i-Anya

I am so thrilled to be in communication with Barry Joseph of Global Kids, and to be learning more about the work that is being done with teens in Second Life. Their site, Holy Meatballs, is truly inspirational, full of texts, images and machinima that the kids have created. UNICEF’s voices of youth project featuring these kids is explained here, and is the subject of the video above. My friend and colleague Danielle Mirliss first raised my awareness of Global kids in her Slatenight article, Henry Jenkins has been to visit the kids there (with the support of the NMC), and I’ve been excitedly following along, looking forward to becoming much more involved myself. So stay tuned

Due to a bit of luck in finding an embedded slide show for powerpoint presentations, I am uploading my Avatar as Communication slideshow here:

which goes with this podcast here

Because I did the talk using double page spreads, the slides should really be viewed in pairs (text on the LHS, image on RHS) to go with the podcast talk properly. But hopefully you get the idea!

I hated listening to myself speaking and couldn’t bear it after the first 5 minutes, so I apologise in advance for the fact that I was presenting after midnight in Australian time and was not at my most articulate!

But isn’t this is a VERY COOL new social application!!

I’ve been a fan of bell hook’s work for a while but this is the first time I’ve seen/heard her speak about critical theory and popular culture. I love it!

There are more extensive videos of Stuart Hall and other critical theorists on these issues at the Media Education Foundation including a range of resources and study guides for teachers about Critical Theory, but I think the genius is that they released these videos free onto youtube for everybody to view.

Today I was interviewed by the ABC news show The 7:30 Report about my teaching in Second Life! The filming took 3 hours - they interviewed me, some of my students, and filmed me teaching within Second Life. It was a little nerve-wracking I have to say, but hopefully it will turn out ok with some editing of the silly bits

So, stay tuned, if it turns out OK I might even blog the segment! They have already interviewed Christy Dena, and are interviewing Julian Dibbell next, so it will be a couple of weeks before it will be aired.

“My close friend and colleague thinks that since starting this course and spending time as Denver (my avatar), I have “blossomed” offline. My entire identity has changed – my perceptions about who I am, the way I think and interact, and the way I see the world now - has changed as a consequence of the journey Angela has encouraged us to take”

(Denver, a student in my SL New Literacies class, 2006)

Here’s the full article.

Howard Rheingold was the keynote speaker at the NMC’s 12 day symposium on the Impact of Digital Media.

Listen to Howard Rheingold’s podcast here.

I am almost sufficiently recovered to blog about the continued events I have been involved in over the special 12 day NMC Symposium on The Impact of Digital Media.

Slatenight hosted a four hour series of events which, despite a few technical hitches, went really well. I am so pleased with how it all turned out!!

I started off the events by speaking about The Avatar as Communication. You can listen to the podcast version here.

Following my talk was a special kind of fashion show, where people were invited to showcase their unique identities and discuss their decisions and reasons behind constructing the avatar that they did. The podcast of this event is here.

Following this, Christy Dena spoke about Imaging Space, podcast here.

We had a panel discussion with some live musicians in SL who spoke about the SL live music scene. Ironically, there were some technical hitches with the audio so the podcast is brief but here.

Then we were entertained by the musicians with some live music from each in turn:

Mel Cheeky

Cybster DJ

and you can hear the music they played on the podcast here.

Next up was the incredible Dell Wilberg, who’s talk was entitled Future Perfect: Towards a Better Second Life. Using knowledge of trends in technology over the past several decades, Dell offered us an insight into what we might expect in our immediate future.

Very exciting indeed! Podcast here.

Finally we heard from Danielle Mirliss and Heidi Trotta who spoke about their work with Undergraduate students in Second Life: Engaging the Disengaged. It was fascinating to hear their experiences and to compare their thoughts with my own experiences with post-grads. The podcast is here.

And finally, at 4am, I gave a few brief closing remarks (podcast here).

In my closing remarks I mentioned that Christy was being interviewed in just a few hours time by the ABC media in Australia about Second Life, and here is the podcast for that (go Christy!!!).

The NMC blogging and recording of the four hour event was fantastic and my thanks go to Larry Pixel and CDB Barkley for inviting us to be a part of this very significant symposium. it was an honour and a thrill to be invited.

85 more photographs here, thanks also to Gary Hazlitt and NMC for many of the photographs in this set.

As part of the NMC’s 12 day symposium on the The Impact of Digital Media, last night (from midnight til 2am) I attended a live press conference run by the MacArthur Foundation. The press conference was held simulataneously in New York, and at the NMC campus in Second Life. It was a wonderful event and I felt privileged to be attending. I got to hear Mimi Ito and Henry Jenkins, and I even managed to get a question relayed from Second Life to the panellists in NY, which they generously responded to!! There’s two fantastic summaries of the event and what was said by Beth and Rik, a series of pictures taken from the NMC here, and a list of links to the audio and more media coverage at the NMC Observer blog. Meanwhile, here are a few of my favourite pics:

Listening to Mimi Ito:

Listening to Henry Jenkins:

The SL Crowd (That’s me sitting next to Christy in the front row!)

Listening to the President of the MacArthur Foundation, Jonathan Fanton, who announced a 50 million dollar funding roll out over the next 5 years to improve the research into the teaching of digital media, with the burning question: How is digital media changing the way that children learn and develop and what are the implications?

Tonight from midnight to 4am its my turn to speak! See my previous post for the list of events organised for this 4 hour session, it should be both stimulating and fun.

Slatenight 1.2 is available now - in Second Life at any Slatenight kiosk, and at the website slatenight.com

Articles this issue include the following:

Deus Ex Machina: “God From The Machine” (this one is the most popular by far, discussing the nexus between science fiction and technology, projecting into the future etc)

Hope, Fear and the Future: Burning Life 2006 (related to an in world event that mirrors an offline event called the Burning Man

Kids go Global in Second Life Part 1 (about the teen grid)

The White Cube of the Virtual World Art Space, part one
The White Cube of the Virtual World Art Space, part two (two fantastic articles about remediation by Christy Dena)

Avatars, Power and the Ethics of Freedom in Second Life (this one is mine!)

August Take5 Festival Worth the Wait! (about the machinima festival last month)

Crimson Falls Asylum & Village (about role-playing in SL)

All the (Virtual) Worlds a Stage
(and another article by me about a theatre performance in SL - images featured on the cover above)

and there’s lots more about art, identity, relationships in SL, musical events, SL lifestyles and more! Phew… and issue 3 is shaping up nicely, with some fabulous articles covering the arts, education, culture, and life in Second Life.

Featuring James Gee, Henry Jenkins, some teachers, and a great MIT game being used to teach US History…