Keeping our feet on the ground....

I TPd into Help Island this evening, to be handed an object which I was asked to wear. As I hadn't heard anything about it, I IMd the person who sent it to me, to be told it was a communicator to enable mentors to be tracked while on Help Island, and to enable them to chat, pool information without spamming the mentor channel.

I hate the spam on the mentor channel as much as the next person, especially those people who say: Hi...can I ask a question? and then allow 100 mentors to say hi before they actually spit out what they want...but I hate this idea of having some sort of secret network of communicators. And I hate being required to wear it whether I use it or not, in order to be tracked.

I asked whether this had been discussed by the mentor group and was told it had, although going through the minutes I can find on the forum, I couldn't find any mention of it. Probably I am looking in the wrong place. More worringly, in reading the minutes, I found it suggested by a mentor that mentors ought to have a closed forum, where they could "get things off their chest" without new residents or other people outside the volunteer groups reading it.

One of the reason I became a mentor in SL, was because it is so egalitarian...the qualifications are not onerous, and it doesn't give you any special powers or have a hierarchy which involves different levels of mentor etc.

I would be very unhappy to see this change, and certainly if there are going to be secret discussions or secretly minuted meetings, I would have no option but to leave.

I was told that I am the only person to have objected to the wearing of the attachment...so I wondered how everyone else felt about it. I plan to keep away from HI unless I can help with a specific problem...and stick to mentoring in world etc.
Cali

I want to bring this up at the meeting on Saturday. You okay with that Cali?

I wouldn't have thought that the sort of things that mentors want to "get off their chests" would be of much interest to anyone who wasn't spending their time mentoring, so my perception of it was more as an "of interest to mentors" thing, rather than a secret forum to which nobody else is allowed entry. In any case, using IM on the Mentor Channel is already "secret" inasmuch as people who are not members of that particular group are unable to receive the IMs.

Regarding the communicator, I personally find it useful. I don't believe you are obliged to wear it; it is simply provided as a useful tool if you want to use it. And I was also never given the impression that it was for the purposes of you being "tracked", it simply allows you to see who else is around on HI should you need any backup or specifc advice, and to see which, if any, new residents have just arrived.

Of course, even without the communicator you can still be tracked; FIND will show whether you're online or not, and if you are, people can IM you.

But thats just my perception, and maybe I have got the entire wrong end of the stick.

Cheers
SP

The thing that really irritates me, and has made me consider several times whether or not I want to remain a Mentor is when I hear about these Mentor Meetings, and Volunteer Meetings, usually in hindsight... and never at a time I'd have been able to get to anyway. I mean it's ok finding the minutes on the forum, but what's the point of that if you have no chance at input yourself.

I'm told there'll be one soon at a time I can get to. We'll see.

As to the tracker/communicator thing... I've had one for years, litterally. Back at the end of 2003, my then partner and I had a similar device we could use to chat, track and more... even join in on a remote conversation... so I have no problem with using it. I DO have a problem that I wasn't consulted about it long before it was introduced though.

Well, it's hardly a tracker. It contains a function that was requested so you can tell who can hear you when you use it. Secondarily this became useful for figuring out what our available resources are.

I have been asked to extend that function so that it reports location as well..but I'm beginning to think that that will require more considered discussion before proceeding.

And yes, Sio. The next meeting has been scheduled at the time you requested.

/me offers Tat a hug.

I think the communicator's great, for all the L$0.01 my opinion's worth.

I don't know who presented the communicator to the OP as "required", but I got the impression that it was handy and recommended for that handiness - but there is really very little to say what a Mentor can/can't/must use.

(I'm just annoyed that the Greeter Hub is no-script so my communicator doesn't work when I'm hanging out with the newly arrived.)

Asking questen on the mentor channel is ok.......Grant you where was been alot of junk replies on the mentors channel. But some just don`t know its purpuse to start with. Anyways."communicator"? is this some sort of device like case made monts ago that relly did not fit our needs either? Gesh why are people making things more complex then they should be?

Where's the complexity? If you don't like it, don't use it. I don't always remember to wear mine, but nobody has stopped me and said "Oi you! Put your communicator on NOW!".

You know every time i post a reply in this group i get shot down. I never even got one from her to start with. Besides Constructive replies are always good but other then that its worthless.

Well, considering that your post was in fact shooting down the communicator (and thus by extension, Tateru and those of us who like it), you must admit there's a certain symmetry there, don't you think?

As to the second sentence, if you mean that you never got a communicator, they're available in the "teacher's lounge" by touch to anyone with a Mentor tag on. (The other volunteers will need to go through IM, as described by the text clues in the lounge.)

I'm curious... what and where is this teachers' lounge? I've been a mentor for more than 2 years and have never heard of it.

Whatever Rini Infact Who cares....

It is above Help Island's sandbox. There is a classroom which, you can teleport from the field, and next to it the lounge.

You weren't being "shot down". I was simply making the point that if you perceive something as being unnecessarily complex, but that thing is also not compulsory, then the answer is simple - you don't use it. Complexity issue solved.

Again.......whatever........

At first I was a little apprehensive about HI Communicators, but after a couple weeks I really see them as a good thing, especially nowadays when traffic in HI frequently hits 20+ (and sometimes even 30+).

A good case in point would be last night, when Gwyneth Llewelyn was mentoring a group of 5 new residents over at the Script Tutorial zone. She sent a Comm message that she needed to go to sleep soon. Since at the time I was not actively helping someone, I swooped down and took over for her.

I see HI gradually becoming more and more busy as each day passes. With so many people around, I see management tools as necessary in order to keep things running smoothly and professionally. The Communicators are such a tool- allowing Mentors to share knowledge when faced with a question they are unsure of, as well as efficiently allocating volunteer resources to make sure no new resident gets neglected.

Hi everyone,
Thank you for your contributions...I can see now that there isn't a lot of difference between the communicator and the mentor group IM...the impression I had was that it DID already give a mentor's location, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I am glad that we can talk about things openly, would hate to see that change.
Thanks
Cali

The whole idea of the "communicator" is to keep the Mentor group chat as clean as possible :) and still be able to coordinate efforts at Help Island, by asking for specific Mentors if they're available to go from one spot of HI to another. Last time I've checked, there were 554 Mentors listed on the group, and usually just 10-15 (and that only during some peak hours) on Help Island. Constantly "bombarding" the Mentor channel to ask people if they were available to go from the Greeter Hub to the Scripting Area seems a bit overkill; Jeska is always remembering us to keep the chat on the group channel as low as possible.

There is definitely no "requirement" set by anyone to "use" that tool, but at the Mentor group meetings most of the people there — who are usually active at the Help Island — tend to agree that the communicator is pretty much useful. I personally also like the way newbies can click on the "paging" system (if you haven't seen them yet, they're devices set on each of the areas on HI which newbies can touch to grab the attention of Mentors that they're waiting there and no one is around). You guessed it, it "spams" the communicator channel as well :) Finally, when a newbie teleports to the Greeter Hub (coming from an Orientation Island), we also get advance warning through the very same channel.

What this means is that we can coordinate better the efforts of finding someone available for helping out a lost newbie (and probably overlooked!) at Help Island. Still, again, nobody is "required" to use those tools at all; speaking strictly for myself, I found out that the efficiency of getting in touch with newbies has improved dramatically since the system was put in place — and yes, it even allows you do have some friendly chat among a tiny group while you're patiently waiting for a newbie to do something :)

Just remember, we're now the "first impression" newbies get after joining Second Life. Many of us have RL backgrounds where they dealt with students, or worked with charities helping people, or did customer support (by phone, by email...), or have actively participated on writing help/manual documentation on RL products/applications/software. While Second Life sort of "wipes your past clean" and you start from scratch, organisational skills and a professional attitude is part of your true inner self, and it's hard to shake; naturally, it surfaces on those people with a professional experience on helping/training others. Others, of course, are "naturals". In either way, the first steps taken by "professionals" are usually towards a professional attitude at working with newbies. Yes, this might sound "cold" and too objective for something that perhaps ought to be more warming, spontaneous, and anarchic; but the truth is, this is something some of us have been doing for all their professional lives — and it definitely shows :)

The second step, of course, is organisation — organising the whole way the "newbie reception progress" should/could be handled. We have the Lindens as reference, the way Liaisons they get in touch in private channels of their own to coordinate efforts grid-wise; we also have the experience from Live Helpers that explain how their system works; while Help Island is just a tiny bit of the overall grid, it's all that we have to work with, and, again, speaking for myself, I naturally welcome all the organisational functions that have been slowly and painfully implemented by Tateru, Blueman, and others (sorry guys, I tend to forget how many of you have contributed with bits and pieces, here and there, to make this system work).

You may argued that I'm "professionally-handicapped" and biased towards so much "organisation" in this an anarchic world. You're right; I'm totally biased towards organisation. Too many years in the field, I'm afraid. But the good thing is, the newbie experience doesn't end at Help Island — people wishing a higher degree of individual teaching/training without any "organisation" and Mentor coordinating efforts among themselves, have the whole grid for doing that. Just the Help Island has a few extra tools, a few extra procedures we've been discussing among ourselves, a few trends towards a professional image we wish to present to the newbies.

Also remember that we're always under the eye of the residents, who find faults with the Mentor system and the way the Mentor "status" is abused. On the grid, residents can watch us to see how we work and what we do. On Help Island, they cannot do so; they have to rely on hearsay and reports from others. It's also important that the newbies coming from Help Island understand that there is an attempt to make their experience there as professional and positive as possible — that is what they're going to report to others. I tend to explain them that I'm using this and that "tool" to get them answers quickly — not to ackowledge a "superior technology", but to make them understand that in our function to help them, we have access to groups and tool, which are resident-created, and that will be available to them as well if they join up the Volunteer groups in their own time :)

According to some reports (and a few examples that I've seen myself) this "attitude" sometimes results in having newbies around Help Island for up to a week, and by the end of that period, helping other newbies :) They tend to immediately use the same approaches that they have, in turn, seen us using. I find this amusing, but also encouraging — that's the kind of spirit we wish to transmit to newbies, and hopefully welcome some to "come back" after 2 months as volunteers!

I find the communicators to be useful. I am a Greeter and an Instructor, but not a Mentor. This means I don’t see the mentor IMs. So the Comm. Unit allows me to see/hear what is going on around the island that can help me better help others.

Two cases in point: Just yesterday, a greeter couldn’t find her greet. I suggested that she put out a call on the Comm. Unit. She did so. As greeters, not being connected to the mentor channel, neither of us could have accessed the entire island any other way.

On another occasion, a mentor mentioned on the unit that she needed help because she had to leave shortly. I was able to go over and help. Just because I may not wear a Mentor’s title, doesn’t mean I don’t mentor. Every volunteer who takes the time to work on Help Island mentors. We all need to be able to communicate. I think the comm. Unit is useful.

I get more spam on the Shelter and Greeter IM channels than the comm. Units. Somehow to me, the green writing isn’t as obtrusive as the blinking “IM Received” that is just begging to be opened and read.

I totally agree, Jennifer But I understand that people have different needs/preferences; and one thing is for certain, spamming a 554-people-big group just to say "Hi X, do you mind going to the Scripting area, I need to go away for a bit?" is overkill, when perhaps 540 people really do not wish to listen to that...

These new huds at times are show greeters on when they should be off......
Can`t wait for the new meeting

This greeter hub is a great concept.............but really another device....I can do without any more. JUst my 2 yen worth of info.

Usagi, the Greeter HUD and the HI comm unit are two separate devices. This thread has been about the HI Comm Unit.

The HUD is having technical problems. I was unable to make the meeting last night but, I heard that Jeska said there were problems that needed to be worked out. I am sure that they will eventually get the thing working correctly.

In the meanwhile, we can just continue to greet as we have done in the past.

Jen

Edited to change too to two.

Usagi-san's got a fair point, though. I know my HUD is already cluttered with devices for this and that. Depending on the scheduled for tools (SL tools, and scripted gadgets), perhaps some consolidation might be possible down the track to try to reduce the gadget-count.