Will LindenLabs co-opt education projects in SL?

I've talked to a lot of people in SL who are embarking on education type projects.

For example, I know one group who has an interesting project to use SL to teach people in an innovative way.

However, given the heavy handed way they treated GOM and the way they have treated some other people I know, I am getting more and more a sense that LindenLabs does not have a lot of respect for its residents and sees them more as prototypers for their future business models and less as partners in an enterprise.

I really predict that going forward, LindenLab will be co-opting any education project in SecondLife that looks like it might have a profit based aspect.

That's our champ, always with his questions!

By the way, it's actually "Linden Lab," not "LindenLabs," tiger.

Will blaze spinnaker continue to post whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes to mind?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Next week - the Linden Lab take over of in-world contraceptives!

Since I don't really want to hijack Satchmo's thread to talk about my pet issue, I'll post here.

Nolan - I'm basing it on this:

- http://secondlife.com/education/

That's not a resident's web page. That's a company web page. If LL was intending on letting the residents take the charge on this, they would be providing more links to residents projects on that page instead of just the wiki.

- There are Linden's who are working practically full time on nurturing this part of the business.

And they aren't giving a lot of priority to residents who are trying to do this themselves.
I have talked to fairly large, well established groups who have complained about this. I have also talked to individuals.

- http://www.activeworlds.com/edu/index.asp

SL has followed in the footsteps of activeworlds in many many things. I really would not be surprised to see them follow in the footsteps of this one.

- education is a world wide, trillion dollar business. Interactive virtual platforms are a great place to learn, would you really want to give that up?


- http://www.gamingopenmarket.com/

Do a search on the forums here, and look at the numerous posts by Jamie and come back and tell me SL isn't interested in co-opting critical SL projects.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=10688&filter=hollywood&email=



and yet, by Philip:




These aren't my words.

I've also heard rumblings that Linden Lab is developing an in-house forum troll system, possibly threatening the livelihood of many frequent posters here. Clearly, nothing is sacred.

Educational projects are created by educators. LL is a company... I fail to see how they can co-opt education. McDonald's has been trying to co-opt education for years, but the system which has been around for a few hundred years has proven robust.

Educators decide curriculum, technology companies provide technology.

Oh absolutely, they won't co-opt educators. I think if you're a school or university, SL will be a great platform for you.

It's the groups who are interested in bringing in teachers I'm thinking about. I just don't see that they have much of a place in SL because LL will pretty much have that covered.


Meta Adverse is another example I quoted above which is very similar. Meta Adverse is trying to create a platform for advertising.

Advertising is a big field, and I believe that LL fully intends on owning that field for SL.


There are still a lot of opportunities left in SL, however I don't think this is one of them and people need to be realistic about that so they can spend their time more fruitfully on something else.

blaze, I've read that page before.

I read it again, to see if anything had changed.

I just see them encouraging the educational activity.

How are you extrapolating a take over from that? I am being sincere - not trying to bang on you here - to me "taking over" would mean assigning or hiring employees to coordinate, facilitate, and perhaps teach. As far as I can tell, they are but encouraging residents and prospective residents to do just that.

Aren't educational events the only ones that enjoy LL subsidies nowadays?

Personally, I am considering teaching some physical science classes - including but not limited to meteorology, and physical and/or historical geology. That means I would qualify for subsidies. Better than a kick in the pants, which is what other event holders get.

Are you saying they need to add more carrots? If so, I'd surely be all for that.

Side note: I so wish OmegaX would have another astronomy class.

There is a group who has given me kind of a virtual nda. Basically, they are approaching schools and universities with the idea of selling them on SL, renting them SIMs that kind of thing and providing some other services as well I can't really discuss.

I warned them to realise that this is something that SL is doing as well and that they'd be competing with them in a sense. It seems kind of obvious, I guess, but people in this thread seem kind of suprised so maybe it isn't obvious to everyone?







That's all great. I wish you luck. I love going to classes in SL.

Ok. Taking you at your word; what is wrong with that?

lol blaze, your warm fuzzies from your open letter didn't last long

my answer would be yes, your friends have potential risk. If they are building tools that could be considered an extension of the client, then they are at risk. Anything teaching people how to use SL is potentially at risk -- I suppose if I wrote a FAQ and tomorrow LL upgraded their documentation you could call that competition but it's not really since my work would be non-profit and a means to an end that LL's new doc would only be furthering.

but you know this since you are in the industry, risk is always present in new ideas. If you wait until an opportunity is risk free, you'll be sitting on the bench a long time. The question here is 1. whether your friends want to build a business out of it, and 2. whether their headstart could give them some achievable advantage over a Linden Lab that happened to release overlapping functionality in the SL client down the road.

I don't see LL hiring a group of staff consultants to work with educators to design/script and build environments for them. It's not as easy as saying, oh you want Math island... we'lll build you Math Island.

I guess it's feasable... but it's feasable they could get into any space then.

LL doesn't have any advantage over those of us who have been doing this as our jobs for years. It's about understanding educational goals, working with educators and creating content. The residents can do that just as well, and at this point much better than LL can.

If you think it's the brand name that will help them land consulting contracts... well I think by the time they would get into the consulting space a number of us, will have already become known companies and market leaders.

oh you are descriing something differently. Well, my impression from Pathfinder's session at SLCC is that yes, they are recruiting academics and trying to help them my encouraging knowledge sharing within a group and building a specific wiki, but I think it's the add-on services where your friends might stand out. Like most things, LL wants the community to pick up the stone and move it along.

anyone can recruit schools... but if you package some interesting consulting and content creation services around that, then you've got some differentiating qualities.

You've made a good point. Building one off content isn't something they're going to do. You're steering a good course, Satchmo.

Yup education is a big field... maybe I was misunderstanding blaze's point as well... I've heard talk from others, companies and non-profits alike who want to provide the kinds of services that help educators feel comfortable using SL in the classroom. My business is quite different.

Well I had a run in with a linden which wasn't really pleasant. And I didn't even say anything, I was just standing there.

Seemed kinda odd.

well on the bright side, lawrence said he was down with your detailed trade information proposal (I took the liberty of asking)

Perhaps threads like this one have earned you a reputation.

I am shocked.

Perhaps, however I think I was trying to be nice. I don't see the ROI in being impolite when someone is trying to be nice.

Well.. I guess we're seeing the ROI in this thread.

Blaze, I am being nice about it, can you address my other posts?

I guess I don't see this being as simple as setting up the LindeX.

Not to mention, I am 100% for LL sponsored "player" run educational projects.

And maybe you should stop pointing missiles at Ambleside!

Yes, your other points are good. I agree, SL is doing a lot to nurture education. I have a hard time seeing them simply nurture something then turn it over to a residents.


THough, I must say, I like Satchmo's approach. However, I hope he realises that he won't have have a much of a 'moat'. I think anything that has a moat, will be owned and controlled by LindenLabs.

This is why good castles do well to have walls behind their moats.

Seriously though, I see this as a much too ambiguous area for LL to become directly involved with. I also agree with Forseti's points.

I can't wait until people can <hopefully> take accredited courses in here.

I see LL's role therein as similar that of the internet's with respect to institutions like the University of Phoenix Online.