea Ember: before I was in Active Worlds

[19:35] AuntFun Ellison: there are many other worlds, but this one seems to be the easiest to get into with the best graphics

[19:35] AuntFun Ellison: cool

[19:36] Aliea Ember: yes, it has the best resources as well

[19:36] PolkaDot Pechmann: I have a friend who is an avid Palace fan and tried to tell me don't do SL, do the Palace, But the class is not taught in the Pakace, :)

[19:36] Aliea Ember: there are of course disadvantages, but then there is in nearly every form of communication

[19:36] You: I had trouble with the first two computers because they didn't have the minimum requirement for the graphics card

[19:36] AuntFun Ellison: that's a problem for many

[19:37] AuntFun Ellison: Multiverse is trying to lower that bar, but you can tell by looking at their graphics

[19:37] Aliea Ember: yes, that is a problem for a good many people

[19:37] You: navigating takes getting used to

[19:37] PolkaDot Pechmann: I just had to buy a new computer because of problems with my old one with other things, not just SL.

[19:37] You: how long have you had this island?

[19:38] PolkaDot Pechmann: For some reason, I just went kablooy again.

[19:38] AuntFun Ellison: it's been finished for just about a month

 

 

Done