Watching the creator of Second Life, Philip Rosedale explain how he came to invent Second Life as a virtual reality world and not as a game gave me new insights into this technology. The fact that people are making money in Second Life leads me to think that it has implications for the business world as well as the educational one.
Dr. David Thornburg tells us in the vodcast Disruptive Technologies(2009) that a disruptive technology obsoletes or replaces another technology, changes how that technology impacts society, and can happen anytime without warning. They are not extensions of old technology, rather they are new and does a better job than the old technology. Dr. Thornburg calls them "wildcards". Second Life fits this description in that it replaces face-to-face interaction. It gives its co-creators a "second chance" to invent themselves into a virtual world of their making.
In the educational arena, Second Life allows virtual campuses, classrooms and conferences.
Second Life seems to be expanding if one listens to Mr. Rosedale. I think that it has a good many years left as a creative technological force. The emerging technology that takes its place will probably show up as Dr. Thornburg's "wildcard" and change our minds about what a virtual world is and does.
The social benefits of Second Life are tremendous in allowing people global access to each other. Breaking down social and cultural barriers to allow economic and educational exchanges is certainly a benefit. While college level participation can be seen in Second Life now, I wonder what its implications are for the K-12 arena. Certainly virtual classrooms for this group is on the horizon and someone somewhere is already formulating a curriculum that will be seen in the not too distant future.
References:
Thornburg,D. (2009) Evolutionary technology Vodcast: In Laureate Education, Inc. Emerging and future technology.
Rosedale, P. (2008) Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.
Nuthall.K. (2008) US: a disruptive technology arrives. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/articles.php?story=20080117162121373
Second Life as a Disruptive Technology in Education.Retrieved from http://lrodriguezetc.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/second-life-as-a-disruptive-technology-in-education/
Hi LaVerne,
ReplyDeleteI am glad our avatars are keeping each other company on the island! I do think the idea of Second Life is interesting, but just not really compelling to me. I played video games growing up so I can usually maneuver and figure these games out, but Second Life was a bit tricky for me as well. I will have to ask my students this year if any of them have avatars in Second Life.
Hi LaVerne,
ReplyDeleteI can see how the Second Life technology will be around for quite sometime. I think with the way the economy is now and so many people loosing jobs and homes the second life is an escape to another world. I think it is interesting that people can actually make money participating in the second life. I wonder just how profitable it can be selling items on second life.